en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/768451 Comments by hikogoncu http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/18/war-through-the-ages/#IDComment145275063 I've watched this video a few weeks ago when Sam mentioned it to me when we were talking about the past and the current state of Turkey. Coming from a country that is right in the middle of the area where most of the controversies happen, I found this video very interesting. After watching this video I felt like it was a simple representation of human history even though it was missing out a lot of the wars in the far east and the Americas. Also Another reason that I found this vide interesting is that I was familiar with most of the wars that took place in the middle east and the Balkans. Just like Americans here in the Us take American History in High school , back in Turkey we have to take history lessons. One thing that is different is that since our heritage goes back to The Turks that lived in the Middle Asia then goes on with Seljuk Turks that move in to Anatolia then the Ottoman Empire and then the modern day Turkish history. Since we got a lot of material we start taking history lessons in 6th grade and have history lessons till our senior year in High school. When you examine a history period that long you read about a lot of wars and when I look at this video and recognize most of the names of the wars I don't know what to feel. There is one thing that I'm sure of and I think that this video supports and it is that wars not only shape our history, they also shape our culture. For example, I can talk about my hometown Izmir which has seen its share of war and different cultures. It starts out under the influence of the Trojan civilization, than it is conquered by the Hittites, then Alexander the Great conquers the city and the Hellenistic period begins. After that comes the roman empire, then Seljuk Turks. Then comes the Christian crusades then it's in the hands of the Ottoman empire. After the World War I it is shortly occupied by the Greeks and in 1922 it becomes part of Modern Turkey. This is a very simplified history of the city and as you can see it was conquered by many civilizations and the most interesting thing about this is that it is still possible to see the affects of these civilizations in the current culture of the city whether it is the cuisine, accent or architecture. Sat, 23 Apr 2011 02:37:54 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/18/war-through-the-ages/#IDComment145275063 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/30/so-what-your-take-on-those-inequality-classes/#IDComment143267408 As most people have posted, wealth is unevenly distributed and the division between the social classes is vast. One thing that I don't agree with most people is that they are saying this is especially like this in The United States. Being an international student and having traveled most of Europe and some other countries I can say that wealth is unevenly distributed all over the world and the division between social classes is vast everywhere and the situation is worse than America in many places. One thing about what I see here in the states that seems strange to me is that people have this idea that it doesn't matter where you come from or who you are, if you try hard enough you'll get to the top. This might be true in some very rare cases but in general it is not. I don't know if its pessimistic or not but where I come from people know that to get to somewhere in life you have to know the right people or come from a family that can get you there(which is almost the same thing as knowing the right people since your family names gets you in contact with the right people). I feel that this idea is closer to what we've been talking about in class. Where we end up in life depends on which social class we come from, like the example's Sam gave in class about the 2 guys who end up exactly where their fathers were at, not because they were smart/stupid ,but because of the social class that their family is part of. A personal example that I can give just happened recently, I was looking for an internship this summer but I was having hard time finding one here in the united States, so I contacted my cousins back in Turkey and in a matter of two weeks I had more than 4 options. Like I said in the end it all comes down to knowing the right people, do I think it's fair for me to get an internship when I'm sure there are other candidates that are way more qualified than I am ? Absolutely yes, but I guess just because I'm in the "winning" side I'm ignoring the problem that is out there. Sat, 16 Apr 2011 01:08:06 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/30/so-what-your-take-on-those-inequality-classes/#IDComment143267408 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/27/americans-gone-wild/#IDComment125995137 Like most people I do not believe that the 5 year old kid is responsible for his actions. Like we have talked about in class most toy guns look really real and I think that kid just thought that the gun was just a cool toy. Since no one really got hurt in this situation we are able to easily say that the kid is not responsible for his actions But the question that I have in my mind is what could have happened if he accidentally shot someone and how we would look at the situation differently. After watching the video I found the superintended's words to be very true. For this situation I don't think the kid should be held responsible for what happened but the idiotic step father who left a loaded gun on the back seat of his car should be. As Sam said in his post the gun should have been taken away and the kid should have been sent back to class and