en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/2441843 Comments by ewalsh18 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/21/for-what-purpose/#IDComment145232154 “Remember, Red, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things and no good thing ever dies.” – Andy Dufresne It is hard to sympathize or just empathize with people in prison. You assume that someone serving a life sentence deserves it. That prison more than likely took someone else’s life, why does he or she deserve my sympathy or attempt at understanding? You assume someone in prison is getting exactly what he or she deserves. Like Morgan Freeman as Ellis “Red” Redding says in The Shawshank Redemption, “they send you away for life and that’s exactly what they take.” The reason we cannot empathize with lifers is because there is no way we could ever understand what they are going through, and I never ever want to. To live every single day with the guilt, regret, shame, anger, and a million other emotions eating away at you. This is why I think a lot of the time that life in prison is worse than the death penalty. At least serving life in prison can give someone a chance to pay for his or her mistakes and change for the better. Clearly, this does not happen very often. I could not imagine living with no hope or optimism, knowing that the next day will be exactly the same. That would be literally too much for anyone to handle. Living with fear and guilt can drive anyone insane. I give the person who wrote this so much credit, to be able to still have hope, to want to live and to help others must take so much strength. To remain hopeful in prison seems nearly impossible. “Fear will hold you prisoner, hope will set you free” once again thank you, Shawshank Redemption. Clearly, the majority of my knowledge of the criminal justice system comes from pop culture, especially Prison Break and Law and Order: SVU. But I do know that the prison system needs reform. Pennsylvania spends more money on prisons than education. If there is all of this money in prisons, then the inmates should have these resources, like “M” says a purpose. If writing or painting or teaching is enough to give someone a reason to wake up in the morning then I think those programs are worth it. One major problem, though, is that people with psychiatric disabilities (who are overrepresented in prisons) do not get the help they need. A lot of the people who were released from state hospitals during deinstitutionalization are now unfortunately imprisoned, since they never received proper services and help. It also seems like serving life in prison is enough to turn any sane person crazy in every meaning of the word. I wouldn’t wish that torture on anyone, no matter the past mistakes. Fri, 22 Apr 2011 22:32:48 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/21/for-what-purpose/#IDComment145232154 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/14/what-do-you-think-about-the-telephone-game-and-why-does-information-travel-that-way-119-blog/#IDComment143206538 The lecture by Dr. Jones was really thought provoking and brought up a lot of interesting topics along with race. The telephone game was a perfect example of how information is passed between groups of people. You would expect the story to be shortened and mixed up throughout the game. I have seen this activity before in one of my psychology classes. It was supposed to demonstrate how people remember things. We learned that people tend remember the beginning and end of a story. Also, people tend to forget some names and details and mix information up. We saw this in class as the volunteers remembered the beginning with Bill and a big university, the end throwing a book at the TV but got mixed up around the middle. Another thing that happens after hearing the story is that sometimes people hear only the parts they want to hear and the information is changed by a person’s own personal bias. We can also choose the parts that we want to repeat and tell other people. It was obvious that the first girl who heard the story in full from Dr. Jones did not want to drop the n-bomb in front of a classroom of people. I would feel uncomfortable as well. I assume she remembered this part of the story very specifically but wanted to be politically correct. She told the next volunteer that the story involved a derogatory term. This then turned in to a story about a scuffle. I thought it was interesting how quickly everyone forgot about the white student in the story who knew his friend, Art, was wrong but didn’t stand up to him or try and do anything about it. This seemed to be an important part of the story that was easily left out. Things like this happen a lot when stories are told and retold. Some things get exaggerated while others get forgotten. I wish we had a little more time at the end of class to talk about this point. How news stories or reports can be manipulated, not always on purpose. By the time a first hand account travels to the general public it might barely resemble the truth. We hear what we want to hear and tell people what we think they want to hear or what we are comfortable telling them. This happens all too often and most of the time it’s out of our control. It is difficult to decide what is true and what is false and the more than likely combination of the two. I guess this is why we played telephone when we were little kids - to learn not to gossip or believe everything you heard. Fri, 15 Apr 2011 20:08:24 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/14/what-do-you-think-about-the-telephone-game-and-why-does-information-travel-that-way-119-blog/#IDComment143206538 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/31/has-the-class-on-the-needy-penis-made-you-uncomfortable-and-why-119-blog/#IDComment139258758 I did not feel uncomfortable on the lecture of the needy penis; it actually made me feel more comfortable about a lot of issues. The only part that I thought would make