en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/3078373 Comments by jackjones5024 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/30/week-8-%e2%80%93-lesson-14-affirmative-action/#IDComment170443296 This lecture was very insightful. I have never thought of affirmative action as nepotism. After reading the two definitions and seeing that they were identical made me think. Affirmative action is designed to help people get ahead that were discriminated against in the past. The beneficiaries of affirmative action include men and women of color and also white women. I was surprised when Sam Richards said that white women were the group of people that benefited the most from affirmative action. I always thought that women of color benefited the most because they were discriminated against for their race and for being women. White women were only discriminated against because they are women. People of color think that affirmative action is such a great thing and it helps them get ahead in life. What people of color do not know is that white people benefit the most from it. White men still benefit from affirmative action because they are the group of people that most often marry white women, and when your wife benefits you benefit. The cartoons that Sam Richards included in the lecture were completely true. The one that stuck out the most was the one with the white man on an escalator and the black man that has to running a race and jumping over hurtles to get to the voting booth. This is just an example of how people of color have been treated unfairly for years. People of color always had to go through all of these obstacles just to be on an equal playing field with white people. White people have always been on top so they always have been able to control the playing field. You can tell that by how easy the white man has it in the cartoon. He is just riding the escalator to the top with a big smile on his face. The video that Sam Richards showed in the lecture reminded me of my high school. We were like the majority black school in the video. We were more well off than they were but we were still inferior to the surrounding schools. We did not receive the best education and we did not have the best facilities like the surrounding majority white schools. After graduating from that school and then coming to Penn State made me feel like I could not compete. It was harder for me to get used to being in a more accelerated educational atmosphere here at Penn State. I could relate with the girl that said she is afraid she would not be ready for college. I think all schools should have equal opportunities for education because it will only hurt the student in the future if they are only receiving limited education in high school. Wed, 6 Jul 2011 22:40:36 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/30/week-8-%e2%80%93-lesson-14-affirmative-action/#IDComment170443296 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/30/week-8-%e2%80%93-lesson-14-affirmative-action/#IDComment170436819 I never would have thought that white women benefit the most from affirmative action. Honestly I thought that women of color benefitted the most because I thought affirmative action was designed to help people that were discriminated against. I feel like women of color get that double dose of discrimination because they are a minority and they are women. White women were just discriminated against because they were women not because of the color of their skin or their race. I think it is just a way for white men to benefit from affirmative action. I only feel this way because white men are the people who designed affirmative action. Wed, 6 Jul 2011 22:17:42 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/30/week-8-%e2%80%93-lesson-14-affirmative-action/#IDComment170436819 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-13-immigration/#IDComment169366317 The lecture about immigration was very interesting. I learned new things about immigration and who regulates the immigration. I was surprised that big business regulates immigration. I always thought that it was the government, but big business does have its influence on the government. Big business does not really care about these immigrants. I feel like they are only worried about finding someone to work for them for a below average income. I think if they really cared about the immigrants that come to the United States they would probably try to at least help their employees become legal citizens. Only then will I think that big business has a positive influence on immigration laws and immigration regulation. I was offended by that guy from the video that was ranting about immigrants and that they do not deserve rights that we have as citizens. Immigrants are people that are just coming to the United States in search of a better life. I see immigration basically as history repeating itself. For hundreds of years people have been migrating to the United States. Immigration is a part of American culture. Everyone in the United States is a descendant of someone that has come from another country. Even white people in the United States have grandparents that were immigrants that possibly came through Ellis Island or some other port that immigrants travel to. I think people would see immigration differently if they were to think about their grandparents or great grandparents and how they were treated when they came to the United States. When my great grandfather came to the United State from Spain, many years ago, they made him change his last name. This is just one way Americans try to strip immigrants of their culture and try to make them conform to American culture. They want immigrants to change their traditions, language, and sometimes religion. It is not fair to try to make someone change who they are or where they come from. Little things that people say for example, “Here in America we speak English,” can be a way of trying to strip someone of their culture. I think that the United States being a multicultural nation is what makes