they should have called in the step father and make him take gun safety classes and he should pay for them. The kid was probably as scared as everyone around him because of the way they reacted to the situation and being taken to the police station for something that he doesn't understand was probably very scary too. While thinking about this and saying that this kid is not responsible for his actions another question comes to my mind, if we are not responsible for our actions when we are 5 years old, what is the age that we become responsible for our actions? What about the 6 year old kid that shot his friend a year or so ago, is he responsible for his actions, is he aware of the consequences of his actions? To be honest I really don't have an answer to these question, I feel that it is different for most people. Legally we become responsible at the age of 18, but in my opinion we become aware of our responsibilities and consequences of our actions way before that. Fri, 4 Feb 2011 21:35:09 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/27/americans-gone-wild/#IDComment125995137 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/19/rise-in-national-guard-and-reserve-suicides-whats-it-all-about-soc-001-blog/#IDComment124435541 Even though I had to learn what suicide is at a very early age, It is still a very big question mark for me. It seems to me that suicide is a very complex subject and there is almost never just one thing that leads to some to commit/attempt suicide, there is almost always a number of things that push people off the edge and instigate thoughts of suicide. After watching this video and learning about the great percentages of suicides in the U.S. military, I can't say that I was surprised. When you think about it, it is obvious that the atrocities of war are taking its tolls on the military personnel. Even though they go through serious training, and are disciplined to stay alert and under control in every situation, I feel like staying alert 24/7 and expecting danger around every corner must be exhausting. And of course there is also combat, I believe that overcoming the effects of combat on them is probably one of the hardest things for the soldiers, trying to forget what you have seen. In the video one of the soldiers that is interviewed says he prefers not to sleep and dream about it rather than sleep and see the pictures in his head, I think these words pretty much show how badly the combat has affected this soldier and many more like him. The only problem for these soldiers in not only what they go through during their active duty but I think another big problem for them is adjusting back to their life's outside of the military after their active duty. like we have talked in class military is a heavily structured and disciplined system which in some ways helps the military personnel cope with what is happening in their lives. For example, I had a friend who served in the military and during his active service he spent a few nights at a watch tower alone in the danger zone, he first explained to me what he went through in his mind in those nights when he was still in the military and even though he was shaken up he was still okay, but after his service ended and he was out of the military system where what he had to do every moment of the day was already scheduled, his mind started to go back to these nights on that watchtower and then he started to have these nightmares and his whole personality changed. The guy that I knew before his military service wasn't there anymore. Fri, 28 Jan 2011 23:51:56 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/19/rise-in-national-guard-and-reserve-suicides-whats-it-all-about-soc-001-blog/#IDComment124435541 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/10/last-name-%e2%80%9cg%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%93-intense-debate/#IDComment123260429 SOC 001 Sun, 23 Jan 2011 18:20:38 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/10/last-name-%e2%80%9cg%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%93-intense-debate/#IDComment123260429 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2010/11/30/failed-bomb-plot-leaves-muslim-community-in-fear/#IDComment113572103 When I read news like these it really upsets me. Like haseeb whenever I hear about a violent act I also automatically hope that the perpetrators were not Muslim, because I believe that every violent act that can be linked to a Muslim takes the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims back to the start. Before 9/11 the only relationship that people were aware of was that certain countries in middle east were their allies but after 9/11 every friggin country in the middle east was portrayed as a possible threat in the media and people from those countries were always looked upon suspiciously. People around the world are already confused about their feelings about Islam and acts committed by idiots like this guy gives people the reasons that they need to be suspicious about what Islam really stands for. Like many others have said in their comments people like Mohamed Osman Mohamud does nothing more than to cause harm to Islam and give reasons to people to keep the "FEAR" alive. I've read a few other articles (even one that basically claimed that FBI did this to cause more fear of home grown terrorists) about his actions and even though the FBI's actions in this situation seems a bit sketchy ,but I really believe that he shouldn't be let off easily and pay for the consequences for what he tried and also see the consequences of his actions and how he is making his own community and his family suffer because of his actions. Fri, 3 Dec 2010 17:45:49 