me uncomfortable was if Laurie and Sam talked more about their personal lives, since this is definitely not something I would want to talk about in front of 700 people. Actually, having the lecture come from both a male and a female made it seem more balanced. In the past when I’ve had health classes on “our changing bodies” I definitely felt super uncomfortable, kind of wanted to gauge my ears out. Maybe I have somehow matured a lot over time, but that is doubtful. I think that this lecture was just geared more towards to college students and since I am used to talking about uncomfortable issues in this class, I don’t really thing anything will phase me anymore. I found the lecture to be really funny and it brought up a lot of important ideas. I have thought about a lot of these issues beforehand and Sam and Laurie just put it in a new light. Before this lecture my roommates and I have talked about how we know this is a man’s world since men almost always climax during sex but this is much more rare for women. What this lecture made me realize was that it doesn’t need to be this way. Women shouldn’t have to fake it to boost men’s confidence, he already finished you definitely do not owe him anything- in fact he owes you something. A woman not being able to reach orgasm is not her fault, neither is not wanting to have sex in the same way a man does, this was something that I really took in. At times I have defiantly felt that I should want to have sex as much as a man, or I’ve felt guilty for turning a man down. I’m sure a lot of others girls have felt this way at some point or another. This lecture made me realize that this is perfectly normal, that there are fundamental differences between men and women that should be addressed. This made me feel more comfortable with some of my past personal decisions. It is important for men to understand the complexities of a woman’s anatomy and why women may not be as ready and willing to engage in sexual activity. It is also important for women to understand that once a man gets started it may be harder for him to stop. When you look at it this way we might actually live in a women’s centered world already, since whenever a woman does want to have sex her partner will almost always be ready to oblige, cliterally. Sat, 2 Apr 2011 01:50:37 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/31/has-the-class-on-the-needy-penis-made-you-uncomfortable-and-why-119-blog/#IDComment139258758 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/24/religion-in-the-future/#IDComment137550580 Religion has been such a huge part of human history that it would be insane for it to not be a part of our future. All of the fighting over religion, like in Ireland, one of the countries mentioned in the article, will what, just become irrelevant? Faith is the center of so many people’s lives that I could not imagine it becoming obsolete. But I think that there is a major difference between religion and faith. This article is about organized religion, not faith. I can picture a distant world without organized religion but I do not people will ever lose their faith entirely. Maybe I just base this on my own life. I’ve been raised catholic, had all my sacraments, attended CCD classes, but it never really stuck. The Catholic Church has certainly lost followers in recent decades, with sex scandals, losing battles with science and a neglect of different and new ideals. I always had doubts and started questioning my religion around age 10. I think this comes with age and experience, so many college students and people my age question faith and detach themselves from religion. If religious institutions like the Catholic Church do not adapt to emerging values and ideas, such as accepting homosexuality, I think they will have a hard time keeping their young followers. I do not know many of peers to share the same religious beliefs or conviction of my grandparents’ generations. We just learn too many other possibilities to accept God and religion blindly. My generation was brought up on science and technology. We know what we can sense, what we can see and touch, not really what we feel or believe. People may not practice religion in the same way in the future. That has already changed significantly over time. New religions will emerge or split, new ways of practicing, new methods. But faith will always exist. People will need something to believe. We need something to turn to and explain the things we cannot explain ourselves. It may not always be as prominent in society and may look similar to what we are used to today,. But people, all over the world, throughout history have found the need to form religious beliefs over time and this will continue in the future. Who knows what will happen, maybe we will all be scientologists, or combine all world religions, unite in disbelief or revert back to some old form of Greek mythology. I do not know if this will be better or worse, will we be futuristic godless people, or will we be more united and accepting of other people? That’s the thing that I am told about religion; that is not about knowing but rather about believing and having faith. Fri, 25 Mar 2011 19:11:58 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/24/religion-in-the-future/#IDComment137550580 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/18/what-is-your-opinion-of-the-video-119-blog/#IDComment135943997 While I’m not dark skinned I still fell compelled to comment on this video because I found it really heartbreaking. These kids are so young, so innocent and so honest. They don’t know you can’t say things like this or call the black doll “bad.” Yet they’ve still had our hatred and prejudice already implanted deep within their brains. I definitely don’t believe that people are born racist, these are ideas and feelings people learn, and apparently at a very young age. Why are we teaching children to hate; to hate others and hate themselves? How are we doing this? I believe