I thought this youtube video was naïve and really stupid to say the least. They don’t really provide any factual evidence and they stereotype all of Islam in this video. This is what is wrong with the world. We all feel that we are so different from one another and instead of getting to know each other, and putting ourselves in the shoes of our fellow human beings, we stereotype and objectify whole groups of people. The individual’s that produced this video need to understand that the same stereotyping that they did to produce this video, is probably eerily similar to the stereotyping done by some terrorist groups in the first place. We, as a human race, need to come together instead of separate ourselves and all the violence in this world would be greatly decreased. It is almost comical how stupid some people can be. Do they actually believe that an entire religion of people solely want to destroy America? It sounds completely absurd to me. The extremist groups are pretty similar to some Christian extremist groups that we have in the world too. It really only takes a few people to stand out and the whole group can be stereotyped. This is very dangerous thinking and needs to be stopped. It is like saying that because the Klu Klux Klan discriminates and persecutes certain races in the name of Christianity, that all Christians are like this. We know this isn’t true, but we do not know what the media is saying in other country’s around the world. We need to stop treating other groups of people, Middle Eastern especially, as second-class human beings. That only gets us in trouble and can muddle our sense of morality in times of war and in times of peace. Actions need to be taken to change the way of thinking that has plagued this world and brought it to years of destruction and death. We need to unite and band together. There needs to be a level of mutual evolution on the side of American’s and the rest of the world, into an understanding that cooperation and tolerance is always the best solution to any difference.

This was a very interesting and disturbing video, to say the least. It makes it apparent that war and death have been a part of our world culture for as far back as history cares to go. Instead of showing a decrease in violence amongst the nations, we see an overall increase over the years. It is actually very appalling to see how little advancement the human race has come to settle their conflicts. Yes, I do believe that there are some situations in which evil people need to be removed from power, but at least from my immediate knowledge of the wars in our recent history, we see violence and death being brought to human beings for reasons that are much less “acceptable.”
I sometimes wonder to what extent human beings act solely on their individual desires instead of evaluating the needs of others around them. Could it be that through the millions and millions of years of evolution and natural selection that the only reason that the human race has became so dominant, is because we are so individualistic in everything that we do? Every decision that we make and every emotion that we feel is driven by some genetic factors that are outside of our controls. When you look at the concept of war through this lens, it becomes much more apparent as to why it has been so prevalent in our brief history as a species. War amongst other human beings can be seen in our everyday activities. It does not just have to be viewed as killing one another for personal gain. We can see the manifestations of individualistic desires and man’s need to dominate other men in order to better himself. We can see this is businesses, politics, schools, and even social interactions with others. There is always a hierarchy in every aspect of our lives. I just wonder when we will be able to leave these animalistic tendencies behind and start to make some true evolutions. Some evolutions into a world in which we don’t feel the need to kill others to get what we want and a world in which we can all live in harmony and peace with one another for the betterment of the whole.

Gender is becoming a constantly changing and debated topic in the United States as well as all around the world. It becomes and issue of debate in the adoption process, the armed forces, and in education. It is an issue that we have been discussing and trying to understand for centuries, though it seems to be becoming and ever changing and evolving definition and topic.
I am not sure why we ever have to define it anyways though. It shouldn’t affect any of those former topics that I listed. We need to stop judging people by their outside appearance and start evaluating them on their character and abilities. This is a deeply personal issue for many individuals and should be left at that. The government should not try to control people by dictating the rights of individuals’ rights. They should be able to marry anybody they want and it should have nothing to do with what “gender” each person chooses to affiliate by.
Gender is a very interesting sociological issue though. It is actually hard to understand how a person’s outside interactions with society could influence their “choice” to have affiliate with a gender. How then do we describe the people that say that they were born as a boy in a female’s body or born as a female in a boy’s body? I don’t think that those conclusions come from society at all. It seems like a deeply seeded sociological issue similar to suicide or falling in love.
I hope to see society move toward an understanding or at least tolerance of all types of gender and sexual orientation. I do not like to see any group of people being discriminated against for factors that are less their decision than many would actually understand. They should be given equal rights and choices in this nation and should be granted the same equal benefits to living in this nation as a “naturally born” male or female would. It will be very fascinating to see the direction that our society will be headed in the upcoming decades and if all genders will be given the proper treatment that they deserve.

