en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/758641 Comments by cbeedle https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/how-am-i-not-a-racist__trashed/#IDComment69772270 I'm not sure I agree with the fact that everyone has a little bit of racism in them like one of the comments said. I think that you think you can do more because you have more resources and perhaps time to do more. Does this really have to do with the race of someone or just the willpower that they possess? I think a lot of the reasons that certain people are able to help more is just because of the resources and place that they live in. Also although I hate to say this money is a huge factor. The more you have the more you can help. Maybe it is just that these people already have less money and resources than you so you have the advantage, not that it is a race issue. Thu, 22 Apr 2010 16:26:31 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/how-am-i-not-a-racist__trashed/#IDComment69772270 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/tent-cities-in-haiti__trashed/#IDComment69770889 That is really awesome how resilient these people are and how they have pulled together and made a community that they can survive and thrive in. Its so cool that many of the people can be optimistic even though at the end of the video the man said that these people may be living in tents for years to come. It also shows strong work ethic and family values because of the families pulling together, like in the salons. Even in these situations people want to go on with the lives that they lived before and the simple pleasures that they used to have. I think it is important for them to do this because it shows that they will not give up and even in disaster they can make the best out of the situations they are in. Thu, 22 Apr 2010 16:22:06 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/tent-cities-in-haiti__trashed/#IDComment69770889 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/letter-from-an-inmate__trashed/#IDComment69767663 I'm really glad that I read this letter and heard what this man had to say. I feel like I have had little sympathy for murderers but I really have never asked them their stories. Why they did the things they did? How they feel about and live with it everyday of the rest of their lives? How it is possible to know that they are never getting out of prison and being ok about it finally? It is just such a tough tough situation to be in. We always seem to think of people who took someone else's lives as incapable of feeling and being a human just like the rest of us (at least I have felt this way) but learning about these inmates has opened my close minded head on this topic. It was really cool to see what this man spoke about. All the compassion that he sees everyday in a place where I didn't think compassion really existed. Usually when I watch TV and see the specials about inmates in prison the men they show are scary and angry. They have hate tattoos all over their bodies and speak about hate and destruction. I think that the media has a huge influence in this sort of stereotype of the typical inmate. Why can't we see the humanity in a convicted murderer? They made a horrible horrible mistake in their lives and now we cannot forgive them? It just isn't that black and white and I am glad that I am seeing the gray area. I think something that we need to realize is that the human species is a very complex group. We have deep emotions, highs and lows, and we surprise ourselves and others everyday. How two men who hate each other can come together in a time of need is amazing. I'm not in prison and I don't know how I would react in the same situation. Although I don't really feel deep hate for anyone but there are plenty of people that I dislike and I just hope I could show that kind of support when needed. There is a bigger world out there then I see in my day to day life. It is interesting to really see how these men feel on the inside. The remorse that they feel and the things that they are trying to do to help the world. He said that he tries to help communities on the outside and I think that it is so cool. He could just close himself off to the world and hate everyone in it that put him in this place. He is taking a different route in his life and he is making the best of the situation that he got himself in. It is hard not to feel for these men that are stuck in here, even though they have done things that they may deserve this fate. It is hard to not "feel some kind of way about it." Thu, 22 Apr 2010 16:11:10 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/letter-from-an-inmate__trashed/#IDComment69767663 http://www.personal.psu.edu/bxz11/blogs/comm409/2010/04/erin-donahue--extra-blog-1-times-change.html#IDComment69732732 I agree blogging has really become a huge and important way to express ourselves in a bit more of a relaxed way. We can say whatever comes to our mind and a lot of times it can be positive and enlightening. Sometimes, like you said, it can just be a good way to take our minds off of other things, reading humorous posts. Thu, 22 Apr 2010 14:09:29 +0000 http://www.personal.psu.edu/bxz11/blogs/comm409/2010/04/erin-donahue--extra-blog-1-times-change.html#IDComment69732732 http://www.personal.psu.edu/bxz11/blogs/comm409/2010/02/christina-barkanic-blog-5--tiger-woods-public-apology.html#IDComment68299221 I think that Tiger should have addressed it earlier. He is a public figure...and if he likes it or not he hurt a lot of people because of his "sex addiction" which I think is just an excuse. Fri, 16 Apr 2010 01:17:11 +0000 http://www.personal.psu.edu/bxz11/blogs/comm409/2010/02/christina-barkanic-blog-5--tiger-woods-public-apology.html#IDComment68299221 http://www.personal.psu.edu/bxz11/blogs/comm409/2010/01/dave-walkovic-blog-1--this-i-believe.html#IDComment68298751 haha I totally agree with you. Originality and fun are very important in life....what is the point of a boring unoriginal existence? Fri, 16 Apr 2010 01:12:28 +0000 