en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/758266 Comments by janstepp https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/south-park-off-the-hook__trashed/#IDComment69963702 I thought that the episode was great, I think South Park is the best show on TV other then maybe the Daily Show. I just can't get my head around the fact that people are still getting upset about stuff like this, who cares if someone makes fun of your god, how does that affect your relationship with whoever your god is? People can say whatever they want, that shouldn't affect you, if you believe in something then believe in it, but the world doesn't have to subscribe to your idea of whats right or wrong. As far as this group that is threatening the South Park guys, Jon Stewart said it best when he told them to go f@ck themselves. Fri, 23 Apr 2010 18:24:13 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/south-park-off-the-hook__trashed/#IDComment69963702 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/were-being-educated-for-stupidity-and-conformity-really__trashed/#IDComment69960572 Why the hell does everyone know who Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck are but so many people have never even heard of Noam Chomsky? Noam Chomsky is someone actually worth paying attention too, I me come on, Robin Williams mentioned him and his book Manufacturing Consent in "Good Will Hunting". Chomsky's speech was pretty shocking to hear but when you really start to think about it a lot of what he was saying is true. I was a terrible student in high school mostly because I was lazy, but I did have a couple of classes where I thought "this is absolutely pointless", I felt like we were just part of this huge system and you had to take part in it if you wanted to stay with your peers. But, at the same time I had a teacher who really did try to make us think for ourselves, and I had a teacher who was more about discipline and knowing where you stand in the pecking order, and he was my favorite teacher, he gave me a real appreciation of history. When Chomsky says "education is the indoctrination of the young" I believe that certain aspects of that statement are true but I don't believe it's as bad as he makes it sound. I really think that Americans in general are more free thinking and creative then a lot of other countries. I've lived in a couple countries that are really much more of an obedient society then the United States. When I was in South Korea I got the impression that people never talked back to authority figures or told their boss to go f@ck themselves. But at the same time when he says "people are willing to do it no matter how stupid it is" that really hit home with me. It seems no matter what you do in life, whether its going to school or working, you have to go through all the hoops, and once your through the hoops there are all these pointless exercises you have to do because some idiot that came before you has already lowered the bar. Some of things he said I can see in our society, like Wal-Mart, I actually don't hate Wal-mart and I do occasionally shop there, but when I walk in and look around it just feels wrong, there's something about the massing together of all the different things they sell that's unappealing to me. When he talked about how people think we should turn our schools into the Marine Corp that was really interesting, I think there has to be some level of discipline, especially in grade school and high school but why can't there be a combination of creativity and discipline? Once people get to college there should be a free exchange of ideas and creativity should be encouraged. So I guess I agree with most of what Chomsky is saying but I don't think its as bad as he makes it sound. Fri, 23 Apr 2010 17:57:42 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/were-being-educated-for-stupidity-and-conformity-really__trashed/#IDComment69960572 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/how-am-i-not-a-racist__trashed/#IDComment69953066 I think this is a good question, but I think he might be putting to much of a quilt vibe out there. Just thinking that you have more a chance to make a difference in the world definitely doesn't make you a racist. I don't think acknowledging that you are more fortunate then other people should make you feel superior to anyone else, its just happenstance. We do live a sheltered life in America and we do have more of a chance to make real changes in the world because we are basically rich. But I don't think enough people feel that its there responsibility to help. Sam really made me think when he was talking about how we don't really earn all the things we have in life. If more people acknowledged that fact maybe they would be more inclined to help people and understand that they were just lucky enough to be born with certain advantages. Fri, 23 Apr 2010 16:55:45 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/how-am-i-not-a-racist__trashed/#IDComment69953066 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/christian-invaders-the-turnaround__trashed/#IDComment68391497 Sams lecture was absolutely right, Most people knew the war was about oil but I don't think people fully appreciate how much religious bullshit is involved. I used to be indifferent towards religion, but as I learn and think more about it the more I realize how awful it is. Religion is really saying "I know something you don't know" I have real issues with that, first off nobody knows what happens when we die, and when people say they are absolutely sure that they do know what happens when we die I automatically think that those people are a little bit crazy. Secondly, religion is just arrogance and another