My opinion of illegal immigration before this class was that there were immigrants wanted to come to America for a better life and because there were so many of them that it was nearly impossible for us to control. The situation with illegal immigration is similar to when slaves were trying to escape to the free land in the north. As hard as the slave catchers tried to prevent their slaves from escaping them and catching them when they did escape, they could not catch everyone.
Before this class I thought that America was doing the best it could to stop illegal immigration but now my opinion is different. I think that the so-called “hard working” people in this country are the reason that illegal immigration is so high. Because the “hard working” people are too lazy to do the laborious work that immigrants are willing to do they practically drag the illegal immigrants into America. Americans think that they are too above work like landscaping, cutting lawns and cleaning houses. This is why they pay illegal immigrants good money to do their dirty work. In Americans would do their own labor then the need for illegal immigrants would not be so great.
There is a supply chain that begins to occur when Americans higher people to do their labor for good money. Most people are too proud to do some of the work that illegal immigrants do so the demand for the labor increase as supply decreases. This is a problem and this adds a second step on the supply chain, a need for cheap labor. This labor supply comes from people who are desperate for work and who need the money that Americans are willing to pay. It only takes a small amount of illegal immigrants to find out this information before it spreads and everyone is desperate to get to America.
The only people we can blame are ourselves. It is our fault that illegal immigrants want to come to America so badly and it is our fault that we cannot stop them. We cant put up a fence to keep them our or tighten security at our borders, we have to decrease the demand for illegal immigrants before the supply of illegal immigrants will decrease. The first step is business and average Americans who are creating the demand for illegal immigrants.
I have never thought about this point of view before this class. I have always thought that it was something that was out of our control but after this class I realize that it is completely in our control to stop this problem, or at least begin to manage the problem more easily. If people really have that big of a problem with illegal immigrants then it is easy for them to take steps to put an end to it.

I really liked the telephone game and I think that it would have been even more affective if it weren’t done at the end of the class when everyone was getting antsy and ready to leave. I think that the point of the telephone game was not only to show the class that you have to take what people say with a grain of salt but also who the story is coming from. Information is easily left out, added, and misinterpreted when shared from one person to another even though it might not be on purpose. This is a problem in itself but when you add race into the mix it becomes even more complicated. When people of different races hear and share information they can easily misunderstand what the original meaning of the information was. This is not their fault in any way but it is a part of human nature to interpret information differently then others. I think that this story was a great example of this because by the end of the 6 people there was a completely butchered meaning and tons of information was left out.
I also thought it was interesting how the sentence with the word nigger in it was left out of the story the second time it was told. I personally would have done the same thing and said they used a derogatory word because I know I would have felt uncomfortable but I just thought that this was a notable observation. I would be curious to see in different settings and with people of different races how they would respond to relaying that part of the story. I think that if it were in a smaller group setting people would be much more comfortable saying that word for the sake of the exercise but in a huge group setting her reaction was understandable.
I think that the information traveled the way it did because the more a message is retold the more messed up it gets. I also think that the setting had something to do with it because at the end the students were rushed and making it more of a joke then it should be. This does show how information becomes misconstrued though because you never know whom, how, when, and in what context information is coming from. This is very important because you should never believe everything that you hear, you should try to get as close to the source as you can to eliminate misunderstanding and make sure you are getting the full and correct information. This is so important because as we could see that the story was only told to 6 people and everything about the story had changed. Imagine how mixed up information can get when it is traveling from hundreds of different people over an extended period of time.

