I think this video ties greatly to the lecture that we had Tuesday. The majority of Ian’s points revolved around that fact that all the non-profit organizations are only delaying the economic revival that Haiti desperately needs. All of the handouts are just causing the people to become beggars.

This video really just the shows how resilient the human race is. Here these people have lost everything, and are living in tents for who knows how long? The human spirit is still something that amazes me every time I see a video or read on story about people pulling themselves out of tragedy. Seeing what these people have made for themselves out of absolutely nothing is nothing short of an inspiration. It also represents how eager they are to make the best of the situation that they are living in. The people in the tent cities have created a mini metropolis. This if anything shows that they are independent people that are doing everything they can to make do. Granted these small businesses can only go so far. Haiti has a long road ahead before they even get back to where they were before the earthquake. This country will need help with simply removing the ruble because they do not have the means/tools necessary to get it out of the way to make room for re-growth.

After watching this video I was thinking about the time it has taken the US to rebuild New Orleans and to try to get it back to where it was before Katrina. That has taken years so I cannot even imagine just how long this is going to take Haiti. Thinking about it even further New Orleans was only one city in the United States. The entire nation of Haiti is devastated. The infrastructure that runs that country is demolished. I honestly cannot even imagine if the entire US was hit with a natural disaster. Granted our nation is significantly larger, so for something like that to happen would be nearly impossible. But still I could not even imagine.

In the nation we live in we have the mentality that we can fix anything and can pull our selves up out of any disaster. However, most of us have never and never will have to come close to the situation that these people are living day in an out for many more years. I also think that the way we live in this country and what we expect out of daily life, we as people would not be able to endure what the Haitians are dealing with. The simple pleasure of electricity and a small TV would not come close to satisfying our needs as individuals because of the way we have lives our lives for so long. Americans, we say that we are tough but I think that when put in the same situation that Haitians and other people around that world would thrive over us. This goes back to that old saying until you walk/live in someone else’s shoes you cannot judge him or her. The Haitians deserve all the help that they need in rebuilding their country, but with that help individuals and nations need to remain humble with the constant reminder that we will never understand what exactly they are all going through. The world is here to aide Haiti, and not here for personal gratification.

I think this video ties greatly to the lecture that we had Tuesday. The majority of Ian’s points revolved around that fact that all the non-profit organizations are only delaying the economic revival that Haiti desperately needs. All of the handouts are just causing the people to become beggars.

This video really just the shows how resilient the human race is. Here these people have lost everything, and are living in tents for who knows how long? The human spirit is still something that amazes me every time I see a video or read on story about people pulling themselves out of tragedy. Seeing what these people have made for themselves out of absolutely nothing is nothing short of an inspiration. It also represents how eager they are to make the best of the situation that they are living in. The people in the tent cities have created a mini metropolis. This if anything shows that they are independent people that are doing everything they can to make do. Granted these small businesses can only go so far. Haiti has a long road ahead before they even get back to where they were before the earthquake. This country will need help with simply removing the ruble because they do not have the means/tools necessary to get it out of the way to make room for re-growth.

After watching this video I was thinking about the time it has taken the US to rebuild New Orleans and to try to get it back to where it was before Katrina. That has taken years so I cannot even imagine just how long this is going to take Haiti. Thinking about it even further New Orleans was only one city in the United States. The entire nation of Haiti is devastated. The infrastructure that runs that country is demolished. I honestly cannot even imagine if the entire US was hit with a natural disaster. Granted our nation is significantly larger, so for something like that to happen would be nearly impossible. But still I could not even imagine.

In the nation we live in we have the mentality that we can fix anything and can pull our selves up out of any disaster. However, most of us have never and never will have to come close to the situation that these people are living day in an out for many more years. I also think that the way we live in this country and what we expect out of daily life, we as people would not be able to endure what the Haitians are dealing with. The simple pleasure of electricity and a small TV would not come close to satisfying our needs as individuals because of the way we have lives our lives for so long. Americans, we say that we are tough but I think that when put in the same situation that Haitians and other people around that world would thrive over us. This goes back to that old saying until you walk/live in someone else’s shoes you cannot judge him or her. The Haitians deserve all the help that they need in rebuilding their country, but with that help individuals and nations need to remain humble with the constant reminder that we will never understand what exactly they are all going through. The world is here to aide Haiti, and not here for personal gratification.

