There are still questions that I have that I would like to know how he got there in jail in the first place. Yes, he was convicted of first degree murder, but what was the situation? Was it out of revenge or just a violent act that you had to do? I see that he is a changed man, but I would like to know what kind of a man he was before he got into jail. This is just part of his story on how he has all of these feelings now and how he is donating. I would definitely like to meet him and talk about his story.

She brings up an intriguing point in how if it affected us personally, we would help out or try to do something to relieve the pain. 300,000 people are a lot of people and this is something that needs to be taken in by everyone. If I had family over there, I would be more in touch with this tragedy than I am right now. I knew it was something big when I saw the devastation and the amount of people affected by this earthquake. After this lecture, this Haiti tragedy really hit me and made me think that no matter how distant something like this happens, anything that you can do to help out, you should do it.

This letter right here blew my mind. I never talked to a person who was in prison, and all I know from people in prison are how they are depicted in movies and on television. While I was reading this I was amazed to read how two men who hated each other can come together and have one of them give some sort of relief and comfort to the other. I greatly appreciated this letter, which was written brilliantly and I would have had no idea he did not graduate high school, because it gave me some insight on the truth of life behind bars. This guy told it like it is while addressing the fact that people who are on the outside have these assumptions on prisoners to be “beasts” and “uncaring violent predators.” Hearing that these men have compassion and are not full of hate towards everyone else was refreshing.
Before reading this letter and what I learned from the media, my perspective about criminals, especially those who murdered someone, were that they were mentally instable and very angry people and that there was something wrong not all there in their head and that they were naturally a violent person. However, from just reading this letter gave me a new perspective. This guy actually donates blood and donates money to people who are less fortunate. That alone right there just made me think differently about prisoners. That this man who committed first degree murder and has no option to get parole, is also a man who has compassion and has still the mindset of thinking everything in a positive way. If there was a story like this, I think I would laugh about it and how prisoners and murderers are trying to give back out of the goodness of their heart. However, from this guy’s letter, I can definitely tell by the tone of the letter that this guy is truly sorry for what he did and has thought about what he has done to the highest degree. I really want to learn more about this guy and actually get a chance to talk to him face to face. I think for me it would give me greater insight to his life in prison and his life before his murder. In this class we learn to look past that people are on the outside and the perception that the media portrays certain groups. This right here is no different. I came in believing that all, not most, but all of the prisoners in jail were bad people and should be in jail for the act that they committed. I still believe that people should be punished for acts that they do against the law, but he gave me a better perspective that these people in jail are still people and they still have feelings and act like anyone else who are not in jail.

I think this lecture blew my mind. I do not think that Sam is actually saying that Christians are invading everywhere so that they can rule the entire world one day, but I feel that Sam is trying to get us to think about the other point of view. We live in the United States and we hear and see the news from our perspective. What he was trying to do in this lecture was to open our minds and for me at least he definitely did. I never put myself as an Arab Muslim living in Iraq. The videos that he posted, I never saw them before in my life until that class. Putting yourself in another person’s shoes definitely gives you some perspective into that setting that they are living in. If I were an Arab Muslim and I saw the videos about George Bush and John McCain talking about how it’s their oil to take from me, I would think that Americans are crazy and should mind their own business. And from their local news, there was one video on how American military destroyed a car with wood on top of it just because they were “stealing” it. I would be like are you kidding me? That wood will provide those people with warmth and ability to cook with. Those people are poor and Americans should just have left them. And the one video where an American tank pushed a car to the side of the road, now that was just plain mean. So if I were an Arab Muslim I would have very negative feelings about the Americans. This is why some Arab Muslims hate us. I mean we do these kinds of things and that’s all you see. I mean if this happened in the United States, we would only see the negative stuff from the Arab Muslims unless we find something on youtube that is different. All the videos that were being played, it just seemed like all the Americans want to do in Iraq is get the oil. Oil? Really? I definitely would be pissed if someone came in my apartment and take my beer from my refrigerator. I know understand that. This lecture was definitely a good one to attend. At the end of the lecture, Sam basically put up a slide that said that Muslims and Christians are very similar and I believe that. In this world, we are all not so different as we perceive it to be. We may look different, talk different languages, have some different morals and values, but we are similar as well. However, there are the extremists out there who take it a little too far. But both the Americans and Arab Muslims have these kinds of people who take their views a little too far.

I think this lecture blew my mind. I do not think that Sam is actually saying that Christians are invading everywhere so that they can rule the entire world one day, but I feel that Sam is trying to get us to think about the other point of view. We live in the United States and we hear and see the news from our perspective. What he was trying to do in this lecture was to open our minds and for me at least he definitely did. I never put myself as an Arab Muslim living in Iraq. The videos that he posted, I never saw them before in my life until that class. Putting yourself in another person’s shoes definitely gives you some perspective into that setting that they are living in. If I were an Arab Muslim and I saw the videos about George Bush and John McCain talking about how its their oil to take from me, I would think that Americans are crazy and should mind their own business. And from their local news, there was one video on how American military destroyed a car with wood on top of it just because they were “stealing” it. I would be like are you kidding me? That wood will provide those people with warmth and ability to cook with. Those people are poor and Americans should just have left them. And the one video where an American tank pushed a car to the side of the road, now that was just plain mean. So if I were an Arab Muslim I would have very negative feelings about the Americans. This is why some Arab Muslims hate us. I mean we do these kinds of things and that’s all you see. I mean if this happened in the United States, we would only see the negative stuff from the Arab Muslims unless we find something on youtube that is different. All the videos that were being played, it just seemed like all the Americans want to do in Iraq is get the oil. Oil? Really? I definitely would be pissed if someone came in my apartment and take my beer from my refrigerator. I know understand that. This lecture was definitely a good one to attend. At the end of the lecture, Sam basically put up a slide that said that Muslims and Christians are very similar and I believe that. In this world, we are all not so different as we perceive it to be. We may look different, talk different languages, have some different morals and values, but we are similar as well. However, there are the extremists out there who take it a little too far. But both the Americans and Arab Muslims have these kinds of people who take their views a little too far.

