I believe that people who are gay or lesbian are born with their sexual orientation, and the environment that you grow up in can further encourage it. I feel like no one can choose to be gay because there’s so much societal hate and separation that comes along with it that no one would willingly choose that path. If children are born gay, I think the environment that they grow up in will influence how they handle the whole situation. For example, if their parents are pro-gay or if the parents are gay, I’m sure the child will have a much easier time talking about it and embracing the fact that they are gay. On the other hand, if the parents talk bad about gay people while they don’t know that their child is gay, the child will probably have a much more difficult time accepting what he or she was born with. I can’t imagine what a person goes through when he or she finally believes that they are gay. I’m sure so many thoughts cross they’re mind regarding what society will think, what their friends will think, or what their parents will think, and that is why environment plays an extremely important role in a gay person trying to come out. So I believe that people are born gay or lesbian and that circumstance of environment does not influence the people at all. Circumstance of environment only affects how a gay or lesbian person handles the situation. It’s a shame that the gay minority has been viewed so negatively in today’s society because they are just being who they were born to be. There’s no way for them to change it, unless they want to fake being straight which some people do. I have a friend that has a lesbian mother. So she married a man, had two children, and then decided that she would be happier with a woman. Now I’m not sure if she knew she was lesbian going into the marriage and wanted to fight it, or if she didn’t realize her true self until recently, but that amazes me that someone can change teams like that so late in the game. I’ve heard it happen many times before though. It truly must be a struggle because of all the religious views and societal views that go against homosexuality. I feel for them and believe that everyone is allowed to be themselves, and that’s what they are doing. They are genetically attracted to the same sex and there’s no way around it. It’s good to see that the world is becoming more gay friendly as Sam showed in class with the gay friendly corporation stat. Hopefully people begin to believe that homosexuality is not a choice and is just how they are born. Do not portray a anti-gay environment in this world because it just makes it harder on gay people. The more accepting society is, the happier the world can be.

I think the overall take away message for Tuesday’s class is that there should not be so much fear and cynicism in the world. Although the idea of crimes is frightening, the chances of it happening to you or somebody close to you are very small. The media tends to reveal the most horrifying stories and exaggerates it. In reality, things that occur on the news are highly unlikely and do not need to be feared. I was extremely surprised to hear that only 100 kids were kidnapped by strangers in a year. After hearing the answer, it made me realize that I really don’t trust strangers around me. Most people in the world are good people and will not want to commit crimes against anybody of any age. The fear of today’s society can really be pinned on the media. I rarely watch the news, but when I have caught a few minutes of it, I can’t help but think there are some sick people in the world. But the truth is there really aren’t that many sick people in the world that need to be feared. The media just wants to do whatever it can to make it seem like these ugly crimes are a daily occurrence. Another thing the media does is talk about topics for way too long and involves insignificant causes. For example, the Trayvon Martin case has received a little bit too much attention at this point, and has talked about race too much. There is not much more to talk about in the case, but the media continues to suck whatever they can out of it so that they can instill more fear and controversy into society. Again, what I took away from class was that fear is not necessary. The world is a safe place and strangers can be trusted. Now how does something like this apply to our class and race relations? It proves that regardless of race, people are safe. Race really is not an issue, but the media makes it seem like it is. Different groups of people can live comfortably together without issues. The only issues occur when they hear stuff on the news about other races. The more rumors people hear, the more paranoid they become. It’s almost like the media wants to propose these problems so that more problems can arise, which they can ultimately talk about. It is an ongoing system that the media has. The more they influence the thoughts of their viewers, the more problems they can spark. In order to respond to this, society should avoid this influence. Society must think for themselves and now feel afraid of the world. Like the statistics said, only 100 kids were kidnapped in one whole year. Sounds safe to me. The majority of fear is created by the media, don’t let it scare you.

