en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/759753 Comments by lmk5218 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/christian-invaders-the-turnaround__trashed/#IDComment68888271 When Sam said that this was going to be one of his best and most intense lectures he was not kidding. I went into this lecture having no clue what to expect but coming out of it my views were definitely changed from when I stepped through those doors. When he showed the Jihad video I didn’t even know what to say I was shocked and was so mad at the same time about what it was saying. After that I didn’t think he was going to somehow change my viewpoint on this. I was raised as a Catholic and I still go to church every Sunday at school and I really thought this was going to make it even harder to get something knew through my head considering it was called Christian invaders. I like how Sam made us look at the war from a totally different viewpoint and we were looking at it as if we were Muslim students. This really got you to look at it from a different point. Everything in this world works in two ways and that is how everyone’s viewpoints are. The Muslims and people that live in Iraq only hear and see certain things and that is how it is with Americans. From what we see we are not doing anything wrong but from the Muslim and people in Iraq see they are not doing anything wrong but what we have to do is see both sides of this war. I hate seeing the little video where people were getting their car pushed off the side of the road from soldiers or when there car was being shot out and then ran over for looting. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing because as Americans we do not hear about things like this. I also couldn’t believe that 29 civilians are allowed to be killed as long as you get 1 bad guy that is just insane and totally unfair cause we would feel that same way if it were reversed. When Sam asked if you were on the other side would you join and fight against the Americans and honestly after hearing and seeing everything that these Muslim students are seeing I think I would. They are not seeing the truth about Americans so they do not know better but we are not seeing the truth about Iraq and Muslims either which isn’t fair to them but we don’t really try and want to know where they are coming from. We are honestly trying to go over there and take something from them but I never thought of it like that till now. Sam definitely got to look at the war in a different light today and I am sure he got many others to do the same. Mon, 19 Apr 2010 20:15:12 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/christian-invaders-the-turnaround__trashed/#IDComment68888271 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/want-to-learn-chinese__trashed/#IDComment68094136 I think that teaching Chinese (Mandarin) in schools in America is a great idea and I hope that is keeps on becoming more and more common. At the same time it is a shame that some languages are pretty much going down hill and barley being taught in the United States. I know that when I was in grade school we did not have an option to learn a different language. Since I graduated from the school things have changed and they now have every class learn Italian, but at the same time this is a good thing but I think if they were able to teach Chinese or Spanish it would be more helpful for the students to come. I took Spanish for 4 years in high school, even though it was only mandatory for 2, but I felt that I did not learn as much as I should have because I tried to pick it up at such a late age. If I were have had the option to learn it when I was younger it would have been instilled in me and I would remember a lot more. My high school did not give many options of different language classes. They had the option of Spanish, French and Italian but Italian ended up being disbanded when I was there because not enough students signed up for it. The students were able to choose which language they wanted to learn, which was good because you never want to force a student to learn something they really do not want to learn but that did stink for those students that wanted to learn Italian. I think that many schools have around the same languages offered and it would be a really good idea to start including Chinese into the curriculum. I have only met one person that has taken a Chinese course and that was up here at Penn State. It does fit into his major, which is why he had to take it but it will definitely help him in the long run. Chinese is becoming for important in the world and I think especially for certain major, like business, it would help them out a lot to pick up a couple of Chinese courses to get a little under their belt cause there is a high chance they will run into this at some time in the future. Offering Mandarin in schools, especially starting with the younger children, is a very good idea but I feel that you cannot force children to learn it. It would be good to somehow offer it to the students but not force them to learn it. Schools should not make this their main focus because they do not want to act like the other subjects are of lesser importance. Wed, 14 Apr 2010 21:45:18 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/want-to-learn-chinese__trashed/#IDComment68094136 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/this-is-totally-off-the-hook__trashed/#IDComment66476122 I cannot imagine how someone comes up with creating a game that involves raping and groping a girl. This is a disgrace and would have never thought that video games would stoop this low. I do not agree with the shooting games because I know people say that it gets into children’s minds but raping, really this is horrible and I think that it is 10 times worse than shooting