This class has opened my eyes to many different people, cultures, traditions, and also religions. I grew up immersed in the Roman Catholic religion. I went to catholic school from first till twelfth grade. The majority of my friends had the same beliefs as me. Although we varied in race, and traditions we all shared the same religion. I had some Jewish friends from sports and other activities but I did not meet a Muslim until sophomore of high school. Even when I met a couple Muslims, I still had no idea what they believed or anything about their culture. After the Christian crusaders class I was interested in learning more about the religion that I knew nothing about. I still am ignorant to much of the religion but from the information I gathered there are a lot of similarities between my faith and Islam. Yes, we call it God and they call it Allah, but we are both monotheistic religions. We both believe in one all knowing, all powerful, loving, and forgiving God. Also, we both believe in the afterlife. They believe God will judge us to see if we have been good and faithful people in the end. My faith has had many controversies and radicals that tarnished our Church’s reputation but the core beliefs behind the faith are strong and good. We must look past the Muslim radicals because that is not what the Islam faith is all about. The faith at its core believes in accepting all people for conversion. It believes that their religion is the true religion, but what faith doesn’t. Although they believe people should believe in Islam because it is the truth, they do not believe in force or violence. We all have the perception in our heads that they are a violent group of people because we stereotype the whole group. A couple of people have shaped our view of an entire population. They images we see on the news and on the internet do not represent everyone. For example, this woman’s husband is probably a good guy. He probably is polite and kind. The fact that he is lumped in with such a cold hearted and evil terrorist is awful. Like Sam said in class we would not want to be stereotyped. The Middle East might view all United States soldiers as evil even though we know many of them. Most of the men and women that serve are great parents, brother, sister, and friends. They are good people. The image Americans generally have of Muslims is a stereotype that can be completely wrong. The woman’s husband has to deal with it everyday and that is a great injustice and obstacle he must overcome.

Although I am not a man, this question really made me think. I am a girl that grew up with a majority of male friends and family members. I have nineteen male cousins and most of the kids in my neighborhood were boys. Not to mention my brother is only fourteen months older then me and we are very close. They all have different styles but get along just fine. Boys can bond with other boy even if they are very different. Girls ostracize each other and create cliques. I work with children and see this pattern even at ages as young as five. Boys have pressure to conform but at the same time they also accept differences better. That acceptance is the difference between the pressure girls and boys feel. I have felt the pressure put on me by society a lot. Females are constantly bombarded with images, opinions, and views that we are suppose to conform to. For example, the pressure on us to conform to a certain type of fashion is unbelievable. Even walking around the Penn State campus puts pressure on me. The uniform of Penn State girls seems to be jeans, uggs, and a north face. You basically see uniforms for the girls here. Freshman year I walked into the hall to catch the elevator and five girls were standing there waiting for it. They were all wearing the uniform. As a girl that does not own a north face and only one pair of jeans, which are needed for the weekends, I do not seem to conform. Sometimes I feel like girls judge me for my lack of fashion sense, but I really do not want to wear that. I feel like boys slide under the radar a little bit. Many of the boys on campus also have a uniform. Jeans, Penn state tee shirts and a baseball hat seems to be a very popular look. However, I think it is more socially acceptable to vary. In term of body image and insecurities, boys and girls definitely have different lives. Boys have the pressure to be in shape, but girls can never be happy. Girls seem to be under the stress of never having to correct look. They are to fat, so they lose weight and now they are too skinny. There is no winning. Girls always seem to have the idea that “the grass is greener on the other side”. Boys have it easier than girls but I think everyone in our society feels the pressure to conform. I also think that we cannot avoid it. Our culture will always have an image of beauty and we will always strive to meet that goal.