I think that a person’s opinion on the topic of women wearing bikinis all depends on where you come from and your culture. In my opinion, wearing a bikini is not a sign of disrespecting themselves, but rather women feeling comfortable in their own skin. I’m sure there are many that would agree with me, but also many that would disagree. Like the Muslim women that were a part of the conversation in the front of class favor the modest way of dressing and probably see bikinis in a negative light because it shows off so much of the body. It’s all a matter of what you grew up around. People might think girls wearing bikinis are disrespecting themselves because it seems as though they are trying to attract attention by flaunting their body. I’m sure there are some girls that wear bikinis to show off, but plenty wear them because they are comfortable. The question here is about respect. Women of the Middle East dress modestly dress out of respect for themselves which just comes from their culture, as said by the women at the front of the class. Here in the United States, there is no “dress code” for women in our culture. For as long as I can remember, women have been wearing whatever they want, therefore they choose what clothing that they consider to respect themselves. Respect is different in each culture, so I would never like to think wearing a bikini is disrespecting a woman’s body. When looking at a girl in a bikini, there are two ways a person’s mind can take them—one is “wow that girl is definitely comfortable in showing off what she’s got”, or “girls shouldn’t be showing so much skin”. The first would probably cross the mind of a person of the United States, and the second could cross the mind of a person of the Middle East. Again, wearing a bikini in the United States is being comfortable and is respecting themselves, but in other countries wearing a bikini might be disrespectful. Disrespecting yourself I feel like requires effort. Going out of your way to get attention is disrespectful if you ask me. For example, when some girls go out for the night, they clearly dress with the intention of trying to find a guy. They show a lot of skin usually in the upper body area. I think that girls that show more on a regular night are uncomfortable with themselves, which is disrespecting themselves. A bikini would be inappropriate and disrespectful in any setting that’s not the beach or laying down tanning. So the level of respect definitely depends on the situation. Ultimately, whether or not your dress is respectful to yourself depends on the situation, culture, and where you come from. Another thing that goes along with this is that you can’t be quick to judge someone based on their clothing.

The video is an obvious attack on a combination of the Asians’ unfamiliarity with American culture, like football, and their discomfort with speaking the English language. It was funny to hear their accents and stuff, but the inappropriateness probably outweighed the humor. I’m sure the Asians did not enjoy being asked multiple questions about a topic that they have no idea on, while having a camera in their face. The intention of the video seemed like it was to put the Asian students in an uncomfortable spot, and that is why it could be considered offensive. Now would the video be as offensive if the Asian students were replaced with white Russian students? I think the video would be about the same humor to offensiveness ratio. If the Russians were unsure about the topic of football and struggle through answers with an accent, viewers might give the same reaction they gave the Asians—whether it was a laugh or gasp or whatever. It would be somewhat funny at first, but then the interviewer pushes the limit by leaving the students confused and uncomfortable. I think skin color doesn’t play a factor in developing this humor, but rather the unfamiliarity of culture and language. Now if I were in that type of situation where I was in an Asian country and they were interviewing me and attacking my lack of knowledge in culture and language, I don’t think I would be offended. I think I would find humor in that. That would almost be like having to answer a culture question in a Spanish class and being clueless. I know I personally struggled through speaking Spanish and had the worst accent, and found myself just laughing at myself when I was trying to get out what I wanted to say. Being interviewed like that would definitely be uncomfortable but there’s no reason to be offended. I would find comedy in it. I feel like I would have no idea what was going on, but I would try my best. Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t really get offended by anything. Yes an interview like that while I’m in another country would make me look dumb, but getting a couple laughs out of it is worth it. But listen, I would understand why someone would get offended over a video like this, but I think we have to lighten up. No one is harmed at all. The people getting interviewed are maybe a little embarrassed, but everyone goes their own way and moves on. Living in a foreign country is obviously tough at times, so I say just laugh it off. Finding humor in everyday things will make life easy and more fun. That’s what I’m about…just having fun with life.

In the area I grew up, it was definitely predominantly white. I went to public school for elementary and middle school, and then attended a private Catholic school in high school. In my elementary school, there were probably only 5 black students and somewhere under 10 Asian students. I would consider it to be a pretty white school where I went. And same thing in middle school—a lot more white kids. When I went to a Catholic high school, the numbers were even more drastic. There were about 270 students in my graduating class, and there were probably less than 10 black, Asian, or Indian kids. It’s safe to say that I didn’t really experience racial diversity until coming here to college. For most of my childhood, I was probably in stage 1 where I never recognized race. I would say I started to grow out of that stage towards the end of high school and the summer before college. I have always had a decent amount of black and Asian friends, so coming to college I feel relatively comfortable interacting with other races. I think before entering this SOC 119 class, I never saw the injustices towards other races. Some of the lectures have really opened my eyes and made me think about race, which I feel is gradually moving me into the third stage. I try to keep an open mind in all aspects of life because I don’t like to believe anything I am told unless it is proven to me. An open mind is probably what has allowed me to get to where I currently am when discussing race. The reason I don’t believe stereotypes and other things that I am told is because the handful of friends that I have that are of a minority do not fit the stereotypes. They are much different. For example, I have a couple Asian friends that are terrible at math and a couple black friends that are not good at basketball. These kinds of things force me to believe it only if I see it. The change in diversity from my high school to here at college has really been an interesting point of observation for me. I have become interested in learning more about other races and that’s why I enjoy SOC lectures, the small group discussions, and the whole world in conversation idea. It kind of shocks me that I never recognized the differences in race as a young child, but I guess that’s what happens when you grow about around mostly white people. I think this failure to see the differences has made me more comfortable at this point in my life though. I made friends with kids of minorities and I think I will continue to interact with other races without any hesitation. Hopefully I can continue to develop comfort with this and continue to have an open mind.

