en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/3585047 Comments by kom5173 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/15/voices-from-the-classroom-77/#IDComment229678477 When thinking all that has happened within the scandal at Penn State, it is definitely true that the only ones who are involved are men. I had never really thought of this point until asked this question. If the scandal had involved women, would it really be different? I think that when people originally think of a sexual assault scandal, women instantly come to mind. Women are definitely raped much more often than men. This includes young children, or women of any ages. Many people know victims of sexual assault, and not many of those times are the victims, men. In this case, everything is different. Not only are the victims all young boys (at the time), but also the people involved were also all men. If the victims had been young girls I think that the scandal would be even more extreme than now with the victims being boys. Also, I believe that if the people being accused of hiding the scandal were women instead of strictly men, they would also be treated differently. This being said, it is not very common for women to be on the at fault side of sexual assault scandals. That is not seen that often in the media or society, and that would completely change things. I think that women would still receive the same trial and punishment as the men who are found guilty will receive. One main difference if the genders were switched in this scenario would be the roles that these individuals held. Especially in sports, it is definitely more prominent to have men higher up in roles of coaches, or assistant to these coaches. Women are not often seen with these positions, and that affects how this scandal has been played out. These men are all very high up, well-known coaches to the world of sports, even farther than just Penn State. I think it would be extremely different if it had been women, as they would normally not hold these roles. That is a main factor in why these men were instantly fired, or all over news and sports channels like ESPN. It would not get as much playing time on these channels, especially more male dominated channels like ESPN. I think changing the genders would completely change the situation. I think that people would look at women in a much different lights being the ones accused. The older men like Sandusky are seen as disgusting monsters for doing this, which I do not think that women would be called. They definitely would be looked down upon, since no way would that change the tragedy these victims faced, but it definitely would change society’s reaction to the accused. Tue, 29 Nov 2011 22:29:18 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/15/voices-from-the-classroom-77/#IDComment229678477 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/15/voices-from-the-classroom-79/#IDComment223069277 I would like to answer this question, what if Sandusky were black or Latino, with the answer that it would not make a difference. With our society and our values, I think that it would make it even worse if he were one of these two races. Either way what Sandusky did is completely awful. Personally, I think that no matter what, this is a terrible act that has impacted our entire campus, students and faculty. For myself, I would not say that it would be even worse if he were black or Latino. I do not think that this should make a difference since no matter what the race is, the act of child molestation has taken place. It does not matter who did this act. It could be a woman, a man, a black, a white, it is still all the same disgusting action. For society, I think this is viewed differently. No one looks at Sandusky and thinks, that man is a child molester. I even know a former player, who said he was close with Sandusky himself, and would never expect this from him. This is most likely because of his status in society. People view him as a successful, white, male, football coach for a prestigious football program. No one could ever view him as a child molesting, criminal. Now, he is looked at in this way, as the information has been obtained. I think that if he originally had been black or another race, people may have questioned his ways. As this was proven in studies many times before, people think that black or Latino people have a higher chance of being a criminal. As this is definitely not true, because race does not completely determine your actions, it is still viewed that way in society. I think this is definitely one of our bad qualities in society. No matter what, that man is a child molester. He is disgusting, a monster, and completely impacted the prestige of Penn State and our football program. His race should definitely not have an impact on people’s view of him. He should still be looked at this way, no matter if he is white or higher class. I think the media has a huge influence on this. The media spins a lot of things, as Penn State students have witnessed this throughout campus these past few weeks. The media would definitely take into account that he was a minority, and make pure generalizations about this, and acquire that this had to do with why he did these things. Clearly this is not true, since his status and race had no effect on why he did it, but society does not view it this way. Stereotypes and racism exists in our lives today, and this is a perfect example, of how it definitely would be a different case if he was of a changed race. Wed, 16 Nov 2011 22:16:14 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/15/voices-from-the-classroom-79/#IDComment223069277 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/10/voices-from-the-classroom-71/#IDComment220244638 I believe that the riots would have happened regardless of having the impact of social media. I think that with recent events, these riots were going to happen no matter what police force or social media told them to do. Students that have that much emotional content and anger towards the actions relayed by the Board of Trustees were going to rebel and protest in honor of their values and beliefs. I think that social media does have a huge impact on this though. The second you log on to your Facebook page, or your twitter