I never thought that suicide bombers emerged from the fight on terrorism. This concept came clear to me while reading the article, “More Cause and Effect in the War against Terrorists.” This passage had a story about U.S. military going into a village and killing five civilians in Paktia. Just reading these words about our military made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Rarely do you see such a tragic story told about our military in the news that has the grief falling towards the “terrorists.” I put terrorists in quotations because this is an extremely violent word to call someone and shouldn’t be thrown around so commonly when regarding a certain race. The article continues with quotes from the eighty year-old man who lost two sons, two daughters and a granddaughter in the attack. Here are a few lines that told reporters when asked about how he felt, "I have lost patience. I am obliged to revenge my martyrs. I will destroy everything I have and will launch my own suicide attack. My heart is burning." These words are aggressive and angry, but wouldn’t you be feeling the same way if five innocent members of your family were murdered? Stories like these make me wonder why countries wage war on each other while civilians ultimately suffer. They suffer not only from losing lives and family members, but economically as well. Wars hurt family life along with the economy. I hope that someday our world leaders will develop a plan to deal with confrontations among countries differently. War is seriously not the answer. War made the story about this eighty year-old man becoming a suicide bomber justified. I wrote the beginning of this blog before class on Tuesday and thought that it was one of the most interesting topics I ever blogged on. However, class on Tuesday was more interesting then terrorism. Sorry to change topics mid blog but I would really like to talk about a few things that were discussed in class. We had a guest speaker that was an old psu grad and cast member on survivor that recently just got back from Haiti. He told us a few facts that I would like to repeat to you now. 1) 9/11 was one of America’s greatest tragedies. Nearly 3 thousand people were killed in this horrible event. The earthquake in Haiti killed over 3 hundred thousand people (10 times the amount of 9/11). 2) 2.5 million people are no homeless because of the earthquake. These are unbelievable facts that should be made known to people around the world that can help. People in Haiti need our help and I encourage all of us to donate time and/or money in the effort to save this nation. In conclusion, I will apologize again for changing topics mid blog but I hope you all learned something from what I wrote and I made you THINK.

I do not believe that men try to conform to the norms of society like women do. One big example of this would be makeup. I believe that men would always buy and apply make up if they were trying to look their best all the time. Makeup gives women confidence to cover parts of their skin (usually their face) with a different shade then its original color. Women spend hundreds of dollars a year on items like lip stick, eye liner and blush to make their face seem more clear and desirable. If men spent the time and effort to make their skin look like a woman, they I would say men are trying to confirm to society as much as women. Another example would be how women are known for shopping all the time. They are shopping to buy the newest trends and stay in fashion. I do not believe that nearly half the men in this world try to perfect their figure like women do by breast implants, shopping and makeup. These are just a few reasons why men do less to conform to the norms of society. When it comes to physical shape, men and women are pretty close in their wants for perfection. A lot of men and women I know spend hours in the gym a week to make their bodies look slim and healthy. It would be tough to determine which sex works harder at keeping their bodies fit. One way in which women try to keep their bodies fit over men is diets. I am not saying that all women eat better then men but I would say that it is pretty close. None of my friends really watch what they eat while mostly all women I know watch what they eat at breakfast, lunch and dinner. A big part of the reason why women watch what they eat more than men do is because of biology. Men, on average, weigh more than women, this means that they are able to consume more food and drink with less affect on their bodies. Same thing happens when men are drinking with women. Since men weigh more, they are able to have more drinks in a night with less affect to their bodies. This is something that all women need to know since trying to keep up with men while drinking can lead to harm to their minds and bodies. Everybody’s body is different. Some people can eat pizza all day and gain no weight, while others have one slice a week and blow up like a balloon. Science has a large part to do with the pressures women feel to conform. I believe that both men and women try hard to fit into the norms of society but women have more pressure to do so.

