As a person, I have to say that my general threshold for trust has been shattered. Not being able to trust affects every other aspect of my life. The actions and inactions of my school’s superiors being uncovered have forced me to reevaluate the way in which I qualify someone as being trustworthy. Also, it causes me to realize that blindly worshipping higher authority or legends are not always in my best interests. There was a mystical power about my school, Penn State, that not only my community, but the entire nation, looked up to and held standards to. That all has come crashing down with the developments of the past week. As a person, I now must face family, friends and peers back home as they will inevitably question me, my school, and all that encompasses this tragic situation. I will have to be strong, prideful, and most notably, knowledgeable, in order to disallow others from dragging me down with the events that have transpired. Next, I have found myself pinching myself over and over again in hopes that I’d awake from a terrible, terrible nightmare, but such is not the case. This is real life, and I must deal with the outcomes and try to pick up the pieces and move on. I try to live by the saying, “What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.” This situation, although it carries major implications, is no different than any other negative time. Something bad has happened, I must accept it, deal with it, learn from it, and move on a better person. I try to look for the light in darkness, no matter if it happens to be my school’s darkest days. I’m a strong proponent of our school and community coming together as a family and moving forward together. We will never forget the victims in this, but moving on is a must, being that we have been set back so much from the misdeeds of others. Tomorrow is the perfect opportunity for this: we have a football game, a big game, that students and alumni can join together and show pride in our school, for all of the good that we do. Getting lost in all of this mess is the 99% of PSU who are model citizens, researchers, athletes, family people, who have taken the morals learned at Penn State and shared them with the world. We need to show the world that a few bad apples won’t ruin the whole bunch.

I think a large part of why there is latent racism in the white community and not in the African American community is due to our history and cultural society. Slavery and discrimination in the south set the stone in terms of societal influences of how things should operate. We have far surpassed slavery days regarding levels of racism; however, they do still exist, especially among old-fashioned conservationists. The fact of the matter is, racism may be subtler today than it was in our past, but racism against whites has always been subtler than racism against blacks. It has always been this way. For some, racists, this may be deliberate, For others however, because of learned behavior and modeling and social influences, it may come subconsciously. For these people, they would be appalled at their actions if they brought them to their conscious, but the way our society has been built has an immense influence on the way we act today. Hopefully, regarding racism, we continue to make long strides. The saying, “history repeats itself,” will hopefully prove to be a myth in this case. I’m sure there are many African Americans with an understandable, and some not so understandable hatred for whites, but blacks were never allowed to voice their opinions. For example, in the movie The Help, one nanny speaks out against her employer and she then was in jeopardy of never getting hired again. In general, blacks tended to ban together to get through it as opposed to fighting out because the consequences were too severe. There is a stigma that white is the more powerful race. I think power and the rights that that power grants a person has a lot to do with the latency in the white community. We see racism diminishing as well as lingering in politics today, and always. In the election of Obama, its exciting and hopeful that Obama got more white votes than Kerry or Gore. On the other hand, we still have yet to reach those who retaliated against having a black president. There has never been a question about a white president in power even if people thought it, but the idea of a black president outwardly disgusted people. Society has a huge influence in the way people act and think. Out there in the media today, still very prevalent, are black jokes. Although amusing, and often told by a black individual, these are some of the contributions to latent racism. It is our job to rid of the sterio-types. This may never happen because of human nature, and the fact that there is always one person that won't ever comply but with time more changes are possible even if they are small improvements.