account, you are swarmed with Penn State. Every single person I know had some sort of status, pictures, videos, and links, something relevant to the current issues that arose on campus. Everyone voiced their opinion on their choice of social media including the idea of rioting. Whoever first created the events condoning the rioting, quickly gained access to thousands of members of Facebook or whatever else to attend the event. I think this was a enormous impact on the outcome of students who ended up rallying on Wednesday night. Without it written in words, many students would have gone and rebelled regardless of what these sites posted, but with the help of this it definitely made the crowd larger. People even were allowed to post their feelings and views on the situation on these events, which only furthered the arguments and ideas presented by students and outsiders. I think that social media is another reason for all of these events to have occurred in the first place. As many students chanted “Fuck the Media”, they are right. The media is the reason for various problems in society, including the ones we see now at Penn State. Obviously they are not the start of the tragedy that has occurred on campus, but it definitely further deepens the issue. The media in general puts their spin on what they think is right, or what is going on in an impacting issue. Social media is a key aspect in this, as students are posting their feelings all over their sites, publically allowing their voices to be heard. Even ideas for the riots to start with a time and location, allow students to come together and join together if this is their opinion of what is right. The riots were a huge dispute as they continued to get extremely out of hand, another way for the media to put a spin on what is occurring here on campus. Without people posting pictures, or creating events for this rally to happen, they may not have proceeded to get to this extreme, instead of the original idea of a peaceful protest for Joe Paterno to come back to Penn State. Fri, 11 Nov 2011 06:23:39 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/10/voices-from-the-classroom-71/#IDComment220244638 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/01/voices-from-the-classroom-59/#IDComment216556219 I think that people talking in different languages can make me uncomfortable and does not bother me at other times. At first I definitely wanted to respond no to this question, but looking deeper into the topic, I think in certain times it would. I think it really depends on the situation that I am in for it to have an effect on me. Many of my friends come from families of different cultures, and will speak those languages around me. My friend will always answer her phone and talk to her mother in Spanish or my other friend in Polish, and it really does not have much of an effect on me. It helps for me that I can understand some Spanish after taking it for many years, but languages like Polish I have no idea what she is saying, until she throws in some English words. In that situation I think it is completely normal and will not bother me at all. If I go places that is predominately a certain culture where they are constantly speaking a different language, it definitely would make me feel uncomfortable. I don’t like not knowing at all what they are saying, without being able to comprehend any of it. I feel like they could easily be talking about me or people around me, and we would never know. I can also see the other side in this, that many people who immigrate here or do not know much English have an extremely hard time living in our country. I think that it is in their duty becoming citizens here that they should learn the language, as many do. I think it is way too difficult to fully live in a place where you can never understand what they are saying, as many immigrants who do not take the time to go through schooling and learn English would. I have traveled out of the country many times, mostly to places that I would not understand their language if they did not also know English. For the short period of time of my travels it did not have a huge effect on my abilities to understand what was going on, but living there full time would. It definitely does not make me uncomfortable when my friends around me talk in different languages in this sense, because they still know English and can communicate with me in that way. It is hard when someone is only fluent in their native language, so there is no way to understand each other besides hiring a translator. I think it’s extremely interesting to hear different languages, but mainly when they can also talk to me in English so we can communicate and talk about their culture. Fri, 4 Nov 2011 00:47:41 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/11/01/voices-from-the-classroom-59/#IDComment216556219 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/13/voices-from-the-classroom-45/#IDComment212693693 I think race plays an enormous factor in how you view the world. Race is primarily the cause of how you are raised, how you live your life, your personal values, and pretty much everything that factors in to your view of life. Being white, I know that I was raised very differently than someone of another race. Being raised in Connecticut, I think that I was brought up very well, which helped shaped how I can view the rest of the world. I come from a well off family, my parents both making middle class salaries, and that helped us in experiencing things that most have not. I think that if they had come from a different race, it may have caused them to make less money, or not be able to do the jobs that they do. I definitely do not agree with this statement, but it has been shown in statistics that this is true. Blacks are shown to make less money than whites, especially for males, and I think that would extremely affect how I was raised. Coming from this income, we were able to travel a lot when I was younger, which helped create my versatile view on different cultures. I was able to visit both my siblings that had gone abroad in College, from coming from a well off white family. We were able to see the countries of Europe with my brother and South America with my sister, two places that caused me to see culture