If we were offered a job at a restaurant where we could be paid minimum wage of 7 something and have taxes taken out (which is already an extremely low amount) or just be paid minimum wage and not have anything taken out and just be paid cash under the table at the end of the day I am pretty sure I know where everyone would choose to work. That is why at restaurants people take the serving shift because they get paid cash tips which don’t get taxed at all. Plus instead of worrying about these immigrants not paying their taxes why don’t we focus on the mega corporations and the crooks on wall street that tend to get away with making millions upon billions and have paid little to none on taxes. Overall immigrants have a bad name and portrayal but as Americans we should be able to see them as just another person who is trying to get the positive resources for them and their family.

They are helping stimulate our economy and people are complaining about it. The American Dream is all about coming to America with a chance to pursue happiness with the hard work that you put in to it. Why are these people not allowed to pursue that same dream that we have the opportunity to pursue? I mean a lot of people are forgetting that they are here only because their former relatives were also immigrants to this country. I mean this whole country was founded on immigration and we ARE the melting pot society are we not? Also another thing people say about illegal immigrants is that they come here and don’t pay taxes because obviously they are under the radar. But how many of us college students jump on the opportunity of a job that pays us under the table and we don’t have to pay any taxes at all as well?

This is a pretty interesting question. Why do people hate immigrants? I feel like a lot of the hatred has to do with stereotypes. Most people do not believe in stereotypes to the full extent but they do believe that they has some truth in them otherwise they would not have been made up right? I do not know if I have an answer to that but I feel like people are just ignorant towards other people and their cultures. I feel like in the present day there is a lot of prejudice against people of Mexico. The whole ordeal with them is that people are saying that they take all they are taking all the jobs away from the Americans who in this economy can’t even find a job themselves. Well the jobs that these people are doing are jobs that most Americans would not do even if they were offered the job. Especially with the lower wages that these people get offered. Also, I do not know why it is such a problem when all these people are doing with the money is spilling it back in to our own economy.

Yesterday we talked about nepotism which is when you are someone else benefits from the fact that you are related to or know somebody. I guess it is a good thing and a bad thing in the long run. For one, I think that it is a good thing when I am benefitting from it obviously. When you apply for a school or a university the school asks you if you have had a sibling or a parent that has previously attended the university. Of course right then and there they are not going to tell you that you have a better chance of getting in to the university if you do have a relative in the school previously. I think that it’s kind of cliquey that it matters who you know that will gain you success in life. If you were to be in a fraternity that is a huge leg up if the person who is interviewing you is or was also in the same fraternity or a brother chapter from another school. Just for the simple fact that they were in the same fraternity together. If someone were to live off of the skills of communications with others (which I am not saying is a great skill to have because overall business is a people oriented thing) then they would lack in other areas of education. Also, if people were to just do what they could get by connections then they would not end up pursuing things that they would actually love to do with their life just because they could easily be accepted into something else more easily because they have that connection. Like for example, if someone wanted to pursue being an artist but had a father who had a huge paper company firm, and the father happened to pass the responsibility of this paper firm down on to his daughter then I’m sure she would be obligated to take this just because it was her father’s legacy and just because it’s a lot easier option. And who knows, maybe that girl could have made a huge impact on the art community and she could have even created the most inspiring art pieces of her time but because of nepotism we would never know. Also, I feel that it is very unfair for people who just happen to know someone to just get a leg up on a job because they know them. The corporation or person who is hiring people would have just hired someone that is a lot less capable and eligible for the job at hand but offered it to someone just because they have a past relationship or a connection in the past that has something to do with theirs.

After middle school I kind of drifted away from my Korean friends and started hanging out with a lot more kids from school instead which were mostly white. That’s when I started getting into drinking and partying and I must say my white friends made it a lot more fun. My parents are very open minded people and I think that’s why I never made it a big deal to open up to people of all other races. I made friends with mostly everyone at school no matter what color. If I don’t like you it is because I don’t like the person you are or something you have done. But back to what the kid in the video is saying, I don’t think that it is odd or out of the ordinary that you would want to help someone of your own community or ethnicity. I mean you would want to help someone that is just apart of something that you are as well because you have that thing in common.

It does not even have to do with skin color but it has to do with a lot more than that. Like I feel like the similarities between cultures is a huge factor in feeling comfortable with another person. You eat the same foods, are familiar with all the holidays and or rituals that are associated with the culture, language obviously, etc. For me personally, I’ve lived in a predominantly white community near Philadelphia but when I was a kid I used to attend this Korean church where I made a lot of Korean friends there. When I was in middle school all I did was hang out with my Korean friends when I had free time over the weekend or when I could during the week. I had a lot of friends at my school that were not Korean but I feel like I just felt more comfortable with them but I don’t know why.

I feel like I declare myself as somewhat of a humanitarian. I feel like every stage is important for people so that they go through the change and become more accepting of other people of different races. If someone were to live in a very secluded area where it is just predominantly people of their own race I feel like they just would not know what exactly to think of people of different races. All those people would know is what they hear around them and would just base facts about other people on word of mouth from their community. I mean I think it is completely natural for people to be comfortable with people of their own race and ethnicity. It is just a huge common trait that people can relate to very well with each other.

I feel like most Americans including myself, just don’t really know how bad it is in other countries. I mean I feel like its my responsibility to seek out what is going on around the world but there is way too much information and news that goes on that there is no way for me to know everything. I do feel like I try to make an effort, like the chocolate thing, if I were to actually remember that is happening at that moment I would probably go for they slave free chocolate.

We have so much extra money that we just use on alcohol just to get drunk for a night. It’s really crazy if you think about it. Also the fact that slavery is still going on is so sad. Slavery would never be allowed in the United States ever again, the government would take action on anyone that owned slaves these days. What I don’t understand is that if this chocolate slavery issue has been going on for a while I don’t understand why someone doesn’t stop it. Do these people not have families? Are people not looking for these people? As much as it would bring more violence why doesn’t a group of people around that area rebel against that and take action to free those people. I couldn’t imagine having to do work all day in the worst condition, being treated like you weren’t even a human being and then you get absolutetly nothing for it and you have to do that shit again the next day and forever. That would enrage me and I feel like I would either run or fight back until I were dead. I would just refuse to live a life like that.

I think that we are way too spoiled in America. People that consider themselves middle class are considered extremely wealthy in some parts of the world. It always surprises me when people throw something away that could still be useful but just wont hold on to it because it would be a minor inconvenience to hold on to so they just throw it away. Even if you take a look at our own environment here at penn state it shows how wealthy we really are. I mean every weekend and sometimes during the week there are cases and cases and handles and handles of alcohol being consumed and its not like these cases and handles are just being given out for free to the general public, people have to buy them.