How do I think that people of the world view Penn Staters after the recent events? I think that unfortunately for us as students we have been portrayed in a very negative way by the media. Yes, we rioted when we found out that they fired Joe, but a good majority of the people were just out there because it was a Wednesday night and what else would there be to do? A few people did some things that they probably will regret later, but like Sam said in class, it’s very difficult to go against a mob mentality and the mob on Wednesday night was very emotional and destruction became their only outlet when the emotions came flowing out. We felt like they slighted Joe and we showed him that we felt slighted as well. The sad truth is that Joe should have been fired amidst all of this scandal, but at least have the courtesy to not do it over the phone after the man has worked for you for sixty one years and has done immeasurable things for this university. That is the reason that I have been so upset about this situation and of course the whole Sandusky situation. We show our hatred of this situation on Wednesday and the crowd got out of hand. The media had a field day. They showed nothing but the worst parts of the riot and no one but drunk assholes. This has definitely shaped the nation’s view and the world’s view of the Pennsylvania State University as a whole. People will look at the riot and assume that our priorities are whacked out and that we care more about a sport than the victims of Sandusky’s sick scheme. I think that the majority of people at the school think that Joe Paterno did enough in the situation, but I’m sure the feeling is different across the nation. We know about all he has done and given to this university and the many people’s lives that he has affected in so many ways. Outsiders will see our student body as nothing but partiers and worshippers of football and unfit for life in the real world. This is very unfortunate, we had our reasons for doing what we did and honestly I think that we were justified in doing so. We were outraged that something like this could happen at our beloved school. We were outraged at Jerry Sandusky for his disgusting crimes. We were outraged that officials at our own school would not report these crimes. We were outraged that they canned Joe Paterno when he reported his findings to the head of the campus police and did what nearly everyone in the world would do in that situation. We must remember that we are bigger than this and show the world that we are better than this because we are Penn State and we are in an unfortunate situation.

They walk hundreds of miles and put their lives into danger in order to provide a better life for their children. After they finally get to America, if they don’t have relatives living their already, they have absolutely nothing. No car, no house, no money and no food. So they line up every morning and beg to be hired for any job that will take them because they need all of the money that they can get. This leads to odd jobs like crop picking, construction, roofing, and painting. With all this in mind it is important that we keep in mind that if we look at America as a human body us as citizens would be the brains of the body, but the illegal immigrants that take and do the jobs that people in the United States of America won’t take can be looked at as the backbone of our society. They do all the necessary jobs that we won't do and are therefore able to keep America afloat.

With all these different choices our expectations become set unrealistically high and therefore our morale is lowered if we are put into a job that does not meet our expectations, especially a job like picking crops which is very demoralizing. If Americans are forced to pick crops for a living they will slack and not perform the job as well as their Mexican counterparts because they are so disappointed in themselves and just feel that since they are an American citizen they deserve better. On the other hand people living in poverty in Mexico don’t have such high standards because they are raised with not as many opportunities and mostly not as educated as their American counter parts. They know that it’s important for them to provide for their family and they will do anything to do so. Once they hear rumors about life in America they want to pick up everything and make the painstaking trek into America that all immigrants must make.

(MADE ME SPLIT MY COMMENT INTO TWO) Why don’t people living in America do the hard labor and back breaking jobs that Mexicans do once they cross the border? I believe that there are many factors behind the true answer to this question. One factor being that people in America are accustomed to a much easier lifestyle than Mexicans in regards to work and living benefits. We as Americans are raised with many opportunities when it comes to what job we will take up when we are old enough to work. We are also raised into thinking that a great education will take us far in life, this isn’t a bad thing but with most children now days graduating with high school degrees and even going to college a life of roofing and picking crops just doesn’t seem fitting to them.

How do I feel about white people becoming the minority in the future and why? I would have to say that I’m pleased with a shift in the majority race. Looking at history we have lived in a predominately white society for a very long time. I feel like a shift in power would not necessarily be a bad thing. Even though a specific white person can not be blamed for being at the top for a long time, white society has had it’s run and it’s time for another race to take over. It’s important to remember all of the great things that white people have done as leaders of our society, but if we had a change maybe we could bring about different innovations to help our society move even farther than it already has moved. With a different leadership, our society could potentially move much farther than it currently is. That’s not to say that white people have been awful for our society, but it’s important to keep things in moderation and another race could help to reestablish our culture, improve our technology, and even improve everyday life. White people have had their run and a new dominant race will be god to our society. For instance, if black people became the new dominant race I believe that our society would experience a lot less racism and improve because of new experiences and ways of life. Black people wouldn’t experience racism in the judicial system or experience racism in many other aspects of their lives. If we had a hispanic dominated world I believe the results would be very similar. Crime rates may even decline due to less oppression and the fact that latino’s would be able to hold better jobs and therefore would not need to turn to crime due to a lack of money. An Asian based society would see so many mathematical improvements and robots that our society would just get exponentially better in every single way. I’m obviously just kidding about that, but it can be assumed that an Asian based society would be very similar to the other societies. It seems to me that white people take a lot of crap that they don’t deserve and it is all because they were lucky to be born white in a predominately white society. This is wrong and in no way am I saying that white people have done a bad job so far. I just feel like change would be great for our society and could be really important as we begin to come together as a planet as opposed to as a nation. With the internet and all these new technologies, people are a lot more connected to the world and it’ll be important in the future to have a sort of racial tolerance.