Before hearing anything to do with the discussions in class about war, I pretty much thought war should be a last resort. I feel that any issues should be able to be solved without violence. There’s really no problem that is worth killing people over, so why bring guns to the table of compromise? I also believed that the war in Iraq was initiated by the terrorist attack of 9/11, but an underlying cause was to get oil. So the government used this attack as an excuse to go over to the Middle East and hopefully get what they wanted in oil. Now has the material from class changed my perspective on war? — in some ways yes, and in some ways no. After seeing some of the stuff that is revealed by the media, war is just not a good thing. Not only are the armies killing each other, but they’re killing civilians without a second thought. So many good men and women are lost everyday fighting over issues that don’t have an estimated time for finding a solution. I know that the media doesn’t necessarily provide the truth; it just wants to give the people an interesting story. But if the stories are even a little bit true, war shouldn’t even be a last resort. There are other ways to resolve problems without losing valuable lives of people who have families. Therefore, my opinion of war has gone from sometimes justified, to almost never justified. The parts of war with the Middle East that really didn’t surprise me after these couple of discussions were the actual reasons for the war. A lot of people are lead to believe that 9/11 was the only reason for going over to countries like Iraq, but I was aware that oil was also a big part of the reason. This idea puts me against the war. Why fight over a resource that can be settled over a deal? I just don’t understand the intentions. Like if we win the war do we get full control of oil over there? I guess I don’t fully get every aspect of the war, but I just think you really can’t full out win a war. It usually ends in a compromise that probably could have been made before thousands of people were killed. Therefore I have always believed that fighting is unnecessary because a deal needs to be made anyway. This perspective of mine has never changed. War in general is not needed. It is a compromise with the addition of tortured and killed people. How about we stop killing people and possibly solve problems with words and money. It’s a much safer way and avoids tragedy, which is the way I would like it. Maybe I’m ignorant, but I’m just throwing out some ideas. These class discussions have been real informative and have slightly altered my position on the war.

Coming into this class, I never really sat down and thought about the issue of race. I grew up in an area where no one really cared about the color of each other’s skin, so it’s not a big deal to me. But after sitting through these lectures, my eyes have been opened. What we have discussed made me look back on times when race was actually an issue but I didn’t realize it. The greatest example that really shocked me was the one where Sam brought up the two girls who had a “white” name and a “black” name. He told us that if these two students submitted an application with the exact same credentials with the only difference being the name, then the white girl would most likely get a call back or an interview. This kind of issue has been around for a very long time but never crossed my mind as being discrimination. I want to learn more about how these kinds of problems can be avoided. I know that there isn’t one single solution, or maybe there is no solution at all, but I want to know what it will take to put white people and black people on the same playing field. Like with the job application example, maybe rather than only call back the white applicant, call back both of them and see who provides the better interview and select based on that. The idea that I can’t get over is that it’s not like white people work harder than black people. If they have the same credentials, the black person is just as good and could even be better than the white person. People should not have an advantage because of their skin color. I am white and want to earn my job or position or whatever it is I am competing for. I don’t want to given a job just because I’m white while there was a more qualified black person that applied. Will there ever be a time where this sort of thing doesn’t happen? We have talked about this in my recitation group before and everyone had difficulty coming up with an answer. The only thing that could maybe fix discrimination is time. As generations pass and new generations develop, new ideas are sure to arise and hopefully the differences in race can disappear. All my life I have asked “why don’t other races get treated the same way as whites?” I never understood why skin color changes anything. It’s just a difference in physical appearance. Who cares if other races were discriminated against in our history; times have changed and so should the respect for every race. Even if the discrimination is not intentional, we should become more aware of our actions. Let’s fix this and make the world an even playing field.

