en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/766209 Comments by dli5003 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/letter-from-an-inmate__trashed/#IDComment69484075 I am going to be honest when I first heard Sam and his wife talking about the inmates that are “lifers” and how good of people they are, I thought how can someone who committed murder or another crime convicted them of a life sentence be a good person. I use to think before I heard Sam and his wife speak and before I read the letter that all inmates are trash and that don’t deserve one bit of sympathy. After reading the letter though I have realized that this is not true. I would never think to give them a chance to speak or get to know what type of person they are. This letter is very powerful in the sense, he makes you look at life in a different perspective. The perspective of him knowing that he can never be freed. I know now that they have feelings and that most of them are not the same people they were when they went in there. It interests me to think that these people could have any compassion what so ever, if they could have killed then they must not have feelings. The guy who wrote this letter definitely has compassion and I do feel bad for him. I don’t know how I would feel about it if they were to be released because they have changed. I am torn between the two because yes they have changed and their incident could have happened when they were a child. And also I feel that they should be a second chance at life if they do something so tragic at such a young age. At the age 13 let say. They know they are doing something wrong but they don’t fully understand the consequences of their actions. And with this they should be given a second chance. I don’t think that all children that commit murder should be given a second chance because there are psychopaths at that age. There are different circumstances for everyone and the gentleman that wrote this letter I feel needs a second chance. He obviously found himself and has accepted his crime. He doesn’t seem to be harmful, but a sweet gentle man who deserves better. I think it is nice that he has found himself and can still go on with life even though he has to be in jail for the rest of it. I find this man very brave. I would not be able to accept the fact that my life was over. That I would never be a real person again. All that guys that have become different people. I think that they are all true to themselves and would probably be the truest people I know. Wed, 21 Apr 2010 23:35:47 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/letter-from-an-inmate__trashed/#IDComment69484075 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/this-is-totally-off-the-hook__trashed/#IDComment66480743 First off I am going to say that I am appalled that this is going on. It degrading women not just in Japan, but all over the world. The video stated that once the games were for sale they could be digitized and put onto the internet for the whole world to see. I have a 10 and 13 year old brother, if they would ever come across these on the internet, I would be fuming mad. I think it is disgusting and demented to want to play a game that the only way to win is to rape females. What sick person would want to even play this game , let alone create it. Sometimes when people are playing games they take it too far and bring it into their own world. Yes some of these people have bigger mental issues that go deeper than just video games, but there are “gamers” who think that they are in a video game world. This could be creating the next serial rapist. There is another issue that ties into this video game. There are is already controversy over young children playing violent video games and then using that violence at school or on the playground. If children are playing these games and think it is okay to treat women then that way, then there is a problem starting at a young age. I can’t believe that the women in Japan do not stand up for themselves. This games are degrading and violent towards are women. They maybe be directed towards Japanese women, but it hits all over the world. Men already have advantages over woman in the world today and this video does not make matters any better. I don’t know why men think that they need to have power over women. I just can’t grasp the concept of this game. Why would someone want to play this game? Does this meant they have the potential of rapping someone because they enjoy playing the game? I guess there are different views on it and I am not a guy so I can’t say or not if I would play this game with a bunch of my buddies. But I know for certain that I would definitely not date someone or even consider someone who played this game. If I knew any of my brothers or friends played this game I would be infuriated and it would probably end our friendship. But nothing is more disgusting to me, this is problem for women all over the world and here people are making a joke about it through a video game. I just don’t understand why they no one will do anything about it. Wed, 7 Apr 2010 23:24:13 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/this-is-totally-off-the-hook__trashed/#IDComment66480743 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/native-hawaiians-ever-think-of-them__trashed/#IDComment63916122 I think this is tragic, the fact that the Hawaiians or i should say the native Hawaiian tribes, but the fact that they are the last indigenous group in the united states to not have the right to establish their own government especially when it was extended to the Alaskans tribes. I will be honest, I never really thought much about Alaskans and Hawaiians being a native tribe and this article brings up a great topic because I am sure there are many Americans or everyone living in the united states for that matter that do not think about the these tribes. I mostly think about the tribes that are on the main land of the united states and this opens a whole new subject on native tribes. I have never been to Hawaii or Alaska so i do not know what the land looks like or the diversity of humans living there. I sort of just pictured a bunch of Americans living there which is really bad I know, i never really gave it much thought that there were people there before the states were taken over. The tribes that are living in Hawaii are much like the native tribes living here on the main land the only difference really is they do not have a "reservation" if that what you want to call it. But they make less income, live shorter lives, go to prison more often and are more likely to end up homeless than any other ethnicity in Hawaiian. To be the native and live like that is awful. The money and the land that would