The discussion group that I am talked a lot about this exact topic this week. We were also coming to the same conclusions and roadblocks for the beginning of the class. Like Sam told us in the class that we all should eat the second piece of chocolate unless we were going to swear off chocolate for the rest of our lives. I ate the second piece because I know better than to think that there will never be another time that I do not eat slave made chocolate.

Like with every other topic that Sam brings up in class it is all about awareness of the issue and taking the time necessary to work over the issue. Awareness and feeling some way about the issue is step number one. This applies more that ever to this topic of slave chocolate and any other slave made product that we consume in daily life. Awareness is the definitely the most crucial step that needs to be taken in order for issues to be resolved. Part of the reason that these problems in society still exist is that they are swept under the rug. If the majority of society does not know about the topic then other issues take precedent. The news stations are productions and are going to show that problems that will get the most viewers to watch. The media holds a significant amount of power as to what the general public knows.

To answer the question at hand I think there is a second step. Personally, I think it comes in the form of personal acknowledgment and responsibility. Acknowledgment I think is the next step after awareness because you have been made aware, and now you have acknowledged it as a problem. With acknowledgment comes a decision on how you feel about the issue. The decision is up to you and can go any direction. The most important aspect of the decision is that you come up with on your own. Otherwise you will not be compelled to take action or to follow it. As human beings we do not like being told what to do, and most of the time someone tries to tell us what to do we will defy them. After acknowledgment comes responsibility. The responsibility is then to act on the decision that you have made. Personal responsibility can be put to use on almost all topics that we have been introduced into this class.

The only thing that you can control in this world is yourself, thus personal responsibility I think is the logical next step. You are the only person that you can definitely change your behavior to an issue. For example with this chocolate issue, you can only buy fair trade chocolate. This is an example of personal responsibility, and by eating fair trade your friends and family around you may be influenced by your decision. You can hope that then they will start buying fair trade too, in response to you making them aware of the issue. By changing your behavior for something that you believe you have the opportunity to influence someone else’s outlook on an issue. There has to be a second step because otherwise nothing would get fixed in the world, society would just know about the problem but then do nothing about it. Nothing would ever get fixed, it would just be a world of unresolved problems.

After watching this video I just felt dirty. It is such a disgusting concept for a game however; I have to say that I am not surprised that someone came out with this sadistic theme. There is an abundance of grotesque porn in many forms from pictures, videos, and fantasy chats. Many people in the world have utilized the Internet to instantly gratify their sexual needs that they cannot have met by people, in the real world. This world on the Internet has spun out of control and seems to get more and more bizarre all the time. The fact that some people enjoy this kind of sexual violence is very scary. War violence is one thing. It is more accepted in the society, and it understood to sometimes be a necessary action. However, there is not a place in the world for sexual violence in any context.

Porn is one thing in today’s society because these women sign up and are compensated for their videos. Rape is a completely different world to open up to the Internet. There is no consensual agreement between the two people. The woman is taken advantage of violently. It is such a horrific event that it has no place in today’s society. It is such a traumatizing event in the victim’s life. I hope that they would never know that people play a game based on the worst day of their life. To see that as a victim would just cause more pain, and prolong healing and therapy. No one in his or her right mind would want to play a game on rape. This goes back to class in that we live in a man’s world. If women ruled that world there would be no video games on rape where women are degraded. Probably there would be no video games period! Only in a man’s would it be socially acceptable to make a game where women are sexually abused. It is true that these games are being made in other parts of the world; I do think that they creators would never get away with making these types of games in the United States. Women are treated more equally in this country, and rape is a serious crime. This is not the case in many other parts of the world, where women are still disposable human beings. They have no voices which allows games like this to be acceptable, in addition to being created in the first place.