This is a very interesting article and I find it pretty interesting that Obama has chosen to take this stance on the big oil companies. As tight at the government seems to be these days, it seems pretty unfeasible that they can induce cuts on the big oil companies. Much of the funding that politicians get, when campaigning comes from private energy businesses because they know that they are going to need the support of the president. For Obama to take this money from their business is a pretty remarkable move.
Many people do not agree with giving tax breaks to big businesses, but most of those people do not actually understand the way that growth of business affects the economy. When you give breaks to businesses, they are able to increase profit, and therefore increase the number of jobs as well as wages for employees. I think that our nation would be a lot more economically conservative if they understood more about how a free market economy worked. I think it should be mandatory in schools that individuals take an economics course to become more informed consumers and citizens.
Creating cuts for the oil businesses would also influence the prices that they are charging. If they had to charge more to make their profits, then the economy would be hurt as a whole. The entire economy is affected by the price of oil. The transportation of any good or service is directly related to the price of oil. If the prices are able to be lower, that would increase the business’s incentive to ship more, produce more, and therefore revamp this downtrodden economy from the business’s end.
This is a typical sociological example. We strive to understand what is best for a nation by examining each decision and option regarding the citizen, the government, the politicians, the businesses, and the country as a whole. We cannot understand fully what is the best decision unless we discover each part’s motivations and the direction that the whole nation is trying to go. The invisible strings are crucial in comprehending the decisions of a nation.

This article was very interesting to read. The prediction of the ultimate demise of current formalized religion is a little startling to think about at first, but begins to make sense as. It is pretty clear that religion is beginning to waver in the United States as well, though it cannot be based on collected data. I, as a self-proclaimed agnostic, am frequently interested to hear the testimonies of both the deeply religious and the passionately atheist. Its clear that older generations are much more likely to support the notion of a stereotypically Christian God, while many more individual’s in my generation tend to be siding a lot more atheist these days.
I can see the points that these mathematicians are deeply seeded in some of sociology’s most fundamental principles: people tend to side with the majority and that it seems to be economically favorable to be part of this majority. Judging based on historic trends of American people, we do tend to see that we follow in the footsteps of many European idealism and fashion. It is sad on many levels to refer to the concept of religion in the same tone that we can discuss religion, but when examining many sociological principles, it seems that we can.
I find the commentary of the Trinity College professor a bit comical. He is essentially telling us to ignore empirical evidence and sociological foundations, based on scripture. He’s actually using the doctrine that is up for debate as a rebuttal to it’s extinction, which is a clear cut rhetoric fallacy.
As for my opinion, I do see the extinction of the current religious powerhouses to be inevitable overtime. Historically, we have become a much less religious society with the increase of scientific understanding and theory, which doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. The truth is religion, as it is, is becoming outdated. The leaders are not being able to appeal to the masses and especially to the young generation of people who need constant visual stimulation to stay focused. Perhaps if they distributed attention-deficit medication or a mild hallucinogenic drug at the doors of local churches, they could spark the interest of our generation. I support the messages of morality and consequences for our actions on this earth, so I really do hope that these religious groups can make some drastic changes before they become obsolete.

This was an incredibly well thought out and well orated speech. It was very cool to see from the mouth of an individual that has had the experience to be raised by a gay couple, what his experience has been. I have to say that I agree with what he said. I support gay marriage and think that it is sort of ridiculous not to. Why should two individual’s that love each other not be able to be united in marriage in the eye’s of the state? There really is no justifiable reason that I can think of. The foundation of a strong family is one based on love, trust, and commitment and for any legislator to have the audacity to try and stereotype the relationships of gay people is beyond the definition of the word ignorant.
It is pretty clear here that this individual, Zach Wahls, has turned out to be a very successful contributor to society. His accolades include scoring in the 99th percentile on his ACT’s, owning his own small business, being a successful Iowa undergrad pursuing engineering and I think that any parent would be damn proud of what this young man has accomplished. He was raised by gays and looks to be doing much better than myself, as well as most of my friends that come from heterosexual parents. This is a testament to what good parenting can produce, not what a gay or heterosexual parent can produce. These legislators are looking past the results of strong family morality and hard work and are merely looking at the minute detail concerning the sexual orientation of the parents. That has nothing to do with the wellbeing of the child or his future.
Its important to look at what the gay couples are doing for our nation. They are prime examples of individual’s that would be perfect candidates to accept, love, and adopt children that do not have families of their own. I am sure that if the legislatures asked these children that do not have families if they would prefer to go on living in a foster home or to be adopted by gay or lesbian parents, they would surely say that they would prefer the latter.

This story is unbelievably sad to say the least. It is clear that as a fourteen year old person, you cannot be held completely accountable for every action that you take part in. If the guidance for the child is not given, it is clear what kind of road the person can easily go down. It is just very sad to hear that someone that feels so much remorse for his actions could be locked up for so long. Am I condoning his actions? No. Do I feel like he could have done many other things to have helped and that he had many chances to do so? Yes, but was this completely his fault? No.
I have immense respect for the inmates that are able to look within for growth and compassion instead of shutting down or turning to further evil ways. It seems like even though this man is locked up for a very long time, he is still not missing out on his ability to grow internally and that deserves a lot of credit. M. is not asking for pity or anything more than understanding and that is what we, as readers, can give him. He told his story about being caught in a situation in which he was too scared to act out in and we are faced with similar situations everyday. Peer pressure and other methods of control effect us all the time, but we can take this story as a reason to shut out those negative thoughts and act the way that we believe is truly right. Society has so many strings attached to us, to make us act in certain ways, but we need to strive to understand those strings and to be able to refuse their control at some points in our lives.
I hope that this man is able to come to terms with what he has done. It was a terrible things, in which he cannot take it back. All he can do at this point is grow from it and learn. That is all anybody can do in their situations, whether they are behind bars or not. We are all human beings that make mistakes, but we can never refuse the chance to learn, help others, and evolve.