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2010/11/30/failed-bomb-plot-leaves-muslim-community-in-fear/#IDComment113572103 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2010/10/08/men-free-but-women-sacred/#IDComment110627369 I can understand the points being made by both sides in the video and I know that every heated conversation we have is based on this topic.Even though like almost anything else that I've talked about things are different and somehow still quite similar back in Turkey. I know that because of religion in the Middle east girls are not as free as the boys. But I feel like the situation is similar in other cultures too. Yes it is not as harsh as it is in Middle East, but when you think about it woman are always bound by some sort of rules because certain situations might effect their repuation. Like dating example in the video, when I think about what I have seen so far both here and back in Turkey. If a guy dates a lot of girls he is called a ' player but if a girl does the same exact thing she is called a 'whore'. I can give an example from my personal experience too. For example, I was allowed to go to pubs or bars when I was 13 or 14 but most of my female friends were'nt allowed to come with us.It was the same for my sister she was always pissed off at my parents because they allowed me to do whatever I want when I was her age and there were a lot of rules that she had to follow. I guess it is not just reputation that is the concern of the parents but also safety because of the way that most societies are built it is always assumed that boys can take care of themselves but girls can't. Do I believe that it is true,probably not thinking about how much trouble I got in to when I was in highschool. I guess what I'm trying to say is the double standards between sexes is not just there in Islam but in every culture. The problem comes from these double standards are way more visible in muslim societies. Fri, 19 Nov 2010 10:34:14 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2010/10/08/men-free-but-women-sacred/#IDComment110627369 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2010/11/07/%e2%80%98undercover%e2%80%99-in-hijab-unveiling-one-month-later/#IDComment109410014 I respect Cassidy Herrington for her efforts to have a better understanding of Islam and also the Muslim Community. I think what she did is not an easy task because I kind think that I wouldn't be able to do that if I was in her shoes. I feel like this because I think it requires a great deal of commitment to be able to do what she did. I think this article is a great reflection of her experience and I think I can understand her frustration about the lack of responses from her community. I know that some people feel that it is a topic that is too "touchy" to bring up, or feel like since they don't know much about it anything that they say will be wrong and will offend the person they are talking to, but I believe this article shows that just ignoring it makes things more complicated. We've talked about this before too, when it comes to talking about Islam or something related to a different culture, people start censoring themselves or try so hard to not to offend others that it even seems funny sometimes. For example, I was talking with a friend about Turkey and Middle East yesterday and her every question ended with the phrase 'if you don't mind me asking' or started with 'I don't want to offend you but I was wondering why...'. Our conversation lasted about 10 minutes and I'm pretty sure almost all her questions started or ended with these phrases. Fri, 12 Nov 2010 17:12:39 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2010/11/07/%e2%80%98undercover%e2%80%99-in-hijab-unveiling-one-month-later/#IDComment109410014 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2010/10/30/dealing-with-islamophobia/#IDComment107913692 In our conversations we've talked about the muslim community center that will be near groundzero we tried to explain that it is not just a mosque, it is not right on ground zero, we tried to explain that Moses and Jesus are also seen as holy people in Islam. We've talked about that the real message of Islam is peace even the meaning of the word Islam means peace. Many people in the conversations repeated over and over again that killing one people is equal to killing all humanity.After watching this clip I thought that this was probably the best clip that I've seen so far which explains basically what we've been trying to explain the whole semester. It is always good to see that there are more people out there that are sharing the same feelings and thoughts with you. Like Anas said the Abrahamic Religions are so much alike in faith and the only reason that people fear Islam is because they don't know much about it and humanity always has the fear of the unknown. I can 'understand' why people can be afraid of muslims because I also see how muslims are portrayed in the news, but as Rev. DEborah C. Lindsay says in this video and as Sam always says the best way to overcome difficulties is to try to 'understand' each other. One thing that is quite unfortunate is that like any relationship it takes a lot of effort to build it but it just takes one person or one action to destroy it and rebuilding always starts from scratch. Fri, 5 Nov 2010 03:04:57 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2010/10/30/dealing-with-islamophobia/#IDComment107913692 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2010/10/25/a-radical-experiment-in-empathy-sams-tedxpsu-talk/#IDComment106760308 I was in SOC 119 last year so I listened to this presentation in class and it was interesting to just watch the faces of American students and see the emotions. Some just went mad and thought that same was off