Why do women put so much effort into looking good before going out when men put a very minimal effort into looking good before they go out? When I think about this issue I point to the social standard that celebrities and all forms of media put out into society. Women will dress and act the way that they believe is socially acceptable. I blame things like music lyrics and music videos, the way that female celebrity ‘role models’ dress and act, and magazines like Cosmopolitan, People, and Us. I also believe that women are still seen, consciously or unconsciously, as inferior to men. This is due to history. Although we are coming out of that era in which women are treated with less than equal rights, we are not there yet.
Music lyrics and music videos play a huge role in this issue. Out of all the social media out there in the world, music is the most universal. Music gets everywhere. Everyone listens to music. Just like ‘70s disco or ‘90s alternative, this generation is going through a distinct phase of music. By and large, today’s music, unfortunately, degrades, objectifies, and dehumanizes women. A lot of the popular music today has lyrics speaking of men taking advantage of women sexually.
The female figure heads that most women look up to also have an effect on how women dress. Although there are tons of popular women who dress and act respectably, there are a handful that do not. These women are always extremely attractive alone but feel the need to dress either borderline slutty or outright slutty. These women reinforce the concept that all women are sex dolls to men and in turn, more women see this and mimic it. Celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Playmates and shows like The Jersey Shore just continue to reinforce this false sense of how a woman should dress and act.
Magazines also play a part in influencing how women dress and act. Magazines like Cosmopolitan often have sections that give women tips on how to transform their bodies to look sexy or the new way to dress to look sexy. They even go as far as giving tips on how to satisfy men better sexually.
Since women are still often seen as less than equal, men look at them like objects. Women, in turn, embrace this because they want to be accepted and to fit in and that’s the norm. They think that since society constantly reinforces this concept into their minds via celebrities, music, magazines, and other media, it must be true. They must be doing something right, because everyone’s doing it. This has to stop if we ever want to see true equality.

Before watching these videos but after I was made aware of the assignment, I was not wild about completing it. It sounded like Sam was manipulating us to work on some kind of personal mission as his little slaves. After watching videos and fully understanding what Sam is asking of us, I couldn’t be happier to have this kind of opportunity, I even feel guilty for my selfishness before. I’m glad that I have had the opportunity to see even a glimpse of the type of life that Haitians live. It makes me feel guilty to have the life that I have. Every video kept making me want to watch another one, from Yvrose Noncent and his sandals to Sonia’s insulated purses and lunch boxes, to Euclid and her animal artistic touch to her clothing. It amazes me to see the drive to succeed during such dire times behind each and every one of these people. With little or no employees and basic materials and tools, all just to make a living or feed their family. The amount of women entrepreneurs also surprised me. I’m not aware of the sociological customs or norms in Haiti, but as an American I was surprised to see all these women creating jobs for themselves and their few employees.
Out of all of the Haitian entrepreneurs, I think that I would want to help Clorene the most. I’m sure this is biased because she had the most information on her available. However, she seems to be a very hard worker and her business seems to have grown the most out of all of the businesses. She has done so much with what little she has. She needs her own tag and her own tools to make that tag, along with her own silk screen machine and embroidery machine.
It is hard to say which entrepreneur I would like to help the most because every single one is in a similar situation: each entrepreneur is working hard to create a product with no tools or tools that are out of date, using used or crude materials. For each entrepreneur it seems so easy to find a solution as an American citizen; it is frustrating knowing that it is so easy to get materials and machinery in America but the situation in Haiti makes it so hard to do.

Concerning the debate between free will and determinism, I believe that both sides come into play when shaping someone’s decisions, and ultimately, their future. However, I lean more toward determinism. Yes, you hear amazing stories of people who have gone from rags to riches, working themselves to death 80 hours a week while still taking classes. Those stories are always great to hear and are very inspirational, but they are extremely rare. I am by no means a pessimist, but most humans do not have the capacity when faced with daunting hardships and impossible odds to overcome them. And even when these amazing stories come to light, when you take a good look at them, somewhere along the line the benefactor didn’t necessarily got a break, but may have been given an opportunity that someone just like him or her somewhere else didn’t get. Everyone’s life is determined to an extent.

But at the same time we all do have the absolute free will to make any decision we wish to make. Unfortunately, most of the time, humans aren’t even aware of the options that they have at their grasp. Society holds everyone to some standard, based off whatever one chooses to identify themselves with. And here comes the determinism again. What we identify ourselves as most often than not will come from the immediate family and household, and outside of that, our society. Almost everyone is shaped by their immediate and extended environment; even people who deviate from their society were shaped by it. Like Sam said in class, the right path is the middle one; to mesh both sides of the path, instead of choosing one or another. But that is so hard for someone to do. Almost everyone’s identity is shaped in one of the following ways: they grow in a certain environment and appreciate and accept the ways of the society; or they grow up in a society and completely reject everything the society has to throw at them. Where is the middle ground? In both scenarios, our paths were determined by our environment. I sound like a cynical realist but as I sit here and think more about it, this outcome seems more obvious.

