I actually enjoyed the video very much and it was enlightening. At first, I wasn't sure what the play was about and I thought it was a little strange until I grasped the message it was conveying. It is crazy how so many women in this world want to change the way they look and want to look "better". It seems lately that people are so obsessed with image and I think it is mainly because of media. We are so obsessed with eating healthy and working out to have the best body. My mom said to me that years ago people didn't just go to the gym every day like we do now. It has become an obsession and I cannot say that I am not included. I'm sure that almost all of the people in class think about the way they look and wish that they could change something about themselves. This play made me think, whether it is about breast implantation or weight, we are all competing to look better. I was shocked by some of the responses that followed the play. I was glad that people were being honest and telling their own stories relating to the play. Many people discussed whether girls dress to impress women or to impress men. This was one thing that I wasn't sure that I agreed with some comments. I definitely think it depends on the person. Some women may dress to make men stare or to get compliments from other women. It depends on the person and it may be a little bit of both. Many people seemed very sure that it was one or the other but we cannot be sure about this topic. It was also quite interesting that it was not just women talking, but also men. They had some things to say about the topic because in the whole perspective, the play was about egocentrism, not just about getting a breast reduction. Many people talked about what they thought about the video and it definitely sparked a lot of conversation and I enjoyed that very much. I like to hear what other people have to say about the topics that we discuss in class. I think that this topic definitely has some controversial issues along with it and it is very personal, which is why it surprised me that people talked about their own personal issues. Many people think that they are the only ones that wished they looked different and this is why I thought it was so great that people opened up a lot on this topic. Hopefully we will have more classes like this in the few classes that we have left in the semester.

I agree with some aspects of this argument. Medical school is competitive enough as it is, but there are many instances that affirmative action and definitely nepotism play a role. In applying to medical school, if you get a friend who is a well-known doctor that is an alumni from the school to write your recommendation, you are set. You may most likely get in over students who are more qualified but didn’t have a good known person write their recommendation. But my philosophy is, it doesn’t really matter how to get in, just as long as you prove yourself. If I get a really good job on wallstreet because of who I know, who cares? Networking is half of it. Many people think that nepotism is such a bad thing, but first of all there is no way to really stop it, and second, many people who say they oppose, actually benefit from it.
In my classes, for my major especially, I go up to the professor and introduce myself in the very first week of classes so they know my name. Even in classes in as big as Forum because I want to be able to come up to them in the future whether it is to write a recommendation, or help me find a job. I network with everyone I know and try to gain opportunities. And is there anything wrong with that? No. I am most likely working for my dad’s company this summer and of course my dad is getting me the job. But when I am there I will be proving that I am the right pick and that I am qualified. We are never going to get rid of nepotism, and honestly, I don’t want it to go away. Half of the people who work on wallstreet got those jobs because they know someone. Good for them. The obviously are qualified if they were able to network. And if they were actually an awful pick and are incompetent, they would have been fired.
Many people seemed upset about this subject in class and think it is unfair that nepotism exists. Well those people probably don’t have connections, because if they did they wouldn’t be complaining about it. If their dad was the CEO of Goldman Sachs, I think that they would have a very different opinion on the subject. Maybe those people should start networking and reconsider their viewpoint. It’s obviously not going to go away so people need to be able to accept that under qualified individuals may get the job instead of you. It sucks but that is how the workforce runs. And for all of those people who feel almost guilty for getting the job because you know that you don’t “deserve” it. Just prove yourself and let people know that you fit in and can do just as good of a job as the next guy.

I don't know why so many people seemed surprised by the outcomes of the kids in the video. Most of them chose the white doll because white dolls are more popular. If you go to a toy store and go to the doll section, you will see shelves upon shelves of white dolls. And maybe if you look close enough, you will see a few black dolls. When you see something familiar it is reassuring and may appear to be the "nice" doll. If there were more black dolls being sold, maybe more children would choose the black dolls. Of course it was a little upsetting seeing the children pick the "bad" doll. Some of the children's faces were very distraught as they told the facilitator that the black doll was the "bad" doll. I would like to see this same test done with white children. I think we would see the same results and maybe even more children would choose the white dolls. It would be interesting to compare the two experiments. I don't think that this experiment would change if it were done today because there are definitely more white dolls on the market. It was interesting how some students in class of color said that they wanted white dolls growing up. They said that the colored dolls did not look right and they looked a little odd. It is not because they think that those dolls are "bad" dolls, they just preferred the way the white dolls look. Maybe these companies should reconsider the look of their colored dolls and make them look just as nice as the white dolls.
I wonder if colored children who owned white dolls would have had a different view on racism than if they had a black doll. Maybe they would be more comfortable being around whites and would not feel like there are racist issues. Maybe by being around their white dolls all the time, they would not feel uncomfortable being around white people. I think that this would be the same for white people and virtually any other race. If white people owned black dolls, they probably would feel better and more comfortable with black people and other races. Maybe the children that owned a doll of another race moved through the stages we discussed in class quicker than children who didn’t. For example, when you are around a certain person very often, you become more comfortable with them.
I would be very curious to see if this would hold true in an experiment. If children were given dolls of another race at as young age, and then later see their responses to racism issues. Hopefully someone will do an experiment similar to this soon.