this, for lack of a better word, brainwashing is subtle and unintentional. You can’t blame this on just the media or parents, schools or any other single institution. It’s a combination of ideas that run deep through societies. Seeing the majority of the kids picking the white doll to play with was sad, yet understandable. If they see primarily images of white people on television, movies and everywhere else, then I think this might just be a level of comfort. These kids are probably not aware yet of the fact that they are black and just want to play with the doll that they are used to seeing dolls looking like. What I think was way more disturbing and sad was then they were asked, “Which doll is the bad one?” This goes much deeper than comfort and being used to seeing white dolls and white people in TV and movies. It’s so unbelievably sad and scary that young children feel this way. That at such a young age they are taught that black is bad and white is nice. Once a person has an idea like this it becomes pretty hard to reverse this thinking. How can you expect a person who believes that something they can’t change about themselves is fundamentally bad to be confident in their own skin? I think this all goes back to the latent prejudice. The thoughts and feelings we’re not even conscious of. We pass these ideas through generations without meaning to and without thinking of the consequences. We are belittling and undermining our children, teaching them racist ideas before they are even aware of what race is. We cannot say that we are all equal if people are taught these things early in life and have to live with them forever. Having young black children associate black skin with being bad can only hinder them throughout life adding more adversity. It’s like the self-fulfilling prophecy, if people are told they are bad, there is a chance they will believe it and act bad. What else would people expect to happen? It just reinstates stereotypes in the next generation. Sat, 19 Mar 2011 00:34:37 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/18/what-is-your-opinion-of-the-video-119-blog/#IDComment135943997 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/09/the-r-word-and-the-oblivious-others/#IDComment133774806 When I saw this post it intrigued me immediately because this is one topic that I am not oblivious to. This is what I want to do with my life, I want to help people with developmental disabilities. In the work I have done so far with this population this issue has come up more and more. Just last week I went to a dance with the Centre County Down Syndrome Society to "spread the word to end the word." In the future as I want to work with people with down syndrome, autism or any other number of disabilities, obviously it would be beyond inappropriate to use the word "retard." But it should be just as inappropriate for everyone else to use the word, too. Whenever I hear someone say the r-word I can't help but think that the person is ignorant, and well an asshole. I just roll my eyes and kind of lose interest in whatever the person is saying. I believe it is just as degrading as any racial slur, if it's not okay to drop the "n-bomb" in daily speech, why is it okay to use this word? As happy as I am that this topic is getting much needed attention, I don't think this is a political issue at all. Too many people, republican, democrat, independent and everything in between use the r-word as an insult or joke, or just for no reason at all sometimes. It's not about political parties or the responsibility that comes along with being a public figure or politician, it's about showing other human beings respect. It is about not belittling and degrading a group of people. It should be about empowering those who may need a little extra to help themselves. So whether or not this is an issue that politicians can and should agree upon, I think it's best to keep the politics out of this one to keep the drama out. You don't need to pass a law banning this word, rather we all just need to educate ourselves and be more empathetic and aware. This is a big problem but the solution is simple at the personal level, think before you speak. My friends have tried to stop saying this word around me, which I think is much better for their sake because it will only help them in the future to keep derogatory words like this out of their vocabulary. I understand that this has become such a commonly spoken word and that for most people it just slips out without any intention to hurt anyone, but taking one word out of your vocabulary is not a hard thing to do. I'm not asking people to change their lives or give up something they love, just to be conscious of what you are saying and who you might be hurting. I realize that most people are not as passionate about this as I am and that to most people this is not a big deal. We've all used the r-word, we've all heard it too many times, but we've all also known someone who has been hurt by it. So just think of the people you're referencing and nonchalantly disregarding at the same time. They might be your neighbor, family member, friend, classmate, co-worker or total stranger but it is still someone. People with mental retardation or other forms of developmental disabilities, who have been victims of severe discrimination or neglected and exploited over the years, and using the r-word in a derogatory manner is only hurting this population more. Some of the most hard working, talented, open-minded people and compassionate people I've ever met have developmental disabilities, and in this respect, they are far ahead of the rest of us. Thu, 10 Mar 2011 05:20:45 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/09/the-r-word-and-the-oblivious-others/#IDComment133774806 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/08/how-have-the-choices-youve-made-and-determinism-affected-your-life-119-blog/#IDComment127410721 There was never a single doubt in my mind that I would go to