I have had similar experiences when it comes to nepotism. I can’t see anyone turning down a helping hand in order to make it fairer for someone else. People enjoy helping their own friends and family members. This form of social networking could definitely leave people who are the most qualified out in the cold. This is not a fair way of obtaining of a job or an opportunity. I was surprised to see how people rated themselves compared to other people. This backs up the idea that people think they have a privilege over other people, especially if they are getting help from social networks behind the scenes. This is the reason why people accept the benefits of nepotism even though they might have an idea that there are people who are more qualified than them that are being overlooked.

I was really shocked to hear that affirmative action was most helpful to white women and that it doesn’t affect as many people as I previously thought. I’ve heard many conversations on this subject where almost everyone disagrees with affirmative action. The main argument against this policy is that the most qualified people might be overlooked so that companies can follow affirmative action correctly. However, thinking about this situation from a different perspective, I believe that most of us have experienced something similar. I can recall at least a five time in my life where I was chosen as an employee over someone else just because I knew someone who knew someone. For example, my parents have helped me get summer jobs since I was fifteen. My first job was at a daycare, and my mom happened to be great friends with the director. At the time that I was hired, I had barely any previous experiences working with children and babies. After I started working there, I noticed that many of the employees had either been mothers, nannies, babysitters, and finished high school or college. It made me feel pretty good that I was able to get the job that other people had to try harder to get. I could definitely relate to what Sam was saying in the lecture. That was my first job, and I was already experiencing the benefits of nepotism. My experience of getting a job that I was clearly not qualified enough for was a positive one for me but a negative one for society. However, like Sam said in the lecture, I’m definitely not going to turn down a job offer or some sort of privilege because it wouldn’t be best for the community. I don’t think anyone would. In addition, I know my parents wouldn’t pass up the chance to hook me up with a job if they had the option. I know I will do the same for my children as well. This idea of nepotism goes along with the power of social networking. If my parents hadn’t made so many social connections with other people, they wouldn’t have been able to help their child in the workforce. I think that its important for people to work with this idea because it isn’t going away anytime soon. I’m not sure how to change this occurrence. Perhaps if there were strict hiring guidelines, it would be more difficult for employers to have a preference between possible employees. Its hard to say. Like Sam said, affirmative action would only be helpful to people who are in a specific group and assumes that everyone in that group needs the same assistance. Even if two people are in the same culture, they are still individuals and cannot be served the same way. Also, people outside the focus group who might have the same needs are being excluded.

I agree with your post. I can understand where people are getting these ideas that immigrants don’t deserve to be here because the media and politicians portray them as monsters. Many people forget that we came to America in order to make a better life for ourselves. It is ridiculous of us to forget where we came from, that we were once in similar positions. I think people need to begin looking at the issue for what it is instead of blaming political parties for the current state of these policies. I can’t believe how much business owners suffered from the immigration restrictions. This issue affects business owners and consumers. Policy makers need to understand how everyone is being affected by new restrictions.

The lecture on immigration really got me to think about how our current immigration policies have affected business owners in America as well as consumers I’ve never seen anyone in the media say anything good about immigration and illegal immigrants. Although I was aware that they are used for cheap labor and work, I didn’t realize how many business owners depended on them for their work. After listening to Sam’s story about that woman’s pear going to waste because she couldn’t find the laborers she needed, I was surprised that politicians did not foresee this negative outcome. Every time I watch the news and they are discussing illegal immigration, the issue of “stealing American jobs” always seems to come up and causes many people to become upset. In reality, I don’t think any American citizen would do the work that an illegal immigrant would do for the pay that they receive. We have laws on how much citizens get paid for their work on an hourly basis depending on what the work is. I’m not saying that we should allow anyone to come into the country at any time, but if it American businesses are dependent on this kind of work and there are immigrants who are willing to work for them, we should loosen up the restrictions on the boarder. I’ve heard countless conversations between people on this issue. In every single conversation, there was never an argument or perspective that touched upon how illegal immigrants might be helpful for our country. People look at immigrants as if they are lesser people, less intelligent, and strange because they are not willing to leave behind their own cultures to become part of American culture. I never thought of how we were illegal immigrants when we invaded the land of the Native Americans. Maybe our fear of illegal immigrants comes from how we took over the Native American’s land. Perhaps we are scared that an outside group is going to be like we were and that leads us to feelings of extreme paranoia. I think its wrong of us to expect people to adapt to our culture the second they enter our country whether they are illegal immigrants or not. Like Sam said, we certainly did not do that when we came to this new land. It was very painful to hear Sam read the letter of our former president, how he bragged about killing so many people and using their body parts for different purposes. That is so sick and I can’t believe it was “accepted” in a way because the Native Americans were seen as savage dogs. I think that’s how some people look at illegal immigrants that they are not as sophisticated or smart as Americans. We need to change our perspective on illegal immigrants because many people are only seeing the issue from one view point, as I was before.