in a new light. We even were privileged enough to travel with business partners of my father to Africa for ten days, which really helped shape my view of the world. We did not travel to places in Africa that would be a huge culture shock as in the poorer parts, but we were able to see safaris, and different things that I would never be able to experience if I had not come from a middle class or above family. I wish that the world would change and that all races would have equal opportunity to make a good living or make enough money to experience the trips and adventures that I was able to as I was younger, but I do not see this in our world and society. I also think that race creates your culture, and how you view society. Being white my culture is extremely different from someone that is Hispanic, Asian, or Black. This makes your view of the world extremely different. I may be more prone to want to donate to certain charities, or feel sorry for different people that someone of another culture may not be. I was able to see different parts of the world and see how they live, making me condone certain things or disagree with other things. People of other races may have a view completely different, a large factor being the experiences that they did not have or the way they were brought up. Even showing the example in class of how blacks will help everyone, when whites are shown to more likely help someone white over someone black. Even this shows a view on the world, from your everyday values. Race is a huge factor in viewing the world, and how you live your life through experiences and different values that are created through this. Wed, 26 Oct 2011 20:06:31 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/13/voices-from-the-classroom-45/#IDComment212693693 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/06/voices-from-the-classroom-39/#IDComment209476353 A female centered pornography industry would be one completely opposite of the current, male centered industry. Now, porn is seen as a total male preference. Not many females are seen to be watching pornography, a main reason being how it is filmed or portrayed. As discussed in class, male’s like the scenes in pornography of the aggression, the role-playing, everything present in today’s industry. As acted about by Sam and Laurie, the scene contained Sam knocking on the door with a delivery package from “Long Sam Silver’s”, starting right off on a male centered fantasy. Next as he walked in, his woman was waiting for him right at the door for his delivery, and probably would immediately start taking off his and her clothes right there. Most pornography is seen as women being deceived almost as dolls, for the males to do whatever they would like to do to them. They have no role except to pleasure the male, no matter what that exceeds to. Many pornography films will contain costumes, anything that would pleasure or excite their male partner. This is all out of a male eye, for women it would contain romance, passion, intimacy, everything a woman idolizes. Sex for a woman is seen as pleasuring the male, not always what they want in it. They see sex as a next step in their romantic life, a step of becoming closer in their relationship as a couple. Women like the cuddling after sex, the intimacy created between their and their partner, all which would be present in a women centered pornography industry. It would not be purely costumes or other ways of pleasuring their male counterpart. It would be the male bringing flowers to the door. The male sweet talking the women into bed, telling her everything she wants to hear. The male would have to be dressed up, even taking the women to dinner on a romantic date before the sex even became relevant. Women like to see the build up to sex, not only the physical aspect of it. They like the emotion that came about from the sex between, afterwards there would need to be a relationship between the woman and the male. For women it is not just the physical attraction, they want to see pornography with the male amazing her in regular life also. The pornography would have to be a story of a male and a woman falling in love, that is what a woman really fantasizes about. Romantic comedies are always considered “chick flicks”, which women really dream about, not just about having sex like a male centered world. Obviously there is always a physical attraction also for women, but it is not solely the reason. This would bet he many differences between the current industry, and women centered industry; the story behind the physical attraction would need to be present also. Wed, 19 Oct 2011 04:49:20 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/06/voices-from-the-classroom-39/#IDComment209476353 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/06/voices-from-the-classroom-40/#IDComment207546757 I think that the idea of women having to wear the clothes that girls these days do go out in is completely unfair. When we go out and wear short skirts, tank tops, heels, things that are completely uncomfortable, it is so unfair to us. It is unfair to think that this is what men want to see in a woman, to see her at discomfort just to look “good” in their eyes. Especially wearing these outfits in the winter, when it is below freezing out and we go out in basically nothing, and have to walk in heels is so unfair. Women sacrifice their health going out in these skimpy outfits in the middle of the freezing cold winter, usually never wearing jackets or anything else since they can be easily stolen. On the other hand, men can be bundled up in layers of clothing and look completely presentable in everyone’s eyes. Where is the justice in that? It is so unfair to women that this is the way it has to be. Heels are far from easy to walk in, especially on a large campus like Penn State. Girls can track around in their heels from across campus just to look better for men. That is disgustingly unjust. Girls fall and break their ankles walking on ice to fraternity or apartment parties throughout the winter, while men are walking comfortably in warm boots or sneakers. Even heels attract police getting girls in trouble, because girls like to take them off while walking across their far walks by campus. Again, men never have this issue, since