en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/758416 Comments by kmn5108 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/christian-invaders-the-turnaround__trashed/#IDComment68922253 Sam was right the class last Thursday really did make my head spin. He put the whole war with the Middle East situation into a whole new way of thinking. When the United States experienced the 9/11 attacks and then soon after entered into war, I was pretty young. Therefore I did not understand most of the reasoning behind the war all I knew was I supported my troops and America in our efforts overseas. I always had the vision of our soldiers as patriotic defenders as Sam said in the beginning of class. I knew that innocent people were dying but I understood that most Americans felt bad about that but we felt this was all lending to the bigger cause. I guess I never fully understood that bigger cause though. During this class Sam made us 700 students leave our mind set and begin to think as if we were Arab Muslims for the rest of the lecture to see how we would think differently, like stepping into someone else’s shoes. Sam provided a quote that stated “while nothing is easier than to denounce the evil doer nothing is harder than to understand them”. If you think about it most of us never really try to understand someone that we deem an evil person. I thought it was really interesting to see the different pictures from when before the war started compared to know with some of the after math. I know I would be upset seeing all that destruction if it were happening on our own land. I also found it interesting how many articles you read about the radicals and their reasoning for war and how they say they are fighting for their God yet the killing and suicide bombing goes against their religion, yet the examples Sam was showing, our American president and government keep bringing up Christian religion saying were on a mission from god and this is a crusade. I am a Christian and a patriot but I know my God would not send his people on a mission to kill other innocent people. Of course I still believe in the troops and I know they are doing many good things over in the Middle East helping rebuild, capturing terrorist and trying to promote democracy in their country. But after Thursdays class I completely understand why Arab Muslims could consider our soldiers the “Christian Invaders “. I got my knowledge and previous opinions on the war from American news, the Articles we publish over here and the images we send out such as the beheadings and the 9/11 footage, and those inspire how I feel. On the other hand the Arab Muslims are doing the same getting their opinions from what they see and with those horrible videos out there of a few dumb soldiers trying to act powerful they get their opinion of us a invaders! Tue, 20 Apr 2010 04:24:09 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/christian-invaders-the-turnaround__trashed/#IDComment68922253 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/christian-invaders-the-turnaround__trashed/#IDComment68922285 Sam was right the class last Thursday really did make my head spin. He put the whole war with the Middle East situation into a whole new way of thinking. When the United States experienced the 9/11 attacks and then soon after entered into war, I was pretty young. Therefore I did not understand most of the reasoning behind the war all I knew was I supported my troops and America in our efforts overseas. I always had the vision of our soldiers as patriotic defenders as Sam said in the beginning of class. I knew that innocent people were dying but I understood that most Americans felt bad about that but we felt this was all lending to the bigger cause. I guess I never fully understood that bigger cause though. During this class Sam made us 700 students leave our mind set and begin to think as if we were Arab Muslims for the rest of the lecture to see how we would think differently, like stepping into someone else’s shoes. Sam provided a quote that stated “while nothing is easier than to denounce the evil doer nothing is harder than to understand them”. If you think about it most of us never really try to understand someone that we deem an evil person. I thought it was really interesting to see the different pictures from when before the war started compared to know with some of the after math. I know I would be upset seeing all that destruction if it were happening on our own land. I also found it interesting how many articles you read about the radicals and their reasoning for war and how they say they are fighting for their God yet the killing and suicide bombing goes against their religion, yet the examples Sam was showing, our American president and government keep bringing up Christian religion saying were on a mission from god and this is a crusade. I am a Christian and a patriot but I know my God would not send his people on a mission to kill other innocent people. Of course I still believe in the troops and I know they are doing many good things over in the Middle East helping rebuild, capturing terrorist and trying to promote democracy in their country. But after Thursdays class I completely understand why Arab Muslims could consider our soldiers the “Christian Invaders “. I got my knowledge and previous opinions on the war from American news, the Articles we publish over here and the images we send out such as the beheadings and the 9/11 footage, and those inspire how I feel. On the other hand the Arab Muslims are doing the same getting their opinions from what they see and with those horrible videos out there of a few dumb soldiers trying to act powerful they get their opinion of us a invaders! Tue, 20 Apr 2010 00:24:09 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/christian-invaders-the-turnaround__trashed/#IDComment68922285 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/want-to-learn-chinese__trashed/#IDComment67532812 This article is very interesting and I can really relate to this topic. For many years now I knew I wanted to go to a college with a great business