When Sam Richards posted the question “Which of these contributes most to the control of immigrants who come to America?” I immediately chose Business. The answer was not as clear to the audience, including my friend Rachel who sat next to me and disagreed, saying that the right answer was government/federal agents and political figures. I knew she was dead wrong, but kept silent and decided not to argue; waiting patiently for the next slide to appear with the correct answer. She was stunned and my silence on the issue had paid off, reversing my silence with hers as she sunk into her seat with humorous disbelief. As I simply nodded and smiled, Sam went on to explain to the audience that money controls everything in this country, especially immigration. How I knew the answer immediately you ask? Number one rule of investigatory journalism: follow the money. This phrase is known in the journalism world, but few people know of its existence, its importance, and its relativity to the subject of immigration in the United States. Further into the lecture, Sam Richards described immigration in the United States as completely controlled by businesses, because they are the organizations that make and control all the money, so this is where the process starts, and all the executive decisions are executed by them. People are misunderstood on this subject, and think that politicians have all jurisdiction and make all the decisions on such matters. But you have to follow the money. Money making starts with businesses, so the men and women working for these companies that come across reports of money loss inevitably go to the politicians and tell them to loosen the strictness of the United States border; the end result being that a steady influx of illegal immigrants cross the border from Mexico and work for very little pay. These businesses utilizing these illegal immigrants cheap labor do not have to pay taxes to the state, federal government, or any other taxes at all associated with these cheap labor workers that happen to be illegal immigrants. This solves the businesses problems because they then turn a profit, and things are brought back to neutral. Just because I knew the answer to the question does not mean that at the time I knew everything on the subject matter. When looking at the big picture, I knew to “follow the money,” but I did not know that our strictness with border security was under direct association with business losing profit. I would have never guessed that getting an entire business back on track was as easy as reducing security within border patrol and letting some illegal immigrants enter the United States. Businesses are very difficult to maintain and manage, but sometimes all it takes is easing up on security to get things “back to neutral.”

When asked the question: “what does it say about our society if schools are more segregated now than in the 1970’s?” then I would have to look deeper into what the 1970’s were really like. The majority of students that this question is targeted towards were not alive in the 1970s, therefore do not have a true perspective of what it was really like and how it may compare to society and the different types of lifestyles it generated and made possible. There are certain stereotypes associated with the 1970;s such as “everyone just smoked pot all day,” or “everyone just listened to Led Zepplin and then went to the roller rink.” But it terms of the education system, most people who are talking in stereotypical terms or not will tell you that the schools had racism reverberating through the hallways and the schools had a corrupt way of segregating students. But I can almost gauruntee that if you ask a random student if our education system is segregated today, they will say it may have some flaws, but it is not as bad as times in the past, such as the 1970s. So naturally it is shocking to hear that todays schools are more segregated than 40 years ago. I do not know how this is possible, but I do remember something from the lecture that involved racism and linked it to why today’s schools are segregated more than in the past, specifically 40 years ago. What I think should be taken into account is how today’s society functions compared to the society and its ways 40 years ago. Times change, and with time, especially in the United States, things evolve and become bigger, better, updated, and more efficient. This expansion simply magnifies whatever was going on before. So in terms of today’s society, it is bigger, better, updated, and more efficient. So if things were one way back in the 1970’s, then that way will simply be magnified. For instance, if schools were segregated in the 1970’s, and all of these schools got bigger, then the ideals and messages that they deliver will only be a magnified version of what it truly was “way back when.” In my personal experience, I was born in the great decade of the 1990’s, so I cannot talk on behalf of those people who truly experienced the 1970’s, but the high school I went to had twelve hundred students, being almost entirely white, with a grand total of 14 black students. The racism reverberating through the hallways of my high school did not resonate in my mind as a serious issue until all of those 14 black kids left…all in the same year. How does that make my high school look? This is why I understand how schools are more segregated in today’s society more than they were back in the 1970’s.