I agree with you that the LGBT community should definitely have equal rights. Its crazy to think that religious individuals can use the bible as their form of “backup” to support their belief that they should not be able to get married or be treated equally. The population’s perspective on this issue is ever-changing and I think we will see much change in legislation in regards to LGBT rights. I also agree that children will be able to grow up in a loving environment whether it be a homosexual couple or a straight couple. As long as the family has the same strong support system, it shouldn’t matter the sexual orientation of the parents.

PART THREE: I was shocked to see how low the number of people who were accepting of LGBT marriage was. The relationship between the discrimination of LGBT and different cultures is unmistakable. I know a couple of homophobic people and I cannot wait to tell them about that arousal statistic! That is very ironic! I don’t understand how someone’s sexual orientation makes them more or less of a person who is eligible for human rights. When I have kids of my own, I bet I’m going to tell them about the statistics of LGBT rights supporters and they are not going to believe it. Similar to how I feel when my mom tells me stories of discrimination against black people. I can’t imagine such a world because we have come such a long way. I’m excited to see where this changing time takes us.

PART TWO: . I’ve never really understood how powerful that connection is. People aren’t going to rid themselves of the culture that is accepting to them. I definitely agree with Sam that it is smarter to embrace other cultures than to reject them. Someone who isn’t accepting and willing to learn about other cultures will end up secluding himself or herself because our country is going through a big change where there is more than one dominant culture. I was blown away at how similar the rap genre sounds in different languages. Globalization is a powerful thing! They even have the same rhythm and beats as US rap music. In American rap, English is hard to understand in our songs sometimes. You could switch out an American rap song with a Chinese rap song and I wouldn’t even know the difference… they are so similar!

PART ONE: I really enjoyed watching these lectures. I couldn’t believe how much democrats’ and republicans’ views differed from one another when asked about living among other cultures. The thing that surprised me the most was the fact that church-goers said they would rather not live around people of different cultures! You would think religious people might be more accepting to other cultures. But at the same time, I can think of a couple religious families in my community that are always complaining about the growing number of Mexican immigrants in the US. Its interesting to see these statistics. Like Sam said, it makes you wonder if people who identify as a democrat or a conservative are just “living up to their name,” in a sense because both groups express very different views when it comes to immigration and etc. I think both groups are very hypocritical. I’ve never thought about how we totally shut immigrants out of our communities and yet we expect them to embrace American culture the second they step foot in our country.

It was very interesting to see Sam talk about the different stages of race from the perspectives of black and white people. I am white and I suppose I never actually felt my race until I came to college. I grew up in a very white community with hardly any other people of different races and ethnicities. Because of my upbringing in such a community, I always knew I was apart of the majority in my community. Once I came to Penn State, I was still apart of that majority. I didn’t realize how many white people went to Penn State and also how big the percentage was of white people in Pennsylvania. I’ve never had an early childhood experience of discovering my race. It made me feel sad that the black children said that the white doll was good and the black doll was bad. It’s crazy that children that young can pick up on how different races are viewed by society. Growing up, I can’t remember ever having a doll of another race other than white. If I hadn’t seen the video, I would have assumed that the black children would have picked the black doll to play with over the white doll. Its upsetting to think that black children might have the feeling that they are “bad” just because they are black, similar to what they felt about the dolls. I’ve never had an experience like that where I felt less of myself because of my race. Hearing Sam talk about his friend’s daughter’s experience of discovering her race made me wonder how different children react to other races. When her friend said that her skin was “dirty,” I’m sure that she just associated it with the dark color. However, as children begin to realize difference between races and how their culture responds to this, I wonder how this affects their development. As a kid, I wasn’t exposed to any discoveries or like hers. When I came to college, I was confronted with more diversity than I’ve ever been exposed to in my life. The first time I ever felt white was my freshman year at Penn State at a Jay Z concert when I felt like the minority for once in my life. The crowd was mostly black students and I honestly felt like such a “white girl” because I couldn’t dance as well as the other black people could. At that moment, I felt uncomfortable because of my race. Looking back, I can kind of relate to how a minority might feel when discovering their race. I felt insecure and unable to relate to the “mainstream” that made up the concert crowd. I can’t imagine how I would feel if someone at the concert would have said something to me about my race.

I also enjoyed this lecture. People from ever race or culture probably have a hard time viewing people of other cultures or races as an individual. I am a white person and its funny to see things like “white girl problems” online because these pages are portraying white people as a group of people who all have similar problems, lifestyles, etc. When I see things about other cultures and races, I am learning to recognize the fact that not everyone from that group is the same. My friends that are also white are all very different from one another. In order to learn more about the people around us, we need to understand how different people are whether or not they are in the same race.