be given to them would benefit them a great deal. But it also depends on what the money is spent on, with that many homeless natives i don't know if that amount money even comes close to the amount that would be needed to help them. Jamie made a statement about the issue not being the governments responsible and that may be true but one would have to ask themselves why so many natives are homeless, why do they live shorter lives and more go to prison. There is obviously something wrong with that picture. For someone to see that going on around them and not feel bad or think about something to change the situation isn’t human. I feel bad for anyone who has to live like that and I think people need to stop being so selfish and greedy. Live in their shoes just one day. You probably won’t be able to make it a day. They deserve every bit of that many and that land that is offered to them. It is about time someone stood up for them. Wed, 24 Mar 2010 22:18:27 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/native-hawaiians-ever-think-of-them__trashed/#IDComment63916122 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/does-this-rudeness-thing-cut-both-ways__trashed/#IDComment62687004 I think this was a great question, but as a white person I didn't take offense to any of the comments that people of color were texting about white people. But the comments that the white people were making about people of color were really insulting and it makes me almost ashamed to be white. Those comments makes all look bad and that was the exact reason we were getting insulting comments from people of color, if one white person does it people of color are going to automatically hate all white people and think that all white people are the same when that is not exactly true. Sam did not make a comment about their texts because what people of color had to say about white people was not as degrading as the stuff white people said.I also feel like he did not say anything because we kind of deserved everything that was said because of the one idiotic student who had to ruin it for everyone. It was like war after that. I really enjoyed this activity,even though I did not respond to the question, i just enjoyed reading the other people had to say about it. Everyone had different thought on what it was like to be white and most people answered the question seriously. This sort of goes off the topic about it being rude both ways, but this also is experienced outside the classroom. I feel that if a person of color has bad experiences on multiple occasions with white people then they are going to start classifying each white person with that bad experience and will soon start to retaliate towards white people who did not even do anything or has no association with the events. I will admit I have done this also. When a person of color is rude or disrespectful and this happens more than a couple of times, then I start to look at all people of color and associate that bad experience with them. It is not fair but we all do it, I am sure of it. Just like the crime rate of blacks is higher than that or white people and I see a group of black students or just ordinary people standing at or corner or see them at night I automatically think that they are up to something. If people continue to do these kinds of things to each other, the situation is not going to get any better and then is going to constant verbal assaults back and forth. That I why I think the student saying that stuff would just cool it because then it makes everyone’s experience in the classroom a bad one. Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:34:52 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/does-this-rudeness-thing-cut-both-ways__trashed/#IDComment62687004 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/native-americans-question-three__trashed/#IDComment58736697 So in my opinion I think that people don’t get upset about our ancestors taking the land away from the Native Americans because we were not there when it happened and we had no control over the situation. Yes, it is depressing they way they live in poverty with a very high unemployment rate. I do feel sympathy for them when I see the news or watch programs to see the lives they live. The video that was shown in class when the Native Americans were pushing that car with the television in the back, when the car didn’t even run just so they could sell the television to get money for food to feel their families really upset me. To have to think about how you are going to feed your family on a daily basis is a tragedy I do not feel guilty that my ancestors took the land from them. It was cruel and very unethical, but as Sam also said most of our ancestors also were poor when they came here in search for a new life. That doesn’t justify what they did but it sort of gives a little reasoning behind the situation. He also used the example where he had a group of whites and a group of brown people and said the more the white people move in the more Native American’s more out and more die. There is always the debate to give some of their land back to them, but what would you do with all the people that are on that land? There would then be more people living in poverty. Most people feel as if they don’t owe the Natives anything because our generation had no control over the what happened in the past. This might sound mean and I know that they were here first but if they are given land I feel like the other people that are living in poverty are going to want to get some help for themselves also. Another thing is that the people that do get upset about the whole situation, I don’t think that they understand that if our ancestors did not take over they would not have the privileges that do now. They might not be at Penn State, live in the house they do, or even be in this area. It really does suck for the Native Americans but it just happened and that is the way it is. I don’t want to sound like a jerk or anything but as I feel that the past is the past and there really aren’t that many options that we can take now. Maybe we could just educate Americans about what did happen in the past. It just a stuff situation. Fri, 26 Feb 2010 02:50:40 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/native-americans-question-three__trashed/#IDComment58736697 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/lgbt-class-question-one__trashed/#IDComment57665725 I honestly don't believe that there is any difference between a lesbian couple adopting and a gay couple adopting. I only have two guy friends who are gay and one lesbian friend. I actually had this conversation with her the other weekend and she made the comment that is harder for her to find someone to be