again in his lala land,some had a frown on their faces, and some were really mad, but everyone around me were kinda confused. Which was good in my opinion because for me it meant that their way of thinking was challenged and they at least got a glimpse of the other side. The presentation was really good last year to but as I watched the video I thought it got better, eventhough it was shorter I think Sam did a great job on showing 'the other side'. I think adding Pastor Terry Jones was a great idea to this presentation because like Sam said I am pretty sure there is very few people back in Middle East that knows that only 300 people attend his church and that number decreased after this event as he says in his interview that Sam posted in this website. People see him as a representative of Christianity and think that there are quite a lot of people that share his feelings. About the insurgents I can understand where Sam is getting and like many others eventhough I'm from the Middle East I'm not from Iraq so it is harder for me to understand too, but I think that not many people see the insurgents as freedom fighters because they have also proved to be a threat to the civilians in the area and I find it very hard to see the lost lives of innocent people as collateral damage. Fri, 29 Oct 2010 15:49:18 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2010/10/25/a-radical-experiment-in-empathy-sams-tedxpsu-talk/#IDComment106760308 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2010/10/04/why-so-touchy-feely/#IDComment105360509 I've read layan's post and I kinda agree with her on the whole idea of how we define homophobia. When you think about the definition of homophobia , the definition of it is way different here than it is in Middle East. Here in the United States is some what like reacting to certain actions. Butback in Middle East as far as I can see it is complete rejection of the whole idea of homosexuality. The way Turkey deals with homosexuality is a bit different. Like I've said before we have people who are wat you can call 'out of the closet' and they try to live their normal lifes. I say try to because there are still a lot of people that are very homophobic and they may cause some disturbance. Nothing physical has happened as far as I know but I've heard from my gay friends that they've been verbally abused. Here comes the funny part I've said that Turkish people are weird before too and this will be another example; Eventhough there are a lot of homophobic people in Turkey when you look back in the history of music you'll see that two of the most famous artists were in fact transexuals. Also we have like 3-4 homosexual artists that are quite popular at the moment. Back to the title of the entry, Why so touchy-feely? I guess we did our best in class to explain it and its basically a cultural thing, there is not much sense of personal space. Though it doesn't mean that everyones okay with it, personally I hate it when elders keep their hands on my shoulder when they are talking to me or keep holding my hand after a handshake when they say stuff like 'well you were only a baby the last time I saw you , look at how much you have grown'(yeah it is lame but I hear this same sentence over and over again in every big family meeting from some relative of mine that I didn't even existed) Fri, 22 Oct 2010 03:13:19 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2010/10/04/why-so-touchy-feely/#IDComment105360509 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2010/10/06/interview-with-pastor-terry-jones/#IDComment102930460 I laughed when I first saw Sam's comment about the interview and when I started listening to the interview I couldn't stop laughing. I love the part the part where the interviewer talks about listeners throwing their radios to the wall.back to the topic. Pastor Terry Jones shows how narrow minded he is from the beginning of the interview and he shows how he picks and chooses his information and just blocks out the rest that is out there.Probably the best example for this is the part where he quotes from the book of Leviticus about homosexuals but when the interviewer talks about other passages from the book of Leviticus , the pastor just blocks them out. I want to say something about Pastor's book but me talking about his book will be the same thing as him righting a book about Islam.It will be basically talking about something that I really have no idea about=) Other parts that I found interesting was where he claime something like United Kingdom is under pressure to bring Sharia and where he basically claimed that half of the population of Earth will go to hell basically because of where and in which religion they were born. Another thing that was interesting is the part at the end where he talks about building a mosque in America when they can not build a chuch in muslim countries. I've talked about this in my previous post but I'll say it again I just recently learned that you can not build a church in Saudi Arabia But they can be built in the other 56 Muslim-majority countries in the world! Fri, 8 Oct 2010 04:15:11 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2010/10/06/interview-with-pastor-terry-jones/#IDComment102930460 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2010/09/17/lets-just-move-the-mosque/#IDComment101812694 I can understand where Nader(I hope I remember his name correctly) is getting at. Also I think that I have an idea on why people are opposed to the idea of moving the mosque and I think it's because they think that having the mosque there is their right and basically not wanting the mosque is like saying you do no have the right to have a place where you can worship in certain areas. When it comes to