way to separate people and create more classes. The Blues Brothers were on a mission from god and I think George Bush thought he was too! Invading Iraq was the right thing to do because a magic spaceman told him too, how did someone like this become president of the United States?! I wonder what gods thoughts were on tapping peoples phones and torturing people? I spent two years in Iraq in the 101st Airborne and when I hear Sarah Palin say that our military "is on task from god" it makes me sick to my stomach, the arrogance of that statement is outstanding. Sam was right on the money about Iraqis wanting to be safe, to make a living, and to be just left alone. It didn't take me long to figure out that people are people, regardless of our different cultures. Fri, 16 Apr 2010 16:12:15 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/christian-invaders-the-turnaround__trashed/#IDComment68391497 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/what-might-be-the-second-step__trashed/#IDComment66884035 Step two is Government cracking down hard on corporations who contribute to the problem, they are the people to blame, they made the choice to buy slave coffee or chocolate beans, they made the choice to move their production facilities to India or Thailand where they can pay people next to nothing or nothing at all. This idea that the free market is all knowing and that regulation will bankrupt America is ridiculous. The lack of government regulations has aloud these companies to run wild. A business's main objective is to make money, they don't care how they do it, that's why the government or essentially us have too. Fri, 9 Apr 2010 22:08:47 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/what-might-be-the-second-step__trashed/#IDComment66884035 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/what-if-we-got-rid-of-welfare__trashed/#IDComment65624966 To me this idea of just ending the welfare system is pretty crazy. It sounds like that old idea of everybody for themselves and survival of the fittest. This country is suppose to be the example for the rest of the world, so what would it say about us if we just decided to let the most vulnerable members of our society suffer when we don't have too? For a country with so many "Christians", that wouldn't be very "Christian" of us. This issue is much bigger then the idea that people on welfare just don't want to work, it's about education and more importantly its about the fact that the United States doesn't produce things anymore, we just consume from countries that do make things. Fri, 2 Apr 2010 21:34:07 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/what-if-we-got-rid-of-welfare__trashed/#IDComment65624966 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/nothing-about-the-census-is-easy__trashed/#IDComment65618794 I'm glad to see so many people writing on their blogs that they feel this is being blown out of proportion. I think way too many people in this country think that their unique and they must constantly express their uniqueness. Yes, in some way everyone is unique but that doesn't make you special. I keep coming to this idea that people want to be perceived that they are offended by things that aren't offensive. The overwhelming majority of people in this country compared to other countries are spoiled rotten, a lot of people need to come back down to Earth and realize that everything doesn't have to be about them. Fri, 2 Apr 2010 21:13:59 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/nothing-about-the-census-is-easy__trashed/#IDComment65618794 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/native-hawaiians-ever-think-of-them__trashed/#IDComment64257412 This article really caught me by surprise, I never really gave any thought to the Native Hawaiians. Whenever I think of Native Americans I just think of the Apaches, Sioux, or Susquehannocks, etc. The part of the article where Jamie Story says " its not the role of the government to make up for past wrongs" is very disturbing. If we have the opportunity to help people then why not do it. And don't give me that crap about it will cost to much money, there's always more money to go around, taxes should be higher in this country anyway. A society should be judged by the way we treat our most in need. Fri, 26 Mar 2010 22:08:11 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/native-hawaiians-ever-think-of-them__trashed/#IDComment64257412 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/flip-the-script-for-a-moment__trashed/#IDComment64253716 I was surprised when so many people got upset when Sam made the comments about his wife's cycle. Why are people so easily offended? And how many people were pretending to be offended just so they could stand on their soapbox? The class I think in general is pretty open minded, so why should this be any different? I was surprised by Sam's comments but I wasn't offended. I was surprised simply because you don't typically hear people discussing this. I didn't really see how this was connected to race relations at the time, but I see now what Sam was trying to point out. Fri, 26 Mar 2010 21:43:11 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/flip-the-script-for-a-moment__trashed/#IDComment64253716 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/is-this-just-a-few-bad-apples__trashed/#IDComment64251698 This probably won't come as much of a surprise to the majority of the people in our SOC 119 class but the Tea Party movement isn't about health care reform or big government. It's about people who hate President Obama because he is black...there I said it. But, keep in mind I'm just talking about the people who consider themselves part of the Tea Party. There