gdp's Comments

World In Conversation : What would make this guy LESS white?

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 18:30:38 +0000

First of all this guys is the quintessential “white” guy because he’s making a video for TheArmedAmerican.com about a Carry holster. You don’t get much more white then that. But in all seriousness, I think that what makes a person act “white” or act “black” is literally everything about the person. By this I mean the clothes they wear, the way they speak, the friends they associate themselves with, literally everything. One of the biggest things, I think, that make a person who they are is their up-bringing. He probably grew up in a town similar to state college, with parents of the same race. This fact alone could have made him “white”. He is well spoken and articulated. His words aren’t slurred and he doesn’t use much slang. Even the tone of his voice sounds like the typical males voice. He looks like a classic white guy; cut hair, wearing a polo, tucked into jeans, with a belt and a simple watch. The way he moves his body and uses his hands when he speaks makes me look white, along with his posture. This guy really reminds me of a cop to be honest. Even the product he’s explaining is like a “white” product. You wouldn’t see a black guys in the “hood” wearing a holster. Not only is this it wouldn’t look right because they dress differently but also because it’s basically a waste of money and useless. He could just carry his gun in the buckle of his pants and it would do the same thing. Plus they’d lose street cred because gun holsters are such a “white” thing to have. Another thing, I’d like to bring up is how awkward this video is. Yeah, for some reason white guys do always get pegged as being kind of awkward in a lot of situations. I still haven’t figured out why this is. Maybe it’s because for some odd reason they actually are just awkward. This guy really doesn’t help their case. The awkward silence after he says, “When was the last time you caught yourself staring at someone else’s zipper?”, was priceless.

World In Conversation : Stranger Kidnapping

Fri, 4 Mar 2011 15:29:16 +0000

I believe that news stories like this instill fear into people and are made a bigger deal by news stations. I’ll admit I was one of them. When I was little, my mom also used to scare me into thinking that children were kidnapped all the time. She was always telling me that there are people in the world you couldn’t trust and people who wanted to hurt children and that I had to be aware of my surroundings and always stick close to her when we went out. She also told me that if someone ever does try to grab me to kick and scream and bite and do what I have to in order to cause a scene. And of course she’d tell me the classic parent saying “don’t talk to strangers.” I never knew that it was bad advice to give your child until class and I suppose it’s because of what I grew up hearing from my mom. She probably never heard this statistic and even if she did I don’t know if she’d believe it. She was always super paranoid about me being taken as child, probably because of the over exposure of news cases and investigation t.v. shows. I mean I remember when I was maybe 10 years old and all of that stuff was going on with the Elizabeth Smart kidnapping. She was taken from a window that was left open in their home. I’m still nervous to sleep next to windows because of it. The bottom line is that people probably would be less scared and give their children better advice if the media didn’t try to scare everyone and was truthful about how many children actually get kidnapped. But I mean it’s not just news stations that are trying scare people it’s the investigation shows too, although these may just be doing it for entertainment purposes. Just yesterday I was watching this show on Investigation I.D. about the Jessie James Hollywood case ( for those who don’t know, it’s what the movie Alpha Dog was made after) and the narrator was talking about the group of kids who committed the murder and how they were party animals, who would drink a lot, smoke pot, and have girls over to their house. I mean the kids they were describing we’re basically students at Penn State and what they do in their spare time. Does this mean that people should be afraid of college students because they party so they could commit a murder? No, the thought is completely ridiculous. So why isn’t kidnapping if it happens so little?

World In Conversation : What's the sociological message here?

