en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/764628 Comments by jdh5097 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/letter-from-an-inmate__trashed/#IDComment69834475 i thought this was a really cool post and im glad i read it. it was definitely cool to hear what an inmate that would never leave prison has to say about current events etc. it was very interesting to read about what this guy was talking about and it was surprising to see the softer side of a convicted murderer. i always was interested in seeing peoples mindsets knowing they were never going to leave jail, because that is something i could never relate to. it was pretty crazy to read that because i was all like whoaaa thats crazy because my roomate once told me he went to a prison and everybody was really mean and nasty and was yelling things at the girls like, girl id make you wish you never had a go at me and i was all like whoaaa thats crazy. but i guess at the end of the day they are still people. and it brings up a good question its like how much of their crime was tem being fucked up in the head. id guess that a lot of it is being fucked up in the head, because outside of extenuating circumstances, killing a person takes a lot of being fucked up int he head. like i can understand if its in self defense but seriously its still messed up to kill someone for money, or over a girl or a guy, or like if you walk in and people jump out of your closet like a god damn magic trick you know what im saying fo sho fo sho? so i think to read something like this from a guy thats in prison is definitely an interesting read and although the tv was on i stopped watching it and paid full attention to what i was reading and i was definitely shocked by how they viewed major events because, at this point, they really arent even real citizens so it would be very easy for them to completely disregard evertyhing that is going on in the outside world because it affects them very very little but you know i guess it just goes to show you that an old dog can learn new tricks and i was also pretty surprised to see the whole affection thing between the two people that hated each other in jail i think that ive got a negative view of jail is because of the way they show it in movies and all that shit. thats an interesting concept like how much of our perception of reality is what we read about or see in movies its pretty messed up its kind of like that thing we talke about in our race relations group where we talked about the "black" movies like all the tyler perry movies. Thu, 22 Apr 2010 23:11:58 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/letter-from-an-inmate__trashed/#IDComment69834475 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/christian-invaders-the-turnaround__trashed/#IDComment68283907 You really dont get the point of that lecture. he wasnt trying to go after christians, he was putting us in the shoes of the arab people whos land we are going into in order to get their oil. he wasn't attacking christianity, he was simply flipping the scripts and helping us realize why the arabs dont like us. and i dont think he was taking a side when he was giving todays lecture he was simply making a point and getting us to think about things. if you want to respond sensitively you can but realize hes not singling you out. not to mention that while he used the term christian invaders its not only christians that are going over into iraq and taking over their land, its just a convenient broad term. the reason he termed it the christian invasion was because a lot of our government are christians, so its easy to make the point that our christian government is invading the iraqi land. and what i am about to say is weird because it has two sides to it. i want to say that your point of view is simply a result of ethnocentrism when you say "christians are not trying to take over the world" because is impossible for you to know what christianity as a whole is or is not trying to do. so it is easy to say, oh your close minded and ignorant because youve always lived in america so you dont get "it". but at the same time, at what point is ethnocentrism just an excuse to make people seem ignorant and to make bigger things out of nothing or, in this case, make people seem uninformed when maybe they are informed. but at the same time, when you say shit like "im christian and i dont force my views on anyone else" thats just fucking dumb. like that is at all relevant to the worldwide situation, that one girl from penn state isnt forcing her opinions on other people. thats like saying, well im not racist, and i dont know anyone thats racist, so there must not be any racists in the world. and sam does practice what he preaches, he doesnt show any bias towards one religion in the other. but lets be honest, if he was talking about how muslims and arabs hate each other, how relevant is that to a penn state class? not at all relevant. i would have no fucking idea what he was talking about and frankly id probably tune him out because it is hardly relevant to me. thats why he talks a lot about christianity, because he knows that most people are christian/know people that are christian so they can relate MUCH better to that subject matter. and honestly stop having such thin skin. christ one dude talks about christianity from an unbiased perspective and maybe says some things that you can't see because your inside