this country the great nation that it is today. We would not be one of the most powerful nations without immigration and multiculturalism. All of our greatest traditions and even our greatest food come from influences from immigrants from other countries. I think that people in America should try to embrace immigration but at the same time regulate it in a way that we may all benefit from immigration. Immigrants should not have to worry about only receiving jobs with low income or struggling to become a legal American citizen. Sun, 3 Jul 2011 18:31:37 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-13-immigration/#IDComment169366317 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-13-immigration/#IDComment169354470 I agree. I feel like America is basically all amount monetary gain. That is one reason why immigration and the immigration laws will not change in order to benefit the people coming to our country. Big business is controlling and regulating immigration just so that they may use the immigrants for work. They are not concerned about them becoming legal citizens or anything else that may benefit them. I also think that how immigrants are being compensated for these jobs is ridiculous. Immigrants should be treated fairly. I think that these businesses that employ these immigrants should try to help them become legal citizens since they are working for them for below average pay. Sun, 3 Jul 2011 17:57:22 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-13-immigration/#IDComment169354470 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt/#IDComment168084579 I agree. People of the LGBT community have been treated unfairly and deserve the same rights as everyone else. People have to understand that they are an oppressed community like different races have been in the past. I think people have to stop and realize that history is repeating itself in a way. African Americans were mistreated, stripped of their rights, and discriminated against just like the LGBT community is being treated today. People try to use religion as a way to justify it. One sin is no greater than the other so I think if they want to treat people of the LGBT community unfairly they should do the same to the many other people that commit other sins if they wanted to use religion against the LGBT community. Wed, 29 Jun 2011 21:13:35 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt/#IDComment168084579 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt/#IDComment168079584 After listening to the lecture for lesson twelve about multiculturalism and LGBT issues I started to think about how I viewed these issues personally. I would consider myself to be a tolerant person. I have LGBT friends and I think that they should be treated equally and fairly as someone that might be heterosexual. When it comes to marriage I am still unsure about how I feel about the marriage. Technically, a marriage is said to be a union between a man and a woman, but homosexuals want to call their union a marriage as well. I am not sure if it should be called a marriage because it is not a union between a man and a women but a union between two people of the same sex. This can be my own ignorance but I am not against homosexuals being in some type of union. All of my life I have grown up in the church and I have always heard that homosexuality is an abomination but this has never changed my personal views of the topic. I thought it was funny that Sam Richards included the religious views of homosexuality. Technically in the bible it is a sin but who is to say which sin is a greater than the next. Which sins are going to keep you out of the heaven of God? The discussion on multiculturalism was the most interesting to me. I wasn’t surprised when living in a community of all minorities received the lowest percent. This was probably because most communities will all minorities are associated with high levels of poverty and crime. Personally, I would not have chosen to live in a community of all minorities either. I would have chosen to live in a community that was half white and half minority. I like the idea of a mixture of cultures. I think it would be interesting and that everyone would be able to learn from different people in the neighborhoods. I think there would probably a decrease in racism and discrimination because everyone is on the same equally balanced level. Living in a community of majority of one culture is like being king of the mountain and everyone else does not have the equal chance or opportunity. The majority always has the power over the minority. Multiculturalism is a great thing that everyone can benefit from. I think at first it may be intimidating to white people because they may feel like they are being overpowered, outnumbered, and that they are losing control. Multiculturalism may be the one thing that will consequently end the ideology of the king of the mountain. It will give the United States a chance to create its own culture Wed, 29 Jun 2011 21:04:34 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt/#IDComment168079584 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/22/week-6-%e2%80%93-lesson-10-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-people-of-color-stages-1-4/#IDComment165893709 I thought it was interesting to that some people of color may grow up thinking they are white. I would think that even though they grew up in a majority white community or culture that they would still be able to tell the differences in their appearance. I think this is mostly their parents fault for not informing them of the heritage and culture. I do not think there is something wrong with growing up within another culture, but I still believe people should be exposed to their own culture and heritage. This way people would know their history and where they come from. Thu, 23 Jun 2011 19:00:38 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/22/week-6-%e2%80%93-lesson-10-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-people-of-color-stages-1-4/#IDComment165893709 