Sam really should focus on other races that just whites and blacks. He says "brown people" but he doesn't really get into any discussion about them. I think he has driven the points about whites and blacks way too much and I think it would be great to focus on other people. For the questions that you posed about Asians, I think sometimes it is easy and sometimes hard to distinguish Asians vs. Asian Americans. It is sometimes obvious when you are having a conversation with an Asian person because you can hear an accent. Also, it seems as if Asian Americans dress more "American" and have a similar American style. This is not just for Asians, but for any race that is "blank"-American. I think that these people follow the norms and styles of typical Americans because they are American!
I could be completely wrong and actually not be able to distinguish between the two. It is probably harder than I think. This is like how in the very beginning of the semester Sam asked someone to pick out the races of many students and it was almost impossible to do. I think it would also be hard to distinguish between Asian and Asian American. I think it would be very hard especially if you were just to do it by looking at someone. I think that this topic should be brought up in class because race relations is not just about blacks and whites, it is about all races. It is even hard to distinguish where in Asia a person is from and I know I have had a hard time figuring that out. We should definitely explore more on the subject in class.
This is also similar to determining what origins people are from. With many people you can tell "Well he is definitely Irish", but with many people it is hard to tell and many times you would never know unless you were to ask. I am Italian and I’m pretty sure that I look Italian and people never have a problem figuring that out. But, many of my friends are hard to figure out what origin they are from. This shows that origin, color, race, and sometimes, even gender is hard to determine unless you ask.
Sometimes I feel uncomfortable addressing where a person is from because I do not want to offend them. If I called someone Japanese and they ended up being from some other area of Asia, I would feel very bad and very uncomfortable. I would be somewhat offended if someone did the same thing to me. Many times it is very hard to distinguish this but only because we are obviously not around that race of people a lot and that definitely makes it harder. If you are not around white people a lot, you may think that all white people look the same, and that goes for all races.

I definitely saw this in class also. I think the reason that there was an uproar with colored people when something negative was said was because many people can still not get over racism. Not to be offensive but I feel like colored people are always trying to find an excuse and always think comments are racist. Even if no one is trying to be offensive, they find a way to make it seem like it was. I don't know how we will ever be on equal ground unless everyone can be open and willing to let things go. If not, we will not see improvements. And this is for whites also, we are not innocent. We need to brush things off too because most of the time people are not being racist.
Also, I noticed that the first class that we used to text board, when whites were supposed to respond, there were a lot of jokes and inappropriate comments. Of course many of them were funny, some were a little offensive. Many people were commenting that these people who were posting them were very immature and should be more serious. When black people were told to comment it seemed as if they were more serious and less offensive. I saw quite the opposite in class this Tuesday. When blacks were told to respond, there seemed to be many inappropriate comments and many stereotypes about whites. Some of them included UGGS and rich and stuck-up. I am white and I wasn't really that offended about this or anything. But I wonder do they really think these things? Do some of these people truly believe these things? So when you think of what it means to be white it means you wear UGGS and are stuck-up. I don't think that these are things to base people upon and I think that these people are immature if they truly believe this.
I do really enjoy the text board because when people are being serious, it does give some insight. It also provides some humor to break up the long class period. I hope that we use it often to be able to see what other students are thinking, especially about some very serious topics. I do fear that someone could write something very offensive and it would be a major problem. Hopefully Sam does not take this great opportunity away from us from people behaving inappropriately. Some of the comments definitely stir up a lot of emotions but I think that many students have got it out of their system and will hopefully answer according to the question. I think Sam should write some more controversial questions so we can get a better insight on things from other racial groups.