the religion and you act like he stood up there giving you all the middle finger. grow up, learn how to think outside of yourself and understand that not everybody loves christians. Thu, 15 Apr 2010 22:45:09 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/christian-invaders-the-turnaround__trashed/#IDComment68283907 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/i-really-want-to-know-also__trashed/#IDComment66512402 i would say that i was an open person and wasnt racist going into this class, and nothing sam has said has really changed me. during our smaller discussion groups the book we read about slavery was brought up and everyone was saying how we should try to do something if we could. and i think my viewpoint on that subject is pretty indicative of my overall feelings on a lot of the things in this class. theres not a whole lot we can do to change things that are going on thousands of miles away when we have things that we can fix here. our country is far from being perfect and i feel as though we should concentrate more on the shit going on in our own country before we try to fix other peoples shit. i mean yeah slavery is bad and it sucks for the people that are living in it, but its their own culture and just because it is wrong to us doesnt mean we should go in and change shit. also i have found myself thinking a lot during class, "we get it, there is still racism and everything but its not like there is a singular way to fix it. nobody can announce, 'hey stop being racist' and people will listen." and thats my problem with the class. i understand it is good to talk about it and i think it is impossible to go through this class (if you are bigoted) and not have some change of heart or reconsideration of your opinions. but like, there are always gunna be racist people in the country (let alone the world). race is just another reason for people to hate each other and fight. its just like religion was years ago. it is one of those things that people are always going to fight over even though it is a war of attrition. so you won the war and you can force your religion onto the conquered people. what does that do? that is only going to cause resentment and further cause a split between the native and conquering people. its fucking dumb. and what, by winning a war are you proving that your religion was better? that your god is better? but i digress. there will never be an answer for racist people. you can talk until you are blue in the face, but with 95% of bigots, no matter what you say, how valid your argument is, they aren't going to change their mind because that is an admission of being wrong, which they would never do. talking about religion, talking about race, its the same thing as talking about the afterlife: there is no way anyone can say with definitive evidence that something like that exists, so its dumb to talk about. let the racist people be racist if they want to, the rest of the world is going to look down on them for being ignorant. but just to touch on what that dude above me said, i think my head would explode. sam talks about some pretty deep shit that would be much more crazy to think about if i was high. that being said, i think sam comes to class high and you cant convince me otherwise. Thu, 8 Apr 2010 04:00:01 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/i-really-want-to-know-also__trashed/#IDComment66512402 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/is-quality-the-question__trashed/#IDComment65638178 This dude doesnt understand what affirmative action is about. Affirmative action isnt just going to give non-qualified doctors positions, and just because affirmative action exists doesn't mean its going to dilute the talent pool that businesses choose from. Affirmative action just gives people who are at a disadvantage a chance to succeed. And the people that benefit from affirmative action probably deserve the chance. Although im a white kid from the suburbs i completely understand why there is a need for affirmative action. it would only perpetuate the reign of the people on top. its completely natural that one group of people is on top and other people have to climb the mountain, but we must help out those that are on bottom in order for everyone to be successful. however i can understand where people are coming from if they dont like affirmative action if they have personally lost a job or spot in college to affirmative action. on the other hand, i feel like that has become like the white persons version of "playing the race card". instead of wanting to blame it on their own shortcomings, they blame it on something "out of their control". the most important aspect of affirmative action, i believe, is getting into college,med school, etc. Education in this country is absolutely essential to personal success (for the most part). without education it is very hard to get a well paying job, move up in a job, etc. if people that are at a disadvantage not given the necessary help, then they will never escape the current level that they are at. because they cant climb the ladder, their family is forced into that position. their kids are then stuck at that current level and, without working extremely hard or getting lucky, they are stuck at that level. this will go on and on until something breaks the cycle. affirmative action helps to break this cycle by getting a person an education. you always hear about