college. My parents both went to college, my grandparents went to college, my four older siblings went to college, ivy leagues included. I feel really lucky to have such an amazing family and come from where I came from. I live in a suburban town on Long Island, a pretty perfect place to grow up. I went to one of the top 100 high schools in the country with a more 95 percent graduation rate. We had the option to take classes in the International Baccalaureate program, reportedly the most rigorous high school curriculum. In high school we could take college classes and the administrators wanted us to be well prepared for college to be able to graduate within 4 years. My parents are the two most hard working people I have ever met and they have done so much to put all 5 of us through college. I have been extremely privileged and have been given so many opportunities that are not afforded to everyone. In this way my life so far has mostly been shaped my determinism. I have absolutely made a series of choices to get to Penn State, I made the most of the opportunities I was given. In high school, I took the hardest classes, worked hard, got good grades, played sports, got involved with clubs and worked part time. I could have slacked off and taken what I was given for granted, but I choose not too. However, I can't begin to compare how hard I worked in high school to what other people have had to do. Not having the medical or financial issues that so many other people my age have to face has definitely given me an upper hand. Other people might have worked so much harder and overcome a lot more adversity to get to Penn State, and I give them so much credit. It is easy to complain and be complacent in a difficult situation, especially when there doesn't seem to be a way out. There is almost always a way out. Sometimes the person can't quite see this on their own and a little extra help is necessary. Since I have been so lucky and no matter how much I may say I don't take it for granted, I do, and therefore I feel a responsibility to help people who have not been given the same privileges as me. What a person is given is so much less important than what he or she works for and earns. And we all deserve the right to work for what we want, no matter what background we come from. Fri, 11 Feb 2011 21:30:21 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/08/how-have-the-choices-youve-made-and-determinism-affected-your-life-119-blog/#IDComment127410721 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/03/why-dont-we-live-like-the-monkeys-119-blog/#IDComment126042243 Why can't we all just live like monkeys? Well, because we have the ability to ask that question. We are aware of the fact that we are humans and the theory that we have most likely evolved from chimpanzees. We are self aware and intelligent (well sometimes, anyway) which means we had to give up the luxury of "just living for the sake of living" years ago. I would love it if humans could just "be" if we could live for today without worrying about everyone and everything else. If we didn't have to justify our actions, or even our beliefs, if we didn't have to bring other people down to make ourselves feel better, how much better everything would be. How much easier and simpler. But where one says simple someone else says boring. Some of us stir up controversy to combat the boredom, or create something much more dangerous. Life will never be entirely easy or boring, even for the monkeys, all animals have the instinct to survive. We all have basic physiological needs - food, water, shelter and even the monkeys have to do what is necessary to survive. Animals kill each other for food and land all the time, we do too. The majority of wars fought throughout human history has been over land, normally other factors are included or excuses are made but we need land to live and we fight to get this land. We've fought for the resources land provides, whether it's access to water and food or energy and oil. Animals fought over land, and as animals we do the same, even Hitler just wanted lebensraum, "living space." So in this aspect humans still are, and probably always will be just like monkeys. Primal instincts are not an excuse for this though, you would think that as "civilized" creatures we would be above war and prejudice at this point. Far from. Sometimes it seems like there will never be a point in even the most distant future where humans can evolve to a point where we no longer hate one another so passionately. Other animals do what they need to to survive, which includes killing one another, but just like the video said it's doubtful that these animals do so out of hatred. Maybe since humans have some intellectual capacity to understand that murder is wrong we justify with hatred. Use hatred and prejudice as a defense mechanism, to separate me from you, us from them. We separate ourselves from the animals we kill to eat, why not do the same with the people we fight to lessen the emotions and guilt? Our instincts might be buried deep beneath consciousness and complex human emotions or just faded with lack of use, but they are there. Rage, as much as we are socialized to suppress it comes to surface, it is a part of who we are. Humans might go above and beyond what is necessary to do so, but we are just essentially trying to survive, to pass our genes on to the next generation, like all animals. So I don't know why we feel so superior to monkeys and all other living things when clearly we all are so very similar and share a home. I've never really noticed it but I've always done that, assumed the world was here for me and my people, never considered myself an animal. But I am. I, too, am all at once animal and human, "all at once the most beautiful and ugly creatures in the world." Sat, 5 Feb 2011 01:05:42 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/03/why-dont-we-live-like-the-monkeys-119-blog/#IDComment126042243 