en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/764262 Comments by bzj5008 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/women__trashed/#IDComment69925598 I agree with her in saying all women are beautiful no matter how they look. I love women, but the media plays a huge role in many women’s appearance and self conscience ways. Many women do not like their appearance they always want something to look better and have a tendency to compare themselves with other women. Some females are just following trends that they see around campus or on television. I have spoken to many women who I would believe as very beautiful but they do not think the same about themselves. Women should already know that they are beautiful and they need to have that confidence in order to realize how pretty they are. In my opinion, media always has the hottest girls in movies and television shows and women see that men love theses character, so everyday women try to resemble celebrities. I love a confident women not cocky but confident. She knows what she is, what she has to offer a man and does not back down or feed into the many lies guys may say just to sleep with them for one night. A confident woman understands where a man is coming from in some sense, but carries herself as if she knows she is beautiful. Every man has their own preference in woman, many men just like a laid back type of girl that they can have fun with. Many women are doing worry about their appearance more than anything else. When I m walking to class at 8 o’clock in the morning and I see women dressed up, make up on as if they were going to a party. That to be is a sign of a woman who worries about their appearance too much. I believe the issue is that too much woman care about what people say about them when they are not around. As for us men many of us could care less about what someone has to say about us when we are not there. It as though some women want everyone to like them even if they do not know them. And to women looking good all the time is the first step to everyone liking them. As a man appearance does play a role in being in a relationship with a woman, because the first thing you see is how she looks but if a woman looks like a super model but has no intelligence or personality many men would not be with that lady. Fri, 23 Apr 2010 13:24:55 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/women__trashed/#IDComment69925598 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/christian-invaders-the-turnaround__trashed/#IDComment68443374 After Thursdays class my eyes were opened to another way the government, hides information from the American people. Looking at the Iraq war from a different perspective does help me understand much about this world. There is much more than what you see, people always say believe half of what you see. The government is out to brain wash the public, the facts that were presented in class were mind blowing. Seeing the soldiers run over someone’s car for looting in their own country, makes me wonder what gives the United States soldier the right to just run through one’s country as if they own it. After the class I have been trying to connect the dots of the U.S government, I have always thought that the government has been hiding information from the people; now it is evident this is true. A holy war makes a lot of sense to me; religion is a huge aspect of the world. But I would have never thought that the U.S would try to change an entire country over religion, makes me wonder why. Why are they in another? Why aren’t the problems in our country getting fixed? Besides oil why would you want to change an entire countries religion, it doesn’t seem clear to me on why the U.S wants to change Iraq’s religion. This new information I was told is mind blowing, 29 civilians can be killed for one 1 bad guy. CNN and FOX news does not report these things, only time they report a story on the news is when a U.S soldier is killed. This tells me the government plays a part in what we see on television. The government is hiding the truth, in order for the citizens to approve of the government’s actions. The government knows if the people know the truth this country will not be the same. Never have I seen on any news station in the U.S a soldier doing anything wrong, but in class they show soldiers being bullies to people who are defenseless. The U.S is just over powering these Middle Eastern countries because there is nothing they can do about it. The media portrays Muslim people as such bad people but thinking about their situation are they really bad? I’m not justifying what terrorist do, it is just that when we are put in their shoes we can finally understand and see how our country is playing with the minds of us all. Fri, 16 Apr 2010 23:24:13 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/christian-invaders-the-turnaround__trashed/#IDComment68443374 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/this-is-totally-off-the-hook__trashed/#IDComment66950273 Wow, I cannot believe the story I have just seen, there is a rape game in Japan, this world is getting worse as the years progress. I understand that it is only a video game and it is not real life but this is a crazy game encouraging rape and sexual assault. It seems a little funny that people would do anything in a virtual world and people will defend it, but if done in real life you’re the worse person ever. I wonder who created the game and I want hear an interview from them on what made them create a game. Do they have something against females, is that the type of person they really want to be or is just all fun and games, just something to laugh about. What surprises me the most is that it has been in the Japanese market for awhile so people are obviously buying it and enjoying the games? This game should scare the women in Japan because what is stopping the people who buy the game from attempting what they have done in the game in real life? This takes games to me to another level. To me this type of game is worse the violent shoot ‘em up action games. Maybe the Japanese culture is used to