Nepotism, or granting something to someone solely on family relations, is often thought of as an unfair practice in today’s society. This practice focuses on awarding someone a benefit because of being related to the person rewarding the benefit, without taking into consideration the qualifications they have. However, I do not necessarily see Nepotism as a bad thing. Every person will have family members or people in their families’ networks that can provide them with an array of possibilities and opportunities to gain advantages over other people. Nepotism is not just benefits from your own family members, but also using the people your family members know in order to achieve benefits. People might argue that it is unfair that someone can get a better job than them when they are better qualified for it, just because they were born into a family who knew someone. I believe that knowing someone, whether in your family or someone your family knows, who can help you get a job adds to your networking abilities. Like we said in class, it is often stressed that it is whom you know that gets you a job, not necessarily your skill set. Networking is one of the most important things when it comes to finding a job. Everyone has a pool of people to work with that can help him or her get the job they want by simply asking around. I think that using nepotism to get your goal accomplished is simply using something you have to your advantage. Also, I believe that everyone has people to help them succeed through nepotism and that everyone is going to use it to their advantage. I do not think that many people are going to turn down being giving a great opportunity, just because others may see that they didn’t earn it through merit. They are going to use it as a stepping-stone into their field and then show their skills and benefits to the company once they are in. When everyone else is using nepotism to get ahead, I think by not using it I would be putting myself at a very great disadvantage. Therefore, when the situation knowingly presented itself I would definitely allow my self to benefit from it. Most of the time, nepotism does not present itself obviously and may people may not even realize they are benefiting from it. So many people benefit from it who do not even know they do that I think it is unfair of them to knock people down who benefit it from it in overly obvious ways. To me, nepotism is just another advantage that some people have when applying for something like a job. I think it would be silly to not allow yourself to gain from something that you have going for you.

Putting myself in the shoes of Middle Easterners definitely opened me up to new ideas bout where they are coming from. Their media portrays Americans as brutal people who are merely in their country for the selfish reason of attaining oil. This is the same way we view them. All we see through our own media are the extremists who are criminal and cruel towards their dealings with Americans. Not all Middle Easterners are terrorists, but that is what is always showed on the news and all us Americans see. When we only see the bad Middle Easterners, we believe that all Middle Easterners are bad and want to kill Americans because that is all we know about them. Same goes for Middle Easterners, all they see are terrible Americans who want to do them more harm then good and rob them of their resources. This is what they learn is a typical American, which is far from the truth. I believe one of the first steps for dealing with our turmoil would be to find a middle ground and expose each other to a variety of different people within our own cultures. I think we would easily see that what we are fighting over is pretty silly and more about miscommunication than about anything else. We would also see that we are more alike than we are different because all of us want the same things in life and both countries are made up of a multitude of unique people. I had always just thought of Middle Easterners as being predominately Muslim and never thought of it being just one of the many religions that are practiced there, Comparing being Muslim in Middle East to being Christian in America really opened my mind to this, especially when learning that the Middle East believes every America interaction with other countries is trying to convert them to Christianity. For the question of whether or not I blame terrorists, the answer is yes. Even though they may be extremists, brainwashed, or solely exposed only to the negative portrayal of Americans, I believe that they really should have invested the time to see what kind of people Americans truly are. Most people may hold them a little less accountable for their actions when these things are the case because they can not prevent themselves from being taught certain things or feeling certain ways. However, they should have put themselves in our shoes because then they would see a different side of us, just like I did when I put myself in their shoes. They would hopefully realize that most Americans would love to help them and would be appalled at the thought of harming them. This realization could potentially discourage terrorists from engaging in their horrible terrorism.