I’d have to say that I agree that there is more latent racism amongst the white community and more blatant racism amongst the black community. I believe that white people do have a more subconscious racist mindset than black people. This all comes down to the way that black people and white people grow up and are raised. When they are young, people tend to absorb and carry things with them that were taught to them by their elders, whether it’s willingly or unwillingly. It’s important to remember that all children are like sponges and the littlest remark or encounter helps to shape their lives. For instance, if a child witnesses a multiracial encounter on the news or even the street, that child will sympathize with the person that is the same race as him or her and therefore will act like that towards other races. As for the difference between the black and white mindset, that all comes down to the environment in which they’re raised as well. White people tend to be more secluded from other races because the majority of them live together in predominately white communities. This is the first of many things that shape these children’s lives. They look at other races through eyes that see them as aliens and totally different people, when in fact this is not the case, they were just raised to believe so. Also, while growing up, white children learn about the history of the world in school and learn that our world has been a predominately white dominated society for a long amount of time and that these white people have been very mean to the other races in the world. The children start to gain “white guilt” and that shapes their encounters with other races because they don’t want to appear racist. This all comes to play in adulthood, when white people try to cover up their subconscious thoughts by masking them with false words and courtesies. Black children on the other hand experience a totally different side of this. These kids usually grow up in mixed race communities and experience multiple races at a very young age. They are more comfortable around the other races than white people and are able to observe flaws that they attribute to an entire race. Black children also begin to learn about history at a young age and realize that their ancestors have been treated horribly for many ages. This creates a feeling that festers inside of black children that is like the opposite of white guilt. They feel that they should be angry and outraged over their years of hardships and rightly so. That ends up shaping their interactions with people and society in the future.

A person's race determines many aspects of their life. We have discussed free will versus determinism before in class and I believe that there is a perfect balance between the two. Part of the aspects that determine your life is your race. As for me, I am a mixed race male that grew up in a predominately white community. Now, my father was fresh off of the boat from Pakistan when he married my blonde haired, white mother. Soon after their marriage I came along. I am exactly half Pakistani and half white (my mother doesn't know her specific heritage because she was adopted). I consider myself to be a mixed race individual and I have a great idea of what both of the cultures that I am from are about. Now being a mixed race, especially with Pakistani blood, I have experienced many different interactions with full blooded pakistanis and full blooded whites. I have come to find that I am able to fit in with both groups just fine unless there is a language barrier. With white people, they tend to look at me as if I am one of there few ethnic friends when in fact I may do more stereotypical white things than they do. This is usually when I first meet a new white person, they always have a double take when I say my name and they also tend to treat me a tad differently at first, but people soon grow out of this when they get to know me better. It is just the opposite for friends and family members of middle eastern or Pakistani decent. They tend to look at me as their "white" friend and no matter how hard I try they continue to look at me like that. I am still able to enjoy myself around these people but they never forget to remind me that I am half white, as if I've forgotten my place. I may have grown up in a suburban white town with my mother and only have seen my father's side on the weekends, but I still have full knowledge of my Pakistani culture. By no means am I an alien to my own family, but I can always count on little comments to be made about my "white boy" side. It can range from just straight up calling me white to calling me "malibu's most wanted." So the fact that I have grown up in an environment like this has shaped me into what I am today and has drastically affected my interactions with different races. Most, if not all, of my interactions with white people and Pakistani’s have been affected by my interactions with people while I was growing up.