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/22/week-6-%e2%80%93-lesson-10-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-people-of-color-stages-1-4/#IDComment165892333 After listening to the lecture about the racial identity stages for people of color it made me think about why people of color are further along in the stages than white people are in their racial identity stages. People of color definitely reach the awakening stage a lot faster than white people because people of color reach the awakening stage at a younger age than white people do. I know that people of color at a young age are told who they can trust and who not to trust. The older people in my family would sometimes say that you cannot always trust white people or my white friends. This was a way for me to see the differences from me and them. When people are influenced in such a way it is easier for them to separate themselves. I think the first time I began to see the us and them was when I was a lot younger when a white boy that lived in my neighborhood called me the N word. At first I did not understand what it meant I just knew it was supposed to be a bad thing. Sam began to talk about the third stage of immersion I realized some of my African American friends from back at home are definitely in this stage. They are all about being African American and really do not care of learning about other cultures. For example, if they were to take an Africana Studies course and there was a white student in the class they would probably say “ Why are they in this class?” Personally I do not think like this. I would like to believe I am in the fourth stage, disintegration. I can recognize when an African American is being racist or hypocritical towards white people. Sometimes African Americans will complain that they were being discriminated against but yet they do the same thing to other people. Just like if a white person would rather hire another white person over someone of another race or culture. I know African Americans that do the same and would rather hire other African Americans. They try to defend themselves by saying they are only trying to give their people a fair chance, but in doing so they are discriminating against people of other races. I think the LL Bean catalog picture that Sam Richards showed were interesting. I think someone in the immersion stage would still find a way to be upset even though African Americans are in the catalog. I think they would make a comment on how they make them dress like white people. They might even make a comment that they are trying to force white culture on the African American community. Thu, 23 Jun 2011 18:55:48 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/22/week-6-%e2%80%93-lesson-10-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-people-of-color-stages-1-4/#IDComment165892333 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-3-4/#IDComment164400021 I think it is a positive thing to get into these arguments and debates because it is a way to inform people of what really goes on in society. Not everyone gets the information we receive in this class and they may learn from the argument. Not everyone will listen because of how they were raised and their own personal beliefs. I think even if they were raised in such way they should at least be open to the topics of race and ethnicity. It is somewhat of an untouched topic because someone is always concerned about offending someone else. Sun, 19 Jun 2011 23:00:27 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-3-4/#IDComment164400021 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-3-4/#IDComment164398896 When I think about what stage of the Stages of Racial Identity I am in I believe I am in stage three, revisioning. I began to see racial inequality when I started college. I really did not notice it in high school because I grew up in a mainly African American neighborhood. The only thing that I noticed in high school was that white people did not like it when African Americans or other minority groups moved into their neighborhoods in larger quantities. When it was just having a minority homes here and there it was not a problem. But when minority families began to get better paying jobs and could afford to live in the more expensive and better neighborhoods, the white people began to move away. Another thing was they did not want my town to have an African American mayor. The people in the surrounding towns began to complain as well. After taking Soc 119, I realized things that were not presented to me before about racial inequality and the privileges that white people may have. I also believe I am in the revisioning stage because I do not see a problem with political correctness. I know white people use political correctness because they do not want to offend anyone that may be a minority. They are trying to avoid racial confrontations and being called a racist. It is really easy for minorities to do that to white people. Although I believe I am in the revisioning stage, I do not have any anger towards white people. Honestly I only show anger to white people if I know that have committed something racist towards someone of color. I am not going to blame a white person for something that their ancestors have done. It would not be fair to criticize someone for an action that is completely out of the control. I know white people are afraid that African Americans or other minority groups would blame them for something their ancestors did. Another thing from the lecture that I think was interesting was the two twin sisters. At the beginning of the video I thought they were two regular girls but they are white supremacist. Their mom had a valid point about the situation. Children are going to do what their parents teach them. My parents are Christian so they are going to teach me how to be a Christian. So you really should not target the children for criticism. They are only doing what is normal to them and it is how they were raised. Others may see it as the children are terrible racist but they