a person being "the first person to go to school" in their family. that is a huge deal because of the trickle down effect that has not only on that person but on the persons family, future kids, kids' kids, and so on. once a person is given the tools to succeed, then it is up to them whether or not they actually succeed. and that is what i believe affirmative action is: making sure that everyone has, at the very least, the tools to succeed. it isnt about just handing people anything; it is about establishing a level playing field that gives everyone a similar chance to succeed. if they dont succeed, then they have nobody to blame but themselves. so long story short, no, affirmative action isnt going to fuck our medical support systems. it will only allow more people the opportunity to study medicine and, based on how well they do during med school, practice what they have learned. at the end of med school, everyone goes through the same training, and it is up to the hospitals, medical practices to decide who is qualified and who isnt. Fri, 2 Apr 2010 22:32:55 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/is-quality-the-question__trashed/#IDComment65638178 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-are-all-of-you-thinking-about-asians__trashed/#IDComment64267958 I honestly could not tell you the difference between asians and asian americans. i think theyre all pretty similar. at waht point does being asian american differentiate you from being asian? the only thing that could make them different is a lack of traditions that they used to have in asia until they came to america. now these traditions are probably pretty entrenched in their culture and their lifestyles but you know its whatever. i still dont think its that big of a deal to be asian or asian american. but like i also only apply the words asian american to one type of people. there are specific regions that i associate people with and thats how i classify things. that being said, this whole thing of classifying people is fucking dumb. this doesnt change who these people are, what they do, the jobs they get, etc. it is only a way to classify people for sociologists which is a pretty dumb. thats what i dont get and i really disagree with the whole classification of these things in general. sociology is a study of people and therefore they need to classify people in certain ways. that being said, why do we have to classify people? why cant people jsut be people, why cant they just be who they are, instead of being a "black" "west african" "homosexual"? thats what i really dont like about sociology. they put people in these categories. and theres something that our discussion group talks about all the time: the "gray area". life is full of gray area; in fact, one could argue it is entirely gray area. so theres no way to classify people in one definite group. like whats the point. theres always gunna be something that changes a persons classification in one way or another. so thats waht bothers me about this whole thing. but anyway so about asian people. ive had asian friends and asian acquantances so tahts pretty sick. were all bros. but i dont think they should be called brown. brown people are like african, not asian. for real. but lets talk about sam talking about his wifes period. that shit was fucked up. lets be honest he was like yeah i go for the jugular im an iconoclast blah blah but like come on dude, youre talking about checking out your wifes period in the toilet how did you think people would react. even if it wasnt 700 strangers that were 20 years old, which is a terrible audience for this kind of thing, say to a bunch of 50 year olds what you were saying to us and the reaction wouldve been the same. all that said, i can understand what your lesson was, like i get what he was trying to teach us. but that just wasnt the best way to go about it. you have to know your audience and realize that most of us arent going to react seriously to you talking about your wifes period. and by the way, this came up in our discussion group, i dont think people left because they were uncomfortable. if peopel felt uncomfortable they wouldnt draw more attention to themselves by standing up in a 700 person class and leaving. people were getting up and leaving because there was 2 minutes left in class and you were talking about your wifes menstrual cycle. Fri, 26 Mar 2010 23:28:31 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-are-all-of-you-thinking-about-asians__trashed/#IDComment64267958 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/prom-or-no-prom-just-dont-let-the-queer-students-dance-together__trashed/#IDComment62880029 This reminds me of my prom night in 2007. My prom was in the crystal tea room and hte theme was under the sea. There were all these people there that were dancing. I believe the song of the night was "Fuck the Pain Away." It was crazy LOL! Everyone was rofling like a mofo. The food was decadent, the appetizers were fantaboulous, the roasted weiners were pretty delicious but sometimes they touched, then things got weird. Like im talking music theater weird. I remember very little, i was incredibly drunk and high. I remember slow dancing with my 9th grade english teacher, she was so FUCKING HOT.Like I got so happy when I found out that she was my teacher and i was like, schwing! All of my friends were like dude you rock. So first assignment of the year was, What