they can wear any type of shoe that they want. Men are able to wear a sweatshirt and jeans out and that is seen as acceptable. Some guys do not even have to shower before going out, since they do not car as much as women do. Women have to change their outfits about three times a day, in order to be considered looking acceptable especially when going out. If I would ever wear sweatpants and a sweatshirt out, I would be completely judged by everyone around me including both girls and boys. Boys would see me not as approachable or attractive, while girls would be talking about me behind my back constantly. As for guys, they are allowed to wear this or whatever else they feel like that day. That is such a disgrace and undermining to women. It makes girls feel like that they are not attractive unless they go out looking like a slut or a whore. It is not fair that women have to go out looking like prostitutes or strippers when men can roll out of bed and attend a party considered looking presentable. Women already do enough to look attractive in men or even their friends’ eyes. We put on make-up, have to do our hair, and many other examples of things to make ourselves look more “attractive”. Fri, 14 Oct 2011 19:51:08 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/06/voices-from-the-classroom-40/#IDComment207546757 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/02/voices-from-the-classroom-27/#IDComment203651372 If my child came out as gay, I think that at first reaction I would be very surprised, but after that initial moment I would be completely supportive of their decision. I think I would also feel proud for him or her to be brave enough to come out and tell me. I have no problem with gays or lesbians among our society. It bothers me to hear that people do, because in my eyes it is purely their preference. It should not matter to people why they chose to love someone of the same sex. The same thing would apply for my child. I would definitely be confused at first, just as to how to react to this. Afterwards, I would be more than supportive. It would not be fair to act any other way. I never look down at anyone who is gay. I do not think it is right at all for people to do so. I would not ever want anyone doing that to my child, harassing or abusing him or her for this reason. This is the only reason I would feel confused as to how to take in this information. I see how society is towards gays and lesbians, as unfair as it seems to me, and would never want that for my child. I do not think I would be able to sit back and watch this happen to him or her day after day. I would have no problem with my child having these feelings, or pursuing whomever they were interested in. My sister in law’s brother has recently come out of the closet. He now lives with his significant other; both of them have already come out. His mother and family are so supportive of him and his significant other, influencing my family to act the same way. I completely approve and believe the same values that his family has, since I do not believe it is anyone’s business but their own to have an opinion on their preference. My child would have my entire support and love even if they were gay, because I do not believe that any other way would be right. I was brought up in a Jewish household, my mom wanting us to be raised this way even if my father is Catholic. Never once would I hear a single derogatory comment towards gays or lesbians from anyone in my family. This is especially because of having a gay brother-in-law, but I was also raised with the beliefs that it should be this way. My family would have the same reaction I would have, obviously not expected but nothing but support towards his or her decision. I think it’s terrible to hear of people acting the complete opposite way, one of my friend’s brothers was kicked out of his home for coming out. I would never act this way to my child, especially to coming out which takes such courage to do. I would want nothing but support and love from anyone in my family to my child in this situation, and that is how I would react if it happened. Thu, 6 Oct 2011 00:59:20 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/10/02/voices-from-the-classroom-27/#IDComment203651372 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/27/voices-from-the-classroom-22/#IDComment201081921 I do not believe personally that race should affect our view of criminals, but I think realistically in our present time this is definitely true. As shown in class, the statistics were always way higher in Black people in getting caught or blamed for different crimes. It always showed that whites or other similar races had a much smaller chance of being pulled over or charged for certain things. This to me is completely unjust, but definitely true in our culture and society. The biggest example that I think proves this was the bicycle stealing video. As it showed the white man trying to steal the bike, and every one knew he was trying to steal the bike, some people still volunteered to help him. No one really questioned him or called the police until much later, trusting his values and color of his skin. People would look at him and keep walking because they figured someone of his ethnicity and the way he acted or dressed would not be one to steal a bike, which was obviously not true. Then once they switched to the black actor, everything changed. Every person that passed looked at him in disgust, knowing he was doings something wrong. No one offered to help him lift the bike over the bar, or ask him what he was doing. Everyone immediately accused him, asking whose bike that was that he was trying to steal, and he would always reply with it’s not your bike so what does it matter. This is a pure stereotype that is still so present through our country, as unfair as it is. I also found it humorous that even when a white female tried to steal the bike, the actions were the same as the white male, if not more helpful towards her. Men were going out of their way to help her, even when they knew what she was doing. The color of a person’s skin plays a huge right in crime. When drivers are doings something wrong, one of the main reasons to get pulled over is skin type. A black man getting pulled over is seen as doing something