this type of game, the report did say that the Japanese created games that may be seen as porno’s to other countries. It is hard to believe but this might be true. Or maybe it is just something to joke about, like the created just sat around a table and said “let’s make a game about raping women.” Whatever it may be it is wrong this game should raise concern for everyone. Everyone has a female relative and just imagining your something happen to your relative is painful and this game is sort of mocking the act of sexual assault and rape. I wonder how someone who has gotten raped would feel about this game. It is unbelievable that the world has come to this. Japan has been quite advance with their technology and before you know it this game may travel around the world. The same way a game like Grand Theft Auto did. I also wonder can this be stopped Japan has no law against these type of things so I doubt it will be stopped, I guess only time will tell. Sat, 10 Apr 2010 04:12:51 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/this-is-totally-off-the-hook__trashed/#IDComment66950273 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/if-men-could-menstruate__trashed/#IDComment65677430 Men do not talk about the women menstrual cycle because many women are embarrassed by there period. They do not want to be bothered, touched. Talked to or anything while they are on their menstrual cycle. If men had a menstrual cycle it would be bragged about and constantly and glorified as if a man just lost his virginity. They can not stop talking about that interaction until it happens again; similar to if men had a menstrual cycle. As a man I do not think the menstrual cycle is weird, it’s natural. Females just need to step seeing it as such a bad thing. Although men do not understand the pain and torment that women go through during their menstrual cycle, we are able to understand as much as they tell us. And on the question if men had a period tampons would not be free, advertiser will have a field day with selling tampons and pads. Saying things like “only for strong men” and things like that. In order for women to be able to talk to men about their menstrual cycle with men they must be more open to when they are on there period. Women act like it is the end of the world when they get their period and sometimes it can get annoying. For example, when a girl just changes the way she acts all of a sudden I think they should give the men a warning before they start getting mad and pissed off for no apparent reason. I believe older women have a better way at handling their period; they are more understanding than younger women. I agree that some men need to be more mature about women’s period. Even though it is natural some men see it as a bit disgusting to just walk in the bathroom and just see blood everywhere. To us men it is not natural. Maybe men should be schooled at a young age about the female menstrual cycle; if this is done when we get older women’s period will be less disgusting and more just a regular thing. If men were to get periods females were to act the same way as males act now, that it is disgusting and unusual, and that we should keep it private, because it is a private issue with the human body. Although it is perfectly normal it should be kept private because no one likes to hear a female complaining about their menstrual cycle being heavy or its late or the cramps hurt, that’s just like a guy talking about how his balls stick to his legs when its hot outside, it’s a personal issue that don’t need to be advertised. Sat, 3 Apr 2010 01:23:40 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/if-men-could-menstruate__trashed/#IDComment65677430 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/those-damn-dolls__trashed/#IDComment64274981 This doll segment seems all too real, white and black symbolism is embedded into children heads at young ages. For the children to say the black doll looks bad means that throughout childhood child constantly see black people being portrayed as the bad person. Thinking back on my childhood I would witness this all the time, in a cartoon, movie, television show, the black people are always bad. And the white people always save the day. Kids do not only get this from the media, they also get it from class and their parents. In school a child may read a book where the robbers or whoever is doing the wrong doing is black. The video make me take a step back and rethink a lot of other things. Where do these racial concepts come from? How do we change this in the future or can we ever change it? It seems unbelievable that the results were skewed towards the white doll. In some way this may have been what was going through Michael Jackson’s mind before he changed his skin color. He seen white as being beautiful because that is how the people portray it and he just wanted to be beautiful. It is like the subconscious part of your mind is making the decision for you before you actual pick. Media, schools, and teachers everyday place in children subconscious mind that white is better than black; but in realty we are all the same only .1% of our DNA is different from each other. This video shocked me that children at such young ages already knew the difference about race, no matter how we look at it the color of our skin will always make a difference in this world. For children of the United States to already have that embedded in their head tells you that race will always matter. They learn about race so young that it will be impossible to stop. Only way to change this is to stop making dolls based on skin color and race, start making red blue and green dolls, why does race have to be involved. We all were children once so this was and maybe be still in most of us black people’s heads. It is a mystery to me on how we all have gotten this way. Maybe the people who run this country feel the same way, that why we have been having a white president for so long. Sat, 27 Mar 2010 00:33:16 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/those-damn-dolls__trashed/#IDComment64274981 