My opinion on illegal immigration has changed slightly. I would say that prior to Tuesdays discussion in class, I was pretty much ignorant to the subject. I know that many Americans feel that it is a large issue in our society today that often times goes without being dealt with. That’s truly the only idea I had in my head before the lecture on Tuesday and after class, I left with a completely different view on it. After hearing the TA Eric’s story about how he and his family were illegal immigrants, it really made me sit down and think. I think it’s wonderful that there are human beings in this world that are as kind as the white man who drove Eric and his family. Human beings are human beings and I do not think that it is fair that they have such a hard time coming into our country. I would say that I’m also ignorant about the process of becoming legal, so I’m not sure if there’s a reason why these people do not simply try to become legal before coming to the United States. I admire the fact that Sam stated that illegal immigrants are hardworking and persistent. It cannot be easy for them to make such a large transition and I’m sure it takes a lot of bravery to take the step towards deciding to illegally immigrate. The part of Eric’s story that really stuck out the most to me was the fact that his father was a legal citizen, though the rest of his family was not. Instead of simply letting the rest of the family immigrate illegally, his father went through the entire process with everyone. My view on immigration in general has changed a great deal after Sam’s lecture on Tuesday. I feel as though the media typically shows illegal immigration in such a negative light, and when many people don’t have access to personal experiences on the subject matter, it becomes quite difficult to get swayed into thinking about these things positively. I’m so grateful that I am taking Soc 119 this semester because it has really taught me that almost everything the media portrays is highly skewed. Though I had some idea of this before I took this course, I did not realize it was this drastic, especially when it comes to illegal immigration. I truly cannot think of any negative aspect of illegal immigration after Tuesday’s lecture when we discussed all of the facts. For example, these illegal immigrants are willing to work for much lower wages, therefore, businesses and companies are not required to pay as high of salaries to these workers. I think that although this is a good thing, it is a truly unfortunate aspect for the immigrants. They are so dedicated and hardworking in whatever they do, and I’m sure they do a tremendous job on anything they’re assigned to do. It’s a shame that they have to be compensated much less. My view on illegal immigration and immigration in general has changed so much since Tuesday’s lecture, however, I do not think that this issue will be solved any time soon.

I believe that nepotism is so prevalent in the culture of the world today; even more than ever before. I personally do not believe that if there was a situation presented at me involved nepotism, I would try to avoid it. I live by the saying ‘It’s not who what you know, it’s who you know’. For example, after I graduate from Penn State University, I am definitely going to use my connections with people I know that have power in large companies. Otherwise, the process of getting a job can sometimes become so frustrating and unpromising. In my opinion, if you have the connections, you might as well use them. It makes the whole process so much easier. People being hired in situations involving nepotism may have an extremely easier time with whatever situation is involved, but I believe that a company for example would not hire someone ONLY due to nepotism. There are certain qualifications that people have to meet and I do not believe that they would hire an unqualified person for the position at hand. At times I find it frustrating to think about the fact that there are people in college who do not try and barely get by, but when they graduate from college, they have a connection that allows them to get the most fantastic job in the world. However, this does not frustrate me enough that I personally would try to avoid a situation involving nepotism. I think that the people who do things without the use of nepotism, sticking with the job example, are that much better for receiving whatever they may have. They obviously earned it through hard work, persistence, and knowledge in the field at hand. Though it would feel great to truly earn a job all on my own, I do not believe I would ever simply forget about nepotism and not use my connections. For example, my sister is a senior in high school, and is coming to Penn State in the fall to study Mechanical Engineering. My dad used his connections and got my sister an 8 week long engineering internship. Though my sister is very intelligent and qualified for the position, it is very rare for students that young to receive those types of internships. If it weren’t for my father using his connections to help my sister out, I do not believe that my sister would have gotten the internship. I believe it is vital that we use our connections and family members in order to get what we want in society. It’s kind of sad that the ‘It’s not what you know, it’s who you know’ saying holds so true for our society, but I see it as the way it is and the way it always will be.