school and wind up working in the business world for my career. When I became a senior in high school my father would constantly lecture me about the growing importance of China, internationally in the business world. This really made me start wondering if I was an important business woman working with the Chinese how was I going to communicate with them. At this same time my public high school decided to bring in a Chinese language department to begin to teach mandarin. To get this program started they designated that a certain number of entering freshmen would have no choice but to be enrolled in mandarin classes. There was an extreme uproar of complaints from students and parents who probably all just planned on taking Spanish or Italian for the next few years. On the other hand I was a little bit jealous. For my future, taking mandarin could have really given me a step in the right direction to be successful. Of course I had the option to take this language courses in college, but I had already invested many years in Spanish I did not want to put them to waste. The New York Times article definitely shows a preference for Spanish language programs here in America. This is because people with Hispanic heritages are becoming extremely prominent in the U.S. making Spanish the second most spoken language. It is definitely worthwhile for Americans to be able to speak and understand Spanish to get through day to day life with the people around them. Chinese is not a prominent language in America since most of the immigrants are taught English when they arrive or even before they leave Asia. I think this is why many people don’t see taking mandarin as a priority. Yet when looking at the future being fluent or at least being able to simply communicate in an Asian country would extremely benefit people in many professions. The article also points out the decline in other languages such as German, Russian and French. This is disappointing I feel all students should have the option to learn many different languages of this great country. When I travel overseas in Europe the citizens tell me about their education and I find it interesting that students in other countries not only must prefect their language, but also must learn English and normally one additional language. Here in America most high schools make you take a foreign language but the options are limited and rarely do you ever leave the courses fluent in that language. It’s weird how other countries value education and also the languages and cultures of others and America does not seem the same. Mon, 12 Apr 2010 23:44:56 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/want-to-learn-chinese__trashed/#IDComment67532812 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/this-is-totally-off-the-hook__trashed/#IDComment66317425 We discussed this trend of rape games coming from Japan in my discussion group today, so I immediately came home to see what everyone was talking about. As A women this report was extremely offensive to me. I do not play video games as I’m sure the majority of women do not but just knowing that such games exist in the world and are intensely spreading all over and even worse that many people will choose to play something this ethically wrong. As for the arguments about the “shoot em up games” I am one of those people who also find games such as grand theft auto and call of duty extremely out of line. Again I don’t play these games but I have heard about them and been around my brothers while they play these games and I guess I just don’t get the appeal. I would never kill someone in real life so why would I find it fun to pretend that. I don’t completely agree with the argument that these violent games will lead to the players becoming violent people and following out these actions in real life. Just like I don’t think the people playing the rape game will necessarily think it’s okay to go out and rape women just because of this game. Then again I don’t think these games help. Some people may take these actions and use them in real life and even not it’s just perpetuating an un moral society which will ultimately lead to more and more violence for everyone. Murder and crime rates are rising all the time and it is kind of sad how younger generations like my own are just starting to accept it as a part of life. This is ridiculous no one should be living around all this hatred and violence. As for rape, I do not feel that this has become accepted in society yet with games that have the purpose of raping women can most definitely start this. True television and movies portray rape scenes yet the have a purpose and show the after math and consequences of rape to a women and her attacker. On the other hand in this video games there are no consequences. In fact the more you rape and molest the closer you are to winning the game. Now how sick is that. I feel this could definitely have a negative impact on society and may cause some people to look at rape as not that big of a deal. If this begins to happen there is really no hope for an ethical society. I totally agree that Japan needs to tighten up on what there gamers are producing and also Americans. There are just certain topics that should not be thought of as a game or joke! Wed, 7 Apr 2010 02:12:49 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/this-is-totally-off-the-hook__trashed/#IDComment66317425 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/the-white-minorities__trashed/#IDComment64760418 As a white woman, who is currently a member of the minority race I do feel some type of way to keep hearing that one day in the near future my family and I will be part of the minority groups in America. It’s a strange thing to think about how much things have progressed over time. When I first read through this article I felt worried. Like Sam said what will this lead to for me and other whites? Will we be forgotten about? Also with the minorities (that we have now) birth rates constantly increasing and over lapping minority deaths while the same for whites is shrinking, does this mean the white race might