The fact that men are socialized to be able to dress comfortably while women are socialized to put a lot of effort into their outfit when going out shows how much of a male dominated world we live in. The world being male dominated and centered on male actions and objectives allows men to have more advantages in life than females. When things are seen by a mainly male perspective, only their desires are taken into consideration. Men being able to dress comfortably show that they want to be able to have a good time while being relaxed and at ease. They have made this possible by making sure that their sex can wear comfy outfits is socially acceptable in this sort of circumstance. Women’s comfort and desires are not taken into consideration because their perspective is unknown by males. The male perspective only focuses on themselves and socialized women into believing that they need to dress up in order to impress the men. The men did this in their desire to view women in a sexual way, all the while it being socially acceptable. Men want women to look hot for them when they see them and that idea is where this socialization comes from. In a women dominated world, the men would be the ones enhancing their features and showing off their bodies, just how women feel it is necessary to wear makeup, high heels, and short dresses. Also, the women would be able to wear sweatpants during these activities because their comfort would be seen as of up most importance. The ideal world would be dominated by neither sex and both sexes could wear whatever they want when going out. Neither would be socialized to dress a certain way, but be able to dress how they desire.
I do completely agree that women may not want to dress up, even though they say that they do. It is ingrained in us to act a certain way in these situations and even the feeling of wanting to act that way has been ingrained in us. We may say that we want to dress up so that the men will be impressed and want to get to know us better because it attracts guys. This is exactly one of the ways we are socialized into this behavior. We are acting a certain way because society tells us it is what we need to do in order to achieve something, attracting guys. Guys are what the world is centered around, so we are socialized to act how they want us to act. Women may rather wear sneakers and loose pants to a party for comfort, but will say that they want to dress up. This is because they have been socialized into thinking that they would much rather be found attractive by males than be relaxed. Women dressing up when men dress down is unfortunate and unfair, but is unavoidable when only men’s perspective is acknowledged in a male dominated world.

There are often times that I feel guilty about being white. I feel guilty about being white whenever I learn about or am reminded of the history and struggles of other races. Especially when talking about blacks, I feel extremely guilty about the slavery that my race forced them into. How my race has treated other races in the past and how we may continue to treat them is very disturbing. It is even more embarrassing to think that we each had no choice in the matter of what race we would be and each had an equal chance of being any of the races. Also, the fact that race is mainly made up of what skin color you are and other physical features that are based on ones genetic makeup makes me feel guilty that some how I was randomly born with features that allow me to be of the majority race. No one can control these features and only harsh permanent changes, like plastic surgery and bleach, can seem like one has altered his or her own race. Another time I feel guilty about being white is when I am reminded that it is not just black people who I have an advantage over, but that I have an advantage over almost all of the minority races. It is sad that I barely even notice that differences in the treatment we receive between races, when they have to face this reality on a daily basis. I feel that as a society we have come very far in fair treatment of other races, but when whites with a criminal background are more likely than a black to receive a job, this certainly is not the case. You can tell by this example that people still hold prejudices and even though we try to be more accepting as a whole, it does not truly exist. Contrary to popular belief, it is not just the older generations that are not accepting different races. Children in a study preferred a white doll to a black and deemed the black doll a bad doll. This shows that society is much more behind in accepting different races that at least I thought we were. I thought younger generations would be well on their way to lessening and maybe even eventually doing away with racial inequalities because we were becoming a more accepting society, I do not see this happening right now when children are some how taught that white is the race one wants to be. The fact that I was so wrong in my understanding of the treatment of other races leads me to feel extremely guilty for being the race I am.

I think it is really interesting that handicapped people have come out and said that they do not appreciate the “R word”. No one can argue that being politically correct when talking about the handicapped is very difficult because they do not know what they are offended by, when the handicapped have come forward and told everyone they are offended by the “R word”. Also, I do not believe there are so many ways of calling the handicapped that society does not agree on what is appropriate to use. I think most people can agree that using the word handicapped would be the most politically correct and sympathetic word because it covers a wider range of people and does not denote any less of intelligence than other people. People have come to use the “R word” as slang to describe something they are extremely displeased with. Also, it often describes something that people think is stupid or dumb. Handicapped people take great offense to this because the word relates their disability to being slow, less intelligent, or not capable of achieving the same things as others. These people already have a hard time facing daily challenges and overcoming hardships that it is highly disrespectful to turn their disability into a negative slang term. Especially when these people have been outspoken about their disdain for the word. The first friend I have ever made had a mental handicap and when we meat at five years old she was just like me. However, I have gotten older and she has pretty much stayed about the age of ten. The only thing different between us is that she enjoys more celebrities and activities of a younger crowd and has extra-specialized schooling. Other than that we are pretty much the same. I feel like people feel the need to label them, but really all they need is extra help and support. People view them as of no use to society or unable to do as many things, so it is acceptable to treat them as less than average, I think the “R word” may have come about as a slang term because people figured the handicapped would not even realize what was going on because they are not intelligent enough to comprehend it. I hope being more exposed to the issue and seeing handicapped people speak about how the word affects them could teach people how wrong their beliefs are and create compassion to change. Just by having the experience of knowing a handicapped person and being around them as taught me that they are just like us and deserve to be respected more then they currently are.