I did not change my opinion about race because of Sam's lectures. However, I do agree with many things that Sam has said. One of my favorite lines that Sam said the first day of class was how he doesn't want to convince us to think the same way he does, he only wants us to THINK. Yepp that’s all he wants us to do. It sounds dumb and certainly a little crazy but I respect him for that. I go to a lot of classes and walk out of a boring lecture not learning anything, not because the professor didn't know what he was talking about, but he wasn't interesting enough. I do not have ADD or anything like that, but sometimes it is impossible to stay awake during a boring hour and a half lecture. I understand that not all professors can teach like Sam, since his subject isn't as dry as math or economics. This is one reason why so many people decide to take this class and fill 100 Thomas every Tuesday and Thursday to learn new interesting facts from his slides. I respect the fact that he has been all over the world and that makes him able to relate to so many different people. I have never gotten offended by anything that Sam has said because he doesn't attack one race, he attacks all of them. And when I mean attack, I mean he calls people out sometimes for the way they do things. A few examples would be how he talks about white, brown and black people, also red necks and rich and poor people. I believe that if you have an open mind and can take criticism, you are able to get along with more people and clash less with other races and sexes. The main thing that I have taken out of this class so far is being more accepting. I learned that all people are different and it doesn't make sense to judge/classify people based on their religion, sex, culture or race. I want to make more friends that have different backgrounds than myself. I believe that this will allow me to learn how to deal with different situations and keep me open minded. Sam said that we associate with people that are like us because it makes us feel comfortable. An example of this would be how we are similar to our parents because they are the ones who raised us. Looking back at all the friends that I have made over my lifetime, I would have to agree with Sam that they are similar to me. Yes they all like the same things I enjoy doing that is why we are friends. But I believe that it is important to make friends with people from different backgrounds so you don’t have to worry about being closed minded.

I was shocked to find out that most children (black or white) decided to play with the light colored skin baby. I do not know much about the study they conducted, as in research and development, but I was certainly surprised by the outcome. After I saw this video, I tried to explain to myself why something like this would happen. Doesn't it make sense for the light skinned kids to play with light skinned babies and dark skinned kids play with dark skinned babies? I believe that one major reason for the results of this experiment to end like they did is social profiling. Yes, these kids are very young and shouldn't be basing their decisions on social norms, but I believe that they are. These social norms are brought to the children's attention through television and family members. Through these media sources, children build the picture in their mind that white is good and black is bad. This is proved through this experiment. If we like to admit it or not, this study shows the sad reality of how children believe white is good. Now I would like to talk about my small sociology class that meets every Thursday. A few weeks ago, we talked about how when you are growing up your parents are your role models. You see whom they like, what they like and how they act. Most children start to hold the same views as their parents while growing up. Slowly, over time a lot of children tend to pick up their own way of doing things but their roots will always be linked back to their parents. One black kid in my class admitted to his mom warning him that you can’t trust white people and that they are always out to get him. I was amazed to hear this at the time but now it all kind of makes sense to me. Just like my parents warned me about dangerous people, his mom warned him about people that hurt her in the past. This cannot be linked back to why children decided to play with the light skin doll. The reason why these results came about would have to be on media outlets like television. Many television shows have white characters and perceive them as ideal people. I do not have the exact statistic but I read recently that white people play around 75 percent of lead roles on television. This does not show a good balance in the public eye and is certainly one reason why children decide to go with the light colored skin doll most of the time. I will leave this post like I leave most of the posts this semester with a question. What can we do to form more of a balance when we talk about social profiling?

Reading this article made me very mad. I do not understand why people march around Washington D.C. with signs like these. Most of them are offensive and over shadow the message that the person holding it is trying to express. Do these people know that this is a public place with children on buses going to school and walking by with their families? Yes I understand that we all have the right to freedom of speech but I believe that this is crossing the line. If I was in Washington D.C. I would go up to someone with one of these signs and ask them what they are accomplishing by waving these offensive signs. And I would also like to ask what have people with signs of that nature ever accomplished in legislation in the government of the United States. I believe that we all should express our right to freedom of speech because it is one of the most important rights that we have as lucky Americans. And when I say that we are lucky Americans, it is because we are so lucky to live in this great country with all these rights that we sometimes take for granted. I think that we all need to realize how fortunate we are to be able to speak out against our government and be heard. But I do not believe that these people in the pictures are expressing their feelings in the proper way. I do not think people should go to such extreme methods to express their opinions in an area like D.C. where very important Senators and Congress members need to lead out country. One person has a sign with Obama’s head coming out of a donkey’s ass. I do not see how someone with such a strong political view could carry these signs around in public and not care about children that will be offended. If people want to make a difference in their country they need to start by example. Partying around with offensive signs does not seem to be the right way to get what you want. In America, the best way is to contact your local representatives and eventually move up the chain and be heard. Now, I know this can take years for something like this to happen and be affective, but we need to understand that America is deeply rooted in tradition and it is tough to change tradition. Government is the way to change America because you cannot change anything from the outside, only within. And because of this way doing this, some people have clear advantages in running this great country but not everyone that helps run America is from wealthy backgrounds. In America you can work hard to get far, that is why I love living here.