It seems absolutely ridiculous when they point out all of these flaws in our educational system. Any institution that stays stagnant for this long has got to be outdated and cannot be working completely efficiently. For starters, its clear that age cannot be the most important facet that dictates what level of learning a student is on. I know that for me, being a “gifted” student, I did not get the appropriate level of attention on the things that interested me. I was so bored with school and I blame the public school system for holding me back for so long. I really was one of those creative-type children and I feel like I was zapped of my creativity and it is so difficult to get that back.
I would definitely make many of the changes that he suggested. I would change the level of education based on intelligence and based on creativity. Next, I would try to figure out how people worked best. They said that many people learn differently in different kinds of groups. It is clear to me that I work best in medium sized groups but I have not really found a system that provided that for me. Especially in college it is so difficult to find the appropriate sized groups to learn best. It is difficult in Penn State, with their large classes, to be able to find the best size group to learn.
The metaphor of the public education system to be compared to a factory makes a lot of sense. How they divide us into subject and age and ability. We really do lose the sense of aesthetic beauty that comes with learning. It is truly a travesty to refuse our kids this chance.
Also It is clear that this ADHD epidemic is not really one at all. We are medicating our children to become workaholic drones and they will lose so much from the educational process. I propose that we try to revamp our education system as soon as we can. So that no other gifting and excited, creative people lose out on so much of the wonders of learning.

This article is a bit infuriating. It really does represent a lot of the problems that that country’s people are beginning to face. First, it is crucial to point out exactly how this nation was formed. We decided that we did not feel that taxation without representation was a fair rule to follow. We, as individual’s, decided that above their duty to their government, they had a duty to common sense and to a sense of personal freedom. They were not being able to express their inalienable right to freedom and that is what provoked the war that gained independence form England.
This country was then built on the backs of people that worked hard, for themselves and their families. They had pride in their lives and the “American Dream” was fresh and alive. I feel that this same sense of personal responsibility and pride in one’s life and work has somehow fallen by the wayside. I believe that the way that the government tries to control almost every facet of the American citizen’s life is an abomination to the very foundation of how this country was built.
I am a registered Libertarian. I really do believe that with proper education any person should be able to make informed, sound decisions for how they would like to live their life. Yes, there have to be some laws to mediate appropriate interaction between individuals. I am not promoting an anarchy. I am merely promoting the respect for the individual’s freedom over the opinion of big brother. We are born, we live, and we die; these things are true, but why would any person stand for a type of government that removes a person’s right to make their own decisions for how they want to live their life.
We are born to be free and somewhere during the socialization process we think that it is okay to be told exactly what we can do and what we can’t down to the how we feed our infants and ourselves. This is a direct violation of a human’s right to freedom. The government should take responsibility for the education of the individual’s, but after that they should be given their right to life their life the way that they believe is best for them.

The statistic that only 30 percent of Americans own passports is startling to say the least. It also makes a lot of sense. I think that one of the biggest problems in our country is close-mindedness and a loss of appetite to learn about other cultures. It is clear that to become a more well rounded human being, you should try to become as culturally diverse as possible. There are so many things that we can learn about ourselves just through other people. Travelling abroad is a great way to do this and to expand our minds.
I hope to one day have to opportunity to travel the world and to learn about the way of life of different people. Professor Richards talked about how he liked most being in a place that is as foreign to him as possible. These are some really thought provoking words. As human beings we like to be safe in our own bubble of a life, but why do we not naturally try to expand our bubble? I do not understand this in the least. We should constantly be striving to break barriers and become better people through the understanding of the world around us.
We are all going to die one day and I, for one, do not want to look back on my death bed and think that I haven’t tried to expand my knowledge of the world around me. As a member of a country that is becoming exponentially diverse every year, we should be trying to grasp this change by wanting to know a lot about the people around us. I am not saying that we can’t learn a lot from people in our own neighborhoods and towns, but to understand a completely different culture from elsewhere in the world is incredibly exciting and useful. I hope to be able to have the opportunity to study abroad at some point in my time at Penn State. I would like to go somewhere else and know absolutely nobody and be forced to adapt and learn about my surroundings and the people in those surroundings. I feel like that would be a wonderfully eye-opening experience that I could carry with me for the rest of my life.