The message of the video on the smart board that started sam richard’s lecture was to set an American example of how we might should or do think about muslim people. It was not only to scare us, but to get out attentions focused on something that hits home for many people and many peoples relatives, including friends and work associates. Everyone knows someone personally or of someone in general that has had a loved one lost in the 9/11 attacks, so for this presentation to start with something that is apparent in today’s society; then to make us switch our short term views to a perspective through muslim middle class peoples lives, is more than surprising. But anyways, no matter how you view the way the presentation was presented or the opinions and views it re-confirmed, the presentation most definetly can be used an example of why people place their views on “the war on terror” on that presentations messages alone. It showed threat to the entire nation, and made the audience side with an American force that was under stress that needed to be removed. After seeing this video and having opinions of it on my own, I realized that it was best to take it from the side of a middle class muslim, but at times found it difficult to relate, simply because I was in a room with about 700 other people that didn’t necisarilly remind me anything of what life would be like in the middle east, other than maybe superficial things, like the way we judge each other or what we may think is “cool” or not. Yes, we have similarities to one another, but they are not very easy to pick up on. But that is what sam Richards was able to do, about halfway through his lecture with me. It was truly impressive to see someone change many opinions of adults in a room not slightly, but directly, and not to mention at a high volume. But sam Richards called this his “best class” yet, and sometimes I don’t blame him for making those statements, simply because they are true. But back to terrorism and what the presentation’s message delivered. Although a gifted professor like sam Richards can change our opinions in a lecture, the video he made us view in the beginning scared the majority of the class, and was probably a textbook resemblence of the word “terrorism” in their eyes really is. Again, terrorism has effected many of those around us lives, whether they were relatives, friends, work associates, or if people just knew of them. It is something that hits home, and I can see why the video gave off that vibe.

To be quite honest, I found the lecture to be enlightening in its own sense, but what it did for me was confirm many of my pre-existing beliefs. People, especially girls, will turn down any conversation with a boy that involves something out of their comfort zone, this being sexual intercourse. Girls have been known to discuss these things with their close friends, aka girls, but they rarely talk about them with boys, let alone talk about it in an honest and truthful way. So throughout my life, I have had various sexual experiences, and because I have a gift for picking up on people’s perceptions, I have confounded many beliefs about the female orgasm and the female sexual experience, and what exactly it does for them and how little they usually get out of it on a regular basis, especially if their partner does not know what he is doing or does not take into account her specific needs. All you have to do is listen to a girl, and as long as you perceive her correctly, and that she trusts you, she will most likely tell the truth. But because so many girls do not trust their partners, yet still engage in sexual activity with them, the girls will more times than not be dissatisfied with the sexual relationship after some time goes by, simply because they are not being honest with their partner about what THEY want. Guys cannot give a girl an orgasm if she is not honest with the guy from the start. Period. Whether the guy is honest with the girl or not depends, but I’d say most of the time a girl needs to trust the guy. Yes, a girl has not trusted a guy and he has given her an orgasm before. This happens, of course, but it is NOT the norm. Sam Richards brought up countless points on this subject, and all of them confirmed my pre-existing beliefs on what a girl does or does not get out of sexual activity with their partner. The analogy Sam used was perfect: “If you are on a freeway driving 40 miles an hour, eventually after some time, a big tractor trailer is going to come up from behind you and knock you off the road. Yes, it will be his fault, and he will be punished, but just know that if you are on a freeway traveling at an unsafe speed, you will eventually get knocked off the road. Although sexual assault is never a girls fault, the traffic analogy is a perfect way for a girl to visualize what situation exactly that she is dealing with, and let it be an even bigger warning that should resonate through the every girls mind who goes home with a guy she just met. It will not be your fault, but you will get knocked off the freeway eventually, and the consequences of that accident have the potential to ruin your entire life.

When asked the question “Have you ever dealt with discrimination and or a situation with someone who was being racist?” I very interesting story comes to mind. I dealt with blatant racism a lot in high school, because I went to an all male, pretty much all white catholic school with only about 14 black males. This kind of environment is very intimidating for black people in general, but for racist comments and slurs to reverberate through the hallways makes it about ten times worse for any black kid at the school. I am white, but in third and fourth grade I lived in Japan and went to an international catholic school, so basically every single friend I had in grades three and four was from a different country. Basically I had friends of all different races and ethnic background at an age where racism is not something that comes to mind and you just do not think about it often at all, especially because everyone was from a different country…it would be very unwise to segregate yourself from anyone else because not everyone was from one country or another…literally everyone was from a different country and it just worked; it clicked. It was pretty much a perfect environment for hundreds of different races to come together and become friends and play sports and attend classes and learn together. So when I came back to the states in grade school I had zero negative feelings about any specific race, and I did not deal with any racist comments or slurs at all…until I attended high school with almost everyone being white males. This environment breeds racism because there is literally no black or brown influence in the school at all. This was made most evident to me when something unfortunate happened. Literally all 14 black kids that attended my high school left…all in the same year. The blatant racism with the students and faculty discriminating against them was too much to bear. This happened after my freshman year. I was not really aware this was happening because I played three varsity sports, was keeping up with classes, and somehow found the time to have a flourishing social life on top of a very busy schedule…so looking out for racist remarks? No, that was not part of my schedule. Until it was made very clear that the school had racism reverberating through the hallways…enough to make 14 black guys leave all in the same year, two of them being my friends that were brothers that attended my grade school after I came back from Japan. So whenever I heard my friends or anyone in the hall making racist comments, I stopped them in their tracks, called them out, and told them what they said was wrong and why it was wrong and did my best to convince them to never say it again…because all those comments add up…and make an entire racial group leave a school.