I feel that this type of discrimination is definitely still around us. To think that a company would pick who it wants for the job based solely on the name is completely unfair like Sam said. The name should have nothing to do with the resume. The person who is looking through the applications should see only what experiences, awards, and qualifications the applicant has and pick without ever seeing the name. Our country takes pride in equality and giving everyone a fair shot, but situations like this directly contradict what we are going for. It almost discourages black people from wanting to name their children a name that reveals their race. If naming a child a unique name will ultimately damage their chances at a job when competing with white people, why wouldn’t they pick a traditionally white name? I know this shouldn’t be the case, but right now the system is unfair. The only way to make this type of thing equal would be to have resumes only contain a phone number and no name. If the person likes the application, they don’t know their name, and they give the applicant a call to the phone number they put down. This means they aren’t aware of the race and they are selecting based only on the qualifications. Discrimination will be tougher in this way, but I’m sure there still would be the possibility of issues. The other thing that confuses me is who cares about the race and hiring an employee? Like it’s not like a white person is going to work harder or a black person will work less. I guarantee that if their qualifications are relatively similar, their work ethic and everything else will also be close. It kind of bums me out knowing that there’s a hidden advantage for me just because of my skin color. I want to be competing on a level playing field with all races because I want to get the job by earning it. I really never thought about this kind of situation as being discrimination, but my eyes have been opened. Hiring for a job based on names only is really a sad thing. I now know that many everyday things can be classified as discrimination and I should definitely be more aware. I do realize that when two people are hiring for a job and they have exactly the same resume, it will be difficult to make the decision on who gets the job. But the determining factor cannot be race. That’s just not right. Like I said before, because a person’s white doesn’t mean they will be better for the job at all. Employers have to figure something out that picks the person who deserves it, not the person who has lighter skin.

I believe that certain sports are dominated by one racial group because of genetics and childhood roots. The most common examples of racial domination in sports are black people in basketball and white people in ice hockey. The reason being black people are naturally taller and leaner than white people, and also many black neighborhoods grow up playing basketball. It is very easy to set up a basketball game with a few friends. All you need is a ball and a local park and you can have yourself a basketball game. If you look at areas like Philadelphia, the kids are always playing basketball. Basketball is the most accessible sport in an area that doesn’t have much – like you will probably have to go out of your way to find an ice rink throughout Philadelphia. Ice rinks are more common in areas where there are a lot more white people than black people living, and that is why white people get more involved in ice hockey. I play ice hockey and could probably use my hands to count the number of times I have played against a black kid. Hockey is very different compared to other sports. It is very expensive because it requires you to wear a lot of equipment and also you have to pay for the time on the ice. It’s not like a park where you can just walk into a rink and hop on the ice for a pick up game. The ice rink is a business, and therefore has to charge the people who use it. This cost might be another reason why more white people play than black. If you look at professional basketball players, a lot of their backgrounds are similar in that they grew up in bad areas and probably couldn’t afford to pay for equipment and ice time. Buying a basketball and using the local park was the much better option for them. I think black people playing basketball and white people playing hockey has trended for so long now that it will continue like that forever. Young black kids will grow up seeing mostly black guys in the NBA, therefore they will play basketball over hockey if given the choice because they will probably look up to guys from their own race, and same thing for white kids. Now why is there an occasional white guy in basketball or black guy in hockey? It probably has to do with where he grew up. The white basketball player could have grown up around a black area and got into the park pick up games because that’s what all the other kids were doing. The black hockey player probably grew up in an area where his family was surrounded by white people, and they probably had a decent amount of money. The typical reasons for racial domination in sports are where they grow up and their body type. A lot of black people are tall and lean and spent their childhood playing around on the courts at the park. Ice rinks are found in areas with predominantly white people, and hockey requires a lot more time and money commitment. That’s how it plays out.

I think that white people very often avoid race because we are afraid to be compared to the slave owners from our history. Looking back at our country, black people were treated with no respect, and worked for a master with no pay. The racism back then was so severe and white people do not want to be grouped in the same category as slave owners. I am white, and I try to be careful with things I say. I don’t want to offend anyone and don’t want to cause any issues. The actions of our predecessors seemed so harmful and learning about it in school I think scared us even more. I remember hearing about these issues during the Civil War times and couldn’t believe that people were treated so poorly. Schools drill into our heads that everyone is equal, which I think was obvious to me before learning that. But the fact that they tell us over and over makes me realize there was a time that blacks weren’t treated equally. As I grew older, it was always in the back of my mind that our race (the whites) used to believe that we were superior to the blacks. Therefore, I think we don’t want to discuss race because it was such a big issue in our history. I just would never want to be considered a racist because once I hear racist, I immediately think Americans during the Civil War time. In order to avoid this kind of conflict, we would just be better off not addressing the topic of race. I think white people in particular shy away from race rather than anyone else because other countries don’t really have a history of these issues. Black people were once considered inferior, and now have equal rights and are a part of our society, so white people avoid discussions that may bring up history and don’t talk about race. The overall cause of our shyness when talking about race is fear. We don’t want to be called a racist, and the best way to not be called racist is by not talking about race.