First of all I'd like to say that affirmative action does not benefit white people. In fact by definition is helps all but white people who are majority. Affirmative Action is intended as an attempt to promote equal opportunities for minority groups. It originated as a means to abolish the prejudiced views employers and organizations have towards minorities.

To be honest I dont agree with affirmative action. I do acknowledge that it is good to have a diverse student and/or staff body, to give opportunities to minorities, but if you closely look at this, its complete bullshit towards white people. Its so anti racist to a point where it becomes bad. What affirmative action basically says is that a college where a white person reaaaally wants to get in is going to reject him/her in place of a black person (for example) even though his SAT and grades are significantly lower than the whiter person's. Now im pretty sure most minorities are going to say that they deserve equal opportunities but it is very easy to understand why many white people are against this.

Affirmative Action turns down a better qualified white person who actually worked and studied to deserve a spot for another person with lower scores who is LESS QUALIFIED just because affirmative action says they should try and keep a more diverse student body.

What many people dont understand or dont see is that even though someone is against affirmative action doesnt mean they hate minorities or are racists at all. It also doesnt mean they dont want minorities to strive. I wouldnt care to be rejected by a college in place of a black person for example if such black person did better than me on the SATs or are better qualified. I can completely understand that. However, being rejected by a really important internship because the company needs "20% of the staff to be black" seems just unfair to me.
Having said that, I do agree that AA is useful as to helping certain individuals. I have said in the pasts paragraphs that AA does not help corporations as a whole by not hiring or accepting a better qualified candidate, however the help provided by AA to certain individuals is very important. A certain individual with health and physical disabilities has a very hard time finding jobs. This prevents him/her from making his own money and buying his medications. What AA does is that it allows this individual to get a job, even though he may not be the best qualified person for such job, which in turns allows him to make for a normal and comfortable living.

To sum everything up, I agree with AA in some cases, however, more and more AA is being abused and it turns out that instead of helping minorities, AA is simply just screwing it up big time for white people and better qualified people.

What a victim of sexual abuse would need to speak out is a very difficult issue for me to answer because I havent personally experienced something similar to it. However, i do feel that there are certain things that are essencial for a victim to feel comfortable speaking out.

First of all, the victim would have to feel safe speaking out. They would have to know that no additional harm would come to them as a result of speaking about their experiences. A very common thing for sexual assault victims is that they are threatened by the offenders if they speak out, so they do not feel safe/comfortable speaking out. In addition, victims are very concerned about the way people will see them in an inferior or pitiful way. This causes them to deal with their assault without involving any family or friends which would ultimately help them.

Another very alarming issue victims have when dealing with sexual assault or any other type of victims for that matter is that many times they blame themselves for what has happened to them and they start hating themselves for it. It is crucial that a victims understand that it is not their fault and that they are not inferior to anyone just because of it. With the help of friends and professionals, the victim would have to come to understand that they cant blame themselves and that they can overcome such an obstacle.

And finally, and probably the most common and important issue is that victims of sexual assault are afraid of the changes their family will go through if they speak out. We all know that offenders of sexual assault are usually family members and if a victim speaks out they are many times afraid that their family will crumble down and they would rather live in silence than blame themselves for such an occurrence upon their family.

If the student body is going through the five stages of grief? Well I guess that varies from different people and different backgrounds. I for example jumped straight to stage five when i heard the news. Yes it's true that I don't follow football so much, and i'm not that kind of extreme fan, but i tried to look at the situation through a logical view; a view that would benefit the university as a whole. That being said, I looked at the facts and how Joe was treated and I can absolutely say that it was a fair decision. If that were any other person we wouldn't think twice on firing him. Yes it's true that Joe has done sooo much for this university and he is a part of all our lives, but that still doesnt pardon him in my opinion and the backlash the university would receive if they didnt do anything about it would be enormous. He was going to retire anyways, its just a shame his career had to end in such a way.

Following on into the student body, I could see the vast majority of people going through the stages. Stage one being denial, I remember being at a friends apartment with a couple of friends and they all looked at each other and said "It cant be!". Five minutes later, everyone was at the streets protesting for a cause im still trying to figure out honestly. (I think they were protesting to let him coach one last game, if it wasn't that, they were definitely protesting against rape laws!).

As for stage three four and five, people are slowing getting there, some more than others. People are slowly understanding that the university will never be the same and the football team will never be the same because we have lost someone very dear to all of us. Thinking about this is very hard for some people and some people really do get very emotional. Im not flaming anyone who is still angry, or is still sad, or still feels some type of feeling towards this situation, but in my opinion people should try and think about the situation and move on to stage five. It is not worth it to mourn over this situation, the best thing to do is to wipe everything out and start from square one, which is what the university is trying to do. Having said that, im afraid that some people will never get to stage five, they will remain eternally angry and pissed and depressed about this, loosing all hope in the university and in the football team, and honestly I just feel sad for such people.

