I believe that Maziar expressing his condolences for the bombings that occurred during the Boston Marathon was an extremely kind and thoughtful gesture. As a student in class had mentioned, it is nice to know that not only are people from all different states thinking and praying for Boston, but people from all around the world are doing this as well. The fact that Maziar felt the need to express his sorrow for us truly impressed me, not because I did not think that he personally would not feel badly, but because bombings and things like this are much more common in his country of Iran. Many Americans seemed to immediately jump to the conclusion believing that this was an act of terrorism against the United States. Despite this, and the fact that the media was speaking about potential Arab suspects, Maziar still came forward and expressed his feelings. In my opinion, the fact that Americans immediately jumped to the conclusion that the Arab or Muslim people were responsible for the bombings, seems extremely racist to me. I feel that many of us seem to forget that we are the ones who are in their country, fighting a war with them, every single day. They experience bombings much more often than we do, and the fact that hearing about a bombing may be “normal” for them is difficult for even me to comprehend.
I doubt that many Americans have heard of recent bombings in Iran (or other countries that our troops are stationed in), and would have expressed their condolences like Maziar has done for us. It is also very unlikely that Maziar is the only Iranian who feels for the American people. In fact, I am sure that many of them are similar to Maziar, and that they are also praying for us. I am not trying to say that Americans are unsympathetic towards other countries, because I am an American myself and do indeed think about other countries and what they are experiencing. However I feel that ever since the attacks on 9/11 we have stereotyped Arabs as “terrorists” because of how negatively the media constantly presents them to us, and therefore do not care to think much about these countries.
The fact of the matter is, there are innocent people being killed every day. We need to try to understand what is going on – not only in our own country – but in countries all over the world. We need to keep all of these innocent people in our thoughts and prayers, just as Maziar is doing for us. What happened at the Boston Marathon is a tragedy, just as the bombings that occur in Iran are a tragedy.

When I originally thought about my answer to this question, I did not think that I would feel more sympathy towards Tammy if she was a Native American as opposed to white. Regardless of her race, I believed that I would feel the same amount of sympathy towards her. Personally, I do not feel bad for people because of their race or ethnicity, but rather for the situations that they are in. As for Tammy, she is a white woman with children who is in a rather poor living condition. I feel that many people may have been more surprised to see a white woman living in such a poor condition, because many times when we picture people who live like this, we picture minorities (such as Native Americans) as opposed to white families. I, however, was no more surprised to see Tammy in this situation. I was previously aware that there are many poor white families living in the United States, who do indeed live in poverty like this, and I feel that this made me even more sympathetic towards Tammy and her family.
I’m sure that any one of us would choose to live an extravagant life if we were given the choice between that and one without such luxuries. No one chooses the life that they live, because we are born into it. Tammy and her children were born into the life that they have. As the video continued to progress, my respect for Tammy and her family continued to grow. Although it may not seem that she doing the best for her children, we later find out that Tammy walks ten miles to work every single day. Although she only works at burger king, she is still putting in all this effort, every single day, just to support her family. Tammy’s one son also seemed to have a respectable and achievable goal in mind – he wanted to go to college. It seemed that he was trying very hard and had many awards and such, and therefore I feel that his goal seemed very realistic. He seemed to believe in himself, and I believe that with such an attitude, he will be able to reach his goals and even more.
However, after thinking about this question more, I believe that I may actually have felt slightly more sympathy towards a Native American family who was in this situation. I believe that I would feel this way because of how much we have talked about the Native Americans recently. I would probably feel that their situation is partially our fault, and would feel that my relatives may have been responsible for this. In addition to this, (and although I do not understand why) I believe that it would be much easier for a white person, such as Tammy’s son, to try and get a college education than it would be for a Native American. Discrimination exists within our country, whether we want to admit it or not – and I feel that it is more difficult for Native Americans to rise up in society, than it is for whites.