games because kids hear about shooting at a younger age than they hear about rape. I do not understand how they are even making money from this game because parents should not allow their children near this game and teenagers and adults should not buy this game because of what the game involves and its sickening to think of an adult playing a game that forces you to rape someone. It is horrible to think that someone had to come up with this game and why would you decide that the way you win a video game is to rape someone. They don’t even just stop it at raping there is a virtual hand where they can grope the girl and they can lift up their skirts. They also stalk the girl an their family, the game pretty much can’t get any worse. You know a game is horrible when it cannot even be shown on a video showing the game What I really don’t understand is the government in Japan. They are understandably getting complaints about the game and they will not even respond about it, which is ridiculous. They have obviously seen the game and know how bad it is and yet it is still out there. They should have banned the game the minute they put it out there, and the worst thing about it is that it is not just limited to Japan you can buy it offline. I do not see how anyone could that this game is even somewhat except able to somehow be put out on the market. You would think that right after it was created it would be disbanded and not even allowed to be sold because it is so disturbing and horrible for kids to play or even watch what is happening. I am curious to know what the rating of the video of the game is, because I cannot imagine it being okay for anyone but adults and even then it is messed up for adults to play this. It is horrible to get the idea of rape into a child’s head at such a young age, they should have no idea what rape is and in this gaming they are learning about lifting up girls dresses, groping them and tying up their arms. Wed, 7 Apr 2010 22:47:10 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/this-is-totally-off-the-hook__trashed/#IDComment66476122 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/those-damn-dolls__trashed/#IDComment64727236 I was worried at first about watching this video because Sam told the class it was going to be one of the most disturbing videos he would show in class. After watching the video I agreed with him and all I could do was feel extremely bad for those children. My heart went out to those kids because I did not understand how they could choose the doll that looked like them as the bad doll or the ugly doll and then when asked which doll looked like them they picked up the same doll. That is not fair to those children to feel like the bad or ugly doll. When people were asking and answering questions in class one of the questions was why do you think those children chose the white dolls and one of the answers was because they never seem to make other races of dolls pretty. It is not fair for those children of other races to see a doll that is their minority and to think that it is ugly because in a way that doll represents them and this is where they are getting the ugly and bad doll idea from. Society and the media need to make a change because both of these have a huge effect on children and the way they think. When they asked the little girl at the end what doll was the bad one and she pointed to the black one and said that was the reason why it was bad made feel so bad for her. Then to make it even worse they asked which one looked like her and when she pushed the black one to the person asking the questions her face just looked so sad and I felt so bad for this little girl because she basically just called herself the bad doll, which she should not feel like that. Children should not have to feel this way about themselves everyone should feel that they are the nice doll or the pretty doll and in order to change this the media and society need to change their way about things. When people were talking during class they kept saying how growing up they are always believed that they lighter you are the pretty you are and how some of them have been told that they were pretty for a dark girl. I just cannot believe that the media portrays things like this and that children can grow up believing that they are not beautiful because their skin is not light enough. Children should not feel that they need to look like what they see on TV or the dolls that are advertised the most. Mon, 29 Mar 2010 23:18:32 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/those-damn-dolls__trashed/#IDComment64727236 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-to-do-about-white-guilt__trashed/#IDComment64042215 I was never really into history but I do remember that the textbooks that we read and what we were taught were all about white people. I do think that the textbooks that we are given in grade school really change a lot of things about what and how we learn. I remember learning about slavery when I was younger but I feel like they did not make a big deal about it but I really have no idea why because I have recently read about female slaves and slavery is not a joke but I feel like from what I used to learn about it, it just did not seam like a huge deal. Everyone knows that slavery was serious and not a thing to mess around with but from what I used to learn about you never actually knew the true struggles that the slaves went through. I understand that since the textbooks are for a younger age group that you cannot share the things that were truly horrible for these slaves to go through but they took it way to lightly when the subject was very serious. I feel that most kids when they are younger do not always experience different racial groups and interacting so what they learn about in history is