This lecture opened up my eyes to how much oil is involved in this war, however not only oil but also religion escalated this war to a whole new level. You have extremists like Jihad that believe that their God wants America destroyed and then you have Christian extremists who are actually going over to Iraq to try to convert Muslims into Christians. I just feel that when it comes to religion, people need to back off. They need to realize that people believe in different things and that is fine with me, but the whole thing about converting people, which needs to stop. There is no reason to preach views and beliefs to someone who believes in something different. People put in their minds that their God said something to them to destroy someone else or to take someone else’s natural resource and I think that is bullshit. There is no way that the Muslim God said to destroy America nor is there any way that the Christian God said that it is your task to take their oil away from them. It is just extremists need to start thinking and be apart of this groupthink that they are apart of.

What I walked away contemplating is how much religion is behind all of this. I know Sarah Palin was talking about how it is the task of God or something along those lines that the United States should be there or how George Bush said that it was a crusade. I feel like all of the extremists on both sides need to calm down with the religious stuff. Now I am not bad mouthing religion, but I feel that people need to realize that other people have different views and beliefs and that they should not push their views and beliefs on others. I mean if they do not believe in YOUR God then let them be.

I think this lecture blew my mind. I do not think that Sam is actually saying that Christians are invading everywhere so that they can rule the entire world one day, but I feel that Sam is trying to get us to think about the other point of view. We live in the United States and we hear and see the news from our perspective. What he was trying to do in this lecture was to open our minds and for me at least he definitely did. I never put myself as an Arab Muslim living in Iraq. The videos that he posted, I never saw them before in my life until that class. Putting yourself in another person’s shoes definitely gives you some perspective into that setting that they are living in. If I were an Arab Muslim and I saw the videos about George Bush and John McCain talking about how it’s their oil to take from me, I would think that Americans are crazy and should mind their own business. And from their local news, there was one video on how American military destroyed a car with wood on top of it just because they were “stealing” it. I would be like are you kidding me? That wood will provide those people with warmth and ability to cook with. Those people are poor and Americans should just have left them. And the one video where an American tank pushed a car to the side of the road, now that was just plain mean. So if I were an Arab Muslim I would have very negative feelings about the Americans. This is why some Arab Muslims hate us. I mean we do these kinds of things and that’s all you see. I mean if this happened in the United States, we would only see the negative stuff from the Arab Muslims unless we find something on youtube that is different. All the videos that were being played, it just seemed like all the Americans want to do in Iraq is get the oil. Oil? Really? I definitely would be pissed if someone came in my apartment and take my beer from my refrigerator. I know understand that. This lecture was definitely a good one to attend. At the end of the lecture, Sam basically put up a slide that said that Muslims and Christians are very similar and I believe that. In this world, we are all not so different as we perceive it to be. We may look different, talk different languages, have some different morals and values, but we are similar as well. However, there are the extremists out there who take it a little too far. But both the Americans and Arab Muslims have these kinds of people who take their views a little too far.

The things that Sam has said in class, I felt like I already knew or were just plain common sense in my mind. However, a good example of Sam opening up my eyes to see things that are happening in the world today and not in “my” world was last class with the cocoa slavery. I mean we learned and read about how there was modern day slavery, but after seeing that video, it really opened up my eyes to see that this is ACTUALLY happening today. I feel like I am learning about race issues not only in the United States, but in other countries and cultures.

This game is absolutely ridiculous, but at the same time I am not that shocked about seeing this being sold in Japan. The Japanese, from my perspective, have been very controversial on the types of things they sell especially when it comes to technology. They are one of the first countries to have new technology and try to push the button on what is being sold to the public. This type of video game like most other video games depict real life events. Now some people may disagree about this, but think about it. Grand Theft Auto is a video game where you go on a bunch of missions killing people. Think about what you can do within the game as a whole. You can carjack a car, which people are known to do in real life, you can also kill people with various weapons or objects, which you and I may not be exposed to, but it does happen. Now in the most recent Grand Theft Auto game, you can swim, jump and go skydiving. Video games more and more today are depicting real life events and moments. So having this type of game where guys can go up to a woman and rape them in the game is not so much of a surprise to me, but people should be questioning this game that is being sold in stores in Japan. Like why are the Japanese allowing this game to be sold in their own store or is it something that they see as just for play and do not think about the action that the game is showing to gamers. Is their culture so different than ours that this game is allowed to be in stores and more and more of this “type” of game where they show rape and that is the object of the game is being sold? I cannot understand how or why this game is even allowed on the shelves. Personally, being an avid video game player and a male, I would never want to play one of these games even if I was drunk. This game to me is something that I would not find pleasurable. Yes I do play the violent games, but I would still not shoot people in real life. I feel like the Japanese need to start regulated what can and cannot be put into stores and what can and cannot be made. I think that the government needs to start researching the type of effects that these video games have on their citizens. Because if the research shows evidence that more and more woman are being raped, then there is a much bigger problem with Japanese society.