Ever since Sam told us in class that he and his wife often visit the lifers, I’ve been curious about it. I’ve wondered what they would say, how they act, and what it would be like to talk to someone who’s committed murder. The only knowledge I have about what life in prison is like comes from what I’ve seen in movies or on TV. But the more I thought about what it must really be like, the more I thought that what we see on TV probably isn’t even close. Even though people in prison have done bad things, they’re still people. People who have to live in this one place sometimes for the rest of their lives, so beating the crap out of someone or giving the stink eye would probably get real old real fast. These people are people, their crimes don’t change that and this letter confirms that. They’re people with feelings, and concerns, and sympathy.
I think a lot of people don’t understand that there are good people in the world just as there are bad, and there are good people who do bad things just as there are bad people who do good things. This is why, when I really think about it, I find it hard to say that all people in prison are bad people. Even though I in no way condone murder, when I think about it and think about a person’s story I can understand it. I know people would think I’m insane for saying that, but it’s like the quote from Dosteyevsky Sam showed us, “While nothing is easier than to denounce the evil-doer, nothing is more difficult than to understand him.” I understand what might go through someone’s mind that would drive them to kill another person.
I also think that sometimes people forget that people have the ability to change and grow. We believe that we can change, we pride ourselves on our ability to look back on things we used to do, say, think etc, and say how far we’ve come and how much we’ve changed for the better. But then we look at people in prison or people who have committed a crime and we paint them as a devil for the rest of their lives. Why can’t we acknowledge that they may have actually learned from their past mistakes? Out jail system is set up to make people pay for their crimes and reflect on the bad things they’ve done, but then we don’t believe that what we wanted to accomplish actually has. It’s like we are telling this people to move on from what they’ve done and change without believing that it could actually happen.

I know Sam always says that “this is the best class of the year” every couple days, but I truly thought this was the best lecture of the whole year. Before I walked into this class, I knew very little about the war in the Middle East. I knew that the “weapons of mass destruction” was a load of crap, but I didn’t know what was really going on. I think it’s safe to say that my world got rocked during this hour. It’s a pretty shitty feeling to realize that your people are essentially destroying the land of another people in order to take control of their resources. When Sam told the story about the Chinese taking our coal, I felt like a light clicked on. Because if my people were being bombed, if my brothers were being taken away, and if my family members were living in constant danger, I sure as hell would feel some kind of way about the Chinese people.
When Sam played that video about the “Jihad” I felt like I was in 6th grade again. I remember after the 9/11 attacks how scared I was of terrorists. While most kids can’t sleep cause of a bad dream, I would literally have a panic attack every time a plane flew overhead. Why was I so scared, because every night on the news there were terrifying images of people in the Middle East. I now realize that while my fears were mostly in my imagination, there are people in the Middle East who really are being bombed every day and apparently for no good reason. Imagine the images they see of us. Imagine the videos and pictures of us that go around and how it must feel for them to know their fear is warranted.
For a while I have not been a supporter of the war we’re waging in the Middle East, without even really understanding it. Now that I do, I’m shocked that this appalling war is actually being extended. I think that anyone who actually supports the war must either be ignorant (as I was not that long ago) or some kind of patriotic fanatic who thinks the United States should rule the world. Either way it’s not ok. More people need to learn what’s actually happening over there so that we can demand an end to this war.
Another thing brought up in class that made me (honestly) a little sick to my stomach was when Sam told us that the United States has decided that in order to kill one bad person, it’s ok to also kill 29 civilians. One innocent life loss is far too many, let alone 29?! It makes me sick that we can decide this yet we would be outraged if even one of our civilians was killed. It’s quite obvious that our government believes the lives of Americans are worth more than the lives of Arabs, and frankly it’s disgusting.

When I first heard about this in the news, I was shocked and pretty disgusted. I’m not naïve enough to think that everyone in this country is open to the LGBT community; obviously there is a serious problem in this country in accepting the LGBT people, especially among adults. What really made me angry though, is that a school board would cancel a prom for an entire school because one student wanted to bring her girlfriend to prom. The message this sends to the entire school community is clear; being LGBT is so unacceptable that they would cancel an entire prom so there would be no chance of a lesbian couple attending. School board’s have a responsibility to the students in their district to act in the best interest of students, it isn’t their job to decide if being a lesbian, being gay, or being whatever is acceptable or unacceptable, it isn’t their job to tell student who they should or shouldn’t date, and it certainly isn’t their job to tell a female she can’t wear a tuxedo to her own damn prom. What’s more, when they decided to cancel the entire prom they made her the target of blame for her peers. I imagine many people were understandably pissed when prom was cancelled and the school board is clearly seeking to use her as scapegoat, probably hoping to further shame her for her sexual orientation.
When this kinda thing happens it can’t be allowed to go unnoticed, although this story is obviously out in the public eye, I wonder how many other times this has happened without anyone making a big deal of it. The problem is that whenever someone is denied the same rights as others based on their sexual orientation, it absolutely is a big deal. It shouldn’t fall solely on the shoulders of activist groups to right these wrongs either. The purpose of government is to uphold the rights and freedoms of every American, yet there is a blatant blind spot when it comes to the LGBT community.
Also, I feel as though the South has been using their legacy of prejudice and hate as a way to justify the continuation of prejudice and hate. Whenever something like this occurs in the South, there is almost always someone who says, “Yeah, well, it’s the South.” Unless I’m much mistaken in my US history, I’m pretty sure the whole civil rights, equality, and freedom thing applies to the whole country. Didn’t we decide way back with the Civil War that the South is still a part of this country and has to follow the laws of this country? I think it’s bullshit that people think that just because something happens in the South it’s enough justification for hate. We need to take back the free pass card we sent South, every part of this country should be held to the same standards for treating people equally.