would not see it how I explained. They other commercial about the furniture store was weird. Why do people even need to make a commercial saying that every race and ethnicity is welcome? Shouldn’t it be automatic and doesn’t need to be announced that they accept everyone? I wouldn’t even shop there because I would feel like they would keep reminding me of my race. I know I’m African American. I don’t need someone to remind me in a furniture store. Sun, 19 Jun 2011 22:55:48 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-3-4/#IDComment164398896 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-1-2/#IDComment163041180 I agree with you completely. Before this class I never thought about race in this capacity. Race is usually something not openly talked about because it can be uncomfortable for many people and a lot of people I know would feel insulted if they heard some of the things that are discussed in this course. I never thought about white culture either or what is white culture. I really always thought white culture was American culture. After taking SOC 119 I have come to realize that white culture and American culture are two different things. To me, the websites like “Stuff White People Like” and “Black People Like Us” were kind of funny. But why would someone even make these websites? Thu, 16 Jun 2011 02:29:53 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-1-2/#IDComment163041180 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-1-2/#IDComment163039223 After this lecture it made me think about if white people think about race or even if they have to think about race. I cannot speak for any other minority but I think about race all the time, especially when it comes to being in a relationship. My girlfriend is Cuban and I am African American and I am very nervous about meeting her parents because I am African American. I wonder if they will accept me who I am or if they would not accept me from the beginning because I am African American. I know all people are not are like that but I still have to take that in to consideration because my race and ethnicity is always in the back of my head. Another thing I worry about is how people act around me every day. My white friends are comfortable around me because we hang out and they know how I am. When I introduce them to my other African American or Latino friends they can become uncomfortable because they do not know how to act around them. They sometimes watch what they say or they do not say anything at all. I tell them to just treat them like normal people. I think minorities are more excepting than white people can sometimes be. But when they act like that it makes me think they may see them as different because of their race or ethnicity. Growing up I honestly did not notice color as child. In elementary I had both white and black friends. We all got along pretty well too. I began to notice the differences the first time one of my white friends called me the N word. Being a kid at the time, I did not realize what that meant I could just understand it must be bad. As I got older, I began to understand that white children had to have heard it from somewhere, more than likely their parents. That made me feel uncomfortable because I thought that their parents thought it was a bad thing that their white child had black friends. After that it was like us and them in the back of my head. The older people in my family would always tell me to watch out for my white friends because they will be my friends now but not later in life because it will make them look bad. I think that is probably what it was like when they were younger but I never saw it that way. These are things that happened in my life which made me notice color and what made me think about my race. I always catch myself asking, “Did you mention I was black?” I never heard anyone say, “Did you mention I was white?” Thu, 16 Jun 2011 02:20:06 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-1-2/#IDComment163039223 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/02/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality/#IDComment160817243 Affirmative action for White Americans was pretty shocking to me too. How the society and the economy is manipulated it seems that minority or Non-White Americans will never reach the top. In the readings it said that a African-American woman, making a decent amount of money, a college education, and living in a nice neighborhood, was the cause of property values in her neighborhood decreasing I was somewhat offended. Being African-American, it made me think that I could experience the same type of discrimination in the near future and there is nothing I can do to prevent it. Everyone would like to be treated fairly and to be able to get the same opportunities of the “American Dream” as anyone else. Thu, 9 Jun 2011 02:24:10 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/02/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality/#IDComment160817243 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/02/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality/#IDComment160816037 This lecture was possibly my favorite because it was so enlightening and made a lot of sense. Sam Richards is a great speaker and knows how to break things into examples to better help you understand the main concepts and better explains what is going on in the readings. What caught my attention was when he said the “Luck of Birth”. I believe the Luck of Birth is pretty spot on when it comes to being wealthy. You do not have the capability of deciding what family you were born in, what race or nationality you would be, or what area of the world you would be born in. Honestly, I feel that I am lucky to have been born in the United States. One major reason for me is because I do not think I would be able to handle the hard type of lifestyles some people have to live in other poorer third world countries. I am grateful that I live here in the United States because of the wide varieties that we, as Americans, have today. We are