But back to free will. Like I said before, most of our decisions are influenced by outside forces one way or another, and it seems that we really have no free will. But at the same time, we as intelligent humans are obviously going to first look at forces that will influence our decisions and the consequences that will come, and still make a decision, so I guess I believe that that’s what free will really is; the ability to take in all possible angles, factors, influences, and to make an unbiased decision.

There is no quick answer to this question. People identify themselves with so many different classifications, both broad and specific. From race to the type of toothpaste they use. All the characteristics that make up one individual are what make him/her so unique. Which classifications are more important than others? That’s up to the individual. To some people, their religion defines who they are and how they lead their lives. To others, religion is something they just happened to be born into, but it doesn’t mean much to them.
So how do I classify myself? Starting from the most general, I am a white human being. It’s interesting that even as I write that, I realize how stupid it sounds. The first thing that I classify myself as is the color of my skin. Why not the color of my eyes or my blood type? Long ago blacks were treated with inferiority just because they looked different than white people. Blacks were forced to the bottom rung of society. From there a distinct split erupted and racism was born. Today, we are a long way from there, but we haven’t gone far enough. There is still racism in our society today.
Aside from being white, I am a heterosexual, 20 year old male. Because I am a heterosexual, 20 year old male, people can make general assumptions about me that may or may not be true. It’s assumed that I am in college but looking for a job once I graduate, that I drink a lot while at school, that I have strong sexual desires, and maybe a few others. These assumptions are generally correct.
Now to get more specific. I come from an upper-middle class family from a Philadelphia suburb. I play ice hockey at Penn State. I am a Type 1 Diabetic. I am 6’1” and 200 lbs. I have blonde hair and blue eyes. These facts help to define the person that I am. From these facts people can get a very good picture of me. But there are deeper parts of everyone that you can’t from the facts. These are people’s beliefs, morals, and opinions. These define us just as much as the facts, if not more. Facts; however, sway these beliefs, morals, and opinions, in a very big way. For example, family has a giant influence on what one believes in. You are born into the environment in which you almost invariably obtain your values. Where you grow up also plays a major role in your beliefs. In some ways, your beliefs are determined by your environment more than anything else.So many things go into classifying oneself. From race to social standing to your hometown to your beliefs.

I absolutely believe in interracial relationships. Although I don’t date her anymore, I had a semi-serious relationship with a black girl in high school. For the most part, our friends and families accepted it with no problem, but some people never really got used to it. At first, this really bothered me. Some of my good friends refused to accept the fact that I was dating a black girl. These friends knew me well and trusted my judgment, yet they still had some problem with it. Eventually I just let it go and let them deal with it; in the end it was their problem, not mine. After a while I started to believe that these friends tried to be okay with it and wanted to be okay with it, but somehow couldn’t get past this invisible racial barrier. I think the reasons for that had to do with their upbringing in a mainly all white community. Also, my high school was private, with very few blacks, and all boys, so the atmosphere wasn’t exactly multi-racial, let alone bi-gendered. From birth a child’s environment starts to condition them. I lived in an environment where it was not unusual to have friends of a different race or religion. My hands; however, did not live in this environment. I am not making excuses for them, but I assign most of their inability to be more open-minded to other races to their closed environment as kids.
I attribute my genuine acceptance of all races to my parents. From birth, my parents have always raised me to be accepting of all races. My mom is Argentinean and my dad is German. I look like I am 100% German, but I am only about half. My mom and dad met while my dad was on a business trip in Brazil. He saw my mom on the street and asked her out on the spot. They have been together since. Both of them grew up in closed communities of their respective ethnicities. Fifty years ago, interracial relationships were not nearly as accepted as they are today. They fought through never-ending adversity from strangers, friends, and even family. During the first few years of their relationship and into their marriage, they struggled with the problems that came when people that they both cared about did not approve of their spouse. My mother’s family was much less accepting than my dad’s. I think a lot of that was because she left South America to come to Philadelphia; she left her family and her heritage behind. They coped with the struggle and still live happy lives together. My mom’s family comes to visit every few months and they have come to love my dad.