I think my friend Mike has a great point here. I realized the same thing. I do not understand why this happens. Sam hits on this topic all the time in class by saying when we all sit down at the race table, white people are always waiting for others to speak first. This is because we do not want to be labeled racist. I want to start off by saying that everyone that I know (including myself) is a little racist. I believe that there is no way that someone can be brought up in the society we live in today and not have a little racism nurtured into them in some way. This is a sad thing for me to say but I am a realist. I understand how the world operates and how not everyone is the same. Because of this, we must all learn how to accept criticism from people of a different culture. That is the most important thing that I have learned this year. I have become more accepting in the past few months then I have been my whole life. It doesn't make sense to me why this happened in class because it is completely a double standard. I think that people still believe they deserve the right to make these comments for what happened almost 200 hundred years ago. I do not think its right for people to still hold on to the harshness of slavery while it doesn’t happen in our country anymore. And when I say it doesn’t happen in our country anymore I mean the south, you know with fieldwork and things of that nature. I know how tragic this event was in American History but I do not understand what it has to do with today at the race table. It is difficult to express my opinions as a white male without sounding sexist or racist to at least one person in the world. That is why I like to admit that everyone is a bit racist and we should all tell each other how we feel so everything is out in the open and no one has to worry about hurting feelings. A big part of this problem has to do with acceptance. If people can accept that they themselves are different along with everyone else that they meet, people wouldn’t clash over race like they do today. This would make a perfect world haha not to be cheesy but can’t we all just get along? I like meeting different people because different is interesting. If we were all the same, life would be boring and nothing would ever excite us. I try to stay good friends with my old buddies but I am always open to new and different friends because you can never have to many friends.

I would love to interview a slave owner and ask them how they feel about what former slaves are doing in our society today. I know that this is impossible to do because slavery ended over a hundred and fifty years ago in this country but it is an interesting thing to think about. The amount of money and power that black people have been able achieve in this short time is defiantly a success story even though there are still black families living in poverty all over the United States. I think that affirmative action has helped a countless number of young black people rise in their social class by attending college and becoming vital parts of our society. This is true for all races that have been enslaved or persecuted in the past. Affirmative action may not of help the rappers on MTV but it did help young black students achieve a higher level education. Some of the music videos you see on MTV would certainly alarm former slave owners if they ever had the chance to see them. I seriously could not even guess what they would say if they were able to see the success some individual black people have been able to achieve. It is a good thing for our society to become more balanced and give everyone an equal opportunity. This is what our founding fathers wrote in the Declaration of Independence and it is our duty as citizens of this great country to enforce these equal rights. I feel that it is defiantly a good sign to see other social classes rise in power so that not one race will rule all. If only one race had the final say in all matters, we would regressing to darker parts of our human history and something like WWII could possibly occur again. If we do not learn from our mistakes in history, it could all happen again. We need to realize that different races have been through different persecutions and we must accept them as they are. We must not try to conform to one group of people or assimilate because that means we are forgetting who we truly are. Sorry to get off topic again but I love writing this blog. Now, the videos on MTV would certainly not be accepted two hundred years ago and that is a fact. It is our turn now to accept these advances in racial status and be accepting because no one is perfect and we should see each other as equals. If we can believe that we are all humans living on the same earth, we should all have equal rights and treat each other like we would want to be treated.

Yvrose is a very unique woman. She only has a fifth grade degree but can understand difficult economic principles to make a living. I agree that with all that she was given, she has done pretty well for herself. The one thing that is not highlighted in this passage is her motivation. Not only does she understand the economic concepts that allow her to make profit off loans but she also takes the bus to get the products and delivers them to the distributors herself. This takes a lot of courage and self-motivation for a poor woman to make a living this way. She has figured out a way to use her sharp thinking skills along with her dedication to capitalize on this market. It is hard to imagine what a woman with this drive could accomplish given the right opportunities. One question I have regarding this passage is what happened between Yvrose and the bank? Why didn’t the high profile economic analysts from the Haiti government help her? There should be laws governing debts that occur from natural disasters. I doubt that she would be able to fight off a bank in the courtroom because she has no money to hire a lawyer. Does this mean she is going to jail because she is a very hard worker that had the misfortune of a tragic earthquake kill her clients and distributors? I believe that we as penn state students can learn a lot from the drive and motivation that Yvrose exhibits by participating in these business transactions. We need to stop taking everything we have for granted and understand how truly lucky we are that we have the opportunity for a penn state education. Hearing stories like these keep us humble though. I thank Sam for working hard to make us think about our lives. We need to compare our lives to everyone in the world, not just in America. People forget that not everyone in the world has running water and not everyone has a meal to eat everyday. Once we think of the world this way, nothing will be taken for granted. People will realize how truly lucky they are. As for what Sam said about people only getting hired to “fill” the position, I would be lying if I said I wasn’t offended by this statement. I am a finance major and work very hard to get ahead in life. Last year I ran my own painting business and grossed revenue of nearly 50k. Now, because I am a PSU student it does allow me to network more than a poor older woman from Haiti, but I should not be called out for it. I believe we all are here for a purpose and anyone can throw away what is given to them if they lack the drive and motivation to make something of themselves.