was your best summer memory? So i talked about that time that I was totes swillin with ma bros and hoes at the bizeach just straight slayin. But that was so long ago I was so immature. Nothing compared to how mature I am now. I sip expensive whiskey and smoke Cubans. I read GQ and my stock portfolio is so ballin right now. I don't usually drink, but when I do, I drink Dos Equis. Ya dig? Aight so were at prom just straight grinding on every piece of pussy that walks through the door and all of a sudden the principal comes out of nowhere and is like, EVERYONE OUT! THERES A BEAR IN THE GYM! So me and my bros are like, HOLY SHIT BRO A BEAR! Little background information: number 15 on all my bros bucket lists is boozin with a bear. We would settle for a Chicago Bear, like the football team, from the NFL, like Brian Urlacher, the linebacker, ya know? So we find the bear, and he's wearing a tuxedo! A BEAR IN A TUXEDO! Me and my bros nearly shit ourselves, because not only was drinking with a bear on our bucket list, but another thing on our bucket list was drinking with a bear in a tuxedo! We were like oh my god, this is our lucky day. So we ran down to AC and threw our lifes savings on Small. It hit, the place went crazy and we were all like, oh heck yeah! We all jumped up and high fived together and then we drove back to our prom. So we're at our prom and we've got a bear in a tux that were like straight clubbin with, this fly ass english teacher that totally wants the d, and our principal is all like Hey dudes, lets party! So we went home, ate like a pound of pasta, and passed out with my pants off. Fri, 19 Mar 2010 03:02:04 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/prom-or-no-prom-just-dont-let-the-queer-students-dance-together__trashed/#IDComment62880029 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/this-is-getting-to-be-too-much__trashed/#IDComment60816847 I don't agree with what these people are protesting. Obviously these acts are uncalled for, out of line and completely wrong. However, to hold the university responsible for the acts of three or four students out of the thousand that attend these colleges is illogical and ridiculous. I went to a high school that had one incident where people drew a swastika on the inside of a bathroom stall. This led to a number of assemblies, lectures, and town-hall discussions to get to the root of the "problem." Now, don't get me wrong: its not ok that people are going around drawing swastikas in public places. That being said, I felt as though our administration overreacted to the incident. There was no indication that this was a continuous problem, or that this kind of thing would happen again. It was an isolated incident of some dumb teenager trying to cause problems. Now, just because this one idiot drew something in a bathroom stall, the administration reacted as though they had a school full of racists roaming the halls, which was completely false. So, while there are two ways to go about it (overreact or not do anything), I think that not overreacting is more important than making not such a big deal out of it. We are young people. Most young people do the things they do to get reactions out of people. I believe it is of little coincidence that these incidents have been popping up more and more frequently after the initial incident got so much publicity. Another thing I'm not sure I believe is that the noose came about after a few students were just messing around with some spare rope. The noose was formed and then put in a public place. There was clearly an attempt at shock value, which they succeeded. However, I don't believe it should matter if the student was a minority or black or anything. A noose is a noose, and it symbolizes something very disturbing and powerful, especially in America. I think that after the first one or two incidents, it now becomes en vogue to make outlandishly racist statements and there are copy cats that are going to pop up. These people are not necessarily racist, but they feel they can shock people and maybe become famous(more like infamous). I don't think that we, as outsiders, can necessarily label the people that came after the original incidents racist. You can't convince me that UC-San Diego is the most racist campus in America. Because, if you were to go just by the incidents that are happening here, you would think that is the case. It would be interesting to do a test at another school in the country and see if there is a domino effect from racist incidents. For example, go to any school that isn't overtly racist or liberal, and see what happens after two racist things happen like what have happened at UC-San Diego. I would be willing to bet that copy cats would arise just like they have at UC-SD. Tue, 9 Mar 2010 21:02:11 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/this-is-getting-to-be-too-much__trashed/#IDComment60816847 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/1880__trashed/#IDComment58897014 Well I think the biggest problem with the socioeconomic conditions is the fact that Wayne Gretzky abandoned his young. The bottom line is that they are probably at risk because of their lack of resources. There may be tribes that are successful but overall there is a reason many tribes are not successful. I think the biggest problem is that many Native Americans don't live up to the standards set by other people for them. I think the