Some might argue that these rape games keep rapists off the streets, by allowing them to fulfill their fantasies in a virtual world. If that were the case I think more people would be more supportive with the creation of these games. However, most people I would think that these games just aid rapists. The games give them example scenarios, and might give them ideas that they have not thought about before. My mom always brings about this point when scary movies are previewed. She always is like these films have that chance that they are just giving ideas to the messed up people that do not separate real life from entertainment.

I thought that it was strange that the woman gamer from Great Britain was ok with the games premise, and she was more worried about government censoring the games. I just don’t understand as a woman how you can be ok with this game? All it promotes is violence towards women, and does not hold up society so that things change and become a more equal world. If this woman had children, would she be ok with them playing this game? I would hope not!

It was not until after watching this video that I realized just how much race affects people deep into their core. Being white I have never had to deal with the inter-conflict with my color like these kids did on the video. It broke my heart to watch the little girl that said that the white doll was the best and then come to the realization that she was not the same color as “good” doll. To watch the torment in her face as she pointed to that black doll, not even wanting to touch the doll that looked like her. What I think made it harder for me to watch was that the only answer that the kids gave for why the white doll was better was simply because it was white. This really showed me just how deep seeded the color of ones skin still plays in today’s society.
This video threw the impacts of race in my face. After watching it I took time to think about how people of color feel when they go to turn on the TV and see mostly white people. When it comes to the entertainment world and celebrities, the white race holds the obvious majority. Not realizing this until this class and video, this world is very much a white world that we all live in today. It includes everything from advertisements to movie stars. I have never noticed for the sole reason that they look like me, in the sense that they are white. It is really hard for me to wrap my head around the reality that people of color must feel like when watching media in general. Truthfully, I do not think that it will ever be possible for me to fully understand what that feels like. All I know is that I will always be aware of that fact that the world works this way.
To bring this back to the kids my discussion group related this back to the classic films of Disney. Recently, they just came out with a new princess movie with the first black princess. With that topic we went back through all the movies and there were a few ethnic princesses, but once again that majority were white. With that said ever little girl wants to be a princess, and if little girls over and over again see that white princesses are the ones living a magical life that is who they are going to want to be like. The media and world that kids grow up in is going to affect how they view themselves whether we like it or not. Granted as a child you are most likely not going to realize it, but looking back on it now, it truly is discriminatory against certain races. Media influences people subconsciously if not consciously, and after watching this video I do not think anyone can argue otherwise.

In response to the posed question I do think that there needs to a change in the way that history is portrayed in this country. We are supposed to be a melting pot of races and nationalities but we only teach predominantly teach white history in school. I am not sure at what age it would be appropriate to incorporate some of the horrors that this country has performed. Middle school I think would be the best age group, just because they are still young enough that they are not yet stuck in their ways. However, they are also mature enough to understand the wrong doings that our nation has done to some of its people. Our discussion group already brought up this idea when we were talking about American Indians. Most of us really did not know much about the true history of these people because in schools we only briefly learned about them. Since we did not know much about them we had a difficulty time coming up with ideas to get their voices and history hears. In addition, we were taught in elementary school and no other time during school. I did not know until this class that the genocide that this country did to them was the most extensive in history.

To this day the schools teach about Christopher Columbus discovering America as a vast untouched land. They still talk about the “First Thanksgiving” and do not mention the terrible genocide going on. I think if we were taught about races more at a younger age then the race relations in this country would be better. By changing the history books that is a huge step in the right direction. It is going to take a couple of generations for the country to start seeing a change.

A large obstacle that this could face is that different regions will react differently. By living in the North there is going to be less resistance to the change versus the Deep South. Since education is also run and determined by the States it would be very hard to have the entire nation change the way that they teach history. For example, I would imagine that in the South they are not going to want to spend an extensive amount of time on slavery and the Civil War. There are people in the South that I think are still fighting the war as confederate civilians.