are plenty of people out there who don't like President Obama and their reasons, even if I don't agree with them, still have merit and should be discussed, I hope I made myself clear on that. I don't think that all the people who drink the GOP's kool-aid are racist. At first I really hated the Tea Party, I have no idea where these people are coming from. How do you get to that point in life, they're just ignorant losers to put it plainly. But now I've come to realize that I shouldn't look down on these people with hatred and contempt, I should be thankful and encouraging to their cause. Nobody is doing more then these people to hurt their cause then they are. Lets say that I'm a moderate, rational Republican or Democrat and I turn on the tv and see these crazy f@&#'s on the news, I would be scared away by all the violent and racist undertones immediately. And anyone who doesn't think that there is serious chance of violence in these groups needs to wake up. There is a rally scheduled in the next couple of days where people are encouraged to bring their guns! And here is a little news flash...guns aren't cool and they don't make you a tough guy! I used to think that these people were just misinformed. Just as an example take the name Tea Party, they chose this name because they think it's the perfect metaphor to illustrate their cause. But the Boston Tea Party wasn't that big of a deal, the people weren't making a big show out of it, it was done in the middle of the night in secrecy. And the Hitler signs, come on people that has been done to death, think of something a little more original. Whats going on at these rally's " I say rally's and not protest because in order to protest you must first know what your talking about" but what's going on at these rally's really is some shameful shit and hopefully these people will grow-up someday soon. If something violent were to actually take place I hope Fox News, Sarah Palin, and Rush Limbaugh are held partially responsible, they aren't doing anything but fanning the flames. They put these people up as if they are hero's for speaking out against the so-called government takeover. But in reality they are using people who are too stupid to think for themselves in order to raise money and further their careers. Sarah Palin had pictures of Democrats in cross hairs on her web site, that is just disgusting. Fri, 26 Mar 2010 21:24:35 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/is-this-just-a-few-bad-apples__trashed/#IDComment64251698 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/does-this-rudeness-thing-cut-both-ways__trashed/#IDComment63031447 When a couple of white people posted something that sounded mean or racist part of me thinks they were going for the cheap laugh but i think they wanted to see the reaction from the class as well. There was almost a collective gasp when one of the comments was displayed and it was a mean thing to say but I think some of that gasp was acting. Are we really that easily offended or did we just want to be seen as offended? I was really happy when Sam said that there is nothing that someone could say that would offend him. I feel the exact same way and I hate when people assume that I must be unengaged from life to feel that way when that isn't the case at all. We live in Disney Land compared to most of the world and something about sticks and stones comes to mind. Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:33:04 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/does-this-rudeness-thing-cut-both-ways__trashed/#IDComment63031447 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/women-and-sports__trashed/#IDComment63028555 I didn't have much of a reaction to this story, as long as she is qualified to coach high school football then all the power to her. I do think that this story has a little bit of a publicity stunt feeling to it. If she doesn't have success right away I wouldn't be surprised if people turned on her faster then they would a man. A few Division 1 schools have tried using female kickers and it never works out. I hope I don't sound like jerk saying this but when it comes to playing football I don't think men and women should share the field, especially at the college level, I just don't think it's safe. But on the coaching side I think it's completely fair for women to coach a men's team. She played football so she must have an understanding of what it takes to be coach. Last time I checked men and women both have the ability to draw X's and O's. Fri, 19 Mar 2010 20:15:37 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/women-and-sports__trashed/#IDComment63028555 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/prom-or-no-prom-just-dont-let-the-queer-students-dance-together__trashed/#IDComment63024192 Well once again my theories about the south are validated, I know that this story could have taken place any where but it's definitely not a shock that this story came out of Mississippi. When I read this story my first reaction was anger, anger at the arrogance of these people. This is really sad because it's coming from people you hope would be more enlightened and understanding then this... educators. Unfortunately we know this isn't true, look at the story that came out of another one of my favorite intolerant, bible-thumping, backward-ass states...Texas. This past week Texas decided to leave certain parts of history out of its curriculum, you know stuff that kids don't really need to learn about, little things like THOMAS JEFFERSON! I mean all that guy did was write the Declaration of Independence! Texas is doing this because it doesn't fit into their warped idea of what kids should be taught, things like dinosaurs living