this issue though I guess I think like Nader. If the majority of people don't approve the location of the mosque I think the muslims should try to find another way to solve this problem. I think that most westerners don't have a clear understanding of what islam stands for and in my opinion situations like these are not helping at all. In one of our conversations I asked if the reason for opposing to the location is because people feel that building a mosque in ground zero is seen as the terrorists claiming victory or something and the Americans in the room said it shouldn't be the case but I feel like it is. I know that it shouldn't be but when we are stuck in a situation which seems as if its not going to be solved anytime soon(at least with an agreement on both sides because I know that whether there is an agreement or not the mosque will be built there) I think that moving the mosque to another spot can be an option. Fri, 1 Oct 2010 16:24:57 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2010/09/17/lets-just-move-the-mosque/#IDComment101812694 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2010/09/21/just-a-thought-how-much-do-we-really-know-about-the-other-side/#IDComment100617024 Well I guess the title is meant for Americans but whatever.I think this is a great video because it shows a part of islam that is not known by many in the United States. I don't want to sound like I prove what hezbullah is doing because I don't but that quote kinda shows a certain side of Islam. Which is basically it accepts and respects all divine religions. Islam also sees Jesus as word of God. In turkish when we are mentioning a prophet we use the title Hazret-i which roughly translates to excellency and we use it when we're talking about people that are seen as holy people. I think we talked about this in SOC 119 class last year too and many people didn't seem to know this. Like nouf said I also was taught that to respect others religions and their place of worship. In today's conversation I mentioned that we had many synagogues back in my hometown and some people found it interesting and I was just checking online and I saw that there is 7 active synagogues in izmir and 3 more that is under restoration and also 10 catholic churces plus 2 aglican churces and 1 orthodox churces, to be honest this even fascinates me.(by the way the city I live in is not a small city it has a population of 3 to 4 million). Like I said this is just one side of Islam and are there parts in The Koran that has antichristian or antijewish the answer is yes but when you come to think abot it there are parts in the bible that has antijewish quotes in it too, but like robert wright says in his article 'The Meaning of Koran' the regrettable parts of any religious scripture don't have to matter. Fri, 24 Sep 2010 01:06:56 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2010/09/21/just-a-thought-how-much-do-we-really-know-about-the-other-side/#IDComment100617024 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2010/09/10/what-are-your-expectations/#IDComment98458521 I’m pretty excited for these conversations because I really enjoyed participating the conversations last semester and I am hoping that these conversations will be as good as the ones last semester. In the conversations we did last year we met with the same people once a week for five weeks even though it helped us to understand each other better, I think that the conversations this semester will be more interesting. The reason for that is I think that because we have a limited time people will be blunt and just say what is on their mind. Also I think that because we meet with different people every week, we will have the opportunity to hear different point of views in certain subjects and we will have the chance to have a better understanding of what is misunderstood about the middle east. I am also excited about these conversations because of something I’ve seen last semester. Even though the main purpose of these conversations is to help creating better understanding between east and west, these conversations helps us see that even though we come from similar cultures from middle east we are quite different from each other too. One thing that we learned from the conversations that we learned last semester is that we have to be able to explain even the smallest things as best as we can because in the end those are the things that cause confusion and one of my main fears comes from this. Because I am from Turkey some things are pretty different from the rest of the middle east and when I try to explain these it seems as if I’m trying to say Turkey doesn’t want to be part of the middle east or it is way different from the rest of the middle east. I am hoping that I will be able to explain these differences better than I did last year. Mon, 13 Sep 2010 02:02:21 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2010/09/10/what-are-your-expectations/#IDComment98458521 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/when-do-we-do-or-say-something__trashed/#IDComment58913923 The video that we watched which was about an experiment that was performed by a tv station in which they send an actress dressed like a traditional Muslim women into a bakery of actors in order to see how people would respond to racism, was very interesting. I was quite surprised that there were 13 people that advocated for the Muslim Woman. To be honest, I thought that there would be more people just standing there and pretending that nothing is happening, because I’ve been in situations where people would openly discriminate someone and others would just stand there and look the other way. I can also say that like Sam said in class I think that not speaking or