one of the wealthiest countries and have abundance of freedoms that other countries would kill and die for. With the luck of birth idea, people that are born into wealthy families are basically born on top of the mountain already. They have available resources that their families can provide for them. Other problems that poorer people have they do not have to worry about them. Being born in the United Sates is pretty lucky because we have resources and if we do not have the resources we have the monetary wealth to be able to obtain those needed resources. Another thing that captured my attention was the “King of the Mountain” example. It is true that if you have the leverage you have the control over others, which makes it possible for you to manipulate the playing field. In this case dominance is key. The obvious dominant party in our nation is the White Americans. I am not trying to sound racist but it is true that White Americans make it more difficult for Non-White Americans to compete. They were the ones in our nation’s history who had the leverage over the Non-White Americans in the past and set laws to remain on the top. They used slavery, taxes, voting, education, and even wars as tools to remain the dominant group in America. They would cut breaks to people in their group and make it even harder for Non-White Americans to compete. If it were the other way around, I know another Non-White American group would do the same in order to remain the dominant group. It is all another way to use social inequalities as a tool. Thu, 9 Jun 2011 02:17:27 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/02/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality/#IDComment160816037 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality/#IDComment159659968 The topic of social inequality was a great and interesting lesson to have. Just last week at dinner, my friends and I got into a heated debate about social inequalities among different races and social inequalities between males and females and how the society perceives them. Our debate lasted about an hour. We all have strong personalities and we all had valid points to support our arguments. When Sam Richards mentioned inequalities within the school systems it made me think hard because my school was not as rich as other. It was actually the poorest in my area. When he mentioned that local tax money is used to support their own school systems and not the ones in the surrounding areas, or on the other side of the tracks, it made so much sense to me. The schools in the richer areas were ahead of us in many ways. They also had better equipment for their athletic teams and extra funding for their extra-curricular activities. In reality what the school systems were doing was keeping the rich rich and the poor poor. Using education as a tool to maintain social inequalities will keep this a never ending cycle. It will make it so much harder for students from the poorer schools to compete with the students from the rich schools. So the students from the poorer schools will have more obstacles in their way and less opportunities than the students from the rich schools. One thing that I agreed with from the lecture was that people make have some obstacle that may occur that is from something that you may not be able to control. Not everyone is able to skate along through life, like Sam Richard’s example in the lecture. I agree, school would be easier if I had no worries in the back of my mind while I am trying to focus for class and study for exams. Social inequalities are all based on a family’s home income. People that make a good amount of money most of the time think they are better than someone that makes significantly less than them. They try to separate themselves from the poor. This is basically how social statuses were created. Disagree with having social classes because it is another tool people may use to make them believe they are better than someone else. What must our society do to see us all as equal? If we were to make the same amount of money people would more than likely find another way to divide into different social classes so they may rank themselves. Sex, race, and income I feel are the three determinants for social status and are the main causes for social inequalities. Sun, 5 Jun 2011 18:55:27 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality/#IDComment159659968 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality/#IDComment159638162 I agree with you completely. Social inequality is not a positive thing to have in our society and it seems like it will not go away entirely. It is sad that our society is using education as a tool to maintain some social inequalities. My school was just like that run down school outside of Chicago that was on the Oprah Show. I had the opportunity to move to a better school but I did not because I wanted to remain with my friends. Knowing what I know now about education and social inequality I would have taken that opportunity to attend a better school because it would have helped me in the future. Sun, 5 Jun 2011 17:50:45 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality/#IDComment159638162 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment158402880 When the war began, I was young so I only thought the war was based on September 11 like the news was saying. As I began to pay attention more I also realized the war was probably about oil. I know our government would not want us to know that the war is about the oil in the Middle East. That is probably why the media is so manipulated and we are only told a limited amount of information. When Sam said to pretend to be civilians in the Middle East it made me see from their point of view as well. I began to relate and it was starting to make me angry a little. Thu, 2 Jun 2011 03:28:53 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment158402880 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment158401981 After reading Article 10, I think that the Muslim countries in the Middle East should attempt to