I think that seeing the videos during the “Christian Invaders” lecture in class on Tuesday really put things into perspective for me. When Americans watch the news each and every day, the media tends to represent us in a ‘good light’. We are never seen as the bad-guys, and though it’s not difficult to realize why they only show us the negatives of a country we are at war with, it was very shocking to see videos showing the opposite. My viewpoints have personally changed a lot over the past few weeks on Middle Easterners. For example, for my business ethics class, we were required to participate in a World in Conversation discussion group “Middle East vs. West”. It was very interesting to realize that my perception of the Middle East was so skewed, simply because I’ve never had the opportunity to really ask questions to people from that area. The video that we watched in class that really stuck with me the most was watching the man steal the wood and then seeing a tank from the United States repeatedly drive over his car to punish him. Parts of Iraq are in great deals of poverty and it was simply that mans way of getting by. In my eyes, his behavior did not deserve that extreme of a consequence and I feel that the U.S. overreacted severely. After viewing all of the videos Sam showed us in class, I realized that I have never seen or even heard about American cruelty towards the Middle Easterners. During my World in Conversation session for my ethics class, a Middle Eastern student involved in the conversation was asked the following question: “Why do we never hear anything good that occurs in the Middle East?” and his response was very simple: “Because no American CARES about the good things that happen in my country.” His response was so simple, yet it really made me sit and think. We can so easily use the Middle East for their supplies of oil to selfishly run all of our automobiles or what have you, but when it comes to the well-being of the citizens, it could not have any impact on us. I believe that that is part of the reason issues with race relations and the reason we have this class. Americans are so ignorant most of the time to what’s occurring around the world. Before the “Christian Invaders” lecture in this SOC 119 class, I had no idea that Americans treated Iraqis the way that we do and have for many years. It seems that there is no explanation good enough to support the cruel treatment that we’ve shown towards other citizens of the world; Americans looked more like ravaged animals in those videos, not humans and my viewpoint on the Middle East will be forever changed.

I personally believe that we feel the way we do about controversial issues due to our experiences with the matter at hand. I personally have never had a so-called positive interaction when it comes to dealing with people who speak a language other than English in your every day conversation. For example, one of my good friends is from Venezuela and is fluent in both English and Spanish. She was telling me a story about how one day, her and her mother were riding the escalator in a mall, and behind her, two men began speaking in Spanish about my friend. They began saying inappropriate and sexual things about her, thinking that she was only fluent in English. She turned around, and in Spanish responded with, “I can understand everything you’re saying.” She said the shock that came over their faces was priceless, and that even made her realize that you can never assume such things about people. Another place where I believe it is prevalent to see two or more people have a conversation in a language other than English is at a nail salon. I personally don’t feel uncomfortable in that type of situation; if the two employees want to have a conversation about whatever they want during their work day, then so-be-it. After I’m finished getting my nails done, I leave and whatever conversation they may have been having, whether it was about me or not, doesn’t particularly affect the rest of my day. I believe that the setting of the situation is also very important. I try to look at it this way; if I’m having a conversation with my friend in English, I don’t expect people to be eavesdropping on my conversation, so if people who are fluent in other languages believe that their conversation is safer when spoken in the other language, that doesn’t bother me. At times, I have realized that I personally get frustrated when other people speak in different languages other than English around me, however, I cannot pinpoint it to one specific time. I think that the frustration I have sometimes felt is partly due to ignorance. It is hard for me to say what I believe I would do in that situation, because I am not fluent in any language other than English. Perhaps with a certain friend or group of people, an individual feels more comfortable speaking the language their fluent in that is not English. It seems that I will never know due to the fact that I will never be in the same exact situation as many of these people. I believe it not only comes down to embracing culture and knowledge, but also possibly your home-environment. I think if you’re around people who speak languages other than English, you will be more likely to do so as well. I wouldn’t necessarily say it makes me uncomfortable, but I do find myself often times wondering what they’re talking about.

I could definitely see myself dating a black guy! In my sections discussion group today, we talked about interracial dating and our feelings on the subject. I feel that a lot of great points were made by my classmates and it really got me thinking on the subject as a whole. I was in a long term relationship with a white boy during the end of high school into college for over three and a half years, so I personally have never been in an interracial relationship in my life. I don’t blame this on the fact that I’m close minded towards the subject, however at this point in my life, I’ve only seriously dated two people, and who knows what may happen in the future. I know a lot of people say that their parents would judge them for dating outside of their race, however, that is not the case with any of my family members. I feel that my family would be very open minded in terms of who I want to date; if I find them suitable to me, then they would definitely support me. A good point was brought up today in our discussion on the topic: you date the type of people who are in your group of friends. With that being said, I would say that I hung out with mostly white people in high school, only because I did not go to a very diverse high school at all. When I came to college, my group of friends became more diverse, however not to a high degree. I would say that most of the diversity in my group of friends is with my female friends, and this may be the reason why I have not been involved in an interracial relationship. I think of myself as a very open minded person and I think that many people stereotype different genders of different races based on the people they know that fit the category. I think that people commonly get caught up in misunderstanding when this occurs, and I believe that that is why Sam talks about things like this in class. I believe that it is very difficult for certain people to look past skin color, but when I truly think about questions like the one posed here, I realize that people are people. No matter what someone’s skin tone may be, their personality is what makes them who they are, and I think that I realize that along with my family. For that reason, I see absolutely no issues with dating across races. The closest I have been to dating someone ‘different’ than me is dating someone of another religion. My ex boyfriend of three and a half years was a practicing and devoted Catholic, like myself. We agreed on most things about religion, however, since then, I have dated people who have opposed my religious views and I find that these relationships are much harder to work through sometimes. This may be the case with interracial dating, but I blame it more on people’s values and beliefs rather than their skin tone. I believe that everyone deserves the benefit of the doubt! If I met an awesome guy, and he happened to be black, I would definitely date him!