This video shocked me more than any other video that I have blogged about! I honestly cannot understand how a person would play this and think it is ok. Women have made great strides in the last couple years. We have become CEOs, bread winners, and seemed to have broken the glass ceiling. Although, I believe there are still obstacles that women face everyday and the glass ceiling is not totally gone; I thought we passed this stage a long time ago. This game turns rape and abuse to women in a game! Not only is this absolutely appalling, I can not imagine the person that buys this game. If they are truly just playing for entertainment, then they have a sick idea of entertainment. Children, teenagers and even men and women in their adult years should never view rape as a game. It is an experience that ruins peoples’ lives. It is a traumatizing act that can leave the victim feeling extreme depression and helplessness. Victims suffer from trust issues ever again. It is a way of forcing total dominance on a person and taking the most personal part of them away. I believe our society is becoming desensitized to violent crimes. Crime shows have shown us blood and guts so often that sometimes the murder of a person does not even phase us. We seem to just ignore news stories that headline a rape or murder because they appear so often. This is detrimental because if he younger generations are raised in a society where rape and murder are not that bad, then what is? What will be bad enough to catch their attention? Shows like Law and Order Special Victims Unit intrigue the audience and is a favorite show for many people. I am guilty of it being one of my favorite shows. However, this video made me think that when I proclaim “I love that show!” about Law and Order SVU, what am I saying? Do I enjoy watching women suffer through rape and tragedy? What makes me enjoy watching the show and why don’t I walk away from it feeling bad at all? I usually watch an episode and then go on with my day like I didn’t see a rape case that day. I know it is fictional but I truly think the show has caused me to think of awful acts in a different light. We should be shocked and disturbed by rape and murder, not unaffected by it. Do the shows and things we are experience, regarding awful crimes, just make us less naïve or are they opening our society to a new generation of criminals seeking the new even worse group of crimes?

This video really made me think. It is truly disturbing that at that age, children are already placing stereotypes on people and associating negative ideas with being black or brown. Although I was still shocked by this video I have encountered things like this before. I work at a summer camp, with children that range from five to twelve. We are about seventy percent minorities and thirty percent white. Even in a setting where the minorities are the majority these thoughts and ideas come through. Whenever the little girls are playing house or other make believe games they will change their names. Some of the girls have very original names that are clearly associated with the race and culture their families come from. For example, an eight-year-old named Imani always changes her name to Ashley. The other girls will change their names to things like Jessica, Emily, Miley, or Megan. These names are all found commonly in white culture. I have asked them why they do not use names like their own. They usually respond by saying that the other names are better or something like that. They are clearly drawn to the white sounding names. I believe that this is all because of the media. As children we are very impressionable. For example, when children are watching Disney channel they watch shows dominated by white characters. Miley Cyrus, Alyson Michalka, and Ashley Tisdale, become the girls idols and Zac Efron, and Cole and Dylan Sprouse become their first crushes. These people are all white. I am not saying Disney does not have any minorities on their shows, but it is certainly a majority of white people. These girls get the idea in their heads that this is what beauty is, and even what perfection looks like. They do not have many black or brown role models in the media. These girls want to be as similar to the stars as possible. They have no problem leaving their family’s culture and differences behind. The fact that these girls already feel inferior due to their skin and features is heart breaking. I never realized that black and brown girls were self conscious of the darkness of their skin. When girls said in class that lighter skin is considered prettier, I was surprised. I wonder if that started because the role models they had at young ages were white. The media has a huge impact on our society and I wish they would take their influence more seriously. They could truly change the way people think about beauty. They could create a world in which many young girls would feel better about themselves and are proud of there differences instead of ashamed of them.

I agree that history lesson and books are part of the problem. Whites might be able to move past their guilt if they actually understand what happened and are able to speak about the issues more often. Also, white may begin to take more of a stand on issues if they feel like they have enough knowledge about a particular situation. Children are taught one-sided history from the very beginning of school. For example, Thanksgiving is taught in a way that is incomplete and in some ways inaccurate. The white pilgrims are portrayed in a sympathetic and kind light. They were not very kind, loving or accepting toward the native Americans in the real history. However, we are not taught the genocide part of Native American history. This leads many of us, including myself, to grow up in ignorant bliss. We do not realize the awful things our ancestors did. Therefore when we are finally shown this side of history, we feel an immense amount of guilt. I think we feel guilt not only for the past issues but also for the ignorance we have been living with for so. Long. Changing the history books and teaching the whole truth might cause guilt to hit us sooner and make it easier for whites to deal with. Maybe we will be more willing to take a stand and help the cause in our futures.
Obviously showing a first grader pictures and stories of genocide are out of the question. Those children will not be able to handle issues like that. However, maybe we could just portray the pilgrims in a different light. In first grade children realize there are bad guys and good guys. Maybe we should tell stories that portray the Native American as good and pilgrims as bad. This may show the children that moving the Native Americans was wrong. Just giving children a taste of the truth will help. This will also help children grow up learning that race has nothing to do with evil. Every race has good and bad people. All races do evil things and whites are not always good. Children of different races will feel proud when men and women of their races are portrayed as heroes. It will give them a role model and hero. When we show all sides of history, we will be able to see that every race has good role models for the children. White guilt will not ever be completely erased because of the past and the outcome. Our society will not totally change, but altering of education might create a better world and lessen the guilt. Whites will feel more comfortable talking about the issues and that is how problems are solved.