on the Earth 6,000 years ago. But, back to the story of the teenage girl who wanted to go to the prom. Can a school legally tell someone that they can't go to prom with a date of the same sex? I'm asking because if something like that happened here at Penn State I imagine that some kind of law suit for discrimination could be filed. And she couldn't wear a Tuxedo... are you kidding me? Who cares, I'm no lawyer but I'm pretty sure there's no law against putting on a nasty rented tux. I also feel bad for the girl since now a lot of people at the school will blame her for the cancellation of the prom when they should be thanking her since proms are a rip-off and are pretty lame. When it comes to schools like this and the nut jobs in Texas or Kansas or Utah, you know all of the crazy people states, all of the Federal tax money they receive should be taken away and given to school districts that promote an open environment for kids to learn in, lets see how holier than now these administrators are when they have to explain to the people in their communities why the money faucet was turned off. The schools reaction to this was just plain ignorant, and hateful. If things like this are aloud to go on... this reversal of progression, this willingness to stop thinking and asking questions, what will be the next crazy idea the school boards decide to administer... separate drinking fountains? Does that seem over the top? Not to me it doesn't, the south is still an extremely hateful racist place, their just doing a better job at disguising it these days. I grew up in PA but I lived in a couple different southern states and it was awful, now obviously not every southerner is a racist or religious lunatic but I think there are a lot more than people think. I feel bad for the kind and understanding people that have to live in the south with the arrogant and hateful people and that they end up getting counted among the ignorant people, but they aren't speaking up enough to stop things like a teenager being discriminated against just because a few people decided they knew what was right and wrong. Fri, 19 Mar 2010 19:45:47 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/prom-or-no-prom-just-dont-let-the-queer-students-dance-together__trashed/#IDComment63024192 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/why-is-this-racist-really__trashed/#IDComment59951293 I think this is racist when the guy in the story says things like getting back to fundamentals and going back to the old days, doesn't he mean basketball before black people could play professional basketball. This league is really going to suck, what does he mean get back to fundamentals, I guess nobody will be aloud to dunk and you have to pass the ball five times before your aloud to shoot the ball. I wonder if their going to wear really tight short-shorts too? I can't imagine anybody actually going to these games except the poor wives of these guys. This isn't really a new idea white people did the same thing with baseball, it's called slow pitch softball and guess what... it sucks too. Fri, 5 Mar 2010 22:50:25 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/why-is-this-racist-really__trashed/#IDComment59951293 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/are-whites-the-only-people-willing-to-humiliate-themselves__trashed/#IDComment59948820 I wasn't upset by this for any racial reason whatsoever. There are unfortunately plenty of these shows to go around for everybody to make themselves look like assholes, although there is something to be said that on the big networks like abc the contestants...wait the idiots are almost entirely white. I must have missed something with the reality tv show thing. I thought that you needed some kind of talent or skill to be on tv, like acting or singing, or playing baseball. These shows are awful, all of them, they serve no purpose other than making the people watching them more ridiculous then they already are. And all of you people out there who say that you only watch these shows for fun... stop lying you know you love it. Now Sarah Palin is talking about a reality show, need I say more! Fri, 5 Mar 2010 22:28:33 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/are-whites-the-only-people-willing-to-humiliate-themselves__trashed/#IDComment59948820 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/fired-for-a-scarf__trashed/#IDComment59945738 Jesus Christ, every week I sit down to write these blogs, and every week there's a new story that pisses me off. This story has a lot of things that suck, like religion, bigotry, and worst of all abercrombie & fitch. Just kidding, religion and bigotry are worse than abercrombie and fitch, but its close! Now I'm sure that not everyone who works for Hollister and abercrombie & fitch(hollister is owned by abercrombie & fitch...right? I'm not real familiar with these stores.) any way I'm sure that not everyone who works there is a racist or has to be part of the Arian race, but it's pretty obvious that these stores are going for a certain look. You know the look I'm talking about, "the I'm a white teenager who watches the Hills and Jersey Shore and my mom and dad pay my credit card bills look". Ok, that might have been a stretch but it's not that far from the truth. I'm sure whoever hired the girl didn't care if she was a muslim or that she was wearing the head scarf, but when I heard the part about the corporate suit who made the decision to fire her thats when the company showed what kind of business they want to run. I'm not a real big fan of religion, any religion. It's just never made any sense to me. it's just another way to segregate people, it puts people into another system of classes, this story is