I think that people are so preoccupied with themselves that they often forget there are other people in the world. I don't think it is a matter of people saying "I don't want to help", I think, in fact, that many people really do want to help. I think that people are so consumed with what's going on in the here and now in their own lives that donating money or time, or observing a few minutes of silence gets put on the bottom of the lists of things to do for the day. This donation of time or money or silence or whatever then eventually gets delayed so much that it is no longer relevant. We live in this culture that is so consumed with our own lives, and I think many of us often push these horrific tragedies aside after a few days because it does not directly effect us. As sad as it makes me feel to write this, I think it is very true.

I think that this letter is extremely eye opening. I will admit that when I think of prisons, I think of men and women, who have done horrible deeds to society. When I hear about a killing, I normally have no sympathy or compassion for the killer because they just took someone's life for their own fulfillment or personal quest. I have no sympathy for those who have no compassion for others. Then, I read this letter and read that most of these prisoners are regular people. The man who wrote this letter made some very profound statements, and it made me reevaluate my thinking of those in our prisons. It is hard for me to get over the fact that this man took someone else's life, but I do feel a sense of compassion for him. I have no idea who this man is, but it seems like he has grown tremendously from where he was.

I think this is a really interesting question. I used to get mad about illegal immigrants coming to the United States and "taking" jobs from Americans who needed and wanted them. The more I started to think about it though, most immigrants are not "taking" jobs from Americans. In fact, many of the jobs that immigrants take, are jobs that many Americans refuse to do. There is this idea of pride in America where many homeless people and people who have been laid off refuse to take some of these jobs that immigrants will happily take. Many illegal immigrants take these jobs because they want to build a better life for their families. I know a very smart man who was laid off, and has remained jobless for years because nothing is up to his standards. If that were me, I would take almost any job to support my family. Maybe working at McDonalds or picking fruit from a pear field in California is not the most glorified of jobs, but they are jobs that will help an individual to support himself and/or his family. Many immigrants come with nothing, but a goal to make a better life. If they are working hard to provide better lives, then really what is the issue.

It is kind of like what Sam said in the beginning of the semester. Many Americans just happened to be lucky enough (or unlucky enough depending on your views) to be born here in the United States, so why does that give us the right to decide who can and cannot come into this country? Just because we were born here, we get to make these decisions? If were getting technical, almost all of us are children of immigrants because there was no one on this land before the English took over other than the Native Americans. Many of us know people in prior generations who immigrated here.

Those who do have the money to immigrate legally in the first place are probably living well beyond the standard of living in their original country. They may not be the ones who need the change the most. The problem is though, if we start to relax our rules on immigration, where do you draw the line of cheating the system? Moving to a new country with different rules and customs and different ways of living is huge so to just relax border patrol to allow anyone into the country is not going to work. There needs to be some type of system in place to still be selective about living in US. The problem is, so if we allow illegal immigrants to stay and come to the US with no problem, how do we address other hot button issues?

I think this is a really interesting comment because I think it shows how ignorant many of us are. We have a tendency in the United States to group people together based on their looks, religion, etc. The majority of Muslims are not like Osama Bin Laden, nor do they believe the same way he does, yet we just assume. For example, even in the airports, I still see extra background checks on Middle Eastern men and women just because they are dressed a certain way, so they are automatically assumed "suspicious." We have to remember that everyone is different and not one view or person represents an entire group of people.

Today's lecture was one of the few lectures that I have found truly and incredibly eye opening. Never in a million years would I have thought I would be able to see where the Arab Muslims are coming from, but after today's lecture I do. After the Jihad video, I got goosebumps. Just seeing all the death and destruction made me so angry. And then I saw the videos of the "Christian Invaders" trying to convert the Arab Muslims to Christianity, and I saw prominent political leaders saying that these people need to be gone, and that this war is from G-d, and then as an American, I was embarrassed. If we are fighting this war as a "crusade" or as a mission from G-d, are we not trying to do some of the same things as these radicalists are? I am not saying I agree by any means with what the radicalists are doing because I think it is unhumane, but I'm saying that I could see the viewpoint of the Arab Muslim. It made me angry when one missionary even said something to the effect of "well they might die now, but they will have a better after life." The line that got me was when Sam kept saying "Well we (as Americans) know that these are just a few knuckleheads, but you (Arab Muslims) don't know that" just as we (as Americans) don't necessarily know the good going on in these places. I just found today's lecture to be extremely eye opening.