biggest problem is that the gambling that the government allows to go on on their reservations is a big problem. The bottom line is that many people need to do a lot of stuff in order to fix this problem but a lot of people aren't doing that right now. Which brings me to my next point. It can't just be one or two people to make a difference. There needs to be a concentrated effort to make a change in the world. That being said, I think it's important that people realize that Native Americans are at a disadvantage because they grow up in these conditions. It i s like a self fulfilling prophecy. If these people grow up in these kind of conditions then they are more likely to repeat the actions and beliefs that they grew up around. For example, if somebody believes that the color blue is the best color in the world, than it is very likely that they will communicate this belief to their kids. The kids, as a result of the parents influence, grow up believing that the color blue is great. So they buy things like glacier freeze gatorade, natty light, the blue man group, the sky, water (is blue), blueberries, blueberry muffins, my couch, blue contacts, blue crush *the movie*, our couch, Chris's testicles, blue wave, the horse on Polo shirts, blue jeans, blue cheese, the old denver broncos logo, chris hansens eyes, kurt schramms eyes, mardi gras beads, and bud light cans (not to mention old PNC cards and wachovia cards, and the Navi.) JakeDaSnake is clearly out of his mind, he ha sno idea what he's talking about. I highly disagree with his belief that high profit casinos are distributing the wealth. Because in the end, you have to be too legit. You have to be too legit to quit. So now that I have 61 words left I want to talk about another topic. This topic...is the American hockey game from today. It really proved to be quite the enjoyable experience but at the same time it left me feeling as though manifest destiny may not be completely done as many historians have thought that it has been because there are many different places throughout the Americas that have yet to be conquered by many different people but the problem with that is that there are many different variables that play into that equation so it is almost impossible to say when this conquest will be done, especially considering everything that is going on in the world today. Sat, 27 Feb 2010 05:48:19 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/1880__trashed/#IDComment58897014 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/why-is-the-conversation-always-about-black-and-white-people__trashed/#IDComment57579225 I would wholeheartedly agree with the fact that the conversation always comes back to black and white because that was the major struggle that occurred here in the United States 50 years ago. Had there been a struggle between whites and Asians then I believe the conversation would come back to those two races. For example, I bet any discussion on race in northeastern Africa isn't about white and black people, because that does not have as much cultural relevance to the people that live there. It is all relative to the environment that you are looking at. The discussion will always come back to the groups of people that have had the most recent history together. It is only natural for us Americans to talk about the white and black racial issues because those, in my opinion, are the most pressing. Those scars are still fresh; it has only been 50 years since we've started to move forward wholeheartedly with our racial tolerance. There is the most conflict between white and black people so it makes sense that the conversation always comes back to those two races when someone discusses race in America. The American racial conflict was between white people and black people, so it is only proper that that is "the" racial discussion. That being said, it is somewhat disappointing that there is still something to talk about 50 years after the Civil Rights Movement. One would hope that two generations would be enough to get over the problems, and for the most part I believe we are. Electing Obama was definitely a huuuge step in getting to where we need to be in race relations. But we aren't completely there, and unfortunately it takes more than 50 years to overturn, in some places, deep-seeded hatred and racism that won't go away for a long time. It would be very interesting to see when racism completely goes away. Being racist is so not politically correct that it wouldn't be hard to see the pressure turned up on the remaining racists. However, regardless of everything I've just said, there will always be racism. The KKK will always exist, and there will probably always be a KKK equivalent that hates white people. Conflict is natural and, unfortunately, it won't stop anytime soon. I guess the goal for race relations in America is to eliminate it as much as humanly possible, and to bring the upcoming generations up with the understanding that racism is completely out of line, not cool, and not the way to live your life. That, going forward, will definitely be one of the more important jobs for parents. To instill in their children a sense of racial equality, acceptance, and understanding. And also I hope they teach their kids that there will be haters out there that will harbor negative views of other races, and that those views are not acceptable in today's world. Fri, 19 Feb 2010 05:06:03 