someday disappear all together? I know that’s a little extreme to conclude but it’s definitely a thought that came to my mind. I have heard about small tribes in other countries that become extinct yet I never even considered that possibility for white people until reading this article. A representative for the Population Reference Bureau said that “It looks like ‘majority’ births would drop below 50 percent around 2012,”. This stuck me because this is the year I graduate college. This prompted me to think about the lectures we had about the inequality in the job market. When the children born in 2012 graduate college will the white graduates are the ones discriminated against? The owners of companies will most likely be less discriminatory, since this happens with each generation, and if they are not their applicant pool will be largely filled with old minority groups and less white applicants. I also began to worry about my future children. Am I going to be bringing them into the world in a bad situation and ultimately keeping them down and limiting their futures? After I thought about these things I started to think about what minority groups have to deal with now and have dealt with up to this point in time and it would be really unpleasant to have to endure their struggles. Yet, I feel my generation tends to stress change and promote increasing equality among all people whether they are a majority or a minority. This is promising to me. Of course the things I mentioned earlier are a worry to me and maybe other white people facing our population decline, but in some ways I don’t feel our time as a minority population will be quite as hard as some of the current minorities. I feel with are growing tolerance for all others, that when it is African Americans, Hispanics, Asians, etc in control , that they will not discriminate against the white population. Hopefully, this second part is right and current minorities stay tolerant and don’t want revenge. Then maybe we can actually reach a place of equality. Tue, 30 Mar 2010 03:52:00 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/the-white-minorities__trashed/#IDComment64760418 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/whats-the-big-deal-with-periods__trashed/#IDComment63883872 In class on Tuesday when Sam brought up the topic of his wives period and her bleeding patterns the classes’ reaction was hilarious. There was a lot of laughing and conversation and definitely a lot of uncomfortable people. Of course most of the guys in the room became uncomfortable but I also felt really strange. Sam tried to defend himself and posed the question why is this a weird topic and why does it make people feel uneasy? This made me start thinking about why I reacted the way I did. Well yes I am a female and have a menstrual cycle, and sure me and my female friends can often discuss this fact and the details about it with one another and feel completely comfortable, yet talking about periods in a seven hundred person class was completely opposite. First of all I rarely discuss a female’s menstruation cycle with my male friends let alone male strangers (and my teacher). Most guys do not want to ever discuss this and I would never bring it up. I also think the fact that it was Sam talking about his wives personal business in front of so many people kind of caught everyone off guard. I am the kind of person who does not like sharing my personal things even though the menstruation cycle is completely normal. I just don’t feel the need to publicize this information such as all the girls who raised their hand to say they were currently “bleeding” as Sam put it. I’m sorry that’s too much information, I could have really done without knowing that. Sam compared this topic to talking about sweating, another natural occurrence within the body. I wouldn’t really want to sit in a class discussing peoples sweating patterns either I just don’t feel comfortable discussing these things with strangers. Obviously, everyone including guys knows that periods occur and are not completely ignorant of a women’s cycle and its purpose but I see no need to flaunt it. As for the girl in the video I feel you brought up many good points. The menstruation cycle is kind of one of nature’s beauties. It is an amazing feeling to know that you are able to bring new lives into this world and pregnancy can definitely be a beautiful and amazing thing. I agree with that part but the actual fact of having a period is nothing beautiful or special to me. How I look at it the menstruation cycle is just a big inconvenience which causes a lot of unnecessary pain to women. Nothing about cramps and PMS is exciting or beautiful to me. Obviously everyone has different opinions but I feel we should keep the personal talks out of Thomas 100. Wed, 24 Mar 2010 18:13:24 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/whats-the-big-deal-with-periods__trashed/#IDComment63883872 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/prom-or-no-prom-just-dont-let-the-queer-students-dance-together__trashed/#IDComment62863503 Girls dance with each other and grind on each other all the time at clubs and dances even when they are straight couples and no one finds it uncomfortable to be around or has a problem with it; so why then is it wrong for same sex couples who actually care about each other to be able to share this special night with one another? This school is fighting a lossing battle I feel. In this century the majority of battles fought on behalf of inequality are always ending up with the party discriminated against winning the case. I feel that this high school will most definitly loose this case and I hope that I am right. This girl and any other gay couples at her school deserve the chance to enjoy prom with the person they choose. Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:40:16 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/prom-or-no-prom-just-dont-let-the-queer-students-dance-together__trashed/#IDComment62863503 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/prom-or-no-prom-just-dont-let-the-queer-students-dance-together__trashed/#IDComment62863483 . I know many people in my grade that were able to bring their same sex partner to the prom and also some girls who were not gay but just wanted to bring another female friend or sibling. Seeing these same sex couples around at my prom did not bother me one bit. I barely noticed, as Sam said gay couples arent flaunting it they are just being normal. Some of my close friends are gay and I know that having their special someone by their side on prom night definitly made them feel amazing and if our school would have tried to forbid their happiness there would have been a crazy uproar. On the other hand many of the catholic all girl High Schools near me had distinct rules against and student bringing a member of the same sex to their proms. I kind of find this rule expected from a religious high school as opposed to my public school, and I understand they are following the religion that their school is based off yet I still find it very unfair. Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:40:07 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/prom-or-no-prom-just-dont-let-the-queer-students-dance-together__trashed/#IDComment62863483 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/prom-or-no-prom-just-dont-let-the-queer-students-dance-together__trashed/#IDComment62863452 This article was especially striking to me because I like to think that we have come alot further in society than this. Like Sam pointed out this seems like something that would happen in the past and maybe then it wouldnt have even been a big deal due to the lack of acceptance back then. Through generation to generation I truely believe we are progressing and becoming way more accepting of gay/lesbian couples. Sure not every one wants to see same sex couples together but the majority of people are okay with it. When I started thinking about this I realized that at my highschool there was no certain rule against bringing someone of the same sex to our junior or senior proms. Fri, 19 Mar 2010 00:39:50 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/prom-or-no-prom-just-dont-let-the-queer-students-dance-together__trashed/#IDComment62863452 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/are-whites-the-only-people-willing-to-humiliate-themselves__trashed/#IDComment59637040 I think that a main concern the production team could have is "if we display interracial dating will we loose are audience". I know many people in the world whether they be black white brown whatever who see interracial dating as appauling and wrong. Many people (espescially older people) tend to agree with the statement to "stick to your own kind". ABC might feel that if they are displaying and supporting interracial couples they could loose ratings and also recieve a lot of negative feed back and harrasment from certain groups of people. Although we would like to think this is not the reason for the lack of diversity on the series, this would be my best guess. We are living in a society that is seemingly becoming more accepting of certain things, but maybe interracial dating is not one of them yet. Wed, 3 Mar 2010 21:53:42 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/are-whites-the-only-people-willing-to-humiliate-themselves__trashed/#IDComment59637040 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/are-whites-the-only-people-willing-to-humiliate-themselves__trashed/#IDComment59637018 that’s just my guess. Explanation number three could be exactly what the title of this article is, maybe the people of other races simply just arent applying to be a part of this ABC show. There have been a few black and Hispanic contestants and maybe that is just showing the proportions of ethnicities that are showing up to be cast in the bachelor series. The last explanation that came to my mind but probably the most plausible would be that the production team behind this ABC series is scared or just trying to broadcast to a certain demograpic. By having a certain demographic in mind they can limit contestants on the show however they see fit to keep those viewers intrigued. Wed, 3 Mar 2010 21:53:31 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/are-whites-the-only-people-willing-to-humiliate-themselves__trashed/#IDComment59637018 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/are-whites-the-only-people-willing-to-humiliate-themselves__trashed/#IDComment59636875 This is a very interesting question that I think many of us , wether we watch the show or not, over look and dont focus on . As far as I know all of the bachelors and bachelorettes up to this point in the series have been white people. Also the majority of the contestants both male and female have been white people. There could be many different reasons for this in my opinion. First of all the one looking for love could have specified a type of male/female that they are looking for and race would be included in this description. Its just nature that some people are attracted to their own race. Explanation number two, the show could have racist people behind the scenes who are ultimately vetoing most of the "colored" contestants. If this was the case thouhgh, I would assume the production team would have been called out by now and sued but Wed, 3 Mar 2010 21:52:21 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/are-whites-the-only-people-willing-to-humiliate-themselves__trashed/#IDComment59636875 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/when-do-we-do-or-say-something__trashed/#IDComment58825413 I began to yell at the girl and question her actions and ultimately ended up reporting her to the management. I though my friend might be angry that I got invovled and maybe embarrased her but afterward she thanked me for standing up for her when she was to hurt to do so herself. So yes I am a white girl I dont face harse discrimination on a day to day basis but I would always consider it my place if I was a witness. Wether it is a racail issue and religious issue or maybe prejudice against LGBT , you acting against discrimination may not change the racist person but it will definitly effect the person you are sticking up for. I feel that if minorities see other people who fight these wrong actions if can give them hope that hopefully some day they will not have to fight these battles on a daily basis. Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:26:46 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/when-do-we-do-or-say-something__trashed/#IDComment58825413 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/when-do-we-do-or-say-something__trashed/#IDComment58825398 She never knows what could happen and just think if there were a racist group of people attacking her on the side of a road and a car went by, if the people in that car were a part of the 22 bystanders who did not act she would be dead. Sometimes others lives or just mental health or even just their pride can be easily protected from the help of a stranger. I have had some personal experience with discrimination, not to myself but to my best friend who just happens to be African. One time we were shopping at the mall when I noticed a store worker following my friend around and watching her closely. At first I didnt say anything because I didnt want my friend to notice and get upset. Then I decided to test if this was infact happening because of her skin color or the workers could just be carefully watching everyone. So me and my other white friend started acting really sketchy and messing around with our other bags. No one even looked are way ! Finally the store worker took it way to far when she asked my friend if she could check her bags. My bestfriend is extremely quiet and shy and didnt say anything just cooperated yet I just couldnt stand around. Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:26:43 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/when-do-we-do-or-say-something__trashed/#IDComment58825398 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/when-do-we-do-or-say-something__trashed/#IDComment58825356 This class about discrimination definitly got some conversations flowing. I totally agree with the speakers in both of these videos; I dont understand how people can just sit by and watch injustice taking place and not feel like they could help or atleast try to make the situation disappear. I understand some people who have not had and experience where they blantantly watched injustice happening around them wouldnt really know what to do or how to proceed, yet I feel that most of them would atleast react in some way and not be a part of the group that does nothing. Being a part of that group would make me feel unsympathetic and cruel. Also I know a lot of people make the arguement that they are not a minority and that it is not their place to say anything. This is obsurd! Just becauseyou dont personally get effected by the discrimination you are watching that does not mean you can not help or have an opion on the situation. As the muslim women in the video stated she is always afraid to be alone. Fri, 26 Feb 2010 17:26:24 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/when-do-we-do-or-say-something__trashed/#IDComment58825356 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/all-that-is-solid-melts-into-air-including-our-words__trashed/#IDComment56413398 When Sam wrote that upwards to half of the approximately 7,000 languages that are used in the world today will no longer be spoken by the time me and my fellow graduates die was extremely shocking. Yes I am only nineteen years old but my life will not be that long. To think in that short amount of time we can lose such a large amount of culture is unreal. Also I was thinking that the pictures shown in the video, there are others with the woman. Are they not from her tribe? Or did they just die before her? I am a little confused as to how the language can just end with this woman. My thoughts would be that she had to have passed it on to her children or some younger members of her tribe. I always just thought languages could fade out by the people knowing them just choosing to use another language. I never even thought about a language simply dying along with the death of one human being. Thu, 11 Feb 2010 23:31:09 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/all-that-is-solid-melts-into-air-including-our-words__trashed/#IDComment56413398 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/all-that-is-solid-melts-into-air-including-our-words__trashed/#IDComment56413366 Well knowing that I wondered why we don’t document and preserve all the languages and different aspects of the thousands of cultures among us today? Yes there was someone who went to document this Boa woman and her telling stories and singing songs in her language but without this video would there be any proof that this language even existed? I don’t know this is just a very thought provoking topic. This video was interesting hearing this woman’s stories from inside the tsunami. This was a big topic back in 2004 and to hear from someone who witnessed it was interesting. She kept referring to the elders in her story which showed that in their culture they truly respect their elder members and trusts the wisdom they share with the rest of the culture. Thu, 11 Feb 2010 23:30:54 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/all-that-is-solid-melts-into-air-including-our-words__trashed/#IDComment56413366 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/all-that-is-solid-melts-into-air-including-our-words__trashed/#IDComment56413308 I was really surprised when I read this article. I never heard of this happening and I guess I just never really thought it could. A language disappearing, that just sounds impossible. Although, I only speak one language (with a little bit of Spanish) I have always found other languages fascinating. It is weird to think about the fact that there are so many languages in existence that the majority of people in the world do not know about. Sure we all know about the normal Russian, French, Spanish, Italian, and Hebrew and so on but most people or at least I rarely remember the existence of all the tribal