Even after this class I still blame terrorism and terrorist for what’s going on. I have a greater understanding of how Muslims in the Middle East feel but I still feel like this all would have been avoided if we were not attacked on September 11. I think this lecture did a great job at opening my eyes as to how a country that is being invaded feels because that is important to understand the other side of an argument.
No matter who says that the war is about oil the reason we were even able to go to war for oil was because we were the victims of terroristic attacks. What started contact with Iraq is the fact that they hijacked our planes and flew them into both of the Twin Towers. Had they been more successful even more people would have died in the other planes that were hijacked. The war may have started because of the terrorist attacks and turned into a war over oil but the bottom line is that we entered the war as a result of terrorism.
In my understanding of how Muslims in Iraq feel about Americans invading their country I realized how badly I feel about this because I would hate to have my country being invaded. However I do not think their reasoning for hating Americans is justified. There clearly was an unbelievable amount of hatred towards the United States well before we invaded Iraq and this is seen in the acts that occurred on September 11. Not only was the event before we invaded their country but there obviously there were years and years of planning these acts so the hatred started well before we declared war. I understand that only a few Muslims were involved in these acts and a whole country is being punished for it but we were also punished. I think if Muslims are going to say that the hate Americans they should realize that they hate us because we are responding to acts of terrorism that were orchestrated by people of their religion, instead of hating Americans they should hate extremists.
After the lecture I really did understand why Iraqis hate Americans for what is going on in their country but in the same respect they have to understand why hate them too. They can say that we are killing innocent people and that may be true but they have to remember that thousands of innocent Americans were also killed. While I may not be aware of what Muslims are seeing over in Iraq but that video that was shown at the beginning of class clearly displays the hatred towards Americans and reasons for US citizens to be afraid.

I personally love dressing up. I dress in very casual clothes during the week and by the time I get to the weekend I can’t wait to dress up and look nice. This may be the way that society has shaped me into thinking that I want to dress up when I may really not but regardless of the reason I want to dress up, I love to.
This presentation really made me aware of not fair it is when comparing the clothes that guys wear out to the clothes that girls wear out. Girls may say that they like to dress up and regardless of whether that’s actually true or not girls spend hours getting ready. They have to do their hair and their make up before even getting ready and then they have to pick out what outfit they want to wear to make themselves look good that night all before they can think about leaving their room. Men on the other hand can stay in the same clothes he wore that day or at a minimum change his shirt to a nicer one. Some men take it upon themselves to look nice when going out at night but many college-aged students could care less and will wear what ever they want. This is fine because theoretically both sexes are wearing what they “want” to, but in reality this is completely unfair to women. There is such a high expectation for them to dress in little dresses and skirts and wear high heels but how is that fair when men wear their sneakers and jeans? It is not but that is the world we are living in.
I personally love to wear high heels. I think they are so much fun and I wear them practically every night I go out. Ever since I was little I always loved shoes and I have a huge collection in my closet and every time I go to a store I have to go to the shoe section and see what is new. I have never thought about the reason that I love shoes so much on a deeper level then just that they are beautiful. When I think about how I may only like these because society has put it in my head it kind of makes me uncomfortable because we could like and dislike everything just because society made us think that way. Instead of going to deep with that I think I would rather just accept the fact that I like them and not wonder why. This may be really bad but I think that if I like them and they make me happy then why not just go with it. It may not be fair that women have to dress in a more formal way compared to men but that’s just the way out culture is right now.

I would most definitely call someone out if the made a racial comment or slur no matter what race they were. I don’t think that just because someone is the same race as me excuses him or her from making wrong and hurtful statements.
I believe that not only with situations like this but with many different circumstances when a person ignores someone doing something wrong it is worse than the person who committed the hurtful act. When someone bullies another child and his friends just watch, his friends are just as guilty as the bully. If you know some is making rude and racial slurs at someone regardless of what race they are you should always say something to let them know that it is not okay to do that. I think that it is okay to excuse someone from hurtful behavior just because they are the same race as you. The most important thing a person can do in a situation like this is to hold the person accountable.
The best way to ensure that things are done the right thing and following the rules is to hold them accountable. In my sorority this is a very important idea because we are a bunch of girls who are in charge of ourselves but still need to follow ritual and the rules of our organization. We have a president and an executive board to help her but we are all still college students so in reality no one person has more power over the other. When someone is not following the rules or not attending chapter meetings it is the responsibility of the other sisters to make sure that person knows she is not doing the right thing and to help her to correct her mistakes. This can be connected to making someone know that they are wrong for making racial comments or slurs. People need to hold each other accountable in racial situations as well because when we allow others to think that making racial slurs is okay it doesn’t fix the problem it only makes it worse.
I think the point of this question is to see if there is a difference between someone of the same race making a comment and someone of a different race making a comment. I think that if anything calling someone out who is the same race as you would be easier than someone of a different race. There are sometimes fears of being considered racist by someone of a different race so if a white person is making a comment and you are white wouldn’t it be easier to tell them its not okay? Personally I think that telling someone who is also white would be much easier to call out then a person who is a different race.