I thought the play that Laurie put together was really eye opening. Although I agree with what this student says, "that we are all beautiful", I think as a society we do not act like that. As a woman, I think I am judged on appearance more than men. We have been taught, and socialized as a society that women have to look presentable. I think that women are judged much more quickly on their appearance, and it is to an extent acceptable in our society for men to voice how they feel about the appearance of a woman. Although we are all taught that we are beautiful the way we are, and beauty comes from within and all the other cliche sayings many women have been taught since they were children, society believes otherwise. Just watching an hour of tv, or flipping thorough a magazine, or surfing the internet one gets a very different picture of what "beauty" is. These forms of media are buried under advertisements selling ways to make women look better, lose weight, change their hair color, their eye color (color contacts), their skin color, their clothes and so on and so forth. As a woman, I find it hard to have that self confidence when everywhere I look, someone or something is telling me that I need to be skinnier or prettier, or I need to change my hair color, or makeup because the latest fad says my style isn't pretty. I know the student in this blog said that there are both "voluptuous and thin celebrities", but look at the celebrities who are gracing the covers of magazines; they are the Barbie shaped models who are interviewed about how they stay in shape and their cosmetic routines. As a society, we obsessed with our appearances. In the beginning of the semester, we even talked about women who are bleaching their skin to be "whiter." In addition, you turn on the tv and all you see are women with big boobs, tiny wastes, perfect hair, perfect teeth, perfect clothes. Although most of us our not celebrities, this is what our society advertises for women; this idea of being perfect, and the reality is that no one is perfect. I think Laurie's play is interesting because it shows the constant struggle women go through with their bodies. Although I can only speak for women, the majority of us always see that one thing we would love to change every time we look in the mirror. Personally, I think the prettiest thing a woman can have is her self confidence, but in today's society, that is not necessarily good enough. For a lot of women, being beautiful is keeping up with the latest fads.

I am not sure if this class has actually changed my opinion about anything, but it has helped me to think about certain issues. I still have many of the same opinions that I had before, but some of Sam's points have just made me reevaluate the reasons that I do believe something. I think the most eye opening lecture for me, was yesterday's lecture and video. I knew there was modern day slavery, but to me that video made much more of an impact on me than the book because I could actually visualize it. I think that Sam's lectures just make me think more rather than change my opinion because he doesn't sugar coat things; he tells it like it is.

As Sam said we were going to say, these games are 'sick and disgusting'. I am completely disgusted that someone was not only thinking about rape in general, but had the audacity to think that this would make a good video game. This CNN clip literally makes me sick to my stomach. Even the details of the game are unbearable. How does someone sit around and think "Oh let's make a video game in which a male seeks revenge by raping a woman, touching her breasts and butt, and lifting up her skirt in a subway! yeah that's a great idea! Let's do it!" Whoever is thinking this in the first place needs to seriously reevaluate themselves. It brings us back to this idea that women are nothing more than objects. This video game is saying "yeah women have no thoughts or feelings or ideas". The worse part is that not only did the creator think this was a good idea, but also other people had to have too or else the game would not be in stores right now. Multiple people had to accept this idea. I'm not sure exactly how video games are created, but I'm pretty sure it takes multiple steps and no one said anything. The sad part is that there are hundreds of other games right on the shelves next to this game. To a certain extent, I don't think that things should be censored. I think that parents should be responsible for deciding what their children do and do not watch, and that an individual should be able to choose whether or not to watch something in particular. These games, however, are ridiculous. I know I keep saying this but it just boggles my mind how people think this stuff is okay. I'm glad that this game has been taken off the shelves, but there are so many more like it. In one of my classes we are talking about the effects of media on individuals, especially children, and studies have found that when individuals play violent video games, they are more likely to become desensitized to violence, and are more likely to act out in the same ways in which they have just seen. This means that for many of those playing these games, they are probably thinking that this stuff is ok and may even be more inclined to do it in real life. Even if these games are taken off the shelves, the fact that they are readily available on the internet makes it more scary. It is also concerning, that the Japanese government does not even seem to care. The CNN clip states that the Japanese government have the right to censor things so why is this not being censored? Why are the Japanese government just letting this go?

First, I think that if we got rid of the welfare system, there would still be social classes. We label everyone regardless of whether the title is official or not, so I think that we still all be labeled the same way. Second, while I could see where this student is going, I think that the welfare system is necessary for many. Although there are some who take advantage of the system, many people try their bests to keep jobs and provide for their self and their families. Even though getting rid of welfare may force those who take advantage of the system to work harder to find jobs or a means of living, I think we would be hurting a lot of people too who need this help to survive.

I think this student's question of "can we win?" is really interesting. Although I do not feel like a win/lose heading is necessarily appropriate for this topc, I don't think we can win. I thought it was really interesting when Sam brought up the LL Bean catologue ads and said something to the effect that these are "fake black people". I don't understand why they are "fake". Is it because they're not dressed as how we stereotypically think of black people? Are they fake for going on vacation? I think this is why we can't "win" though because although I did not find Sam's jokes about the family in the pictures funny, many people did. I don't think we're ever all on a close enough page in order to seriously fix views on race.