I never noticed how jaded the history that we were taught in elementary and middle school. Granted I am white and went to schools that were not ethnically diverse, so there was no reason for a young child to notice that we were just learning about white history. Now that I am in college I am finally be introduced to the hard and real events that have shaped that nation that we all live in today. Looking back on it, it must have been so difficult for the students of color to have to sit there and listen to this history where they were below the white people. Or that their genocide be written off and not taught accurately, so the white man could pretend the event never happened. It is only fair to all of the inhabitants of this country that history is taught correctly and with the respect that people deserve. To be the melting pot of nations that we like to think we are then this is a necessary step to create a better country for the future generations.

I thought that this was an interesting entry. I have never really sat down to think about why women have not pursued to create football into a female sport? Basically every other sport has converted into over to a female sport. It will never be as big men’s football, but that should not deter women for creating a high school league. Plenty of women love watching in the game that who knows what would happen if women were given the chance to play a sport that America loves. I did not even know that there were female tackle leagues in the U.S. I think that these should have more publicity so they can become more popular. This would perhaps allow for more women to get involved in football, so they can be more than spectators to a sport that they love. Being a woman I will be the first to admit that women’s sports will never be as competitive or interesting to watch as men’s. However, that should be no reason for women not to have the opportunity to have their own league.
I think if women had the chance to play then men would less dominate football. There will always be more men involved, but there are obviously there are some very qualified women that need to be given an opportunity to show what they have to offer. If this were the case this story of a woman being head coach could not make national news. I am not trying to take away from the accomplishment from this woman because she deserves all the credit she receives. She is able to do something that she loves; I hope that I can be as lucky as her with my career.
It is definitely because women do not have the chance to play that more are not involved in the sport somehow. Granted most male sports are coached by men, I still think that women have a bigger probability of being able to coach other sports because there are women’s leagues. The fundamentals of the game are the same, so who is to say that men are better at understanding the game? I do agree that young men are more likely to have more respect a man over a woman. However, if a woman coach can prove that she can win, then should be no disrespect. After all we love and play sports in order to thrive and win. I hope that this story ends up encouraging other women to go after coaching jobs. There is no reason that a qualified woman should not be recognized as a head coach of any sport if they are more capable then the other candidates for the job. I think that men will always dominate the world of sports, but women might start infiltrating so be on the lookout.

I have never watched the Bachelor or the Bachelorette. I know a lot of people, including some of my friends. However, even with them talking about it I never realized how white the show really was. The thing that shocks me is that there have been 13 seasons of the Bachelor and four seasons of the Bachelorette, but no one in power has brought up the fact that there have only been a few people of color on the show. I feel like our nation, at least in the eye of the public, is fairly responsible when it comes to being racially diverse. I think of some it has to do with the fact that it is geared to an older generation. This show is a “mature” version to the love shows that are always in air on MTV and VH1. These shows on MTV etc are much more diverse in the race of it contestants, because these shows are watched more by younger generations.
Also, I am not saying that it is right, but all of the bachelors and bachelorettes have white. I think this plays a huge role in what races are placed on the show. If the main contestant is only interested in white males then that is what is going to placed on the show. ABC is not going to place someone in the show that has not shot. It would be made too obvious that person was wrongfully placed on the show. The network has to play to what the Bachelor wants; after all they are the ones trying to fall in love. This I think just have wrongfully the media actually represents the real people of the United States. These are the select few individuals that think they will actually find love through a TV show. It obviously works, considering that Bret Michaels just finished his fourth season of “Rock of Love,” and only he knows if he is going to have another season.
In response to “Are white people the only ones willing to humiliate themselves?” I think that is a very generalizing statement since this is simply a reality show. It is not like every white person in America wants to be on this show in the first place. That also goes for people of color. Majority of all people in all racial groups have no interest in being on a television show in order to find someone they want to marry. So I think that statement is jumping to quickly into making an incorrect judgment about white people. All people in all races at some time or another do humiliating things, and if someone thinks that they never have then they are not human beings. It is like that saying your teacher says to you when you are little: “no one is perfect.” But on more serious note going back to the fact that the show has been basically all white I think that it needs to become diverse. Unfortunately, even though our country has come a long way in race relations, people typically marry someone in their own racial group. So as long a television runs this reality TV shows revolving around marriage they will be fairly segregated. This just means that our nation has some more evolving to do in order for this to no longer be an issue in our country.