I think it is extremely difficult to relearn racial ideas. I think that the society we live in creates situations for us that we have to have extremely strong will to go against. This is not only true with racial ideas but all things that society drills into us.
I believe that there are different stages to relearning racial ideas and the first and hardest is actually realizing that there is something you have to relearn. This is the hardest part because you’ve grown up with the beliefs you have about race and have known no different. This is also when people probably have denial about what they are growing through because you are realizing something you’ve always known is wrong. The next stage is starting to do something about changing your beliefs. This can also be something that is difficult because it can be hard to know what to do about changing your ideas. Once you have your new beliefs you have to start implementing them into your daily life. This can also be a difficult stage because you have to train yourself to forget your old beliefs and remember your new ones.
Although this is an extremely difficult process I believe it can be done. It may be impossible to fully relearn racial ideas but I believe that it is possible to implement your new ideas into your life enough to relearn them.
Even though you can relearn your new ideas you may not be able to forget your old ideas. The way we have created our society, there are constant reminders of what is “normal” and “how things should be”. This is why girls in particular have such a hard time dealing with their appearance. There are girls that feel they have to be super skinny and wear a size small because of the images that they see in magazines of models. When girls are not small and have weight issues they can feel like they don’t belong and develop self-esteem problems. Even though this is no way a girl should be feeling like this it is hard to relearn that being bigger then a size small is acceptable.
There are many things that society has taught us to accept even though they are not right but going against these ideas takes a very special person. You have to be determined and strong willed to be able to stand up for what you believe in and say no to society and form your own ideas about how the world should be. It is a very challenging task but I believe it can be done and it is possible and the people that do this will be the people that change our world for the better.

I believe that affirmative action can be taken too far. There is a very thin line between affirmative action and reversed racism. In this class we mainly focus on the racism that white people have again other races but we are ignoring a huge part of racism. There is a lot of discrimination on white people that we have yet to touch on in this class. A major part of this has to do with affirmative action and the other part has to do with out right hatred for white people.
Affirmative action can be taken too far and as a result it ends up hurting a specific race more then it helps the race that it is trying to protect. For example if there are two people applying for a job, a black man and a white man, and the white man happens to be more qualified but the black man is hired because of affirmative action, that’s even worse then hiring a white man over a black man who are both equally qualified. I do not agree with this at all because when you think that you are helping one race you are hurting another just as bad. It is nice to say that race should just not be a factor in things like job hiring but in reality it is and even when we try to make it better we’re really not.
Another part of racism against white people is that there is a lot of hatred towards us. I think that a lot of attention is place on discrimination by white people but not enough is placed on the discrimination against white people. For example there is a lot of focus on the discrimination that is held against Muslims. But it also goes the other way where they have racism against white people and Americans. It is obvious with attacks on our nation like September 11 that there are people out there that hate us so much that they are willing to give up their life to murder thousands of Americans. In lab we have said that the difference between racism and discrimination is hateful acts so this proves that there are plenty of people who are racists against white people.
Because there is such an issue with racism against white people I believe that affirmative action can be taken too far. If there wasn’t racism against white people then I think that affirmative action would be the perfect solution to racism in settings like the work place. But because this isn’t a perfect world and there is racism against all races I don’t believe that affirmative action is the answer because it does go too far and this ends up just placing the hurt on someone else which is not the answer.

Based on the discussion in class I believe that he does have an advantage in society because of his lighter skin. I think that the lighter someone’s skin is the more closely they can identify with white people and in our current society this is an advantage.
I don’t believe that this is fair in any way or that white people should have an advantage just because they were born with light skin but the fact of the matter is that in a lot of cases that is just the way it is. One of the biggest questions that I have after our discussion is what can we do about this unfair advantage? There are plenty of statistics and peoples personal experiences that prove that white people have an advantage in society for various amounts of reasons but how can we take steps to change this? There has to be something more then just saying that we will take action against this in our daily lives. Like Sam said in class someone can say they’re not racist and they have plenty of friends who are of a different race but in the end their actions don’t always reflect their words.
I think a good example of how we could begin to fix this problem is having a set quota like many colleges and universities do. If companies and organizations had a quota they had to meet then the amount that they discriminated would be limited. If companies and organizations started having more diversity then people of different races would be better off and they would start setting an example for the rest of society. I think that this would be a major step against unfair advantages.
I believe that as terrible as it is that this man would have an advantage for a job in a face-to-face interview. I don’t know what his name is so I cant say that he would fit into the experiment where people with “black sounding names” didn’t get as many call backs and people with “white sounding names”. An interviewer might feel that he is “less black” because of his lighter skin and give him the job over a person with very dark skin.
Simply responding to this question is making me realize how messed up this is and how corrupt our society is that peoples well beings are at stake and were leaving it up to the color of someone’s skin to decide if they are qualified for a job our not. This is not okay and until some serious actions are taken people are going to have to accept this. Pure luck (or unluck) determines what color skin you are born with so how can we use that as a decision maker on weather or not someone has an advantage in society.