The question posted this week on the blog has really made me think about groups and how impossible they are. Sam divides the class into two groups on a regular basis. However, in the beginning of the year an exercise was done to prove it is impossible to group people. When Sam had all those people lined up in the front of the class and were put into groups, it was a complete failure. People were mixed, multi-racial and their races were way more complicated than two groups. I realize that this is just for class activity purposes, but it raises an interesting problem. How many groups do we really need to make to accurately group people? In my opinion, people cannot be put into groups because there are always exceptions. Someone will always be outside the box. And with the population mixing more and more often in our world the confusion will only worsen. An increasing number of people will become the exceptions.
Multi-racial people must really be confused about where they fall. I identify as a white female. I have never thought about it or even considered another option. However, the people that struggle everyday to try and figure which box to check on a form or document are probably truly bothered by this. As the census arrived in my mailbox this week, something else came to mind. What happens to people that fall into more than one category? Do they check two boxes or simply fill in other? I guess they would have to pick one. The heritage, race, and culture they feel most connected to will usually win this internal battle. Although, the person is answering honestly, it does not really tell the whole truth. Therefore, the census results will not be completely accurate.
Also, racial grouping raises another question for me. I was wondering why people from Spain and Portugal are considered Hispanic, while other European countries are all clumped into the white category. Spain and Italy are both in Europe. They both are not English speaking countries. They both have similar skin tones. They both have different cultures. So why is it that one is Hispanic and the other countries are considered white? When is it that a person would identify as something other than white? Sam also said that he white people in the pre-awakening stage identify with their heritage. Does hat mean an Italian, Irish, Greek, etc person is simply white? If they identify with their heritage does that make them uneducated about race relations. Are they ignorant? How can you clump entire people in racial groups that are so different? I think racial grouping is next to impossible and we cannot possible ever correctly put people in categories.

When do we speak our minds and step up? These questions cross our minds whenever we see injustice. We can feel peer pressure to remain silent. Sayings like “If you have nothing nice to say, then say nothing” encourages us to not step on toes. However, sometimes we must stand up and step on toes for the greater good. For example telling a friend they are completely wrong and ignorant for their racist comments isn’t nice, but it is necessary to open their eyes. We will not always step up, sometimes we will walk away and let it go. We might even create excuses in our head about why we did not step in. The woman that was refused service in the store was a great injustice. The people that walked away and did not say anything or simply continued on with their business probably made up excuses in their head. They were probably like the kid in class that said they were raised to mind their own business. However, how wrong must something be for them to step in. Hitler thrived on the silence of regular German citizens. For the most part they ignored the situation and did nothing to try to stop it. Silence can encourage injustice just as much as support does. We must step up because an injustice, even if it is small, is hurting another person. We must recognize that our voices could make a difference. It is spring break and I was in Philly last night. I went to a comedy club and my friend and I were the only white people there. The comedian started to make fun of us. He continued to make comments throughout the show and as another comment was directed at us and I sunk a little deeper into my chair, a women stood up. She scolded the comedian for his remarks. She walked over and patted me on the shoulder then walked out. The comedian turned that into a joke, but slinked off the stage quickly after. We thanked the woman, but all she could say was sorry I took so long. This woman made me realize that even something as small as a joke hurt my feelings. The fact that someone stood up for me made it so much better. Obviously, black and brown people encounter this situation much more often and hear jokes and comments all the time. I know have a better understanding that words can hurt and I will never ignore situations like this again. When I am deciding on if I should ignore something or speak up, I have every intention of telling someone how I feel. I can truly make the difference in the way a person would leave a situation.

In the video this week about this family, I found my heart breaking for them. When the young boy breaks down because his mother was pulled away from him in the middle of the night, I also almost cried. He must have been so confused and scared. According the Webster dictionary, a family is the basic unit in society traditionally consisting of two parents rearing their children; also: any of various social units differing from but regarded as equivalent to the traditional family. The family in this video clearly fits into this definition. The boys lived like most American families. They went to school, played sports and acted the same as the children with heterosexual parents. The parents created a home and provided for their children emotionally and financially. How does this differ from many our own homes? It doesn’t. We all probably live in a very similar way. In some ways this family might even be stronger. I believe the parents had been together for twenty-three years, which is actually longer than many marriages make it these days. So what makes them the exception a rule? They are in a more committed relationship than many heterosexual couples and have raised a family just like a heterosexual immigrant would have. They clearly had a strong and close family that should be treated like every other family. They should not have been punished the way they were, if heterosexual immigrants were not also treated this way. Now please misunderstand what I am trying to say. The mother should have applied for citizenship and followed the immigration rules legally. She knew the laws and broke them, which is illegal and therefore she should be punished. Deportation is the punishment for her crime and technically her punishment was fair. However, the real issue is what or who is left out of the law and it’s consequences. It is a hypocritical and contradictory law. If a heterosexual couple can avoid deportation by having or joining a family, then a homosexual couple should have the same rights. We must recognize that the law should not discriminate and make exceptions. Sexuality should not be a stipulation for laws in a “free” country. If we are free to be ourselves and free to make personal decisions then why is the United States government punishing gays for their decision to be themselves? If the United States government believes that marriage and a family will not allow you to avoid being deported then so be it. However, they must apply that law to everyone. The government can make the law go either way, they just have to include everyone and not discriminate. Fair and equal treatment is the problem in this situation not the immigration laws themselves.