I definitely think that today’s society is more racist towards Muslims than they are of Blacks. I feel like even though racism still occurs towards African Americans, that this society has been taught a lot about their history and has become more accepting of them. In history classes, we are always taught about how they suffered as slaves and how they brought about having their rights recognized. In addition, there are many workshops and classes provided to bring races closer together and treat each other equally, but many people think these are specifically aimed for the treatment of African Americans. I believe American do not really have the opportunity like they do with African Americans to so readily learn about their culture and history. What they mainly learn or know about Muslims come from the media coverage of the war we are currently in. People stereotype Muslims with what they see on TV, even though the suicide bombers and other characters being shown are extremists. The race relations classes, with the exception of our class, that are offered may predominately focus on the relationships African Americans encounter with little to none of the relationships or situations that Muslims encounter. Therefore, these classes provide very little help towards the treatment and racism that happens towards Muslims. Americans are accepting African Americans more, in that they are able to hold organizations specific to their race, protected legally from hate crimes, and people seem like they are less likely to see people based by their color. When it comes to Muslims, they unfortunately have not received as much acceptance as the African Americans receive. This can be seen when everyone on an airplane turns around and gets worried because a Muslim has walked onto their plane and they receive extra pat downs before boarding the plane. Everyone sees people of this culture as possible threats of terrorism because of the extremists they more so see in the news. Also, I think that people do not understand why Muslim women cover themselves, so when they see them adorned in their religious and cultural outfits it creates a sense of fear and alarm to these people. The only way that the racism towards Muslims can start to die down is by informing Americans more about their culture, so that they have a better understanding of who these people are and realize that they are more like us than they are like the extremists. African Americans, although still battling some forms of racism, have had much better treatment after Americans have learned more about them and took the time to understand them. Muslims can hopefully follow this path towards better treatment if most Americans take the time to understand them.

I am glad this question was asked because I was thinking during class if it is truly that the law enforcement is racist or that the places they predominately surveillance are more heavily populated with minorities. I think that the argument for them being racist is very sound, but that these people are only looking at half of the picture. Although there are exceptions, minorities tend to live in poorer neighborhoods that are intercity. These overpopulated places have so much crime because of the close interactions with each other daily and difficulty of keeping yourself protected being surrounded by people. Law enforcement tries to put themselves where most of the crime seems to be happening, so that they can implement and regulate the laws more effectively. When there are more minorities living in the areas that the police inhabit, the result is that more minorities will be arrested for crimes. This is not to say that people are not committing crimes outside of the city, just that most of the human labor of the law enforcement does not exist there as heavily as in the city. Also, outside of the city people are more spread out and able to commit crimes that they could hide much more easily than having the watchful eyes of everyone being around you in the city. The only way to solve the view of being racist, would be to evenly spread out where the law enforcement exists, However, doing this may allow more crime to exist in the places where it is more predominant. One example that people given when they are more favored towards law enforcement being racist would be criminal profiling. This is because they are misinformed on what actually is criminal profiling. Most people believe that criminal profiling is like stereotyping what type of person is most likely to commit a certain type of crime. The true definition is that it is a way of determining the criminal by analyzing the nature of the offense and the method used to commit it. Multiple analyses are used to find out more about the criminal when they do not know who committed the crime. The law enforcement is merely tying to solve a case and try to bring about justice. They are using whatever tools they can gather to accomplish these goals. Solving crimes and enforcing the law rely a lot on predicting human behavior. I believe that much more must be learned in order to catch the right person every time, since we can not fully predict each other’s actions. In the mean time, it may look like law enforcement is full of racism, but really they are just trying to use what they know about criminals to bring about justice.