wrong, when a white man will often get let off for whatever he was doing. This was much more active in the past in our country, but is absolutely still present. Even in the movie that was shown in one of my classes, Speak, shows an officer pull over a black man who had not been drinking. His wife was intoxicated, but he had been sober to drive, yet still got pulled over. Then the officer proceeded to sexually assault the man’s wife in front of him, and he was not able to do anything about it, because he knew he would get in more trouble. All of this occurred because of the color of his skin, which is seem as more of a criminal to white officers. This is so unfair but definitely is true in the roles of how we see criminals. Thu, 29 Sep 2011 23:45:55 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/27/voices-from-the-classroom-22/#IDComment201081921 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/20/everyone-respond-to-this/#IDComment196367621 I think it is amazing how many entrepreneurs are in Haiti trying to help the country out and better their current lifestyles. First, I started watching the videos on Clorene Blaise. It starts out by showing how she started making handbags, one of women’s favorites. She is extremely resourceful, using old jeans to seam together the bag. She puts her own little design on the bag to look attractive to her customers. I think it’s amazing how she uses old clothing for this, since you rarely see that in the U.S. Instead of making designer bags that are impossible to afford, that we are so obsessed with in our culture today, she makes a completely reasonably priced bag (only $25 in the U.S.), which allows her consumers to actually be able to buy her products. She even makes other shirts, one with the “Hanes” logo another with a logo she doesn’t know. I think its really cool how Sam is almost advertising her products, to try to get her better supplies that she needs by getting her name out there. He goes into showing her “factory”, which is nothing like I’ve seen before. There are only about ten workers in the small room, and everyone is producing their own product. It is not like our assembly lines of machines, it is actual human labor. It reminds me of the way our factories used to be, before we switched over to the machinery lifestyle we now live in. All these workers are solely working to make money to help take care of their families, and even if she does not have all the money in the world, she still pays all her workers decent pay so they can do so. This video really makes me want to help out Haiti, since it seems so hard for her to get the supplies she needs. You never think of these little things when wearing a piece of clothing. I never think of the extreme labor that goes into it, like Clorene shows in her small workshop that they work so hard to make just a few pieces of clothing for people in her area. All she wants are fabric and machines, which is so common in our culture, and so difficult for her to get. It seems totally unfair, but really amazing how much effort and work she puts into her company. Even in the intro it says, “Haitians are amazing people with unlimited skills and the capacity for immense innovation. And many don’t need a lot; they just need small pushes and resources that they can’t get without outside assistance.” This seems so unjust; because people in the U.S. take so much for granted including the materials and machinery we have for making our materialistic overpriced items. She is not looking to become rich, but just make enough to get by, not like the majority of our country. It seems so unfair that she does not have the supplies or necessities to keep her business running, when she has so much heart and passion in her business with all the right skills. Wed, 21 Sep 2011 20:09:42 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/20/everyone-respond-to-this/#IDComment196367621 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/13/voices-from-the-classroom-10/#IDComment193715316 Accents are an extremely interesting topic. So many accents in our culture are found to be attractive, or other accents push us away from one another. I think that some accents are found attractive because they are so unique. We do not get to hear a person speak a certain way everyday like that in America, so we are frequently attracted to that person. English accents fit in this category perfectly. Mostly every girl finds an English man to be extremely stunning, and it is mainly because of the accent. Even males are head over heels for English women, since they find them to be beautiful and spoken even better. This country usually tends to breed America’s favorite singers, actors, or even regular civilians all because of their accents. They have found to be sexy and striking for centuries. Their accents make them different than what we are used to, and that usually makes a person interested, since it is out of the usual norm of what they hear. On the opposite side, people with accents from say India or Mexico are not usually found to be as attractive. In our culture, we have a lot of pre-judgments on different type of people, both of these being one of them. It is one of the many racist ways our country views people. I think that people with these accents may have a harder time being found “attractive” just because of the way they talk. People from places in the Middle East, have the hardest time. These people are usually placed in our eyes in a category of terrorism because of where they are from. We are instantly distant from people that we see wear turbans, or talk in the accents or tones that people from these countries have. It is extremely hard for them in our country, and I think looks and accents have a vast amount to do with that. Even when people will hear a Southern accent in the North, or a Northern accent in the South it is immediately recognized. I think that we tend to notice something different about a person the second they speak, and that will even be attractive to some or not. One of my friends is from Texas, and people love her accent and when she speaks with her phrases, like “y’all” or proper English. This is very different than what we are used to in Pennsylvania, or my hometown in Connecticut. I think that I can agree it is