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/why-is-the-conversation-always-about-black-and-white-people__trashed/#IDComment57579225 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/swinging-past-the-other-end-of-the-ideological-spectrum-on-the-way-to-the-intellectual-gray__trashed/#IDComment56421161 I think that the comparing both the high schools was an unfortunate reality of the world these days. It is inherent in any civilization that there are going to be have and have nots, and that is just the reality of the situation of the world. I grew up in a nice high school without really thinking about it. I, like you, didn't really appreciate it because it is all I ever knew. Regardless of the technology we had, I think that the more important aspect of the school was the academic environment and competition. It is very easy to underachieve when you aren't facing stiff competition and facing competition that will force them to be on top of you're game at all times. I liken this to when a sports team faces competition that is less talented and less successful than themselves. I saw this firsthand when my favorite team, the Philadelphia Eagles, lost to the hapless Oakland Raiders. The Raiders were not a good team, and the Eagles ended up being a playoff team. However, the Eagles took the Raiders for granted and were not properly prepared for the game. Without being properly prepared for the game they were in a terrible position to succeed. This is not unlike going to a school without a tough academic environment. If there is no competition for those high grades, no competition to go to the best schools, no reason to go the extra mile, then kids won't do that. I feel like this is what happens in inner-city schools. There is a lack of academic competition, and even the people that succeed are succeeding compared to lower academic standards. This is evident by the student from Harper that wanted to major in math because she was ahead of the curve for her school. However, when going to the other school, she was behind almost everyone. I would be very interested in seeing how she would have fared if she had always gone to the higher-end school. I would be willing to bet that she would have been right on par with the rest of the students. This lends itself well to my theory that it is more the environment a person is in rather than their own decisions. This girl clearly had the drive if she was aspiring to do big things with her trigonometry class, but because she wasn't in a challenging environment she had a false sense of security because she was ahead of the rest of her class, even though she was behind a lot of her peers. This blame can't be put on her teachers. They are simply teaching to the middle of the pack in their classrooms. If they taught something that would be easy for the more intellectually gifted students to get and the lower half of the class wouldn't understand, they wouldn't be doing their job. It is more a problem of the surrounding academic environment and the circumstances that these students are in that has the most to do with the education success or lack thereof. Fri, 12 Feb 2010 00:47:52 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/swinging-past-the-other-end-of-the-ideological-spectrum-on-the-way-to-the-intellectual-gray__trashed/#IDComment56421161 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/avatar-and-the-white-mans-burden__trashed/#IDComment55555388 This guy is clearly reading way too much into this movie. The movie is more about the generic theme of a foreign culture moving in on another's land in order to take what they want. The closest analogy would be the "blood diamond" problem that is occurring in Africa. Many different kinds of people are murdering and conquering because they want to control the lucrative diamond business. It actually pisses me off that some guy would look this far into this movie and think that James Cameron is suggesting that "white people" can do it better than the natives. I only saw this movie, but not once did I think, "Holy shit! James Cameron is suggesting he's better at what these natives are doing because he's white!" That's dumb as hell. The movie is a fictional; if the movie was realistic, then of course the marine's character wouldn't be able to master the skills that these people have been practicing and teaching their kid's for apparently decades. It really pisses me off when people read too much into movies like this. It is a very simple plot line (overly simple depending on your point of view) that tries to get the audience to sympathize and commiserate with the Navi. And I'm going to stop right here. And mention how dumb the name "unobtanium" is. Seriously James Cameron? Moving on. The movie is vastly overrated. The message is ok: don't allow foreign people to take over your land because their reasons are impure. I get it. But I don't understand why James Cameron would make the foreigners human and the natives alien. Would it have been that hard to switch it around? I have a hard time cheering when humans are getting killed by the Navi. They are still human. Here's what I would have done. Make a movie where the aliens come to Earth because we have something of value (something abundant that we aren't aware of how valuable it would be, like sand or something.) So they come to Earth, and they start to kill humans because they want our sand. This is fucking dumb, but you get