I did not even see this article posted last week, it was not until in my discussion group yesterday that I had even heard of this. I was really interested in reading what the article had to say, and what this new doll was all about. After reading this article I have to say that I was somewhat grossed out with the thought of people having sex with a robot, but I am not all that surprised. Over the summer at work I read an article interviewing a man who fixes silicone sex dolls. These dolls looked the same as the ones in this article except they did not talk nor were they warm to the touch. He is one of the only men in the country that can fix these dolls that are so precious to their owners. Thus it was only a matter of time until someone in software created a sex robot. I think that with this recent advancement of sex robots, things have just gotten stranger. For some people in the world Roxxxy will take place of a real woman companion, and that is scary for the future generations. It is one thing if a man would want to have sex with an expensive sex doll, but know that it breathes and snores it has gone way past a toy into a gray area of fake relationships. These individuals need to put themselves out there and join the real world with the rest of us.
Today we live in a world that is all about instant gratification. With technology as efficient as it is today people expect to get what they want fast and easy. This transfers over to imitate relationships. The general public wants relationships to be easy with no chance of conflict. Younger generations are having more casual, sexual relationships, and I feel like this is just taking that to the next level. Obviously there are some really lonely people in the world that feel their only option is to have a companion with a doll. It is obviously true for many men because Roxxxy already has thousands of preorders and even more requests for information. These men also have no trouble dropping thousands of dollars on a fake intimate buddy.
It is true that men and women have different sex drives and needs, but I think it is ridiculous to say that men cannot be satisfied by a real woman companion. Or that they do not have enough drive to get the interested and go after a real woman. People should be free to do what they want with their money and life. However, I do not see how a doll, no matter how high tech she is, can replace a real relationship with another human being. It just goes to show that technology is making our population more and more anti-social; soon we will have no contact with other people in the world. We will be alone in a world that we share with another 6 billions plus people.

I do not think that there is any significant difference between adoptions between gay and lesbian couples. There are all different types of families that influence children. Some children have single parents, live with grandparents, or are even living with extended family members. Like Sam said in class most of these same sex couples are usually the most loving parents because they have wanted to have a child for so long. Also, they have to go through the rigorous adoption process, which is even harder for them because they are a homosexual couple. They will have planned for this child for so long that will absolutely do everything for that child. On the other hand with some heterosexual there are unplanned pregnancies. This does mean that those couple love their children any less, but it just insinuates just have much adopting a child means to these couples.
I think that it is also safe to say that all of these couples understand more than anyone else how important it is to have unconditional love and support. With the scrutiny that these individuals have had to face in their daily lives they will never put that on their children. I would imagine that they would be extremely open to what their kid want to do and participate in. Unconditional love and support would allow for their adopted child to thrive in an ever-changing world.
With this said I think that have two moms or dads would not make a difference in the amount of love that the child would receive. However, I do not think that the adoptive agencies think the same way. It seems to me that two women would have a lot better chance of adopting a child then two men. This would have definitely been true for two feminine gay men. I think most agencies would look at that couple as being a threat to the child’s well being. The underlying thing that at child needs is a safe, supportive, and loving home life. There is no study proving that two men can not do as good of a job then two women, so there is not reason to favor one sex couple over another.
Who has the power to say that one sex is better at raising a child? Granted women have the anatomical body to be a child carrier, but that does not mean that they are going to be good parents. The best parents are going to be the ones that love their children with everything they have to offer, and that can not be measured by which sex the couple that adopting is. So in a perfect world there should be no discrimination against homosexual couples, and then gay versus lesbian. Our world is not there yet, but we are working on getting to the equality that all human beings deserve.