what they know and if they are not learning about this to the highest extent they will not know why some black people feel the way the do to white people because they were not taught everything they should have been taught. I also think the authors need to read over their textbooks before they are going to publish them because just because they are white and feel like it may be directed towards mainly white people does not mean that we do not need to know both sides of the story, if anything you need to hear the opposite of what kids are being taught today so they know what people feel like everyone is still not treated equal in today’s society. Teacher’s should see this throughout their textbooks that their students are not getting the full story of what really happened and should assign books for the students to read about what actually happened and get them to know true life experiences about what their ancestors used to do and it not be candy coated, like the textbooks. Once a student would real one of these books the white guilt would begin because they really never knew how bad their ancestors treated the other race and they would feel guilty for happened. The younger you start teaching the kids about what really happened the better because then we would start understanding the inequality in the world and not be shunned from reality for so long. Thu, 25 Mar 2010 14:29:52 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-to-do-about-white-guilt__trashed/#IDComment64042215 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/prom-or-no-prom-just-dont-let-the-queer-students-dance-together__trashed/#IDComment62308632 I think this is ridiculous what this school is doing. It is now 2010 and everyone should be able to be expected and do whatever he or she wants. I have never heard of a school cancelling their prom because a lesbian or gay couple was going to attend. The school definitely took this to another level by doing that. I understand they did not want it to happen but do not cancel the whole dance I am sure they could have came up with a bunch of better solutions to this. If they had a huge problem with one of the girls wearing a tuxedo they could have said that if she wears a tuxedo she could not go but if she wore a dress it was fine, even though I do not agree with that either but it would be a much better solution. I am also sure that in the girl’s school there are other lesbian or gay couples that did not have the guts to try and by a ticket and are probably going with someone of the opposite sex. I think it is awesome that this girl had the guts to try and go with her girlfriend because there are probably so many people out there that would never step up and do that. Since obviously Constance’s school knows that she is a lesbian I am sure she got treated a little different or looked at in a different way than when people thought she was straight and to have the prom being cancelled on her shoulders is not fair. The school did not have to cancel the dance because not only does it ruin everything for Constance, who really did nothing wrong, but it ruins everything for the rest of her class. I feel bad for Constance because her goal was not to end all of the fun for everyone but just to enjoy herself at her own prom because that is what she deserves to do and not to go with someone of the opposite sex just because other people would feel uncomfortable. I feel like if others felt uncomfortable about her going with her girlfriend then they should not go because the dance would still be on and I bet so many people would be okay with it because you just want to go and have a good time and not focus on other people. The school should definitely rethink what they are doing because it is incredibly unfair and stupid to do this to everyone. Everyone has a choice today and if she wants to go with her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo then that is her call not the schools. If I were the students at that school I would try and get some faculty, parents or other students together, collect money and set up your own prom. It may not be the same thing you were going to have or as extravagant but you can easily make your own fun at prom. Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:10:56 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/prom-or-no-prom-just-dont-let-the-queer-students-dance-together__trashed/#IDComment62308632 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/are-whites-the-only-people-willing-to-humiliate-themselves__trashed/#IDComment59960958 Two of my roommates watch this show every week so I occasionally see a little bit of the episodes but I have actually never noticed all of the white people in the show. It actually makes me laugh now that I think about it because it really is all white people, which doesn’t seem right to not give the Bachelor or Bachelorette a chance to like or fall in love with another race. This makes me wonder how many people of other races watch this show, does it change their mind of watching it because it is all white contestants and the star is also white. There are other shows similar to this that involves finding someone you love but they are on different networks. The one that I watched was a shot at love but the star was not white so I wonder if this changes how they choose the contestants. I even wonder how they choose the contestants and what makes them choose mainly white ones. It seems weird that age doesn’t matter at all because there are people on the show that are probably around 10 years differently and if age doesn’t matter then why should race. I am not trying to say that they purposely choose all people to be on the shoe but I really wonder why they do and if they even have noticed, which I am sure they have. I am not sure if it is just ABC that does