ignoring what’s going on is not the same thing as not taking sides. I think that just standing there and looking the other way is the same thing as approving what is going on, well maybe it’s not approving but it’s like seeing it as something normal that you don’t feel the need to react and I think it is wrong too. I think that everyone should be able to speak up and it is their right to do so. I’m not saying they should attack back at the employee but even leaving the shop would be a sign of disapproval of what is going on. About the person that said that because of the way he was raised he doesn’t want to get involed because he thinks that it is not his place. I think that if everyone thinks like that we will never be able to get rid of the problems in the society because without getting a reaction from others people that discriminate others will see the silence of others as an approval of what they are doing and they will continue to act the way they do. Someone said in the video people choose not the see what is going around them unless it is affecting them and I think this is very true. We even have a proverb in Turkish for it which is something like long live the snake that doesn’t touch me. Also the same person said that it is our place to speak up no matter we see it or not and I believe that is very true also and it not only goes for Americans, I think it is something universal. Also on Wednesday’s class someone said that they believed that these statistics about the experiment would be different if the actress that was being discriminated was a man instead of a woman and I think that he/she was right. I think that the number of people that would advocate for the Muslim man would be much lower because based on what I have experienced here in the US I can say that people are more threatened by muslim males than females. Sat, 27 Feb 2010 03:48:55 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/when-do-we-do-or-say-something__trashed/#IDComment58913923 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/lgbt-class-question-six__trashed/#IDComment57693784 I am not sure about lesbian couples being more accepted by the society over male couples. In my opinion it’s more about people not noticing lesbian couples when they are on the street. Like many people mentioned most men don’t have a problem with seeing girls kiss each other. On the other hand seeing two guys kissing is a major disturbance for most guys. Also girls in general are more comfortable with showing emotions towards others, I guess it has to do with how they are raised. Girls are more sharing with their friends in early ages but for guys it is different. They are raised to be ‘tough’ meaning not to show emotions because it is seen as a sign of weakness. So when you think about this it is not uncommon to see two girls that are friends holding hands, hugging, and kissing. Just think about how close friends greet each other girls would most likely to hug each other and the guys would just shake hand or something like that. Live is pretty much feminized so most things related to showing affection towards another are seen ‘girly’ by most men. This is also the reason for men being generally pretty insecure around gays. Like I said before I think that lesbian couples are not being accepted by the society over male gay couples but they are they are able to appear in public and display a certain level of affection for one another without getting too much attention from the people around them because the society is used to seeing females show their feelings for one another. Obviously this doesn’t go for all the females, but when you think about it most people would jump to the conclusion that two guys are gay when they see them holding hands on the street. On the other hand when you think about it I think when people think about lesbian couples they tend to think about what can be called ‘lipstick’ lesbians which basically look like any other female but I think that masculine lesbian couples would attract the same kind of attention that male gay couples do in the public. Fri, 19 Feb 2010 23:54:55 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/lgbt-class-question-six__trashed/#IDComment57693784 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/swinging-past-the-other-end-of-the-ideological-spectrum-on-the-way-to-the-intellectual-gray__trashed/#IDComment56567050 I completely agree with the post above too. I also believe that the Tuesday’s class was pretty interesting and you could easily see from Sam’s eyes that he was really in to it. The topic of freedom and determinism is really interesting for me because after Tuesday’s class I started thinking about my own choices and the whole experience was an eye opener for me. Thinking back to what I’ve been through in this short period of time that I spent in the United State(3 semesters) I always found it easy to blame things on someone else. But when I think about it, it was me who pretty much made the decisions and ended up facing the consequences. I guess I wanted to blame it on determinism just because it was easy to do. It’s easy to blame things on others or the environment you are in but it is hard to move on with your life and accomplish something without pushing yourself and taking responsibility for your own actions. That’s why I believe that the best place for you to be is right in the middle. I am one of those lucky people that have their parents paying for their college, rent and groceries. Yes I am lucky in a way that I have easier time then some others in life but it doesn’t really mean that I don’t have any obstacles in my way. I am thankful for what I have and I know they are also helping me in life, but I also know that I don’t have the luxury to