change their form of government to a democracy. I believe a democratic government would be better for their countries as a whole and for their citizens. However I do believe this War on Terror is the wrong way of going about leading the Middle Eastern countries to a democracy. It seems like Western governments are forcing a democracy on the Middle East. This would definitely impact the Muslims in the Middle East negatively. Like Sam said in the lecture, it seems like the Christians are just coming over to the Middle East just to take over the oil in the Middle East. The videos shown during the lecture also makes Christianity is being pressured on the Muslims in the Middle East. From a Muslim point of view it would look like the United States is intolerant to their religions and their cultures. To them this is nothing but a crusade or a holy war. I honestly the crusades never ended and they probably will not end any time soon if these displays of intolerance continue to filter throughout the world. Our views of the Middle East are also distorted. Today in the media we are always shown the same images of Muslims in the Middle East. Seeing pictures from the other side of the spectrum made me feel like that could be us in the United States. We are only shown pictures of terrorists, children with guns, and people shouting “Death to America”. We are not shown pictures like were shown in the lecture that displays average families or children playing in Baghdad. Our image of the American soldiers is always manipulated as well. I felt embarrassed to be an American and to say “We support our troops” and our soldiers are in the Middle East harassing innocent civilians. We are shown pictures that show peaceful soldiers that are shown doing their job and assisting the civilians like we are told in the media. It is sad to say but I agree with Sam Richards when he says he understands what drives the Muslims in the Middle East so try to kill American soldiers. I do not think it is right but, in the same respect, I do not agree with what some American soldiers are doing over there in the Middle East as well. Seeing those videos were very depressing. And hearing people talking about killing in God’s name is somewhat disturbing. I think when it comes to religion Muslims and Christians should try to coexist. If the two religious groups do not learn to do so the crusades will never end. Thu, 2 Jun 2011 03:24:02 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment158401981 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/22/week-two-lesson-2-intro-to-race/#IDComment156200287 My favorite part of the lecture was when the engineering student had to place the other students in racial groups also. I honestly believe I would not be able to do it. Really I think the easiest racial groups to point out would be African American, Hispanic, and Asian. When it comes to determining the other white racial groups it gets difficult for me. Since I am African American and a minority it might be easier for me to point out other minority racial groups. Also it would be easier to differ racial groups that you are more familiar with, even if it is not your own. Thu, 26 May 2011 02:58:06 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/22/week-two-lesson-2-intro-to-race/#IDComment156200287 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/22/week-two-lesson-2-intro-to-race/#IDComment156198478 I think it was interesting to learn that the Europeans were the first to categorize humans by their physical characteristics. The way Carolus Linneaus categorized people I believe was very racist. I know that slavery was occurring during his categorizing but he made Africans seem inferior to the white Europeans, which is racism. I do agree that if it were another one of the other racial groups that were to be doing the categorizing of the different races they would have put their racial group on top and might have rearranged the Carolus Linneaus’s list of which race should be on the top over the others. It also made me think if the Europeans would not have made a racial rank what would our world be like today. Would there be racism? Would people be less divided? I believe that people might have been less divided than how we are now. In today’s world, everyone is more comfortable with their own racial group. This might be an effect of the ranks of superiority that were set many centuries ago. One thing that I found interesting from the book was the different theories behind the reasons why people may have different physical characteristics from someone else on the other side of the world. The author listed examples from the shapes of people’s eyes to the reasons why people have different types of hair. The reasoning behind the different skin colors makes perfect since. I have heard this theory before. People closer to the equator are bound to be darker than someone that lives further away from the equator. For example, someone that is from Africa will be darker than someone that is from Europe. I never thought about why people of African origin have kinky and curly hair or why people of Asian origin have almond shaped eyes. These are just all survival techniques that people have evolved into in order to adapt to their surroundings. It would definitely be harder for someone from Asia to live in Africa than someone that is African, and little things like the shape of someone’s eyes or the type of hair they have that can affect the way people adapt. What I found interesting from the first part of the lecture was people dividing people into racial groups. I think it would be difficult because most people have mixed blood so it may be hard to determine distinct physical features that would tie them to one exact racial group. When the student did it I thought it would be very difficult. He was able to group some people in a particular group but the people that were mostly mixed would be put in between. Thu, 26 May 2011 02:49:18 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/22/week-two-lesson-2-intro-to-race/#IDComment156198478