it or if it is because the bachelor or bachelorette is always white. I would like to see if the bachelor or bachelorette was of a different if the contestants would also be of a different race. I know that a shot of love is on MTV and I wonder how much of a different that made because different audiences watch both networks. MTV is definitely more of a younger audience, which is more diverse these days and also more open to race and different ethnicities. Another similar show is on VH1, which is very similar to MTV, I Love New York and the cast has always been very diverse. Even though New York is black she does not just have black men and she has other races for her to fall in love with. These other shows should prove to ABC that they need to put other races on their show because I think it would make a difference. I would even like to see what changes they would do if they put the bachelor or bachelorette of a different race. It would be very interesting if they would then put different race contestants or if they would just do ones of their own race. Sat, 6 Mar 2010 00:14:58 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/are-whites-the-only-people-willing-to-humiliate-themselves__trashed/#IDComment59960958 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/another-reason-why-gay-marriage-matters__trashed/#IDComment58252186 I feel extremely bad for this family and I really hope that the Immigration Equality can get keep working on getting laws passed and make everything okay for families like this one. This lady has a always had a hard life, she came to America to get away from the man who murdered both her mom and her sister and she most likely would have been next if she has stayed in the Philippines. Being a lesbian is definitely hard enough but being an immigrant on top of that I am sure is even harder. Jay and Shirley have two sons and they have always been living a normal life and did not think their family was any different from anyone else's until now, when immigration came in and handcuffed their mom right in front of them. Even though she may not be an American citizen she is now part of an American family, which should allow her to not be taken my immigration. This just shows another reason why gay marriages should be allowed. These two woman love each other and have two children together and too separate them would just not be fair to the woman and the boys. If these two woman were married none of this would be happening and everything would be fine and they could live their lives as a normal family. Something has got to be done because they are not the only family this is happening too there are multiple families that are going through the same thing. They love each other just as much, if not more, then any husband and wife out there and for them to not be officially married makes them not equal to us and they are. Many people around feel many different ways about same sex marriages and I think they should be allowed with out any doubt because they are allowed to have children together why not just allow them to be married. I bet most of them call each other husband or wife anyway so why not allow that to become official anyway. I do not think that they should only be allowed a union either I think they should go all the way and make same sex marriages legal in every state and not just a select few. If the Immigration Equality gets their law passed it will make a huge impact across the United States and with someone many people. Even though everyone would not agree with this it would change the world because so many people who are struggling with this problem today would be able to live their lives like normal American citizens and be able to not worry about being taken away from their families unfairly. Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:40:45 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/another-reason-why-gay-marriage-matters__trashed/#IDComment58252186 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/men-and-women-were-really-this-different__trashed/#IDComment57150594 A sex toy for $7,000 might be the most ridiculous thing that I have ever heard. I think anyone that buys it is insane and must be incredibly desperate. I think men and women definitely have different sexual and intimacy needs but only to a certain extent. Men want sex so much more then women do in most cases, and to me they show it a lot more and go way out of their way to get it, the doll would be one example. Most women will not go out and buy the sex toy Rocky because they really do not see a need to buy it and it would end up costing the company more money to make it because not nearly as many women will be buying it as men. I do not understand how a guys mind works that he would go that far to buy a toy for that much. Frankly I think it is kind of scary that they said 4,000 men have already pre-ordered it. There are strip clubs and yes you won’t get everything you want there but at least the girls are real and not fake talking dolls. It is also scary to see how much the world today has developed. You go from most people spending maybe around 100 dollars on sex toys to now 7,000 that is just nuts. The article said that most men that are buying this are shy and awkward, which I have no doubt about it but I feel sorry for them that they have to steep this low to get any action. They should try dating sites or something, anything but buying this doll because it is just creepy. These men have most likely tried dating and could just not find their true love or someone that they can connect with on a certain level but that is pathetic that the only person you can feel a true connection with is a doll. With the money that they are spending on the Roxy doll they could be spending on so many other things, better things. Its sad that all of this technology and the man who developed this is obviously a smart man could he not try and use his intelligence on something useful and not a sex toy. I understand that he will sadly enough probably make a lot of money from the doll but I am pretty sure he could have come up with something else and I find it interesting that he is married and coming up with this to m I would have thought the man to come up with this would be someone that had no life and no woman or family. Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:41:04 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/men-and-women-were-really-this-different__trashed/#IDComment57150594 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/all-that-is-solid-melts-into-air-including-our-words__trashed/#IDComment55897812 To think that after you die your language will never be heard again must be one of the hardest things to think of. To be the last one speaking your language must be even harder. I cannot even imagine being the last person alive speaking a certain language. We are lucky that we speak English and that it is one of the most spoken languages in the world. More and more people are stopping to speak their original language and starting to pick up newer more popular ones, most of the time English. In class we were shown a chart and the more and more generations that are born the less and less they want to keep speaking their native language. I think that the people around the world are making a bigger deal now about people who come to the US and do not speak English. Sometimes I feel that it even gets more attention then people of different color. People get very frustrated when you go somewhere and order something, or ask a question and whomever you ask does not speak English or understand very good English. One example that I can think of that proves this point is at a cheese steak place in Philadelphia called Genos. Outside of the steak shop there is a sign saying, “This is America when ordering Please speak English”. I think this can draw people away from wanting to keep speaking their native language, which is a disgrace. People should be able to move to America and still be able to speak their language, because no one deserves to have their language be non existent in a couple of years. I understand that they should maybe speak two languages because it is a lot easier for you to be able to speak English, considering that is what the majority of the people speak where you live. I even feel that in high school or even grade school when you are being taught another languages students just are not as interested in giving them a chance because they are so comfortable with their language. Even though learning different languages is a lot harder considering you have been speaking the same language for so long some schools could try to teach other languages other than just French. Spanish or Italian to try and get their students to become more diverse or more interested in other peoples languages. All I can help to wonder is why did others stop speaking this language all together? She obviously was not the only person speak the bo language for that long and I wonder why others did not have their children learn this language and what language did their children learn instead. Mon, 8 Feb 2010 21:10:11 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/all-that-is-solid-melts-into-air-including-our-words__trashed/#IDComment55897812 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/the-enlightened-west-knows-best__trashed/#IDComment54909546 I do not think that the government should have a right to get involved with Muslim women and what they do or wear. I understand that they may not agree with what the women are doing but to ban them from wearing burqas in nonsense and not fair at all to them and their religion. Women all over the world are free to wear what ever they want, yes it may not cover our whole body and faces, but we are free to wear whatever we want. If you tried to tell women all around the world that they couldn't wear something like skirts or high heels all of the women would freak out. If there is not rule on how much of your body has to be covered by clothing then who cares if your whole body is covered or not. Its obvious that this is what the Muslim women want to do and they are not going to change. You know that every time you pass a women wearing a burqas, especially in the summer, you feel bad because it is definitely extremely hot and it does not even look comfortable. This is going to make the French government look really bad because their are Muslim women everywhere throughout the world and nobody else has ever complained or tried to put a law against them wearing burqas. I understand that it is not mandatory in the Muslim religion for the women to wear them but if that is what they want to do and that is what they feel is right then they should be able to express themselves in that way. All of the women will take it off for identification problems, when necessary, but other than that they do not need their faces to be seen everyday. If the women are not causing problems or are not going against any rules then there is no need for them to not wear them. They are not trying to offend anyone they are just going by what they believe they need to do to follow their religion to the fullest. I think that the French should just leave it and then the burqas be worn because if they continue this it will get out of hand it will not be passed without a fight. Once more and more people start hearing about it is going to make the French look like they have something wrong with certain people expressing their religion. If this law is somehow passed it is going to effect all those women who believe and it can also offend other people over the