I personally feel that the diversity at Penn State was underwhelming when I first started at the university as a student. I came from a high school where there may have been less that 10 students of the 1400 that graduated who were black or African American. When I came to Penn State I pictured diversity to be running rampant all over the campus, however I quickly learned that that was not the case at all. What you hear and see if the brochures and tours of the campus are totally different than what you may truly see, as is expected, however. I feel that when you see brochures of the campus, you see brochures including ever race known to mankind, however, when you truly come to school here, that may not truly be the case. I excepted the transition from high school to college to be a very large one for me. Coming from a high school where I only had a few friends of different races, simply because of the fact that there was not much diversity, I expected Penn State to be entirely different. As I started my freshman year last year here, I realized that the pamphlets may have been ‘stretching the truth’ slightly. Don’t get me wrong, there was some diversity on campus, but I figured the University would be somewhat of a ‘melting pot’ and I find that I still do not discover this to this day. I find this question to be a very interesting one seeing as the fact that Penn State is given the reputation of being such a diverse campus. I find it very unfortunate that when people finally come here and realize how true the fact is that Penn State is not that diverse, that may potentially change their mind about coming here in the first place. I know many of my friends have come here because of the fact that Penn State is seen as an extremely diverse campus, however I do believe that many people are let down when it comes to this. It is not particularly blamed on any certain person, however I do think it would be more beneficial to the students here to experience a more diversified campus atmosphere. I feel that I could especially learn a lot more from people of different races; I could learn about their cultures, relgions, etc. and potentially grow from what they may teach me. I personally wish that Penn State was a more diverse campus, however, hopefully someday we may continue to grow and grow. As we as human beings become more comfortable with diversity, I hope that universities such as Penn State become more and more diversified as well.

I guess you could use the word ‘guilty’ to an extent to describe the way I feel about my advantage over others, but I also believe that I am where I am today because of my actions. There is honestly nothing a person can do about the family or culture/race their brought up in, and I feel that I simply accept my race and try to put it aside. Yes, I’m white, so it may be harder for me to see the side of the ‘minority’ races, for lack of a better term. I do find it very unfair that just because a person may be of a different skin color, they may be less likely to succeed as we talked about in class. On the other hand, I also see the flip flop perspective where people believe that we create our own destiny. I personally have worked hard all of my life, whether it be school work or with any job I’ve held, regardless of the fact that I’m white. Taking a step back, I do realize that I may not feel the same way if I would be of a different race. I find it extremely disheartening to think that if I were the same person that I stand to be today, but I was a different race, my life would have been completely different. I find it amazing to delve into the issue of race, because I think that people can be so ignorant when it comes to the topic and many people are afraid to admit it; I believe this is one of the main sources of our problems. The reason I could only use ‘guilty’ to an extent is because I did not choose to be born into the family that I associate with today, nor did I choose my race. I typically feel shame towards my race when I think about subjects such as these. To hear the results of the study discussed in class stating that innocent blacks are less likely to be called back for jobs than guilty white people made me realize how many ignorant people exist in the world today. I would like to say that if I was of a minority race, I would like knowing that I got somewhere due to extremely hard work and persistence, but the unequal treatment that comes along with it is simply unacceptable. I believe it has to change and it slowly will over time, as do many other issues involving race. I understand that major issues involving this topic and ones similar take time to solve, and I believe that over time, our generation will hopefully at least skim the surface of the issue in an attempt to solve it someday in the future.

I personally believe that this question was proposed very ignorantly. I personally believe that in today’s society, white people feel ‘ganged-up-on’ in a way. For example, take a look at the world today; in class and group discussions we talk about things like ‘why do black people seem to get arrested more so than white people?’ I think that all of us are so caught up in our own little world to realize that these things are only pointed out because differences exist. It’s not a big deal when a white man goes to jail for committing murder, however, if it’s a black male, then all hell breaks loose, in my opinion. The media is constantly under the scrutiny of being prejudice against blacks and any race for that matter versus whites. I don’t believe that whites are any more discriminatory than any other race, I do feel, however, that whites get judged far more for any discriminatory comment or action that they partake in. I believe that this is the main reason as to why white people are less likely to make judgments or speak their mind. As a white female, I can personally say that I hold back a lot of things I think, because everyone is so caught up in the world of political correctness, that one wrong move can land you in a pretty harsh place. I personally admit that yes, I do have discriminations, just like I’m sure each and every person in the world does, but I’m not one to go out and shout to the world how I feel about controversial topics. I don’t believe that white people are LESS likely to admit to their discriminations, but I feel that I personally try to keep my discriminations to myself. This doesn’t mean I’m trying to say that I don’t have any, because believe me, they’re there. I just choose that this is the best way to deal with my thoughts and feelings and I think that it’s beneficial for each party involved. I think that for many other white people, they choose to deny their discriminations because they view it as a form of strength and self discipline to say that they do not discriminate against anyone. Our country is rapidly evolving to be less and less prejudice and discriminatory, and I hope that someday there will be a day when we have none, but it may not be for quite some time. I think that people need to accept the fact that discriminations exist, and will continue to, but I think that people need to realize that everyone has them in some dose. Hopefully as the topic of race becomes a more comfortable subject, the white people who tend to deny their discriminations will someday admit to their flaws.