let go of everything and think that everything will be okay because my family got my back. Back to being in the middle, in my opinion it doesn’t matter how free you think you are you still have some strings attached to you. Yes we can always make our own decisions but sometimes you end up in situations where the both outcomes have a negative effect on you. Like in Sam’s example where someone points a gun to your head and asks you to give them your wallet, yes you have the freedom to do whatever you want in this situation but when you think about some of the outcomes none of them seems positive to me, you can either give your wallet to that person and lose your wallet or you can decide to not give your wallet and may risk your life. I know life is not all black and white but this is the example I could just come up with right now. What I’m trying to say is, you can’t just say that the reasons behind inequalities are just Determinism or Just Freedom. Fri, 12 Feb 2010 23:45:25 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/swinging-past-the-other-end-of-the-ideological-spectrum-on-the-way-to-the-intellectual-gray__trashed/#IDComment56567050 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/avatar-and-the-white-mans-burden__trashed/#IDComment55553410 When Avatar first came I out like most of the people I was curious about the movie so I went to the movies to see it. Unlike most people I didn’t really like the movie, I mean the special effects were great but the plot of the movie was pretty weak. I can’t really say that I saw it as the White Messiah fable but I’ve seen so many movies that had similar plots and some of the scenes in the movie were just annoying to me. When I read the article ‘The Messiah Complex’ by David Brooks I was pretty sure that what really bothered me was the scenes that the White Messiah portrait came out. I agree with most of the things that David Brooks says about these kinds of movies they all have very similar storylines and they are just aiming to make money in my opinion and like he said Avatar is so successful right now just because of its special effects. For example I know people that just went to the movies to see it because their friends said that the special effects were amazing. On the other hand something that bothered me was this sentence “The plotline gives global audiences a chance to see American troops get killed. Do people really think that people from different countries enjoy seeing American troops get killed?? I mean I can admit that I get bored watching a movie when the US Army is flattered a bit too much but that is only because I don’t share the patriotic feelings that Americans do about their own army . I mean I’m pretty sure if I make an American watch a Turkish movie or any movie that flatters the army of that nation they will feel the same way. About the Avatars my own observations were quite similar to David Brooks’, I thought that they had pieces from many different cultures but the main culture that kept coming in to my mind was the Native American culture and that is probably why I found the movie to be very much like Pocahontas, the only major difference was it was in the future. I know that maybe we’re looking too deep to find a meaning in the movie but there are a lot of movies out there with very similar plots that I cannot stop myself from wondering if they are really trying to create the White Messiah fable. I read some of the comments that others posted and someone mentions that what would happen if the hero was not a white man, what if he was a black man or an Asian, he/she says that the plot would have been the same and nothing would change, but I think what david brooks is trying to point out is that in all of the movies that have similar storylines have a hero that is white. I’m not trying to prove that movies like Avatar are racist or anything, I’m just merely pointing out that the choice of characters and storylines in movies like Avatar are interesting. Sat, 6 Feb 2010 01:21:54 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/avatar-and-the-white-mans-burden__trashed/#IDComment55553410 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/the-enlightened-west-knows-best__trashed/#IDComment54450239 Personally I can see why the French Government can see wearing hijab or burqas as a sign of political Islam. Turkey has a population that is 99% Muslim but wearing of hijab or burqas in public spaces is banned since 1997. I’m not saying I support these governments’ actions on this issue, I simply believe that people should have their freedom of expression and be able to wear whatever they want. I know that Quran doesn’t require women to wear burqas but what these women base their beliefs about their clothing comes from the words of Muhammad so their choice still has a religious background but it is more like a personal and Spiritual choice to them. I find a government getting involved with a choice based on religion quite ridiculous. Trying to change or affect someone’s beliefs and tell them that what they believe is wrong doesn’t make sense to me. Like I said before it is a personal and spiritual choice for these women and I believe that as long as they are willing to show their faces for purposes of identification and comply with French law or any other countries laws they should be allowed to where what they want. I’m saying any other country because even though the video on this blog talks about French Government , I know that there are other European countries such as Netherlands, Belgium and Germany that have a standard prohibition for burqas in their agendas. Sat, 30 Jan 2010 04:08:53 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/the-enlightened-west-knows-best__trashed/#IDComment54450239