the point. It wouldn't have been that hard to switch the script. I think the bottom line is that people are over-sensitive to these kinds of issues. Just watch the movie and take it for what it is: an entertaining film that is meant to wow us with its visual prowess and out-of-this-world (LOL) plot line. People these days are oversensitive to everything and it's really annoying. Unless James Cameron came out and said, "Well yes, I was suggesting that whites are inherently better at everything than other people", then everyone should stop looking into his films like this. He wrote Titanic and Terminator. He is clearly not a guy that gets into deeper themes, so nobody should look at his movies and dig deeper into them. That's like someone looking at a crossword puzzle and thinking that secret government agents are trying to contact them. A crossword is there for one thing: entertainment. And anyone that is looking into it for something deeper is just dumb. Sat, 6 Feb 2010 01:35:26 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/avatar-and-the-white-mans-burden__trashed/#IDComment55555388 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/i-guess-it-pays-to-learn-a-bit-about-other-people__trashed/#IDComment54383839 I can relate to this story with a personal experience. Back in 2002, only a couple months after 9/11, my entire extended family was going on a trip overseas together. This obviously necessitated a long plane ride that involved flying for many hours over the ocean (a terrifying experience for a person that isn't completely comfortable with flying). While waiting in the terminal before takeoff, a few of my family members wanted to take pictures to chronicle the beginning of a trip that no one would forget. However, the employees of the airport forbid the taking of pictures within the airport. This alone led to a sense of uneasiness within the group. The very heavy presence of armed military officials with big guns didn't help the cause either. The icing on the cake was the group of people praying very animatedly right next to the window. To this day I do not know what religion they were, but it seemed foreign to me and that was that. Here I was, a relatively ignorant 13 year old, months after the terrorist attacks, and a foreign group of obviously religious (and, at the time, dangerous) are going nuts praying right next to the plane. At the time, Muslim was a feared religion and linked with the terrorist attacks. Looking back, it is completely ridiculous that I was afraid of these people that were simply praying towards the rising sun (I believe this is an Islam religious practice). But it is quite representative of the things that Americans go through when they are dealt with a situation that they are unfamiliar with. They react with fear and trepidation to anyone that isn't Christian, may be from the Middle East, or is doing something that is out of the ordinary. Recently I watched a video of an old white woman on a plane talking to herself and generally acting like a lunatic. Her actions were greeted with sideways glances and bemused looks, mostly because of how ridiculous she was acting. However, it would be interesting to see how people on the plane would have reacted if it had been a young Arabic man. It is the sad truth that they certainly would not have taken videos and laughed. I would be willing to bet that many would have asked the flight attendant to handle the situation, and perhaps it would have ended similarly to Flight 3079. My father makes an interesting point when we go to airports and are reminded of the current situation. He makes the claim that people that look Arab should be profiled and checked more cautiously than white people, and I agree with him. It isn't out of malice or stereotyping, it is just the truth. If you had to choose between two people and label one person to be anti-American and willing to do something destructive because of these feelings, you would be hard pressed to find a person that would say, "I think the white person hates America." Hate might be a strong word, but it is widely understood that America is on shaky ground abroad. Therefore, while some may call it racial stereotyping, I believe it is just being realistic about the situation. By checking someone more carefully, it isn't giving them a middle finger and accusing them of being a terrorist. It is simply a reality of the times and, I believe, a necessary step in national security. Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:36:50 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/i-guess-it-pays-to-learn-a-bit-about-other-people__trashed/#IDComment54383839 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/racism-looks-pretty-good-on-this-side-of-the-atlantic__trashed/#IDComment53733240 The first thing that struck me about this video is the two-faced attitude that European soccer fans have towards their teams and it's members. On one hand, they value winning more than anything and the players on the team are the reason for the success of any soccer team. However, on the other hand, they belittle and abuse their players both verbally and through the use of signs, banners, etc. In the face of the goalie that was first discussed, the goalie is arguably one of the most important positions in soccer, yet he gets bananas thrown at him. It was awesome what Marc Zoro did in response to the racism that he was subjected to. You can only