I can see in my own life how both the choices I have made and determinism has affected me. Both my parents have attended college and it has always been expected of me to do the same. Through the money my family had, I was allowed to go to very distinguished schools where other students’ families also had money, were expected to go to college, and the school had high graduate rates and high test scores. My parents could not see me doing anything but going to college after high school and this was reinforced by my peers and teachers looking and pushing me towards college. The expectations of getting into college lead to me taking the hardest courses I could and studying and doing all my homework for them. I realize I may not have tried to get as good of grades had I not had the end goal of getting into college in mind. I can directly compare this to my cousin’s experiences growing up. Neither of her parents went to college and she could see that they were able to make a living without going to college. They did not push her to get her grades up or give her the expectations of going to college, which lead her to do other things with her time then study. She was able to get to a community college, but her lack of money and study skills that should have come from high school caused her to drop out. These two examples of my life and my cousin’s life show that determinism was a direct result in where we are today. However, we have both made choices despite how we were brought up and the circumstances we were given. My cousin was sometimes told by her dad that homework was not as important as entertaining his company on school nights. Even with this hindrance to her school work and graduating high school, she would find time to get her work done in order to accomplish graduating. I know that there were plenty of times when I decided that something else was more important than completing my homework or studying an extra hour for an exam. My grades may not have been as high as my full potential because of my own decision that my grades were already satisfactory to the standards I was given. I was able to apply to Pennsylvania State University because of my hard work and commitment, but it was mostly the advantages given to me from my parents that allowed me to come to college. I can see my own decisions being made at Pennsylvania State University in that I still hold myself to high standards of getting good grades for my own personal satisfaction, even though I am aware from my school that all you need is the degree for your job and no one cares about the grades you get. I choose to put my best foot forward in my efforts, but it is where I come from that has given me all the opportunities to accomplish these goals.

As much as I hate to say it, I am afraid that race may always be an issue. Older generations right now are having a hard time accepting other races because they were told from society that races are different based on their younger experiences and seeing first hand segregation. It is difficult to instantly erase an idea that you have always believed, so it stays in the back of their minds even with the world and its changes today. The ideas that were constructed in these generations’ minds are easily passed down to their relatives of different generations. People hold their elders’ opinions and feelings with the highest regards, so they are easily influenced by their believes. I think that there will always be at least one person who has inherited the negative feelings against other races. It is only one person that is needed to keep the hatred alive and pass it down to future generations. Also, there will always be places were certain races may not be predominant in because there is limited space to live in specific areas. When people are not exposed to one race or only have a limited exposure to a few people of a race, then their opinions of this race are also limited through others and their own experiences. We are lucky to live in a place that is open to many different races and tries to teach people about other cultures and how to treat each other. Through this, it can easily appear that in the future race may not even be an issue anymore. Other places may not be so lucky to offer courses due to money, interest, or even seeing the need to inform people about races different from their own. In these places they may never learn about other cultures or why it even is important to not be concerned with race and treat everyone fairly. Some places still even see race as a major concern, when they have come in contact with people different from themselves. Sometimes people are very stubborn in their views or too proud to acknowledge that everyone is really just a human. In order to eliminate race as a concern, people’s current views have to somehow be molded to think differently so that hatred can not be passed onto other generations and people must diversify themselves. Society does seem to be trying to do these things, but I feel like not everyone is listening or open to changing their long held opinions on other races. It is very sad for the races that do not get their fair representation and I am worried that without these difficult changes taking place, that race will always be an issue to society.

I think God could definitely be a she. We imagine God as a he because that is how he has always been depicted to us. However, there is no way to be certain what gender he is other than what we have always been told. It could be that God does not have a gender or that he does not have one in the way that we do. He could not even be human, therefore making him something that we would not even be able to classify him as. I believe we automatically assign him a gender because we need to refer to him as something more formal and dearing than just an it. Other people and objects dear to someone would be insulting to call solely it, so we refer to them as he or she. Even objects, such as cars, that people hold very important to them will be assigned names and a gender to show a more personal relationship with the thing. Giving God a gender helps us build and feel a more personal connection to our creator. We decide that the gender we assign to God will be male probably because of the patriarchal views and ideals that have been traditional in our societies and religions. Also, traditionally God has always been male and therefore it is very difficult and different to hear him as something else. I have often wondered based on my own beliefs whether God was male or female. I have concluded that with how much uncertainty we have about him that we may not be able to even comprehend what he is. Even though I am fully conscious that God is not necessarily a he, I still find myself referring to him as that because it is what I have traditionally done and what others tend to find socially acceptable. I would and should try referring to him as a she, but I am afraid of offending other people’s personal believes with religion being such a sensitive topic. Also, when I am unsure if God has a gender like we do, it is hard for me to assign him either of them. There is no other word for me to use, so I continue calling him a he. If I were to hear someone speak about God as a female I would be pleasantly surprised and it would definitely catch my interest. It means that this person has thought about what they believe God to be without just calling him what they have been taught to call him. We have just as much reason to believe that God could be a female, as we believe him to be male. There is no proof that he is one gender over the other, yet we are so used to God being male that it is difficult to think differently all of a sudden.