I agree with Sam that this has been the best class so far this semester. First, I'll let you know that I am now friends with a few homosexual males. My sister goes to a musical theater school in Boston and over ninety percent of the males enrolled in her school are gay. When I visit her from time to time, it is definitely a different experience for me. None of my close friends at home or at school are gay (well none of them are open about it if they are). So engaging in regular activities such as going to a movie or a bar with her friends in Boston at first was hard for me, then I realized how I was the one making the situation uneasy. Just because they are attracted to guys doesn't mean they want every guy they see. I also realized they come off as more friendly and understanding, which I don't see as a bad thing at all. Enough with me, back to the lecture. One part of the lecture that really stuck out at me was that being homosexual is not a choice. I liked when Sam asked if we believed that people really thought “hey, I want to become part of a hated group and be scared of people beating me up all the time.” This makes complete sense to me. Why would someone want to become part of a despised group? I never thought of the struggle that people go through hiding their homosexuality. When he told us the story of his friend finding out she was really a guy got me thinking. How common is this occurrence? I feel like this could happen to anyone. It’s not their fault that this happens. How can you explain this happening in the animal kingdom as well? Do you think that monkeys decide to do this or it is in their biological make-up? If it’s found all across nature, why isn’t it more accepted in our society? I learned more in this lecture than any other this semester. My favorite part was the cartoon saying how marriage is only for people who had sex once or want money from the other partner. This is very true. The idea of marriage has changed dramatically over the years and I feel like if someone loves each other they should be given the same rights as anybody else. Gay marriages should be able to adopt children because they are capable of giving orphan children a loving and caring family. They can support children just as well as straight couples and I think it is horrible when people believe their kids are unsafe because they are around a homosexual. These people are not murders! They only love a different way!

I have never been the one to talk politics all day; however, it is easy to comment on welfare and who receives it because everyone talks about it. These people are lazy and need to get jobs. I cannot say that I am totally against that comment but I know that there are some circumstances that people cannot help. It is "out of their control". But I would not label everyone that receives welfare the same thing because everyone has his or her own story. I would never of thought that an elected official would call these people "animals". Yes, we are all mammals, but this is not what he meant. He wanted to hurt the people who receive welfare and turn other officials away from the idea so the program could lose support. Everyone in the world thinks things sometimes that they shouldn't say. This is the case with this elected official. Sam makes a good point with Obama's lavish tax cuts to the big corporations and their friends. Why isn't this called welfare, or even better why aren't these people that receive this special treatment called "animals" in public. Everyone should have a voice, and those with a bigger voice than others should not use it to abuse others. Just like it is unfair to bring a gun to a knife fight, it is unfair to blast a group of people by national coverage while everyone has their own story. I would love to see what these people have to say to this official. His comment was uncalled for and really reflects on him as an individual. Didn’t anyone every tell him while he is in public office he is representing these people and should not use his power to bash them while the same thing is going on by our own president at a much larger scale. I would like to ask him what he wanted to accomplish with his comment and if he thinks it made his argument stronger by bashing these people. If everyone spent his or her time bashing the government, we would never have growth economically and nationally. We need to unite as a country and help support each other because we are all brothers and sisters and just like Sam would say, “We are all going to die someday.” This was a sad article to read because in this class I learned many new things about how people are just people and we need to give up the racist act. We should be thankful for all we have and try to help the less fortunate anytime possible. The government and elected officials should focus on the larger problem here in America, education and starvation. We must educate these people and help them receive the support they need as citizens of this great country of opportunity.