with. She isn't the type of person to just date from person to person and in my town gays and lesbians are not really accepted. I come from a small farm town where nothing is accepted, except what is to be believed as normal. What she was saying was that when she is dating someone she is looking for an actual relationship since finding someone around my town is sorta hard. My two gay friends, one is in relationship searching for a house to buy and the other one is still single looking for someone. What I am getting as is these relationships are the same as heterosexual relationships. They have to go through all the same background checks and observations as the every couple, so i don't see why it is a big deal if lesbians or gays adopt. They love one another as much as the next relationship and they would not put a child into the equation if it was not a stable environment to raise them in. To be good parent, role model, teacher, or anything in a child's life depends on your heart and how much you love that child. Not if you are gay or lesbian, black or white. It is true though that a gay couple has a harder time being adoptive parents because there is still the concern with a child growing up without a "mother figure." There are views that gay men are sexual predators and should not be permitted to be around children. There is also the fear that the child will also be gay if raised by gay parents. Most of the time though gay couples are not selective are there child that they adopt. Heterosexual couples almost always want to adopt a newborn baby, but gay couples are more open to the idea of older children. I think that any couple should be allowed to adopt as long as it a loving and caring environment. There are tests and observations that adopting agency go through before they just give a child to someone. They would be able to discover if these individuals were actually a threat to anyone. When an gay couple adopts and that child grows up in that household , they will be accepting of others. The world today is cruel to the individuals that are "different" and for a child to grow up in that environment it opens their eyes to an entirely different world compared to being raised by a straight couple. And lets say this child themselves are "different" how would a straight couple handle that situation compared to a gay couple when all they hope for is acceptance. They would be so much more understanding. Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:41:58 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/lgbt-class-question-one__trashed/#IDComment57665725 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/animals-vs-humans-vs-welfare-cheats__trashed/#IDComment56283282 To be honest I don’t think that apologizing for calling people receiving welfare “animals” is really go to help his position. He should really be thinking before he speaks especially if he is speaking in front of thousands of people. There are two different sides of this story. In my hometown some areas are of poor people that really can’t afford anything and they actually do need help with their finances. These people are some of the nicest people I know and at this point cannot help the way their lives are. Yes, probably when they were younger they could have made other choices in their lives to make their futures different. Maybe they could have gone to college to get a better job, but at this point welfare is all they possibly have to keep their families from going without food or from losing their home. I am actually appalled to the fact that another American would say that about people in need. Most of these people from my town are working, but aren’t making enough to keep their families going. I don’t know if WIC is considered welfare, but I feel it is a form of financial help and I know most young mom’s or single moms that still work, but cannot make ends meet are receiving this help. I think that this is how it is in my town. I have never once thought bad things about people receiving financial help. When I think of people getting welfare I feel bad for them because they are less fortunate than I am. That their kids will not have the opportunities that my dad was able to offer me and they won’t be able to make a better life for themselves. If they really need the help then why demean them? Then there is another side to this story where there are people that are receiving welfare and they do not need it. These people are actually the ones cheating the system, granite they don’t deserve to be called animals as no one deserves that but they also should not be clumped in with the people that truly need the welfare. The article has an example about rich people and younger people being the ones that are mostly on welfare. This could possibly be true but I really don’t know how the rich people would be able to get any form o welfare. So if this Politian thinks that poor people are the animals because they are receiving welfare, he needs to take a step back and look at the factors and realize that these people really aren’t. It could be anybody in the world accepting some form of welfare. Thu, 11 Feb 2010 03:29:42 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/animals-vs-humans-vs-welfare-cheats__trashed/#IDComment56283282 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/avatar-and-the-white-mans-burden__trashed/#IDComment55563953 First off I want to say, I have not seen the movie, but I have read and heard enough about it from my friends to get the gist of the movie. I am torn between the ideas of “The White Messiah Fable.” I feel that it does exist within the movies such as Pocahontas and The Last Samurai, but I don’t believe that the message that is trying to be sent is that nonwhites need the White Messiah to lead their crusades. I sort of feel like that is just American nature to make the “rescuer” white. It does make the Americans look as if we have “big heads” that we swoop down whenever there is danger and help everyone with their problems. I also believe that sometimes this is the way the government or the marine’s army or whatever thinks. That this is what people need us to do, go in and rescue the natives from cruel imperialist. In my opinion James Cameron wanted this movie to portray what is going on in Iraq, but not in a bad way. In the movie avatar the marines are after some sort of material and invading their land so that they can mine this material. I feel the military is doing the same in Iraq. This is what I feel, I am not knowledgeable on the war or why we are actually over there. I can also see why this movie could cause an up rise because most of the characters in this movie are white and it is claimed to be racist. To be honest I don’t think that Cameron was