world. Whether you are Muslim or not you obviously have some kind of feeling towards this law. Mon, 1 Feb 2010 22:35:13 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/the-enlightened-west-knows-best__trashed/#IDComment54909546 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/i-guess-it-pays-to-learn-a-bit-about-other-people__trashed/#IDComment54018313 I enjoyed this article very much but I have mixed feelings about it. My aunt is Jewish but she is basically the only Jewish person that I know and this is the first time I have ever heard of tefillin. I feel that if I were Jewish I would like to be able to play wherever and whenever i have the chance. I understand that when Christians pray they can just close their yes make the sign of the cross and pray silently to themselves, you could be sitting next to someone and not even know they were praying. Obviously in this case it was different when someone Jewish is praying. I think the boy should have waited till he was off the plane and at his grandmothers house to pray, but I see where he was coming from because it is a Jewish ritual and he was just following it. I know the airplane employee asked the boy what he was doing and he explained as best as he could and it was not her fault that she could not understand what was going on. I wish there could have been something else that they could have done other than detouring the flight. The boy did not think he was doing anything wrong, which he wasn't, and did not even know why the plane was being detoured until the police came on. I felt that the cops were very lucky that the boy was cooperating with them because many people, I feel, would be mad in that situation. If your not allowed to do something you do everyday on a plane then it is not fair. The boy obviously learned his lesson and will not make that mistake again, as did other Jewish people. I thought the boy and his sister being handcuffed was out of control. The police should have just taken the tefillin from the boy and checked for bombs before they did anything else. When the flight attendant called in the problem, she should have explained exactly what it was and the police should have done research or found a Jewish police officer that could have explained it better to them what was going on. People that were sitting around the boy had to see what was going on and since they did not react crazy to it that should have shown that nothing serious was wrong. I would definitely still encourage Jewish people to practice their praying rituals because I know if that were me I would continue to prayer when and wherever i wanted to. Im catholic and if someone tried to tell me I could not pray somewhere I would probably do it anyway, just because they don't agree with it does not mean it is wrong. Wed, 27 Jan 2010 02:11:43 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/i-guess-it-pays-to-learn-a-bit-about-other-people__trashed/#IDComment54018313 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/last-name-begins-with-k__trashed/#IDComment53873379 Hey Tue, 26 Jan 2010 01:36:19 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/last-name-begins-with-k__trashed/#IDComment53873379 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/clubbing-the-bejesus-out-of-rationality__trashed/#IDComment52860654 This is the first time I have seen/heard what Pat Robertson said on CNN and I think it’s a joke that he still considers himself a Christian. I do not think that what he said is only wrong because he is a Christian but it makes him look even worse without a doubt. I have never heard anything this ridiculous, and the fact that people listened to this and probably believed it is insane. I don’t see how anyone could ever agree with him or even want to continue to watch his show. Everyone has the right to say and think what they want and it just so happens that some people’s thoughts are on air and for everyone to hear. It is a disgrace that he is saying all of this and worrying about how it happened when the thing he should actually be doing is helping the people over in Haiti and telling others how they can help too. If you are one of the few people in the world that gets to have their voice heard by America you should be telling them how to fix things and how they can donate money in situations like this. Everyone knows that natural disasters are a very serious problem, some more then others but you always have to be aware. I would like to see what he says is the reason for other earthquakes, volcanoes or floods. If you believe that one natural disaster was caused by something ridiculous then you most likely believe that all the others were caused by something just as ridiculous as a pact with the devil. If I were Pat Robertson I would ashamed to even show my face on the air again, unless he apologizes to the people in Haiti and people in America who are putting out money to help those in Haiti. People that are famous have a huge impact on how people react to situations like that. Our class alone raised 1800 dollars, when your voice is heard you can make a huge change and he just so happened to be making a change just in the wrong way. Olbermann obviously does not agree with what Pat Robertson said but he is just playing the same game that Pat Robertson is playing. Robertson knew he was going to get reactions after he said that but Olbermann did not have to go out of his way and make sure everyone knew what he thought. I agree with him but Robertson is now just getting the attention that he wanted. Olbermann needs to stop worrying about what Robertson said and start worrying about how Haiti is going to get through this tragic event that occurred. Wed, 20 Jan 2010 01:16:20 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/clubbing-the-bejesus-out-of-rationality__trashed/#IDComment52860654