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 19:06:04 +0000

This is absolutely great and so honest. I mean when you're in a relationship with someone, you never really think " wow if things don't work with so and so I can totally just find someone else." Unless the relationship is like super horrible and you know it's about to end. No, you always think "wow I'm so in loooove" and "i am with the best person in the entire world." blah blah blah. I mean even when you first break up with someone you don't even think you can find someone else, even if the relationship was horrible. I mean people are too busy crying and feeling sorry for themselves and making themselves feel alone and isolated. I mean there are those people who go out and party after they just broke up, but I don’t feel like that’s real and because they think they can find someone else right away, it’s either because they were in a super controlling relationship and are all like “im free” and what not, or because they are just trying to pretend they aren’t sad. I mean I know, myself, I’m like that. When you really think about it that way of thinking is so unreasonable. I know a lot of people believe in the whole “soul mates” thing, I personally don’t , to some extent. I mean sure, there could be that special person out there that is completely made for you but, honestly, what are the chances of finding them? That’s why I believe we settle for what works for us and I believe that what this song is kind of about. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing at all. It doesn’t mean you can’t fully love someone with all your heart. I believe that relationships and love are things you have to work on they aren’t just placed in your lap or given to you. You don’t just meet someone fall in love and that’s the happy ending. And even if you love someone that doesn’t mean you like them all the time. No one can ever be all love-y dove-y all the time, that’s obnoxious. Bottom line, the song is right whether people want to believe it or not. If you aren’t with someone you’ll most likely be with someone else. I know if my boyfriend said this to me, at first I’d be like what the fuck, but then after thinking about it I’d probably be like, yeah you’re right, so would I. I think more relationships would work out if more couples realized this with one another.

World In Conversation : Remember

Sat, 12 Feb 2011 03:55:07 +0000

Even though this entry is short, it says everything that could possibly be said. You never really think about all the things you’ll miss until they are gone. It saddens me to think that this man, who has clearly realized what he’s done wrong and wants to change, who has fully gotten life, will never get a change to truly prove it to our society. The thing I found the most interesting about the entry was the second paragraph, where he communicates the things he can remember. I really related to this, not because I’ve experienced what he has is anyway, but because I know that if I were in prison I would probably only be able to think and remember the thing that got me there. This entry made me realize how our society really views prisoners. Even myself to this day viewed lifers as people who have gone so far off the path that they have no way of returning and no way of making up for what they did. I always viewed them as people who were incapable of change, clearly I was wrong. This entry has, in some way, given me hope. These people who are lifers HAVE to be incredibly strong people to deal with all of the emotional and mental things they have to deal with. What Sam said in class really relates to what this prisoner has written; in prison you have two choices, you either go crazy or accept God. I think that it is incredible that this man chose to find God and ask for forgiveness. It takes a strong person to fess up to what they did and admit that they were wrong, in any situation. It also takes a strong person to forgive. That is the strongest message that came through to me in this blog entry. I think it’s sad that some of these prisoners have the strength to change and show remorse but our society doesn’t have the strength to forgive them and give them a second chance to prove that they can function in our society.

World In Conversation : How "free" are these 90 students?

Sat, 5 Feb 2011 00:09:19 +0000

Do I think sex education should be required for all high schools? Without a doubt. I feel that ALL students through out their high school career should be required to take a health class that includes sex education and all its aspects. Do I think abstinence should be preached more? It wouldn’t hurt, but at the end of the day teens are going to make the choice to have sex. They are going to experiment.

World In Conversation : How "free" are these 90 students?

Sat, 5 Feb 2011 00:08:58 +0000

As for sex education, I’m sure that in some way all of these high school students knew that having unprotected sex gets you pregnant. Even without sex ed, teens know that that is how it happens. I feel they make the choice to get pregnant not because they are under educated or because they don’t care, but because they think it’s acceptable now. They actually think it’s beneficial to them in some way. I feel these teen pregnancies and parent shows have done the opposite of what they intended. They intended to create a reality program to show teens the hardships that teen mothers face. Instead of making in undesirable they made it more popular, even glamorized.

World In Conversation : How "free" are these 90 students?

Sat, 5 Feb 2011 00:08:36 +0000

If they hear their friends talking about it, they are naturally going to want to have input. Back in the day, if a teen girl became pregnant in high school she was an outcast. In the present day, shows like MTV’s Teen Mom and 16 and Pregnant have made the idea of being pregnant and taking care of babies acceptable and even desirable somehow. I’m sure there are even girls out there who are trying to get pregnant just to be on TV.

World In Conversation : How "free" are these 90 students?