definitely attractive to see most different types of accents, because of how unusual it is to hear that. Even my friends from New York or Massachusetts will have noticeable accents to my friends and me in Connecticut. There are certain points of their speech that make it very noticeable where they are from. Depending on where a person is from determines which accents are found attractive in the U.S., but I think many agree that most accents from out of the country, despite a few, are found to be the most attractive because of their distinctiveness and individuality. Thu, 15 Sep 2011 15:38:58 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/13/voices-from-the-classroom-10/#IDComment193715316 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/08/voices-from-the-classroom-4/#IDComment191242663 I believe that being Jewish can count as both a religion and a culture. Being Jewish myself, it is really easy to label it this way. I came from a Jewish mother and a Christian father, so we never really grew up that religious. In my family, I was raised Jewish along with my two siblings and we all went through Hebrew School throughout our lives. I can definitely label being Jewish as a religion since that was so prominent throughout my life going to services and celebrating holidays, just as it would be for Christianity to Christians. When I label it also as a culture, it mainly makes me think of the way people live who are Jewish. I believe that many Jews are able to live a much different lifestyle than someone brought up in an extremely Christian household. Their beliefs are extremely different from our own, especially in my family. I think being raised Jewish is what gives me some of my characteristics today, as my family is very lenient and supporting no matter what I do. I think that if my family raised us Catholic or Christian, it would make my culture currently very different. My brother-in-law came from a Christian household, and was raised very strictly and did not have much room to branch out and do things he wanted to do. Now seeing my sister’s culture being raised Jewish, things are very different in his eyes being with my family so much. I think that many of my Jewish friends that I have known my whole life are raised very similar. We all came from the same type of household, with the same beliefs and actions throughout our lives. Judaism is clearly a religion since it sets up the rules and beliefs of the way that I think the Jewish “culture” are in mine and other’s lives. I have not yet been to Israel, I am planning on going on the Birthright trip next summer, but seeing pictures and the way everyone lives there makes my belief stronger. It is a very relaxed lifestyle there (despite the war), and people are very kind and giving. We are extremely accepting of other cultures, and extremely giving definitely going along with the Jewish culture as a whole. Jewish people are extremely proud of being Jewish, even as we are an extreme minority, and I think that with other religions such as Christianity that is not present. I do not at all think Jewish is a race, since race to me really is defined as me being white. I would not consider my race “Jewish”, I would think most people would label either black or white. I do not think most Jewish or even Christian people would label their religion, or culture, this way, so I do not think that being Jewish could fit into all three of those categories. Thu, 8 Sep 2011 22:42:20 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/09/08/voices-from-the-classroom-4/#IDComment191242663 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/08/26/what-do-you-want-to-know-before-its-all-over/#IDComment188561629 Race is extremely intriguing to me for multiple reasons. I think it is so interesting that the world can have such a variety of different people. We all live in one world and yet there can be people who look so different from each other even with different skin colors in their races. Even showing us the different colors of skins and how much one race can look so different amazes me. Showing us the people in Africa, they had so many different shades of black, brown, white, yet they are all considered one race. I want to know how that is possible, how so many people can look so different from one another. There is always the debate between races, leading to racism and prejudice, but where does that all come from? Some say that there is only one race, the human race. This cannot be true since we have so many different types of people throughout our world. If race is just how one looks, that undermines the cultural and personality aspects within race. I want to learn more about the cultures going along with each race. It amazes me to see how different races of people can live in different climates and habitats. Even culture establishes different races, knowing different pigments of skin survive better in different places. No matter what you are or what you look like you always become judged. During the poll in class I picked Jewish under the categories of race, religion, and ethnicity. Even religion leads to prejudice and stereotypes. The biggest controversy used to just be black versus white. Now it has lead to stereotypes and hatreds no matter what you are. Who does the world consider perfect then? Our world has gotten into war over races. It split our country into two, why is that so important in our life? It does not make sense to me why just because someone looks or acts differently there have to be such a strong hatred towards them. Even showing the picture that showed the family of Asians, saying they all looked the same proves that. Although maybe most of the class agreed, that shows that our world is racist against anyone but themselves. Even if that picture was photo shopped, people always say, “black people all look the same” or “Asian people always look the same”, and most of the class probably agree. If it is someone outside of your racial or ethnic background, you probably agree. I don’t think our world has ever escaped the racism and prejudice that we still see today, but I want to know will we ever grow out of that. Thu, 1 Sep 2011 00:27:44 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/08/26/what-do-you-want-to-know-before-its-all-over/#IDComment188561629