I have been very lucky and come from a wealthy family. My dad worked hard his whole life and made choices that made him a successful businessman. I was lucky enough that my parents had a college fund set up for me that allowed me to attend any school I decided I wanted to go to. Determinism gave me the option to use my free will and I chose to attend Penn State. It was determinism that gave me the option to apply and it was also determinism that I was accepted but it was my free will that made me chose to come here.
I think that determinism allows people to exercise their free will. I can use my free will to say that I will be the president of the USA one day but it is determinism that allows or doesn’t allow me to have a chance at actually fulfilling what I want to do.
I will be the first to admit that before we started talking about this in class I was one of the people that said most of the things in your life are free will. People have made the choices that have made them homeless or they have made the choices that have made them millionaires but this is not always true. Some people have used their free will to make choices to spend all their money on drugs until they had nothing and some people made the all the right choices that led them to be rich but sometimes there’s just nothing we can do about it. I am guilty now that I was so closed minded about this before the week’s lectures because in reality how could someone’s life ever just be the result of one factor? It has to be a series of several factors and circumstances that affect how someone can live their life. This week’s two lectures really made me see that you cannot just assume that people have chosen to live the life they live or have just had their life handed to them. I think that the best example of this is rich and poor people. Many people assume that poor people chose to be poor and that rich were born into money. This may be true but there is also the other side of the story.
When you just assume things about people like they chose their you can be seriously mistaken. I personally see both determinism and free will in my life in all areas. I can see how determinism has allowed me to make the choices I have and I would not have made some of these choices had I not been given the benefits that I have.

I believe that humans would be better off if we all lived like monkeys. From what we can tell animals live a much simple life than humans do. When humans evolved into who we are today we created problems for ourselves because as we began to discover things, they came along with negatives. There are positives and negatives with everything. When humans discovered to ride a bike this was a great advancement in transportation as well as a new form of leisure. While this is a great thing, along with the discovery came a new way to hurt yourself. You can fall off a bike and break your arm or you could crash into something and also hurt yourself. Most of the time the positives outweigh the negatives, otherwise these things wouldn’t be so popular, but still there are still negatives for every positive. This relates back to why we would be better off living like monkeys because with our knowledge we created a world where there are so many advantages for humans compared to animals but there are also side effects to this.
If we were all living like monkeys, things like race and separation would be non-existent. Everyone would keep to themselves and with their families and the biggest problems we would have would be protecting your territory and finding enough food. To think of a world like this is unimaginable for humans because of all the conflict and problems we have in the world today. We are so similar to chimpanzees and it would have been so simple to live like they do. One different decision to modernize the way humans behave and we could be all walking around free like the monkeys.
In some ways I cannot imagine giving up everything that we know now. There is so much about the world that is unknown on the other hand we know things that I can’t even begin to explain. Although there is conflict and hatred and racial issues in our world, on an average day-to-day basis we all have a basic understanding of how to get along. We know that a red light means stop and that you pay for things when you leave a store and that we all have to drink breathe and eat in order to survive. While there are plenty of people that do not follow these basic understandings, for the most part things like I stated above run pretty smoothly. In this way it is hard to imagine living in a world where stores and streets and restaurants didn’t exist. If we all lived like the monkeys do then we would be missing out on all the luxuries that we benefit from as humans.
This brings be back to my original point that there are negatives to these luxuries that we have. We may live in a modern world where humans are dominant and have the ability to live great lives but there are also race issues and hatred problems that arise. I think that for the greater good of everyone it would be much better if we all lived like the monkeys.