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/fired-for-a-scarf__trashed/#IDComment61804568 I believe this is an outrage, I understand the stores like Hollister and Abercrombie and Fitch have a certain dress code but she was told she was able to wear her head scarf. Like really is a head scarf that bad, that one must get fired? It is how the women was brought up there is nothing she can do about that it is her religion. This shows me that discrimination will never go away it just takes different forms and gives people someone else to talk about. The way this country is we will always live in a racist environment because everyone always wants to feel superior to the next person. I wonder how long was she working there before she got fired I do not recall them saying how long she was working. Another thing I do not understand about this story is why people would send her death treats. The statement released by Hollister seems to say that we do not do business with people with head scarves. Being that this is not the first case of this same issues with Abercrombie and Fitch it shows that this company is a racist company. They only used to hire white people and had the minorities’ work the stock room meaning they only want the whites to shoe there face. The women who was fired because of her head scarf was fired by the district manager meaning that the local manager had no problem with the head scarf, it was the higher ups who have problems with the image a head scarf is portraying. Many different types of people buy Hollister clothing and hearing that they are discriminating against those types of people many people will no longer purchase there clothes. I really do not see a problem with the head scarf, even though it seems like the company is trying to target a specific group and crowd, diversity in the store gives many people a chance to someone other than a white person participating in customer service. What if the woman who was fired was the best working at the store did the district manager care? All he was worried about is the image that they are trying to portray. This country needs to change it starts with s from things such as this and other discriminatory things that we encounter on the daily basis. Things such as jokes, thoughts, actions, all need to change. We are all human and live in the same world. I bet if we really got to know one another we will have more things in common than you think and we all will be able to relate to one another. Sat, 13 Mar 2010 05:16:30 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/fired-for-a-scarf__trashed/#IDComment61804568 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/who-could-compete-with-this-woman-on-a-level-playing-field__trashed/#IDComment58898837 Being Haitian I love this story, but it is not a surprise to me the abilities that Yvrose Jean Baptise has with finances. They say Yvrose has a 5th grade education but that’s only if you measure the level of education, with technical terms and frankly a lot of other things that really do not matter. She was running her own business with a little knowledge about numbers and common sense. She understood the basic aspects of finance, but I do not think she see it like that. She probably sees it as natural, as what I have to do to make money. I will not say it’s easy to do what she does but it is a matter of supply and demand; she has what the people need. I would like to believe that there are many people like Yvrose in many other lower developed countries. If Yvrose were to switch shoes with someone in the United States, I would believe she would blow them out the water so to speak. She shows drive and determination to make something out of whatever she has. Americans look at this story in disbelief as if someone of her circumstances would not be able to run as business as she does, and she runs it effectively. Hypothetically speaking, what if the earthquake never happened and she continued to run her business fluently, eventually her business would expand by her gaining more clients, then having to hire other people to help with the client overload. It sounds farfetched but her one business could have been huge for Haiti as a whole; creating jobs for citizens and expanding their economy little by little. Every time I listen to this story one thing comes to mind and that is, ones drive comes from where they are from. As I stated earlier to Yvrose it probably does not seem like to her she is doing huge finances, it’s just a regular thing she does to survive. This lady in sense reminds me of my mother; she started with nothing, no silver spoon, no English. She was born in Haiti, migrated into the States in and twenties; had difficulty finding a job and had to learn the English language. Now my mom has a few jobs, living comfortably, and owns three homes. She rents out two so it is as if she runs her own real estate business. Education is a huge part of peoples life’s in the United States, but in other lower developed countries I believe knowledge is key to survival and making it. The difference between knowledge and education to me is common sense versus book smarts. School gives you a lot of information but you have to have knowledge to apply it in the real world. Sat, 27 Feb 2010 01:07:36 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/who-could-compete-with-this-woman-on-a-level-playing-field__trashed/#IDComment58898837 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/lgbt-class-question-six__trashed/#IDComment57587713 In my honest opinion I think that male to male sexual relationships are looked down upon because they are males. In this society we look to makes as protectors, hunters, gatherers, providers, they are the alpha male. By them engaging in male to male relationships, it causes society to look at them in disappointment. It also gives society a chance to challenge their masculinity. Female to female relationships are more accepted because they are girls. They aren’t looked at as being strong providers and protectors. Not saying that they shouldn’t be, but that’s just how society looks at it. Besides male on male relationships are less accepted because who wants to see