Why americans dont want to take the jobs that the undocumented Mexican immigrants do is a question that goes beyond personal occasions and more into societal structure. America is a considerably rich country, with an above average minimum wage, and extraordinary population literacy and educational standards. This means that the average american has graduated from a good high school and in many situation even has a college degree. That being said, we look at the jobs that these undocumented Mexican immigrants are taking and we realize that the truth is that americans are over qualified for such jobs. The average american is not gonna take those hard manual labor for extremely low wages because he doesnt "deserve" that.

When we take a look at the Mexican immigrant situation, we observe that for the great majority, these immigrants are extremely poor, they havent finished high school, sometimes they cant even read, and they reproduce like lab rats! In other words, they need whatever job they can get in order to provide food and shelter for themselves and their 30 children :P

The above was only an educational view at the situation. This issue is much more complex. For example, if we look at the language barrier that undocumented mexican immigrants have it is logical that they would only be taken by jobs that require no talking, only manual work. Needless to say that such immigrants are illegal, and in order to take a higher-paid job they would have to present legal documents.

A very interesting aspect of this issue is the consequence of the mexicans taking such jobs and not regular americans. Though many see a problem with that, they do not realize that this only benefits America. Regular americans who are not willing to take on such jobs will therefore take higher-paid jobs and have a more positive and stronger influence on the countries economy! In other works: more jobs and more money for america. Mexicans who come to the USA usually come with their entire family and so the money they receive will stay in america!

If immigration would suddenly come from a halt in the United States, the country would most definitely face an economical and workforce impact. The united states currently uses legal, as well as illegal, immigrants as cheap workforce for many industries and lower paid jobs. The abolition of immigration would mean not enough people for these kinds of jobs which would have to be replaced by americans who currently hold higher paid jobs with better conditions and benefits.

That is only a minimal way of looking at this situation, we could infer so much more about immigrants and how they affect the american country and its people. For example, international students come to america for college, they pay a considerate amount of extra money as tuition compared to american students, they take jobs here and offer services and they soon become part of the "american economy".
Immigrants also come to america and bring international corporations that help better american life and societal services.

Going away from economical topics, lets talk about how the abolition of immigration would change cultural aspects of america. The united states currently has a great variety of cultures residing in the country, providing a great deal to the richness of the cuisine, fashion, and even family traditions. The abolition of immigration would mean a slow fall of legit cultural restaurants, fashion trends from europe, etc.. until everything would disappear but the very core of the american culture.

I dont know what people think about this, but in my opinion, any culture that does not have an influence from other cultures is pretty boring and wont go anywhere economically.

When a person hangs out with a group of people who are not of their color/race does that make them a poser?
When I think about this question I have to associate it with all those people who are extremely proud of their own race and consider themselves to be "superior" or different in a way. It is true that they may be different physically and even physically superior in a certain environment, but that has nothing to do with interactions people have with other people of different races. People from a certain race who see another person from their own race hanging out with a different group of people of different races who consider such person to be a poser are very narrowed minded. I think its the most ridiculous thing to label someone a poser just because they hang out with people from a different race. Im not saying that they absolutely arent posers, they very well might be big posers, but to judge them as posers would have to go into something deeper than only looking at the people they hang out with.
When I lived in Brazil, i used to study at an international school, which had a cost significantly higher than regular brazilian schools. When i was in 9th grade i changed into a regular brazilian school and made the best friends of my life. However, whenever we would go out, I would also invite my friends from the international school and our group would always be separated except for me. Both groups would tell me i acted different when i was with the other group, when in fact i was acting as my normal self. What happened is that they would look at me differently because i was hanging out with another group they werent comfortable with. I know this doesnt involve specifically race groups, but I feel that it represents the same situation.
I feel that the most important thing when you see a person hanging out with a group of a different race is to see that their personal beliefs and ideas are not altered to fit in or be accepted in another group. A person who does change themselves when they hang out with a different group is a poser.

Being a Brazilian has shaped the way in which I see the world because of the international and varied ethnic experiences that I have had throughout my life. When I lived in Brazil, races are all part of the same culture and there weren’t many instances of racism between ethnicities, which allowed me to grow up with a broad understanding and comprehension of other races. Now that I am in America, there has been a change in that notion since there is more awareness and frustration towards racism and ethnic minorities. Although I am from Brazil, my features are similar to Caucasians: I have white skin, blue eyes and light hair. Because of this, I feel that I have benefits from both being and not looking like an ethnic individual. For example, if I get into a discussion or I am just involved in a conversation between a group of people including white and non-white people, I am one of the few people that could really fall under any of these categories. Throughout my life I have been mistaken for an American because of my appearance, in fact, I there have even been people that don’t believe that I am 100% Brazilian. This has caused me to have mostly advantages that white people may obtain such as a facilitated life by being the majority. White people don’t have that sense of cultural and ethnic fear when they talk to me since they see me as equals and if it weren’t for my language, they would probably forget that I was from Brazil. Likewise, I can also fit into the ethnic category in the previously mentioned discussion. Many times, internationals and ethnic minorities feel more comfortable with each other because they have a sense of belonging. For example, I feel comfortable with non-whites because I have lived in other countries such as Panama where I have been encountering Hispanics, Blacks, Asians, etc. Although I might not have a sense of belonging with each particular group (except Hispanic/Latinos) I don’t have that white perception of “internationals” and political correctness as being such a thin line. I don’t think I experience negative effects from my race, which is why I might feel that race hasn’t played such a crucial role in my life.