http://www.personal.psu.edu/bxz11/blogs/comm409/2010/01/dave-walkovic-blog-1--this-i-believe.html#IDComment68298751 http://www.personal.psu.edu/bxz11/blogs/comm409/2010/04/corey-righter-blog-9-two-ethical-lessons.html#IDComment68298352 i agree with the Janet Cook story...there is no pressure strong enough to fabricate a story for the news. Fri, 16 Apr 2010 01:08:20 +0000 http://www.personal.psu.edu/bxz11/blogs/comm409/2010/04/corey-righter-blog-9-two-ethical-lessons.html#IDComment68298352 http://www.personal.psu.edu/bxz11/blogs/comm409/2010/03/luca-viglione-blog-8---foster-conference.html#IDComment68298138 I agree with what you said about it being refreshing to see someone who actually just writes because they love to do it. I also really enjoyed the John Grogan lecture. He seemed like a really genuine person and I really respected him as a writer. Fri, 16 Apr 2010 01:06:00 +0000 http://www.personal.psu.edu/bxz11/blogs/comm409/2010/03/luca-viglione-blog-8---foster-conference.html#IDComment68298138 http://www.personal.psu.edu/bxz11/blogs/comm409/2010/04/whitni-rouse-blog-14.html#IDComment68297744 I think that the part about the anonymous source is important because if someone is really in serious danger than you don't want them to put them in danger just so that you can get the story that you want. Fri, 16 Apr 2010 01:02:01 +0000 http://www.personal.psu.edu/bxz11/blogs/comm409/2010/04/whitni-rouse-blog-14.html#IDComment68297744 http://www.personal.psu.edu/bxz11/blogs/comm409/2010/04/stephanie-taborextra-blog-1--images.html#IDComment68297525 I agree with the idea about publishing the 9/11 picture. I really do think it was an important picture to show the public and the idea that we can never forget what happened on that day. Also the idea that people would rather fall to their death than stay in the building is saying something about the horror of the day. Fri, 16 Apr 2010 00:59:50 +0000 http://www.personal.psu.edu/bxz11/blogs/comm409/2010/04/stephanie-taborextra-blog-1--images.html#IDComment68297525 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/what-about-the-men__trashed/#IDComment68297083 Not being a man I'm not sure but I think it is sort of easier for men when it comes to image. I think women are a little bit more accepting of the men in our lives. I think we look at personality before looks more than men to towards us. Also when you look in the media and on the cover of the magazines you rarely see the men it is more women, unless it is like GQ or something. Guys can be heavy and this could make them more lovable like a teddy bear, when a woman is heavy though it seems like she becomes less desirable to men. Fri, 16 Apr 2010 00:55:36 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/what-about-the-men__trashed/#IDComment68297083 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/women__trashed/#IDComment68296561 I agree with her but I think it is hard sometimes to realize that we are really beautiful the way that we are. It is true that everywhere you look there is something telling you what we should be and what we should look like. It is true in Hollywood that there are both skinny and bigger bodied beautiful women but what is the first thing that they say after a woman has a baby or is going up in size? How is she going to lose the weight?! This is all I see on the covers of magazines and I think that it send the message to normal women that we need to constantly be in check when it comes to our weight and our looks. I guess society is a visual one, and somehow we are the ones that everyone is looking at. Fri, 16 Apr 2010 00:50:24 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/women__trashed/#IDComment68296561 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/christian-invaders-the-turnaround__trashed/#IDComment68295708 Wow. I thought this lecture was really powerful. A lot of times it gave me chills thinking about the war and all the things that I never really thought about. For instance putting myself in the shoes of the Iraqi people and trying to see and feel what they do. If I was them it would be hard for me to really like the Americans either. We are killing all these people everyday. Even if there is good that the U.S is doing how could we seriously feel ok about taking their oil and acting like it is rightfully ours? I really would be so angry if I was them because this is their home and we are destroying it. Yes we are trying to protect the Iraqi people as well but to do it we have other agendas as well. Another thing that really got me thinking was the fact that they really do probably only see the bad we are doing to them. When everyone is telling you that something is bad and wrong and then to see for yourself online, if the things that you see are negative than that is what you are going to associate those people with. How could they not if they are seeing clips of soldiers killing your people in barbaric ways and destroying their possessions for no real good reason? Like Sam said, we as Americans know that those soldiers on the videos are just a few bad eggs but this is what they will see and believe because what else do they have to compare it to. This brings me to another point of the lecture, religion is very dangerous. These people who hold their gods up and think that all other peoples beliefs are wrong can get very dangerous. I always thought that it was wrong that Christians would go to other countries and think that they were “saving” the people by converting them to Christianity. Who says that people who don’t believe in the Christian god are in danger and need to be saved in the first place? I think I sort of feel like all Christians are like the evangelical crazy ones that I see on Jesus Camp. Anybody can believe what he or she want but it is really scary when they are forcing their children to become like slaves to a god. It was really wrong how the priest would make the kids cry and say that they were sinning and wrong. How could you tell a child this? They are very impressionable and we need to be careful what we teach them. It was a very important class