Sat, 5 Feb 2011 00:08:12 +0000

It’s been going on for years, teens get pregnant in high school and then the system questions their sex education program; but this case is actually shocking. I understand stuff happens, people make mistakes, but 11% is incredibly too high. Do I think that these teens are making a “free” choice? No, not at all. There are so many contributing factors that made these teens choose the path they chose. Peer pressure is an incredibly big role on all teen choices, they want to be excepted by the group. Teens pressure other teens into having sex and they are willing because they want to be accepted.

World In Conversation : Life Without Parole - 001 Blog

Fri, 28 Jan 2011 22:03:57 +0000

I’d like to start this entry off saying that no one is 100% sure of their moral compass. I can’t imagine having to grow up in prison. I mean, I grew up in a normal society and I still felt like a prisoner in my teen years, and I often still do. To answer this prisoner’s question, “Am I a good man?” From what I read, I’d have to say yes. He may have made serious mistakes when he was younger but it seems that his 22 years spent in prison were not wasted. For someone who has been shut off from society during the most crucial time of his life he seems like he has done a lot of reflection and has ended up somewhat “normal.” It made me sad to think that he will never have another chance in our society to right his wrongs and the things that he said he never experienced, like have a family. But what makes me wonder is if he were, by some miracle, granted parole, would he succeed in our society. I don’t know if anyone had seen the movie Shawshank Redemption (it’s excellent, I recommend it if you haven’t). In the movie, there are parts when characters talk about not knowing how to cope with society because they had been in prison so long, that many people who would get out on parole would end up committing more crimes, so they would be put back in jail because that is what became familiar to them; or they would end up committing suicide, like one of the characters does. It’s strange to think that prison, this cold uncomfortable place, could end up actually being somewhat of a home to some people. A modem of operation that even though you get out of it, you can’t escape it. Even though this prison has done years of looking inward at himself, viewing his morals and trying to figure out where he did wrong, would he be all right coming back in to our society? My answer is most likely no, he wouldn’t. They way he views life and his morals, even though they seem put together and on track, is distorted because of where he spent his crucial learning, teen years.

World In Conversation : Freedom and Toddlers in Tiaras - 001 Blog

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 22:38:22 +0000

(cont.)The mothers of these girls claim that the girls want to be doing the pageants because they love winning. But, someone had to get them started somewhere. It’s evident that these mothers push their little girls into these pageants because they want to live vicariously through them. I feel that some of these mothers exploit their kids, making them dress up and parade around, all because they want to feel like they are winners and for money. It just makes me wonder, when they are dressing these little girls up risqué costumes, wearing almost nothing in front of national television, if they ever think of the sex offender or predator who is watching on the other side of the monitor. The claim it’s all suppose to be funny, but it’s really not. Making these little girls act the way they are at a very young can affect these girls psychologically when they’re older. At least in adult pageants, like Miss America, the contests know what their actions mean and aren’t being pushed into doing them.

World In Conversation : Freedom and Toddlers in Tiaras - 001 Blog

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 22:37:17 +0000

(cont.) I couldn't believe the video clip above where the 2-year-old was wearing the Madonna bra. The mother claims that people who think that pageant mom’s are over sexualizing the pageants are looking into too much, and that her daughter doesn’t know the difference. I feel that the thing that makes these toddler pageants so much weirder and sicker from normal pageants is that statement alone. Exactly, these little girls don’t know, can’t understand or comprehend, the things they are doing and the messages they are sending because they simply aren’t mature enough. They simply shouldn’t be doing the adult like things that they are doing.

World In Conversation : Freedom and Toddlers in Tiaras - 001 Blog

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 22:36:32 +0000

First off, I just want to say that I think that toddler beauty pageants are so much weirder than regular beauty pageants that teen or adult women take part in. The weirdest part isn't just that these little girls look like mini adults, with make up, curled hair, fake teeth, and spray tans (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORcBTC7TiVY&NR=1). It also extremely weird how seriously these moms take these pageants. They spend hundreds and hundreds of dollars on dresses, accessories, props, lessons, coaches, etc. They have no reservations about exposing there kids to public.

World In Conversation : Last Name “V” – Intense Debate

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 18:22:33 +0000

soc 001