I guess because I do not watch the bachelor I never really noticed this. But it is a very interesting thing to consider. Most people are attracted to their own race. This is not the case all the time, but for the majority it is. Maybe that is the reason why there are all white. I feel like if they added more of a diverse group, it would just be to do that. It would be obvious that the producer were trying too hard to be diverse. Now that I think about it, many other shows are not diverse at all. Many people have made many comments about how there were hardly any black people on Seinfeld. I can only really think of one character. Although this show was from long ago, it still holds true today. But would it have been strange if all of a sudden black people were put on the show in an effort to make it more diverse?
Another show that does not have much diversity is a show like Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns. Almost all of the characters are black and the show is targeting a black audience. It is not just all white shows. I do not think that this is a bad thing because we have similarities with our same colors. I do not really enjoy watching BET and it is focused towards blacks. There are also channels and shows focused primarily towards whites because we might share the same preferences for shows.
As we have stated in class, many people tend to hang out with people of the same color. In shows this is pretty much the same also. It would be kind of strange if in all shows there was a white guy, a black guy, Asian, Indian, and Native American guy all hanging out together. It isn't the norm and producers know that. Of course people are friends with people of other colors! But typically it's all one color hanging out with one another. I wonder if the producers of the bachelor will consider that the show is not diverse at all. I bet we will see the addition of Asian and blacks on the show. The somewhat reminds me of in America's Next Top Model, there are always one or two plus-size models. I think that they are there to diversify the group and to keep people happy. In most cases, those women won't win the competition and the producers know that ahead of time. It is strange how perceptions really make a difference in shows and people pay attention to things like this. I know now I will look more closely at shows and see if they are diverse at all.

I think that with this question, it is a combination of both factors: Money and the color of your skin. Obviously if on average whites have more money, they are going to get a better lawyer. And as guilty as you may be, your lawyer is there to save you and make you appear innocent. If you can't afford a good lawyer, in most cases, you are screwed. Many people who can't afford a lawyer are given one. That lawyer is most likely not as recognized and as experienced.
With the question of whether or not a judge views the case and sees a black man for example, and declares he is guilty. I don't think that the decision is based solely on the color of his skin, but it definitely is a factor in the process. If he is on the verge of declaring whether he is guilty or innocent, he may lean towards guilty if the judge is a white male. White supremacy never disappeared and I don't know that it ever will. I think that there are many flaws with the judicial system and I think they lie within the subconscious minds of judges and juries. Many people may say that they believe in equality and do not consider themselves racist, but when they are in front of a trial of a black man accused of murder, they can't help but think that he is guilty. We wish it weren't this way, but it's partly out of our control. Will this faulty judicial system ever been fixed, or at the least improved?
As long as racism and white supremacy exist, the system will have major issues. There are ideas of how it can be fixed. Add more of a diverse courtroom, more black and hispanic judges. But then isn't that reverse discrimination? There is no easy solution to this issue. There is no easy solution, yet it is a huge problem. Consider two men on trial for the exact same case, murder. They both had the same criminal background and the same amount of evidence. Basically everything is the same except for one thing: The white man is extremely wealthy and can afford a very good lawyer, while the black man is assigned to a lawyer because he can't afford one. The white man wears a very nice, expensive suit, whereas the black man doesn't look very professional. How does this case turn out? Well I can't say, but for one, the white man has the advantage and is more likely to be found not guilty than the black man is. This is just the way that things are and it is awful, I hope that eventually one day the court system will be less faulty and based more on fairness and equality.

So as I am skimming through these blogs trying to find one that interests me, I see a semi-real looking woman staring at me with creepy eyes. I was drawn. Sure, it's definitely a little odd that there is basically a "woman" you can buy, and at the convenient price of $7000. As sketchy and grimy as it sounds, this technology is a very good thing. It was mentioned in the article that the market for Roxxxy is older, shy men. Well this is great for them! All those men (or women) who are lonely and want some form of companionship can now get it if they can afford it. With technology increasing every second, the opportunities and creations are limitless.
I can say that I would never buy this product, but for some, placing their order was probably a very happy moment for them. In a few months, they will have someone to be with. If this person is not genetically "real", who cares? Everyone needs someone, and if that someone is Roxxxy, then so be it. You should always do the things that make you happy in life. The numbers of people wanting Roxxxy is astounding! 4000 orders have already been placed, and 20,000 people inquiring about the product. I never thought that this form of artificial intelligence would be used in this way, but it is creating and changing an entire market. These consumers are obviously willing to spend their money for this product and I believe this will not be the last we hear about Roxxxy and possibly some of her "potential friends".
The fact that she can communicate with you makes the experience seem more personable and less like a simple doll. She can make you feel welcoming and happy. Many people would probably find this doll to be nothing more than disgusting and perverted, but as a woman, I think very differently. If a man wants to purchase Roxxxy, go ahead! Enjoy yourself and feel comfortable with a woman for a chance if you happen to be shy or not very "good" with women. Technology is breaking through for many people and it is a good thing. And so what if she’s not real and you have to charge her every three hours? She “understands” what you are saying and can take away the lonliness that many people are experiencing.
I hope that this product doesn’t get bad publicity or a bad reputation, because I think many people do not think far enough into it to really get a grasp on why these people are purchasing this doll. Even myself when I first starting reading the article thought “Why do people spend this amount of money on a plastic doll?”, but it is much more than that and can add a lot of meaning to someone’s life.