White supremacy is something that will always reverberate through the actions and messages throughout Penn state, as long as it remains predominantly white. I am in no way a racist or someone who thinks that one race is better than another, but am someone who can perceive certain racial messages and slurs as something that has made our society think a certain way and has impacted our society as something that is bad, and should not be tolerated in any sort of way, shape, or form. The racial message at Garber Street on the white loop bus stop is something that should not be taken as a joke, especially because racial diversity is not a big factor in Penn State’s diversity itself, seeing that Sam Richard’s statistic of Penn State being 80% white ringing true. Penn State is 80 percent white, meaning that the majority of Penn State is white, has been raised by white families, therefore a certain percentage of this 80 percent has had some kind of white supremacy influence, either on a very small scale, such as exposure to certain films, or on a large scale, such as neo-nazi influence, which should be avoided at all costs, especially because it is archaic, violent, disturbing, and most of all useless. Anyone who is exposed to white supremacy and other similar subcultures really needs to take a look in the mirror and ask themselves who they are. We are all the same, we are all monkeys, and if they do not have the mental stability or security to realize that we are all one in the same and need to diferenciate one another to the point that it becomes a violent, useless culture, then they need to take a few steps back a realize that they are in a seat in a car on the path towards absolutely nowhere. They will achieve absolutely nothing in life, and will always have sense of hatred, and annoyance reverberating throughout their heads for the rest of their life. The words “white power” on the bus stop of the white loop is absolutely not a joke, unless it was intended to be a joke which I do not think it was. Anyone who has the balls to write such a thing is probably not kidding about it, especially because it has been there for more than a few weeks. If someone was kidding about it, it would probably be when they were out and drunk at night, and would finally realize the next day or two exactly what they did and try to make amends for it by erasing it or destroying of the evidence somehow. But no, they didn’t, and it has been there for quite sometime.

When asked the question: “Why are black and brown people more expressive of their problems than white people?” I would have to say that it is a close call. I have never met anyone, either black, brown, or white, that does not have problems of their own. Everyone on the planet, even those that appear to be happy ALL of the time, have problems of their own. No matter how big or small they are, problems exist and anyone you meet will give you a list of the top of their heads on various levels of issues that are bothering them at the time, bothered them in the past, and even hypothetical problems that could possibly bother them in the distant future. No matter who you are, you’re your lifestyle is, or what race/ethnicity you are, there are things that bother you, and we collectively label them as “problems.” These “problems” bother us on different levels because the magnitude of the issue leans one of two ways; that being big or small. If you are in a decent mood, and a small problem is bothering you, most likely the act of venting will not happen on a considerable level. But, if you are in a bad mood and the problem is big, then venting about this issue is actually inevitable, because the subconscious mind takes over. In order to expel some of the pressure of the problem, the subconscious mind captures all of your thoughts, and before you know it everyone you have close relations with has heard about the big problem…or is destined to hear all about it, whether you like it or not. These issues, classified on these specific levels, happen to anyone and everyone. Race should not be considered the explanation of why and how much someone vents to another human being about their current unsolved puzzle that seems to not have all the pieces; otherwise referred to as a problem. After this explanation, the answer I explained is clear. But not everyone sees this the way I do. I understand that, and the way I understand it is this: African American people can be falsely labeled as people who are not vocal about the good times, but a people who dwell on their current problems. If I may explain this from the perspective of Dave Chapelle himself, he tells us that he has witnessed white people and black people, both intoxicated, but the white people only talk in quantitative measures, like how may drinks they had at the bar, where on the other hand, black people only talk about their problems. Although Dave’s eyewitness accounts may be true, this should not be considered the norm for ALL African American people and ALL white people. It is just too simple of a generalization to take into account…it simply cannot be true.

When asked the question “how conscious am I of where I sit in class now after the exercise Sam Richards conducted in class than before he conducted the exercise in class?” I would have to answer neutral. I could argue going both ways, but if someone wants a straight answer I would say I am completely in between. The exercise he conducted that had 8 girls, either picking a seat in which to sit in, or just to sit in the seat and wait for someone to either sit next to you or not sit next to you. The first thing that came to my mind was “this is awesome, I love it!” but the second thing that came to my mind right after that was a scene in one of my favorite movies, Donnie Darko. In the scene, there is a new girl to the class that came in fairly late, and the English teacher as played by Drew Barrymore told her to sit in the seat next to the boy that she thought was the cutest. This scene has underlying sociology behind it, because it not only relates to the exercise Sam Richards conducted, but it is a good model for where we find the strongest comfort inside a realm of choices we have to make…that being where to sit. Naturally, what the exercise showed was girls sit next to the girls they feel the most comfortable around, and without noticing it, almost every time we pick where to sit out of the options, our subconscious mind takes over and basically plants us in a seat where we feel the most comfortable. On a deeper level, what we define as comfortable is probably with whom we have similar traits, that being the reason that the white girl sat next to the white girl and the black girl sat next to the black girl. It was important that the girls choosing the seats did not know exactly what was going on, so their subconscious mind could take over the situation at hand and pick the seat that they felt was most appropriate for them. To be quite honest, relating to the exercise and the scene from Donnie Darko, when I pick a seat, whether I realize it or not, I usually pick a seat next to a girl that I find attractive, or more attractive than any girls in the area. You could argue and call me shallow, but it is my subconscious mind telling me where to sit, and where I end up sitting is where I feel most comfortable, and I feel most comfortable around a girl that I am attracted to. We sit next to whom we see as most inspiring.