another example of that. Religion, to me is the worst kind of arrogance. And not just Christianity, but really all of them, when people tell me that if I don't obey the bible that I'm going to hell, that is the definition of arrogance! "Guess what...you don't know what happens when you die, you want to know how I know that? Because you don't have any special powers that I don't have." (Bill Maher) I really feel sorry for the girl, I'm sure working at abercrombie & fitch really sucks and then you get fired on top of it! The reason the girl was fired "in my opinion" was that the corporate suit probably assumed that if there was a muslim girl wearing a head scarf she would make the white costumers uncomfortable. That to me is really stupid, I don't think young costumers would care or even notice. And another thing, what is the deal with the smell coming from those stores? Its like a punch in the face, I don't know if it's perfume or cologne or what but man it stinks, and they want it to smell like that...why?! It could have been worse for the girl, she could have been hired at Hot Topics and not have been fired, that place is really lame. Fri, 5 Mar 2010 22:11:20 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/fired-for-a-scarf__trashed/#IDComment59945738 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/native-americans-question-one__trashed/#IDComment58885114 Why shouldn't we teach third and fourth graders the truth about what this country has done to Native Americans? Because it might put a downer on their Thanksgiving? Its not Santa Claus, it's real life. Maybe if kids grew up realizing the truth about what happened a couple of them might really try to help some people. Teaching kids anything else is just wrong. I said before that when I was a kid Native Americans were portrayed as hostiles impeding the progress of dedicated hard working settlers who were just trying to make a better life for themselves. And they were godless in the eyes of white people, so I guess that means they didn't deserve the land anyway! Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:52:53 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/native-americans-question-one__trashed/#IDComment58885114 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/native-americans-question-four__trashed/#IDComment58882498 I definitely agree that the first step to making things better is education. I don't understand why so many people don't like history. Every problem that a country or a certain group of people have ever had... somebody else throughout history has had the same problem and figured out a way to deal with it. It just drives me crazy that people know the names of those idiots on Jersey Shore but they can't tell you who won the French and Indian War. I can almost guarantee that there are a couple people in our SOC 119 class that don't know who won the Revolutionary War! Reducing Americas ignorance is a good first step. Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:28:32 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/native-americans-question-four__trashed/#IDComment58882498 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/1880__trashed/#IDComment58880321 Part Two: So the way I see it... these people deserve this money. Hopefully they really will put it to good uses like, building good schools, investing in social services, and the most important of all sending as many as their children to college as possible. Something about the article I found very upsetting was the fact that the casino profits increased something like 70%, that's exactly the wrong way for these people to spend their money. That is one of the drawbacks to being poor for so long, you finally get some money in your hand and you just go nuts. Maybe this article will shed some light on the reservations that weren't fortunate enough to be forced onto land where there happened to be a huge oil reserve. But at least the people of the Three Affiliated Tribes caught a break. Fri, 26 Feb 2010 22:10:32 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/1880__trashed/#IDComment58880321 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/1880__trashed/#IDComment58877249 Part One: To be completely honest the first thing I thought of when I read this article was "aren't Native Americans supposed to be all about respecting the land and all that kind of stuff". But then I thought "screw that shit" the government moved them from their homes and basically forgot about them. I like the gentleman in the article who said "if they knew there was oil here they never would have put us here", that goes without saying. It's also the perfect example of how much the government doesn't care about what happens to Native Americans. If the government would have known there was oil there they just would have shoved them somewhere more out of the way. I would also be willing to bet that there were conversations going on between the oil companies and government officials on ways they could get to the oil and not pay the Three Affiliated Tribes. These people absolutely deserve the money that their making from the oil. I think Sam made great points about what has happened to Native Americans throughout history, and it's sad that most people really don't know how bad it was. The history classes that I took in middle school and high school didn't really tell the story of genocide, they told the story of white Americans making the brave journey across the continent to settle in new lands or the story of Indian aggression against white innocent christian people who were just trying to improve the land. Fri, 26 Feb 2010 21:51:37 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/1880__trashed/#IDComment58877249