It seems like the only chance I have of seeing a diverse dating show is to turn to MTV or VH1 for such gems as “A Shot of Love with Tila Tequila” or “Flavor of Love.” Why is it the only time we have diversity in a dating show is when the dating show is more like a trashy joke. What kind of message are the producers of this show hoping to send? Interracial dating is only acceptable if the people are young, drunk, and ridiculous? It’s actually sad we consider ourselves to be so equal yet latent discrimination like this is blatant! It may sound stupid, but if we’re going to help solve the problems between racial discrimination, maybe we should start with “The Bachelor.”

I think this philosophy is crap. The fact that there has never been a nonwhite person on these shows is one hundred percent deliberate on the part of the producers. It is impossible that after over ten seasons they haven’t had a black, brown, Asian, NON WHITE person apply for this show. Which means the producers must have made the conscious decision to keep the cast white. Is this discrimination on their part, or is their belief that their audience won’t respond well? Either way it’s wrong. It’s wrong because the message sent out is clearly that interracial relationships are not normal. Clearly ratings are more important than morals, more important than being fair, more important than being right.

Either the choice of only white contestants was at the digression of the producers, in which case the sole reasoning would be to create the television that will bring in the most viewers, or it was influenced by the preference of the contestant, in which case they would be driven by what attracts them. Either way there seems to be latent discrimination in effect. The producers most likely believe (and are probably supported by viewer ship) that people will only watch if there isn’t the chance of an interracial relationship. I wonder if this is because viewers of these shows actually don’t want to see an interracial couple. No matter how advanced we are or how open minded we are you must admit that seeing an interracial couple catches your attention, even if it doesn’t bother you in the least. Maybe producers feel that they would lose viewers, especially more mature and possible less open minded ones.

Like many of the comments I’ve been reading, I’ve also never really noticed the “whiteness” of shows like The Bachelor before. I wonder if this is because I never actually watch these shows (actually I avoid them) or because, being white myself, it doesn’t immediately jump out at me that these people are also white. I’m trying to think of a logical reason for there being absolutely no diversity among these contestants and I must say that I’m at a loss.

Ever since this was brought up in class I’ve been thinking about the video we watched. I’ve been thinking about what is our obligation to another person and when is it not our place to say something. What I’ve been thinking about the most is the question brought up by one of our peers; he said that it wasn’t necessarily our place to say something about the blatant discrimination because it wasn’t our store. Although I’m sure this logic is sound to him and I’m sure to others as well, I can’t get it out of my head how ludicrous this sounds. What does it matter where discrimination takes place? Discrimination is discrimination no matter if it’s out on the street or in someone’s home. Just because you own a piece of property you don’t also own the right to treat others as inferiors. This argument would be like saying that because I own a house, I should be able to hold a slave in my house because it’s my property and I can do whatever I want.
Of course I’m not naïve enough to believe that everyone thinks as I do and treats everyone equally, because clearly discrimination is still everywhere. But when you are faced with blatant discrimination you have two options. You can speak up and defend against the injustice or you can support the discrimination. Silence is not an option, because when we remain silent we allow the discrimination to continue and thus it is the same as giving our support. I know people want to tell themselves that remaining silent only means that they are indifferent to a situation, and they’re right, but that’s just the problem. If all we have are a few people willing to stand up for justice and the rest remain indifferent, nothing will change, and even if those who support discrimination are the minority, their voice is amplified by the silence of the indifferent.
So, what can we do? What is within our abilities to stop the injustice of discrimination? The answer is so simple yet so many people ignore it; all that’s needed is for you to raise up your voice against it. Even if only one person in a crowd is speaking up, their courage will often encourage those around them who may agree but would not say anything otherwise, to speak up as well, and just like that the voice of justice will drown out the unjust. The only way to end discrimination for good is for people who know it’s wrong to let it their opinions be known, because as long as people remain indifferent it will only be perpetuated. Remember, all it takes for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

But what can we do? Even if our hearts collectively bleed at the death of a language, we can't truly revive it if we weren't actually a part of that culture. And we can't force the future generations of a culture to keep alive the traditions of their ancestors, especially if at the same time we're encouraging the merging of cultures. So then I suppose the only thing that can be done to mourn the loss of a language is to take notice and pay respect to somethig so steeped in tradition that is now lost. I suppose we could also realize that the only thing keeping a language we love from dying is ourselves, the only way to preserve our wats are to pass them to our children, and more importantly to teach them about the importance of appreciating the words spoken of those who have come before us so that they too can pass it on. I suppose in the end though, language is merely a tool for expressig yourself, and so long as there is a way to do this, what language you use is second priority.

I don't know what I find more, I guess I'll say sad; the fact that a language can die so unnoticed, or the fact that no one seems to care. I feel that as we progress further and further into the realms of technology we seem to lose any appreciation for the written and spoken word. I remember in high school when we would read Shakespeare. I thought the way he spoke was so eloquent and beautiful, though I was probably the only one who did, most kids just find it impossible to understand and outdated. That in itself is a way in which we are losing a beautiful and unique language, and English is certainly far from dead! I can't even imagine what is being lost when a language is completely lost. I feel like people don't realize that it is not just a few words and some grammar that is being lost; when a language dies an entire culture dies with it. While there may be people who have studied the language or understand the customs, that doesn't mean the culture still exists, it has instead become a part of history, it can't continue to be lived and experienced, it is reduced to being reenacted and studied.