I believe that arrests occur more often where there are more police in the area. It seems that people are always throwing out the opinion of theirs that they believe people are the victims of racism because they think that they see more colored people getting arrested on the news over white people. I believe that a crime is a crime, regardless of your race, and it seems that sometimes, people are simply looking for an excuse for their problems. In today’s society it sometimes almost seems that people are looking for racism so that they can criticize the media, government or what have you. We’re all so caught up in the world of political correctness, but we were each given the right to freedom of speech. I think that if people believe that the reason arrests of colored people SEEM to occur more often than those of white people is due to racism have a skewed view on reality. There are many different factors that could go into the reasoning behind who gets arrested. For example, the video blog brought up the fact that there are more police in urban areas. One example of how this reasoning is true is take State Patty’s Day for example. On your typical weekend at Penn State, the crime/arrest rates are fairly low; however, when State Patty’s Day rolls around, it’s a whole different story. Penn State cracked down in 2010 with increasing their police force and banning bars from doing things like opening early and serving green beer to customers. Last year alone, 160 teenagers and young adults were arrested on the ever-so-loved Penn State tradition. Although this example may have nothing to do with race in particular, it simply shows that when a police force is larger, as it is in the urban areas, there are going to be far more arrests than in a suburban area. It baffles me at times to believe that there are people out there who are looking for a scapegoat for their problems. A white person and black person sentenced for being guilty of the same crime are STILL criminals and their race does not play into the situation. The fact that they did something wrong and will pay for it is what is at hand; not their skin color. I personally believe that whites and blacks are treated equally in today’s society, although, in the past it may not have been the same circumstance. If people stopped looking for others to blame their problems and mistakes on, perhaps the world would be a much safer and happier place where we wouldn’t have to worry and complain about trivial things such as accusing others of racism for simply doing their job as a member of the police force.

I believe that there are very few people in the world who would categorize themselves as ONLY republican or democrat; most people fall somewhere in between. I personally voted that Sam was very liberal when the clicker question appeared on the screen and I was completely shocked when I found out that he leaned toward conservatism. I personally wouldn’t classify myself as either a strict liberal or a strict conservative and I think that it’s very unique to see someone who is ‘truly’ one of the two. I find that I have mixed views on certain issues that all go into my personal classification as a moderate. On my voter registration, I claim to be republican, but along with that comes the stereotype of having very strict conservative viewpoints on the disputed issues, which I do not have. There are certain issues that the ‘typical republican’ feels strongly about that I agree with. For example, I agree with the republican stand point on the death penalty. I feel that if someone has committed a crime terrible enough for the government to declare that they should die for it, they deserve it. It’s kind of similar to the whole ‘an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth’ saying. I believe that if someone is cruel enough to murder an innocent individual, they do not deserve to live. Another issue that republicans feel strongly about is separation of church and state. I believe that the government should stay out of any religious issues and that it is not their place to intervene. Religion is part of the freedom for an individual to choose how they want to live their lives, so why should the government control any aspect of that? It seems condescending to me that we as Americans are given the right to chose things like our religion, and then have them in a sense taken away from us by having the government get involved. Though there are a few aspects that I agree with in terms of what republicans believe it, there are also many that I oppose. For example, I feel that if a person is homosexual, they should be able to love and marry whoever they want. I personally do not understand why heterosexual people feel that it’s okay to discriminate gays for their feelings. I’m sure if the ‘socially acceptable’ thing was being gay and the heterosexuals in the world were told they couldn’t love or marry someone of the opposite sex, all hell would break lose. Another issue that I find myself disagreeing with is the issue on abortion. For instance, what if a woman gets herself into a situation at a party where she is taken advantage of and impregnated? Republicans believe that even in that extreme circumstance, abortion is absolutely frowned upon. They are ‘pro-life’ on all accounts, and I do not agree with them on that particular issue. I feel that every situation is different and yet again, it is up to the individuals involved to choose what exactly they want to do in terms of their lives and future. For the many reasons I just mentioned and countless others, I like to think of myself as being split on certain issues in terms of what’s ‘republican’ or ‘democratic’.