In terms of slavery, people are ignorant to the fact that there are millions of slaves in the world because they are concerned witht heir own lives, and are currently fending for themselves, and can not be bothered with other peoples issues, before they deal with their own. Is this selfish? Well, when considering it out of context, sure it sounds perfectly selfish. But how can you call someone selfish if they are not educated about the slaves that are struggling in the world today? I guarantee most of the people in the classroom had no idea that there are millions and millions of slaves in the world today, and that most of what we have…electronics, shirts, pants, shoes, skirts, tshirts, jackets, chocolate, and many other different kinds of foods ultimately stem from forced slavery in countries such as Africa. The video showed in class was very intense, and gave the audience a first hand look at just what some of the slaves in Africa go through day in and day out, week after week, year after year. To think that there are more slaves in the world today then ever before in the history of mankind, is upsetting to my stomach, mainly because people are ignorant to the fact that there truly are so many slaves, and that we indirectly benefit from them every single day of our lives. The only way to make it obvious to the public eye that slavery is still going on, is to educate the masses of people in our society today the best way possible, and advertise products heavily that do not support slave labor in any kind of way. Advertising is a great way to sell a product, so in order for the public eye to conceive the notion of buying things that are “fair trade,” (as known as products that do not use slave labor as a way to create their products such as chocolate) these words would have to be printed on everything that did not use slave labor, and then people would question what fair trade was, because it would be everywhere, printed on everything. Using the term “fair trade” on everything that did not use slave labor could be a new, trendy, hip way of selling a product, much like the terms “green,” “organic,” and “bph free” are marketing tools printed on goods used as an advantage over the leading competition. It is astonishing how many people do not know that there are so many slaves in the world today, and this is an obvious fact because so man people in our class, including me, did not know this fact before we took the class. Little did I know that most of the things I own and wear and carry around with me everyday are actually made by slaves. The most I knew about the things I own are that they came from sweat shops in china, made by child laborers. That, I thought, was the worst that it could get. I was sorely mistaken.

In terms of slavery, people are ignorant to the fact that there are millions of slaves in the world because they are concerned with heir own lives, and are currently fending for themselves, and can not be bothered with other peoples issues, before they deal with their own. Is this selfish? Well, when considering it out of context, sure it sounds perfectly selfish. But how can you call someone selfish if they are not educated about the slaves that are struggling in the world today? I guarantee most of the people in the classroom had no idea that there are millions and millions of slaves in the world today, and that most of what we have…electronics, shirts, pants, shoes, skirts, tshirts, jackets, chocolate, and many other different kinds of foods ultimately stem from forced slavery in countries such as Africa. The video showed in class was very intense, and gave the audience a first hand look at just what some of the slaves in Africa go through day in and day out, week after week, year after year. To think that there are more slaves in the world today then ever before in the history of mankind, is upsetting to my stomach, mainly because people are ignorant to the fact that there truly are so many slaves, and that we indirectly benefit from them every single day of our lives. The only way to make it obvious to the public eye that slavery is still going on, is to educate the masses of people in our society today the best way possible, and advertise products heavily that do not support slave labor in any kind of way. Advertising is a great way to sell a product, so in order for the public eye to conceive the notion of buying things that are “fair trade,” (as known as products that do not use slave labor as a way to create their products such as chocolate) these words would have to be printed on everything that did not use slave labor, and then people would question what fair trade was, because it would be everywhere, printed on everything. Using the term “fair trade” on everything that did not use slave labor could be a new, trendy, hip way of selling a product, much like the terms “green,” “organic,” and “bph free” are marketing tools printed on goods used as an advantage over the leading competition. It is astonishing how many people do not know that there are so many slaves in the world today, and this is an obvious fact because so man people in our class, including me, did not know this fact before we took the class. Little did I know that most of the things I own and wear and carry around with me everyday are actually made by slaves. The most I knew about the things I own are that they came from sweat shops in china, made by child laborers. That, I thought, was the worst that it could get. I was sorely mistaken.