handle that kind of abuse for so long, and it was great to see him and other non-white players stand up for themselves like that. Taking the ball may seem childish when taken out of context, but is a very powerful statement to the fans. You are essentially saying, "I will not give you entertainment if you do not respect me as the human that I am." It was literally unbelievable to see and hear some of the things that the fans were saying. It is legitimately ludicrous that people would do these things to other human beings. It also made me realize how far we have come as a country in regards to racial equality. There have been, are, and always will harbor ill-will towards non-whites. However, the fact that it is not PC for people to openly voice their racist opinions is an indication of the type of environment we live in in America. The racism is tolerated at soccer games in Europe because it is overlooked and accepted. Here in America it is obviously not accepted. However, it would be very interesting to see what people would say at American sporting events if racism was accepted the way it is in Europe. I wonder if there would be the same reaction to racist comments that there are now. This theory is also relevant to the agencies that oversee the clubs and their fans. Since nobody does anything proactive to stop the prejudice, it continues and it makes it harder for things to change. It was definitely a good idea by FIFA to step in and implement serious penalties for the racism problem. The only way to curb this racism (barring a complete social revolution) is to make penalties for the transgressions serious and widely felt, for both the club and it's fans. The fans will not want to lose any points in the World Cup, going back to the idea that winning is the biggest goal for any fan. Clubs will attempt to curb the racism because it will hurt their wallets, with fines coming in at a very hefty price. Players would be wise to follow the new guidelines as well, since any infraction will not only hurt their wallets but also put them in hot water with their clubs (the people writing the checks). Mon, 25 Jan 2010 00:25:02 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/racism-looks-pretty-good-on-this-side-of-the-atlantic__trashed/#IDComment53733240 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/haitis-calamity__trashed/#IDComment53125443 I completely agree with almost everything in this post. I was raised in a household that thought church was a means of instilling morals in a person, rather than a means of instilling Christian beliefs. I don't believe in a higher power, don't beliece in evolution, and have had many arguments with Christian friends that are close to the point of being brainwashed into believing the things they are taught about Jesus, the Bible, and God. I also believe that it is absolutely ridiculous to point to "God's plan" for disasters that result in mass deaths. In particular, 9/11 was one tragedy that you cannot possibly rationalize by claiming it was "part of God's plan." How does God's plan involve killing thousands of innocent New Yorkers, not to mention the countless visitors and tourists that visit New York every day? How does God's plan involve kids growing up without parents, families losing sons, daughters, husbands, wives, aunts and uncles? If I am a Haitian right now, after my life as I had known it (which, relative to the rest of the world, was not exceedingly prosperous) had been torn apart, who am I to look to to unleash my bewilderment, rage and sense of loss? According to many people throughout the world, it was God who caused this terrible calamity. It shocks me that a person would continue to worship and praise someone who, in their own words, purposely cause calamity. I'm sure that there are people out there that will read this, get angry, and reply with a fiery "God will smite you!" response. However, it is the nature of religion that there is never going to be a compromise. There hasn't been since the creation of different religions, and there never will be. The only thing a person can do is believe what he/she wants to believe and let the rest of the world do what they want to do. Also, to touch on the point of the earthquake, as Americans, we are in a unique position that we are able to contribute help and resources to those in need because we have been lucky enough to grow up in this country. I believe that sometimes America gets involved in things that they don't need to. This, however, is not one of those instances. This is one of those times that if America wants to claim that they are the greatest country in the world, it is time to put up or shut up. We aren't (or at least shouldn't) get the title of greatest country in the world just because we are democratic, or because we have the best military in the world. Being the greatest country in the world means that when a country that is too poor to help provide basic needs for it's citizens (not by choice, like Saddam Hussein's Iraq, but instead out of lack of resources) we take up the charitable lead and get those people the things that we take for granted. That is truly the definition of greatness: leading by example, doing the right thing, and helping those less fortunate than ourselves. And that is what will make America great. Thu, 21 Jan 2010 05:39:26 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/haitis-calamity__trashed/#IDComment53125443