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/27/what-does-the-confederate-flag-mean-to-you-119-blog/#IDComment124464814 The confederate flag has come to mean a variety of things for different people, but I find it hard to separate the flag from our country's depressing history. I know that most people who fly the confederate flag do not fully understand how this looks to other people and how insensitive and offensive it can be. Being from Long Island, NY, I never saw anyone flying the confederate flag at home. A confederate bumper sticker on the back of someone's car would have been an absurd sight. Of course, I saw this on vacations and I never knew what would drive anyone to proudly display this symbol that I always associated with racism. Whenever I see the confederate flag here, whether hanging in a frat house, on an article of clothing or flying at a football tailgate I can't comprehend why a person would want to associate themselves with this symbol of hatred. When I think of the stereotype of who would fly the confederate flag I immediately think of the typical redneck from a poor rural southern town. I've always also thought of this group to be ignorant and racist, maybe since I assume they are prejudice I am fine with being prejudice against them. I find it hard to separate this symbol from the people who use it - and not being able to separate people from an idea is very dangerous. It's almost of if donning this symbol of racism invites people to make harsh judgments against you. But of course to most people the flag doesn't represent racism, rather history and heritage. It can be about pride and being proud of who you are and where you come from, this is something that almost everyone can relate to. Sometimes I cannot help but think that this is just an excuse, a way to cover up the racism that is no longer socially acceptable. At one point in our country's history it was perfectly acceptable to wave the flag and do so wanting to preserve a way of life, which included the enslavement of other human beings. It can also be seen as a reminder of where our country was and how far we have come and how far we still have to go. I think that a lot of what gets people in to trouble is not fully understanding the history between the south and the union and especially confusing the confederate battle flag for the flag of the confederacy. Then it no longer is about southern pride but glorifying the civil war, the deadliest war in American history. The racism that comes along with the battle flag, although probably unintentional by most people, is inexcusable. This racism is what is replicated when people adopt the confederate battle flag for white supremacy or neo-Nazi movements. Once a symbol is associated with these movements it is pretty impossible for it to return to a benign symbol of southern pride. Sat, 29 Jan 2011 03:23:03 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/27/what-does-the-confederate-flag-mean-to-you-119-blog/#IDComment124464814 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/18/what-do-you-think-blog-2/#IDComment122890633 This activity was absolutely provocative and interesting, bringing up questions that we rarely ask ourselves. Why do I so easily associate skin color and race as the same thing? Why is there so much emphasis on race? How easily do I judge people based on their physical appearance, do I immediately stick them in a particular racial group? Do people do this to me immediately? Is it a conscious choice? Is there even a point in putting people in racial groups? These are loaded questions that I really think about but that I want to open my eyes to. If I was one of the students chosen for this exercise I would have been very easy to place with extremely pale skin, freckles, blue eyes, light brown hair and a narrow facial features - I am unmistakably a white person. As far as I know my whole family is from Ireland and there is barely anything racially ambiguous about us. At times when I’ve been asked about my heritage I’ve answered that I am “one hundred percent Irish,” but race is far more complex than this percentage. This class exercise proved that. Clearly, many people cannot be so simply placed into a racial group. When different heritages are mixed and characteristics change over generations the idea about what is obvious about race changes rapidly. I found it really shocking how people of such different backgrounds, literally separated by continents, have such similar skin tones and characteristics that they were placed in the same racial group. I would have probably made even more mistakes if I completed this exercise. I wouldn’t normally think that a person of Mexican or Native American descent would be confused for a Middle Eastern person, clearly this is very possible. This is just evident of how insignificant the differences between some cultures really are. It is ironic how different ethnicities or racial groups can have so many problems with one another, despite their underlying similar histories and characteristics. What I found even more interesting was the class’ reaction after we found out the each student’s actual racial background. Most of us were probably sitting too far away to see any actual facial details. All I really saw was skin and hair color, but these are normally the biggest identifiers of race anyway. Sometimes in the class there was disbelief or laughter or rolling eyes. Even the 4.0 students organizing their classmates were often more sensitive or apprehensive when revealing what they thought a particular person’s race was, as if not trying to offend certain people or cultures. This was often subtle and probably unintentional but it just shows how we are so often uncomfortable with racial tensions. Maybe it was to not insult anyone about mistaking his or her identity or just our overwhelming need to be politically correct. Sat, 22 Jan 2011 01:16:19 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/18/what-do-you-think-blog-2/#IDComment122890633