implying this; I just think that, that is the way it is interpreted. It does raise that question though as to why all the actors and actresses are white and it seems as if the native people are just native Americans. It does show a multicultural outlook on things, greater than any other movie of its kind. But that is what today’s world is like, it is very multicultural. The fact that this movie comes off as racist, I don’t think that Cameron was trying to come off as offensive. The way I see it, it’s just a movie and yes it does point out certain things in the world that are actually going on in today’s world. But I don’t think that he tried to make this movie against any or come as a bad interpretation. I think it was just a movie like all the other stories about white messiah fables where there is a white rescuer who tries and helps a native community. I don’t see it as anything other than a movie that is not offensive. Sat, 6 Feb 2010 02:56:31 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/avatar-and-the-white-mans-burden__trashed/#IDComment55563953 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/i-guess-it-pays-to-learn-a-bit-about-other-people__trashed/#IDComment54148508 This was an interesting article but I have some mixed feelings about the way things were handled on the plane. I understand why the flight attendant did what she did and that they had to land the plane, but I think this goes to show how American’s can be undereducated about different cultures and religions. They flight attendant acted the way she was taught how, but I think that if some people around him understood what he was doing, then they should have informed the flight attendant that the tefillin was of just part of his prayer. If I was the flight attendant I would be very embarrassed that I had to stop the plane because something I just didn’t understand. It is better to be safe than sorry, but I feel as if he was going to be strapping wires to himself he would have not done it in plain sight and he wouldn’t have been as cooperative as he was with the flight attendant. This article makes you ask yourself, how much do I actually know about other people? One of my favorite things to do is people watch. I enjoy watching how everyone is dressed different and the way they carry themselves. I wonder what they are like and how they go about their daily lives. Sometimes I observe things I don’t understand and if I just look a little closer sometimes I can figure it out. If people would do more watching or get to know other people I would feel that this country would be more educated on different cultures. Like I said before I if I was this flight attendant I would feel stupid and incompetent. It would encourage me to learn more about everyone around me. I would have not probably have know what was going on, but I don’t think that he would have made it onto the plane with explosives and I would have not reacted in such a way. She asked him and he told her calmly. Maybe you would have to be in her shoes. Although sometimes I feel like people just look past everyone and they are so self-absorbed that they don’t notice things going on around them. I agree with the young man’s rabbi, that next time he should just fulfill the ritual later. Even though I think he should be able to use his tefillin on plane rides when he prays, I just don’t feel like people around him are going to be educated on his actions and the reasons for them. Until everyone is educated on different lives going on around them, which most likely they never will, but until then he should do as hit rabbi says and not use the tefillin for his prayers on the plane. Thu, 28 Jan 2010 02:49:54 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/i-guess-it-pays-to-learn-a-bit-about-other-people__trashed/#IDComment54148508 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/last-name-begins-with-i-or-j__trashed/#IDComment54132839 hey Wed, 27 Jan 2010 23:42:33 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/last-name-begins-with-i-or-j__trashed/#IDComment54132839 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/clubbing-the-bejesus-out-of-rationality__trashed/#IDComment53115006 Pat Robertson said that earthquake that happened about a week ago was due to a pact that was made with the devil two centuries ago. For anyone to say this, especially him, is the most ridiculous thing I have heard in a long time. I cannot get over the fact that this was said. They are millions of people that were affected by this earthquake. Not just the people in Haiti but also their friends and family all over the world were also affected. I almost feel as if this was a joke for him to say that especially because he is very religious and should be giving people hope and faith. He was doing the complete opposite of that. For people to look at him crazy and think he is off him medication is exactly right. I can't believe that viewers did not change the channel. If I watched the show on a regular basis that would be enough for me to call it quits. It was obvious that this was a natural disaster and if anyone would believe what he was to say would be just as crazy as him. He should not blame Haitians for this, for one this thing cannot be avoided and making a pact with the devil is impossible. I also understand that to deal with such an awful thing, people try to make sense of it by coming up with ridiculous situations. What he should do it just accept the fact that it has happened that is why it is called a natural disaster. There is no reasoning behind it and instead of attacking them he should be giving them and their families some hope. It was a very absurd for Pat Robertson to say such a thing and I don’t feel any sympathy for him and Rush Limbaugh after the comments that Keith Olbermann had said. I am sure there are many people that feel the same way that he does and I am somewhat relied that someone actually stood up for the people in Haiti. He was really harsh but I feel every word was worth it. I do feel the same way that Olbermann feels and for those people to continue to watch and listen to what he has to say is even more ridiculous. I can’t believe people would feel that low about themselves that they to hear his thoughts to make themselves feel good about themselves. I don’t know why Limbaugh had to attack Obama and the light skin and dark skin black community. I don’t understand why people would even complain right now. Everything in the past is irrelevant to the tragedy that has happened a week ago. These gentlemen should not be allowed to voice their opinions other than to themselves. Thu, 21 Jan 2010 03:35:16 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/clubbing-the-bejesus-out-of-rationality__trashed/#IDComment53115006