two males kissing and feeling on each other? Society sees two women making out and feeling on each other as being “hot” and “sexy”, but when two men do it its just plain gross. Female to female relations are more commonly accepted because as females out feminist cannot be challenged. Becoming a lesbian or bisexual does not make females any less than a woman, however for males it makes you less than a man if you engage in relations with another male. Another reason why I think male on male relations are less accepted then female on female relationships is because it’s ok for a female to be unstable and unsure of their sexuality, they have the right to experiment and figure things out and won’t be judged on it, in fact most people encourage it. Whereas if a males was to experiment, it’s a sign of weakness and unstableness, and those are female traits. I believe that male on male and female on female relationships should be held to the same statute. No one relationship should be held higher than the other. Society has come a long way from not accepting it at all now their holding one relationship higher than the other when they should be held to the same statute. Either way any same sex relationship is wrong in the eyes of god. If a male on male relationships and a female on female relationship were both standing before god, he wouldn’t allow the females all access to heaven and send the men to hell. My point is that male on male relationships shouldn’t be looked down on just because their males, they are still very masculine providers who just so happen to have boyfriends. Their sexuality should not challenge their ability to provide and protect. I think the main reason why males on male relationships are looked down upon whereas female on female relationships aren’t, is because there is a higher risk of catching sexual transmitted diseases such as AIDS/HIV. Although AIDS/HIV is contracted through very numerous ways, people often look to the gay men as the main cause and spread of the disease. Fri, 19 Feb 2010 07:01:56 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/lgbt-class-question-six__trashed/#IDComment57587713 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/negros-of-the-world-unite__trashed/#IDComment56305602 After reading this article on adding the Negro in the U.S Census makes me feel like wondering is race that big of an issue; to depict ones ethnicity into a specific set of categories seems like its unnecessary. I do not know specifically what the Census is used for but breaking down a person to many different races seems useless when the government will only involve one of the races you choose. Today’s world is more bi-racial than any other time in history. Will all the data the government puts out involving race depict each person’s racial preference? For instance, will data say 15% of half black and white people voted in this year’s election? So for considering the word Negro as an ethnicity is understandable considering the elder aged people living in the United States, but I also believe that they are many blacks that do not want to associate themselves with that word. The census is used to count the number of people in the United States, with everyone accounted for I’m guessing the government will have the proper information to allocate funds for specific ethnic groups and areas in the country. The ethnicities in the Census constantly come and go the government wants to label everyone; they do not worry about the sociological factors not in the control of the citizen. I do not believe everyone knows there true background unless they have taken the DNA ethnicity testing. Which begs the question, what are we? Aren’t we all Americans? Why do we have to get labeled by our race? It’s rare to see a pure one race person. For example, look at our current president Barack Obama, clearly two different ethnicities are associated in his DNA background. Our race does not define who we are as people. As Sam Richards says, were all going to die, just as languages die off, will being one race also die off? If so, what will that decades Census consist of in regards to race? Nevertheless, we all are categorized by the government as a specific race; we cannot choose our race or skin color. One may try to modify their skin color but that does not make them a different race. Race is not control by the person by our free will, so as people we must go with what we are given. With what the Census places on their questionnaires as race will forever be changing and the government want to be politically correct and include every predominant race in the United States. Thu, 11 Feb 2010 07:21:15 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/negros-of-the-world-unite__trashed/#IDComment56305602 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/avatar-and-the-white-mans-burden__trashed/#IDComment55557405 Everyone has their own opinion on how the society is viewed. I can see where Brooke is coming from that in many movies White people are always saving Black and Brown people. The way media has skewed our thinking as individuals and places labels on everything, it is seen as acceptable to have White people generally save everyone else. For example, in the movie 2012 it is the end of the world and the White people are the ones who remain alive. Maybe it is deeper symbolism than we can see behind all these mainstream media pictures. I have also notice that in many scary movies the Black or Brown people do not stay alive long. Maybe mainstream media does not want minorities in major roles unless they are superstar such as Denzel Washington or Will Smith. Going back to what Brooke said about the hero in most movies being white. There can be many reasons to why this is true; such as maybe racism is as a whole nation is still alive people are just covering it, by putting it in blockbuster. Could the directors and producers of these movies see minorities as lesser people than Whites? It is clear that everyday media has a stereotype behind every race. For instance, on the news you mainly see Black and Brown people in trouble, involved with crime. And when they show