today so that we could try to relate to another culture. We don’t do it often and I think if we did more we would be able to come to better agreements between other peoples. We need to learn to be able to work towards a peaceful existence and I think seeing the world through others eyes can only help us get there. Fri, 16 Apr 2010 00:41:10 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/christian-invaders-the-turnaround__trashed/#IDComment68295708 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/i-really-want-to-know-also__trashed/#IDComment66871717 I think that these classes and what Sam says have made me think and question things a lot. Not so much change my mind because I feel like I'm pretty open minded but just made me think at the reasons behind my opinions. His classes have also opened my mind to the things that other people think and feel. I think race relations classes are important to have because they give us insight into other cultures. It is also interesting to see now that everywhere I look there are things that I can see are really holding back certain people and it makes me think, will we ever really change? Fri, 9 Apr 2010 20:52:00 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/i-really-want-to-know-also__trashed/#IDComment66871717 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/this-is-totally-off-the-hook__trashed/#IDComment66870278 Holy crap this is the craziest thing I have seen as far as video games go. I already thought that video games were getting a little out there just purely based on the fact that some of them are taking you out of the real world and placing you in a fantasy world that many stay in all day long. Games like World of War craft and second life are creepy enough but whoever created this game and whoever published it and let it be sold in the shops around Tokyo is sadistic. It has nothing to do with race or ethnicity just to do with human compassion and common sense. How could someone think that this is an ok game to be distributing to people? Whoever thinks that it could be an outlet for sexual predators instead of on actual live women is delusional. Most of the time I would think that being able to “act out” these crimes on the game would only make the person more willing to act it out in real life. I just don’t even see the fun in it. Wouldn’t a normal human being playing it feel dirty and horrible afterward? I couldn’t believe that the couple from England were actually for it! I just feel like especially a woman, any woman, would be against a game where the object is to rape other women. It’s like we have come so far in the world for women’s rights and trying to be equal and then something like this comes out and we are knocked down a peg. I feel like movies with violence and rape in them are very different from video games. Many could argue that there are movies that show this sort of thing so why cannot their be games? It is just taking it to a whole other level when we are the ones controlling what happens to these people in the games. In the movies we watch, we have an opinion and think how could this be happening? Usually the “bad guys” get what they deserve and there is a lesson to learn. In these types of games though, there is no lesson. The end result is winning based on sexually abusing women. It just doesn’t make any sense to me. I know that I am a woman but all the men that I know would not feel right playing this game (I hope). I feel like it is a step below actually going out and becoming a rapist and that is a scary prospect. I think people are right to question the role video games play on young children. It may be hard for them to separate reality from fiction and the game could take over. Fri, 9 Apr 2010 20:42:46 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/this-is-totally-off-the-hook__trashed/#IDComment66870278 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-about-multiracial-people__trashed/#IDComment65677202 Yeah it sort of sucks that everything has to be either this side or that side. What if you are in the middle and have both in your life? I guess since he said that for most of his life he identified himself as Hispanic because that was the side he grew up with then he would be leaning more towards that side. But it must be hard to be caught in the middle like that and not know where you truely belong. Maybe their could be a new team, black and brown team, white team, and the purple team for everyone who has different mixes in their background. I have never had to deal with this issue before so it is hard for me to think how I would feel but I guess you just have to be happy with yourself and you history and accept both sides of your family, that way race and ethnicity are not what makes you you. Sat, 3 Apr 2010 01:22:05 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-about-multiracial-people__trashed/#IDComment65677202 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/what-if-we-got-rid-of-welfare__trashed/#IDComment65676212 I'm not sure that getting rid of welfare would really help with the social status of people because most of the time welfare is meant to get people back on their feet so that eventually they do not need to be on government assistance. It would also just leave a lot of people hungry and homeless, mostly children. Its the children that we really need to be worried about because if they are not in a stable home and are hungry all the time because their parents have no money for food then they are going to grow up to repeat the cycle and perhaps make bad decisions because of it. I think that some people abuse welfare but for what it is meant for, to help people out who are trying, I don't think it is such a bad thing. Sat, 3 Apr 2010 01:14:19 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/what-if-we-got-rid-of-welfare__trashed/#IDComment65676212 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/those-damn-dolls__trashed/#IDComment65535327 I thought this movie was heart breaking. I don’t know why all the kids would rather play with the white doll