languages that are out there. After reading this I really began to wonder how we could simply just loose a language. Our entire lives growing up we travel to museums and read in our history books learning about the discoveries of ancient languages and tribes and most importantly how important it is that we preserve such discoveries. Thu, 11 Feb 2010 23:30:25 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/all-that-is-solid-melts-into-air-including-our-words__trashed/#IDComment56413308 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/the-enlightened-west-knows-best__trashed/#IDComment55362997 This is an interesting topic to me because when I see women wearing burqas I assume they are doing it because of their religious beliefs, while when they are in Muslim countries I tend to assume they wear them because they are forced to do so. I can understand the French feel that they would be freeing the Muslim women by making them not wear the burqas, but like I see in the US many of the women in France are doing it out of choice and respect for their religion not necessarily because they are being forced. The two women that speak in the video mention that they know of Muslim women who wear the full face covering even in opposition to their husbands which shows it is purely their own choice. It is crazy that the French government thinks they know best for the Muslim women and want to turn them into “enlightened” western women. What does that even mean? And why can’t they still be enlightened women if they follow their religious beliefs and where what they want. Honestly when I see women wearing a full cover up I often wonder why anyone would want to go out like that, why they wouldn’t want to wear regular clothes, but ultimately it doesn’t matter what I think or what I would do it’s a choice. Wouldn’t this just constitute as freedom of expression. It’s kind of weird to hear about the opposition within the Muslim community. Some people angry about the bad light on their community others just angry at the women who still choose to wear this stating that it is not in the Curran and they shouldn’t not portray that it is. I would assume that the Muslim community would all be on the same page that it is a woman’s choice whether or not to wear the hijab. I don’t see how this will become a legitimate law or why people are even trying. By these few women wearing full coverings, who gets hurt? What is it doing to the other French citizens? I don’t see any harm coming from their choice to cover themselves so why try and take away their rights? It just doesn’t make sense. It’s also very over the top to put in place a $1000 fine if you are caught wearing the coverings. That is an outrageous penalty and I bet there are much worse crimes that you get off with just a warning or a lesser fine. The video even stated that the French police force has no idea how they would be able to enforce and carry out such a law. I agree with Sam, a truly enlightened society allows their people to take their own paths and make choices for themselves that do not harm anyone else Thu, 4 Feb 2010 19:15:46 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/the-enlightened-west-knows-best__trashed/#IDComment55362997 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/racism-looks-pretty-good-on-this-side-of-the-atlantic__trashed/#IDComment54274518 Well Sam you are right this is an unnerving video. Obviously racism will always be an issue in society but this video is crazy. I am a huge sports fan an completely engage in cheering on my team and occasionally booing and trying to psych out the opposing team, yet I could never imagine taking it to this extreme. The European fans torture players based on hatred and the footage of the fans doing the fascist salute shocked me beyond belief. Even worse fans are heckling and abusing players on the teams the root for. What is that? In a lot of these cases the players are the most skilled members on the team, helping lead the team to victory and these people refuse to support them. I could never see myself turning against any member of a team that I love so much. For example, the goaltender of the hockey team I love is currently a black man. Never have I heard anyone in the stands refer to him in a derogatory way or not support him due to his race. The video is right; with soccer being such a big deal and all the publicity surrounding the sport this should not be something the players have to fight on their own. FIFA needs to take more assertive steps towards ensuring the mental safety of all soccer players regardless of their race. I would be terrified to attend one of these games I can't imagine how the players feel. I also really got to thinking when it was mentioned that this is less about race and more about culture and the precieved threats of immigration. A few years ago I traveled to Ireland with my family and a work contact of my fathers toured us around. The man was incredibly nice and I never would have pegged him for a racist until we came across a black women on the street. I didn't know that race as still that big of an issue until he said it was very rare to see black people but more and more were starting to immigrate into Ireland. He spoke of how he thought this would lead to a downturn in society and even talked about moving further up in Europe to avoid their prescence. So I completely understand how this is a cultural fight that connects into racism. I find it kind of interesting that only in the past few years have a lot of people from Africa began to immigrate north into Europe. I also find it interesting that in this modern society they are still reacting so harshly to this diversity. I guess I just thought that people all over know about the civil war and all the battles and marches that took place in the United States because of these same issues and I also thought that people all over agreed with the outcome of equality. I guess I was really wrong. Thu, 28 Jan 2010 23:20:33 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/racism-looks-pretty-good-on-this-side-of-the-atlantic__trashed/#IDComment54274518