This is a crazy thing to have happen and I never really considered or thought about this topic. How is it that a language disappears? The way in which people communicate is gone. What if one day English was wiped out? No one knows this "foreign" and distant language. No one would be able to decipher my words that I am typing right now. It is very interesting to dissect and think about. Although it may seem very extreme that English could be wiped out, it is still something to consider. Imagine the last person who speaks the language. No one else is alive to speak to. There is a barrier between you and the entire rest of the world. No one can understand the words that come out of your mouth. No one knows what you are talking about and they think you are just confused. But there is something you have to say, but really you can't. You can speak all you want, but it will mean nothing to everyone else.
Imagine what this person was thinking before their death, not being able to get their last words out they way they wanted to. Or maybe they did, just no one really knows. You want your last words to get out and say what you always wanted to, but it really doesn't matter. And then they die. it's done. The language is gone. In a matter of seconds, a language dies. It will never ever exist again in this universe and that last person won't be remembered either (unless there is a youtube video about it!). Even if a language is derived from that past one, it won't ever be the same. Everything will essentially be different: the wording, the dialect, even the tone. There cannot be a replica and the language has died when the speaker has died. It is so sad that something that was your life, the words you spoke to tell someone you love them. Those words do not exist anymore. Imagine how those people of this language would feel if someone told them that in a matter of years, their language would not exist. That would be very unsettling knowing that once you are gone, nothing connects you to the world anymore. Even the words you spoke are gone and no one to continue the language.
I am imagining that I am the last speaker of English. There is no one to speak to. No one that understands what I am saying. No one would take me seriously and the barrier would take away any of the power that I had. Once I left, my past and my culture practically did too. There is no one left to carry it on, I was the last. Something no one would ever want to happen, but it is still interesting to dabble with the thought of this absurdity.

I was very interested while reading what Brooks had to say and I agree with some parts and disagree with others. I did see the film Avatar, and like many people, I absolutely loved it. I think that points Brooks made were true and I would never have thought of them on my own. He said the white messiah had to come in and help the civilization and he ultimately gained more strength and power than they had. He reigned supreme in the civilization. He could do things that no one else could. As I can see where Brooks is coming from saying that this is somewhat typical of movies, it's not the same circumstances. This "white messiah" is helping this civilization to fight against his own. He feels passion towards then and truly wants to help. And the fact that he is white actually doesn't matter in the film because his avatar is of the people in the civilization. He also eventually stays with his avatar and stays in the civilization and in turn is not longer white anyway.
I continually thought back though the movie when I read the article and it is very fascinating. It is interesting to see how he gained so much within this civilization. Is it stereotypical because he is white? I don't know. But in my opinion, James Cameron was not remotely thinking about white supremacy when he wrote this film. It does reflect upon the world we all live in. White people seem to gain achievement and power more easily than any other race. It is interesting how a movie about avatars in a made up planet light-years away from Earth reflects the same things we see in real life in this country. I definitely want to watch the movie again with these thoughts in mind and see if I view the movie differently or not and if I see more of a connection to the article by Brooks.
We see this theme in many other movies and we read about it in books. Brooks stated a few examples of this. We also see "white messiahs" in everyday life. Will this theme ever disappear? Certainly not anytime soon. Even though it is not obvious, like in Avatar, we see this everywhere we go. It's not a matter of racism it is just a matter of the times. If the "white messiah" had been a "black messiah", I really don't think the movie would have changed for me. It still would have been a human going to a different planet and helping a civilization fight one of his own. A black man would be no different than a white man. I wonder what Brooks would say about that.