but it is a lot easier to buy white dolls in the store than black dolls. I had to do a soc assignment for one of my other classes and it was about the toys that we see in Wal-Mart. We were more focusing on gender stereotypes and what is considered the ideal toys to play with at certain ages. I do remember not seeing very many black dolls and it seems totally unfair that this it the way that society is. Being white I never really noticed because the dolls that I played with were mostly white. My sister got an Addy American Girl Doll when we were little (the doll is black) and I never really thought about it as a black/White thing...that was just the doll she wanted to play with. When the kids were asked which one is the “good” one and which one is the “bad” one it was so sad that they usually picked white for “good.” It just really shows how society works and what little kids are learning at a young age and it is really dangerous for their healthy development. When the one little girl was asked which is the “good” doll and she picked the white one and then immediately after they asked her which one does she look like? She hesitated and looked like she wanted to pick the white doll but pushed the black doll forward. It was really sad. Something needs to be done so that little children of all colors and backgrounds can feel secure in their own skin. It needs to change that we attribute good qualities and bad qualities simply based on the color of our skin. These young kids will grow up resenting themselves and being insecure if they truly believe that this is how they should feel. I always just assumed that children would want to play with dolls that looked like themselves but if they are being taught that they are not as good as someone else they are going to try to conform to what is the better one in societies eyes. We’ve come very far since the civil war and civil rights movements but no one can argue that we are perfectly showing equality in the world. There is hate and anger towards groups of people simply because they look different. It is horrible that at such a young age children pick up on the hate and try and change who they are and what they want to play with based on it. It is clear to me that at a young age, self worth and appreciation for all people needs to be instilled in children all over the country. Without it they will grow up as resentful, unconfident, adults. Fri, 2 Apr 2010 10:49:16 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/those-damn-dolls__trashed/#IDComment65535327 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/flip-the-script-for-a-moment__trashed/#IDComment64203111 I think Sam is right I never think we should stop questioning things. If we did then we would always be stuck in the same spot and nothing would ever change or get resolved. I think the world that we live in should be one that we built and put together with our own hard work and brainpower. Without asking, “why is this the way it is? Why can’t it be this way?” we would never get anywhere new in the world. Peace would probably be impossible because from the beginning of time violence was the only answer. Violence toward animals for hunting, violence towards humans for survival, and violence towards our earth for resources. If the cave men never thought, hmmm I wonder how we can stay warm through the winter instead of freezing to death then they probably would have never discovered fire. If they figured that it was just the way it is and I shouldn’t question things then they would have never invented tools for hunting and probably would not have long on this earth. Everyday there are new things to question and discover but we have to make the effort. If questioning was not part of our culture than new inventions would never be made let alone important decisions about the world around us. We would still have slaves, probably only shower once a year (or month if wealthy:), not have computers or any awesome electronics for that matter, live by candlelight, etc. If we even could get that far with discoveries. New doors would never be open to us. Women would probably still be second-class citizens and a small group or family would be making all the decisions of the country. It literally would suck. With the whole menstrual cycle I’m not sure if that is a lack of questioning or just social construction. He did say ethnocentrism but I’m not sure if it is that we think we are better but just that it is not something that people are used too. Although my family is pretty free and out there so we talk about everything but in class it is something that we do not expect. I think a lot of people over reacted by walking out. You’d think we were talking about something really offensive! It’s really no biggie. That’s only my opinion though because it takes a lot more to offend me then talking about periods. Moral of the story question everything that doesn’t make sense it is a very important aspect of our lives because without it we would not get answers we wanted. The world would never move forward and all the excitement would be taken out of life. Fri, 26 Mar 2010 14:32:25 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/flip-the-script-for-a-moment__trashed/#IDComment64203111 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/if-men-could-menstruate__trashed/#IDComment64141545 Haha tampons probably would be free if men could have periods. I never realized that before but they really should be free because it is not our choice to get our period it just happens and it has to happen to keep population going. I'm not sure if I would want guys talking about women's menstrual cycles that is a little bizarre. Most women don't sit around and talk about "guy only" stuff so I guess that is why I feel that way. I don't know in this culture we are socialized to think that certain things are off limits around certain genders and that is wrong but hard to change comfortably. Fri, 26 Mar 2010 04:05:36 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/if-men-could-menstruate__trashed/#IDComment64141545