I would like to begin this response by saying that i don't have an answer for the question simply because I don't believe that the question is valid. Yes women wear high heels (whoever invented those ruined if for all us short guys D: ), yes women wear short skirts, yes women wear tight jeans and dresses for the sole purpose of looking good for the opposite sex, or other women for that matter. However, I believe the question is invalid because men also go out of their comfort zone when it comes to clothing in order to impress other women and/or guys. Yes its true that for the most part, men's attire is far more comfortable than that of women but that is not related to the men's choice of not wearing something comfortable.

Instead of asking "Why women sacrifice their comfort and men dont?" they should be asking "Why or what influenced society in dictating men's and women's attire as appealing?" This is a far more valid question because clearly we know that society definitely has the major role when it comes to deciding clothing. People of different cultures wear different clothing and people from different times wear different clothing. We can conclude that 'evolution' of society is a bigger influence as to what men and women wear nowadays.

If we go back to prehistoric ages, when society wasnt so demanding as it is nowadays, we can see that men and women werent really concerned with fashion, but survival. They would wear nothing or probably a piece of fury cloth to cover their areas like we see in movies. Some isolated indian tribes still dont use 'normal clothing', rather they use their own cultural attires. By observing this, women should actually think about what they are wearing and why they are wearing it before going out. If they realize they are doing it for the wrong reasons, or if they dont agree with those reasons being important, then they should just wear whatever makes them comfortable and stop blaming life for their uncomfortable. Im pretty sure this downfall on comfortable clothes began with some women who started wearing really tight clothes and heels to make her taller.

Having said that, id like to conclude by saying "girls, blame other girls"
:D
peace

I honestly have a double, sort of contradicting, opinion on this topic. The United States of America is in a very tight situation when it deals with aiding foreign countries as it is considered one of the world's super power and aiding the lesser developed countries is more of an obligation.
In this context, I believe the United States should aid other countries with resources that the specific country needs. This will vary from different countries obviously but as a country with more availability and more resources sending in food or money is really an obligation in the world we live in. Some can see this as a "means to an end" where the United States helps a certain country and such country is then indebted to the United States as if owing them something. It is fair to say that this would be true however I believe the US should do it out of humanitarian reasons and not any political or economic paybacks.
Having said that, I strongly believe aiding countries is a really sensitive matter. Its not just sending in care packages of food and expecting to cure hunger. Its not just sending in medicines and expecting the yellow fever or other diseases to be extinguished from the population. Aiding other countries is a far more complex process than many people think. It takes the right amount, the right supply, the right management and the right distribution for an aid to actually make a positive difference for the country receiving it. Aiding a country requires basic knowledge of the country first. The US has to know how the government works, how the society lives, even the geographical features of the country matters when it comes to aiding the country. The US has aided some foreign countries with money to help ease up their situation but the money hasn't gone past the government due to a corrupted body of rulers!
This leads me to my other perspective where there should be no aiding at all. I know it may sound a little radical and out of the question but aiding countries with resources not always helps the country and its situation. Take for example a country that has been struck with a natural disaster and has been devastated. The country is out of resources, homes have been destroyed, the government has to help the society and as a result the economy of the country is faced with a deep downfall. The US then sends in food resources for the country. It sounds like that is the right thing to do, however, distributing food means the aided country is not buying food from its own producers, which means the economy is not growing or improving in any matter, which finally means the aided country will remain dependent of foreign help because it is not allowed to grow on its own!
In conclusion, I still am uncertain wether the best type of aid is food/resource, financial, or no aid at all!

Personally, i dont think of a persons color, religion, or race whenever I look at their beauty factor. If a person is beautiful, it doesnt matter if they are black or white, jewish or latin, a beautiful person is a beautiful person. This may sound very cliche to some people, but it is very true. My parents are strong catholics but I dont think they would have a problem with me dating any different religion or race. Maybe I can say this because Im a guy and girls have a harder time finding a mate that stand up to their parents' standards.
Having said that, I have to admit that I am mostly attracted to white women, specially blondes. I am currently in a serious 3-year relationship with a panamanian girl who is dark skinned and a brunette which just proves that my favorite traits dont really mean ill only date a certain group of women.
In my opinion, interacial dating is a progress to human race. It exceeds common opinion and it beats the status quo. Im pro human relations and sexual orientation does not swipe in when i see them as a human being. As a conclusion I try to see people as human beings, not as classified groups. The race is insignificant when it comes to your opinion about the person as a human being and their beliefs. Their actions and who they are speak more loudly then their color, race, or origin of birth.
Honestly, it really pisses me off sometimes when people diss couples that come from different backgrounds and races. Some people are still stuck to old school traditions where dating, marriage and procreation is strictly set to the same racial and religious group as they are.
In my honest opinion, these old traditions will wear off some day and we will start seeing more asian-black couples, jewish-black couples, etc... It is just something that we have to forget and move forward from.