I was raised Roman Catholic. It is a very important part of my family and our lives. I have attended Catholic school from first grade till I came to Penn State. I have studied my religion, read the bible, listened to numerous homilies and received all my sacraments. We attend mass every Sunday at home and I go most Sundays up here. Although, I have been so immersed in The Roman Catholic faith for so long, I have never thought of the sexuality in the Bible as Tibor Krausz portrays it. I have thought about the stories and questioned my faith. I have come to conclusions about these stories and interpreted many of them in my own way. I feel like I have been so immersed and so connected to the faith that I have not taken a step back. I have not examined the text from an outsider’s point of view. I have always looked at my faith through the eyes of a believer. Now that I have seen an outside point of view, I can see where they are coming from. However, I still have my faith. I believe in God, Jesus, the after-life and the sacraments. I am not an idiot; I know humans wrote the Bible. God inspired the authors of the Bible. As Sam said, he/she was not whispering in their ear exactly what to say, but I do believe they based their writing on experiences they had with him. These experiences might be interpreted incorrectly in the present day. The metaphors are outdated and we might not understand what the authors were trying to convey. This is where we need to be careful. We need to recognize hat the book was written so long ago that we can’t relate exactly the way we are suppose to. We have evolved so much as humans and live completely different lifestyles. We cannot base every decision we make on guidelines that we cannot possibly relate to. However, the basics and the roots of the Bible are still relevant. The commandments still define the basic rights and wrongs. Sexuality has changed so much that we cannot understand some of its imagery. The Bible never says nakedness and sex are bad. It just says when it is appropriate. God never wanted us to be ashamed of our bodies. He created them with love and beauty in mind. We just must respect it. We must not read the Bible literally because it is outdated, however religion guides us and will always be a part of me. I am proud of my faith even though I recognize its flaws. Although, the Catholic Church is by no means perfect. It can’t be because humans are not perfect and they are the ones who control the Church.

As I read the different article titles that I could chose from this week, I stopped when I saw this one. The woman’s face was the next thing I noticed. I had no idea what this article was about because the idea of a language actually dying off was the farthest thing from my mind. The video especially caught my eye. “Last Speaker of Language Dead” was a surprising title. I had never thought about languages and the fact that they die with the people that speak it. This woman was the last person to speak that language, which was probably spoken by many at one time. This article made me start thinking of a couple things. First, is that I was completely unaware of the death of a language until I read this blog. If I was not in Soc119, I would be ignorant to the fact that an entire language is gone. How many languages have died and were not even acknowledged? The words, phrases and sounds will never be used again. However, this is not the part of the “death” that upset me. Language is so much more than sounds and words. It is a culture and represents people, their lives, and traditions. The death of this language means that culture has either evolved or been abolished. This language is unique to one area, one group and one population. Those people no longer exist. Language can represent many parts of people. When languages die, will we ever be able to correctly remember and explain that specific culture? The second thing that surprised me about this blog is the fact that there are 7,000 languages in the world. Compared to the 6.7 billion people in this world that number is miniscule. I believe that our world is getting a lot smaller and we are losing a lot of cultures and unique people. Through colonization languages such as French and English have spread around the world. English is spoken everywhere and has replaced many other original languages. The Americanization of these areas is not necessarily a positive thing. Yes, it makes communication between groups easier, but what about those whose languages has been stomped out. Did they lose their culture, pride in their area and people? I hope not. Is making communication more convenient more important than an original culture and diversity in the world? One day will the entire world speak one language? The final point this article made me think about is language in the United States. We are an English-speaking nation, but so many speak different languages. Should we be accepting of these languages or should we force assimilation. Our culture is a melting pot and can we say things like “This is America, Speak English”. The sign outside Geno’s clearly shows they believe America should be a one-language country, but if language represents culture and the US is made up of so many cultures, how do we chose?