The fact that women have to "doll" themselves up before going out is essentially a ridiculous concept. I know that for my personal opinion on the attractiveness of a female I don't need them to be freezing cold in short skirts in the winter or in even in high heels at all. The skirts probably add a little bit to their attractiveness but that little bit is so minuscule that it wouldn't matter that much in the long run. I would be one hundred percent fine with girls going out in jeans and a t-shirt or something along those lines like guys do. If anything this might help some of the women have some better attitudes when you are trying to talk to them at a party or other social event because they aren't in eternal suffering due to their high heels and tiny clothes in the winter. I believe that the only reason that women go out in these outfits is because of mainstream media. In the mainstream media men are always a dominant force behind the camera so they are able to put some of the most attractive women in the world in whatever kind of clothes they enjoy. In this case it happens to be high heels and short skirts. The women of our country watch this on tv, read about starlets in the tabloids, and see pictures all over the internet and newspapers. When they see these beautiful women they begin to idolize them and strive to look as much like them as possible. If it wasn't for the idolization of these gorgeous women and models and for the mainstream media's effect on our country we would not be living in the same world as we do today. I believe that things would be much more equal towards women if we were living in that world and they definitely would not be forced to go out in skimpy clothes and high heels like they do now. Things would still be biased towards men, but that's because in all of history men have been the leaders of the pack and since they were stronger than women they believed that they were superior to them. In our society today it seems to me like things in fashion are only getting worse for women with starlets like Lady Gaga and Katy Perry wearing the most ridiculous outfits in history. I hope that the women of the world are able to wizen up to these acts and resist the urge to look like their role models. Personally I would be totally fine with girls wearing nothing but yoga pants and tee shirts for the rest of our lives.

When it comes to criminals, there are many things that must be taken into account before playing the "race card." Poverty plays a key role in crime because in theory if people are desperate they are willing to take drastic measures in order to gain an income of some kind or be able to provide for their family. Keeping this in mind, minorities are historically more impoverished than whites so the crime rate within minority societies may in fact be higher than the rate within white societies. This can lead to an assumption that minorities commit more crimes than white people. This is an assumption that most, if not all, people make and we have grounds in making this assumption because of the poverty issue. Although the assumption has proper grounds, they are rooted in the past. As blacks, hispanics, and other minorities are rising in the workplace and in society in general it is unfair for them to suffer the biases that are justice system clearly contains. In class, Sam showed statistics about the percentage of the amount of marijuana users in all white and black people and the white percentage was extremely high compared the black percentage. You would never know this if you looked at the percentage of blacks that have been incarcerated for marijuana possession or consumption. This is so staggering to me that there can still be this much ignorance in the criminal system. I know that the system isn't entirely to blame because minorities have a higher probability to deal drugs, but it is still amazing to me. Although the criminal system may be bad now, it was much worse back in the past. So we seem to be slowly overcoming these biases as a society and the day that prejudice in the justice system is eradicated will be a glorious day for our nation. The justice system may not ever be perfect, but it is important for us as a nation to try and get it as close to perfection as possible. We always need to keep in mind that our founding fathers founded the system with the ideals that everyone was innocent until proven guilty. It seems that when it comes to arresting people that our nations finest may not totally remember the core of this ideal. One day we will be able to get over this hump, but I honestly do not think that we will overcome this totally for a good amount of time. I have no doubt in my mind that I will live to see an unbiased justice system. Our society is turning into something great that MLK Jr. would be proud of considering our tolerances for differences. Sam said that in the early 90's gay marriage was something that almost zero people supported and now it's a topic that the majority of our class supports and we can use that as a frame of reference for our justice system.

The Haiti Project seems like it is going in a great direction in order to help Haiti become a self sufficient country. Helping Haitians start their own businesses and allowing them to be creative is key to creating more jobs and a sustainable country. These people can start their own businesses with our help and as they begin to expand they will slowly not require as much help from us. Also, as the businesses grow they will expand and be in need of more workers, therefore creating even more jobs to help stimulate their economy. The specific video that caught my eye was the video about Yvrose and her apparel business. She is in great need of many supplies and machines in order for her creativity to be experienced by a bigger clientele. As of right now her clientele is, unfortunately, quite small and this is because she is not able to produce her apparel at a faster or cheaper rate in order to get it out to the townsfolk. By supporting this woman's endeavors we can simultaneously help women in Haiti to suffer less discrimination and help to give the people of Haiti affordable clothing and footwear. Above all things, one of the most important parts of this business is the preservation of Haitian tradition through Yvrose's clothing. She designs all of the clothing by herself and paints the designs right onto the shirts allowing for a more traditional look which will help to preserve the amazing culture of the Haitians. Yvrose also makes sandals, which are all pretty much a necessity when it comes to children and just all people in general. Now, I have never been to Haiti but I'd imagine that it's roads and towns would be very harsh on the bare feet. Considering the economic status of Haiti and the recent earthquake I'd say that it is safe to assume that there is quite a bit of debris in the roads that would easily slice a foot open and cause the wound to get infected. Sandals will help to eliminate this problem ten fold, that's why it is so important the Yvrose succeeds in her endeavors because it is not just her livelihood that is relying on this business. It is also the livelihood of Haitian culture, people, and the economy. There is so much riding on this project that it is of utmost importance that we, as a school, succeed in doing our part to protect Haiti's people from it's failing economy. It won't take much from us as individuals, but it will provide great results from us as a whole.