White people they generally show them doing good in their community. Black and White people equally serve their community and they both commit crimes. Stereotypes will always be relevant; there will always be race issues. The media has been slowly shaping our minds into what they want us to be. Whatever that may be it is working, we look to celebrities for new fashion trends, and we listen to music to get new slang words. I believe our society is crumpling everyone’s mind is set in one way, to believe what you see. Sat, 6 Feb 2010 01:50:57 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/avatar-and-the-white-mans-burden__trashed/#IDComment55557405 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/haitis-calamity__trashed/#IDComment54263114 The question you posed - “What would someone from Haiti do.” stuck with me most from reading your blog. I myself am not from Haiti. My parents migrated to the USA from Haiti in the late 70’s. My parents, my grandparents all whom which I live with are Haiti natives. They were born and raised there and likewise I have cousins, aunts, and family there still. Like the question you ask, I ask myself a similar question. What if. What if, my parents decided to stay in Haiti instead of migrating to the United States? Would that little boy looking for shelter and food be me? Would that wounded, injured, lost and confused family be mine? What if my parents decided to migrate but leave my aunts, uncles, and grandparents behind? Would my family be suffering a great and terrible loss? Every winter my grandfather travels to Haiti because the weather is too much for him to bear here. The moment I heard about the earthquake, my heart immediately stopped. I could no longer move and thoughts began to race through my head. All I could do was pray, pray to the man above that not only my family was ok but also that other families and friends of families were ok. I cried several nights, just from the pain of not knowing and not being able to be in control of the situation. I donated as much as I could, clothes, sheets, water, money, yet it did not seem enough. Not knowing the fate of my family had me completely unbalanced. Everything became hard for me, sleeping eating; concentrating on school or work, nothing was simple! The day I received word that my grandfather, and cousins were alive, I thought I would feel some type of relief. Sadly, I did not. I feel for the people that did not receive the news I did. I feel bad for my family that is still out there because even though their alive, they have no clothes, no shelter, no food, and they are struggling. While talking to a friend she told me to be happy their alive. That through out this trial and tribulation, god has chosen them to live another day and that it was not their time to go. While I am forever grateful for their lives, I still do not like the idea of them sleeping in the streets, in the rain, asking strangers for food. Now if what Pat Robertson said was correct than “the earthquake was because Haiti made a pact with the devil,” why would god let several hundred, thousand people live? Personally I have never suffered a loss in family, I never had someone close to me die. I wouldn’t know how to even begin to cope with the death of someone I love and cared for. So till this day, I thank the man above for giving my family and the survivors of the Haiti earthquake second chances. And I also thank everyone who has donated clothing, water, money, food, and everything they have donated to the survivors, you are helping them to survive with your donations. You are helping Haiti’s Calamity. Thank you Thu, 28 Jan 2010 22:42:41 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/haitis-calamity__trashed/#IDComment54263114 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/last-name-begins-with-i-or-j__trashed/#IDComment54040057 hey Wed, 27 Jan 2010 05:41:31 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/last-name-begins-with-i-or-j__trashed/#IDComment54040057 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/clubbing-the-bejesus-out-of-rationality__trashed/#IDComment53500136 After hearing, the words said by Pat Robertson I could not believe a true Christian of his stature would say such words; saying that Haitians made a pact with the devil is a senseless comment, as if every natural diaster that happens is because that nation made a “pact with the devil.” He needs to acknowlede the term “natural disaster”. If Pat Robertson knew much about the country of Haiti, he would have known that most of the citizens are highly religious. In fact as a Christian himself, he should have referenced I John 2:15-17; which in shorts states that by loving and being concerned with the world you are not putting the trust and love in God. As a Haiti native, I feel highly disrespected, and annoyed. I feel like a true christan like him sould have never said that as a whole the entire Haiti deserved the earthquake. No one, counrty, city, or state deserves to be put in the position where everything is stripped from him or her. He is saying that the next natural disaster if there is one will be because god is punnishing us for having sex immorally, for substance and achol abuse, for the lying and theifery, and so on. In the bibile, it states, “When the hour is coming the true worshipers will stand before god and carry out his will” however before then, god will let the unsavory remain on the earth and continue to do as they please. To me Pat Robertson is not a true Christian if he belifes that god would cause so much harm and despare to an entier country because they decided to make a pact with the devil. Pyschics, wikens, warlocks, etc all make pacts with the devil, and nothing has yet to happen to them. They still walk and breathe the earth amongst all others. If god was that fed up and decided to punish haiti for the pact they made with the devil, why isnt he just as fed up with the devil himself and put an end to the devil, instead of the country. Sat, 23 Jan 2010 03:44:51 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/clubbing-the-bejesus-out-of-rationality__trashed/#IDComment53500136