I feel that, just like many other students in the class, I did not know much about the current situation with the Native Americans. In our discussion section, it seemed that many of us knew about the past situation with the Native Americans – how we kicked them off of their land and such – however we did not realize that this issue was still present today. Most of were surprised to find out about the intense poverty that many of the Native Americans in these reservations are experiencing. Sam also talked about how this poverty leads to alcohol and physical abuse of children within these reservations. We also learned about how the US government is doing so little to help these people, yet we continue to send very large amounts of money to foreign countries for foreign aid.
One of the first things that I felt after hearing all of this was guilt. Although it was not something that my or my immediate family has done, I felt guilty because our ancestors were responsible for this, yet we are doing nothing about the problem. It is not even the fact that we simply kicked the Native Americans off of their land, but also the fact that we have caused them so much pain and suffering. However, I was confused when Sam told us not to feel guilty. Why would he be telling us all of these facts and then tell us that we should not feel guilty about this? Indeed it may not be our fault, but should we not feel guilty for the fault of our ancestors?
I am not sure if I agree that the solution is somewhere in the middle, because I am not quite sure what the “right” solution is. The middle ground would have to be somewhere between ignoring the problem and doing something about the problem. I think that the middle ground for the Native American situation is probably empathy and acceptance. We need to accept the fact that this has happened in the past because of our own wrongdoings. By denying or ignoring what we have done we will only be making these problems worse. However as the girl in the blog stated, if we feel too guilty about what we have done, this could eventually leave us wanting to do something about the situation – which would not be the “middle ground”. In addition to this, I feel that empathy for the Native Americans will make us more open-minded and allow us to develop a new understanding of their problem.
After hearing Sam’s lecture I feel that many of our classmates are now probably in the “middle ground” because we understand what has happened and the current situation of the Native Americans, however we are not exactly doing anything in our power to change what has happened. If we decide to do something about this problem, we will be stepping beyond the middle ground. I feel that somehow Americans should step outside of the middle ground – to try to give the Native Americans something, considering all that we have done to them. How we can do this, however, is a question that I do not know the answer to.

I feel that discriminating on the basis of a person’s name is both a racist and nationalist tendency. Although, in my opinion I believe that it more likely falls under the racist category. In addition, I feel that oftentimes people discriminate against certain names because this turns out to my some type of “comfort level” for them. And despite the fact that many people may not think they are guilty of this, I think that many Americans tend to do this unconsciously even when we are just meeting a new person.
For a white employer who is looking through applications, of course it is more likely that he will call in someone by the name of Mary, Jenna, Mike, or Stephen as opposed to Jaylynn, Laquisha or Tyrone. And why is this? If I had to answer this question, I would say it was because I am more used to seeing and hearing common white, American names. The employer probably knows other people who go by those names and want to interview a particular person more because that was the name of their best friend. And whether people do this consciously or unconsciously, I believe that it is happening all the time.
However, I do believe that judging a person based on their name is also a form of racism. The fact that an employer would decide not to look at an application or interview a person simply because their name sounds like “a black name” is ridiculous. I do think that the data that we saw in class could also go both ways, and could be applied to other races. For example, if an African American was the employer, he may be more likely to hire someone who has a “black sounding name” as opposed to a typical American name. Additionally, I think that many Asian Americans and Indians are discriminated against because of their names as well. I believe that we all hold stereotypes of these people, even if they are unintentional, and assume that if people have such names they fall into these typical stereotypes.
Prior to this class, I would not have considered discriminating against a person because of their name “nationalism”. However the question posed in this blog definitely made me think. I feel that this situation may, in the end, may turn out being “nationalistic” because of the fact that people of different races may have typical white names. As said in this video, there may be a black man named Josh, or even an Asian woman named Emily. It would definitely seem that we are discriminating more against different nations as opposed to races in this situation.
I feel that discriminating against names is much more common than people think. It is very easy to relate to because if there was someone in my life named Rachel, who had a negative impact on me, hearing the name Rachel again may cause me to have negative feelings towards other people named Rachel. In general, I believe that discriminating against people because of their names all ends up being related to race, however there may be other aspects that go into this.

I feel that many times, in regard to nepotism, many people automatically think about how it is very unfair. However if a situation like this came up for them, they probably would not even think twice about it.
Now I would not say that my situation is quite as extreme as others, however I believe that my mom did have a role in getting me my job at the daycare I worked at last summer. My mom had known the owner of the daycare because she banked at the place where my mom works. My mom asked if the daycare would be hiring that summer and the owner of the daycare said that they were looking for a few more people. My mother told her that I was looking for a job and of course the woman said that I should put in my application. Indeed, I was called back and had an interview with the daycare and was hired. I do feel that I was well qualified for the job (I had a good amount of experience working with children and also had an interest in working with kids in my career) and do not think that I would have been hired if I had not had this experience. Prior to class on Tuesday I had not put much thought into how this could have been nepotism, however now I believe that the fact that my mom knew the owner may have had an impact on me getting hired at this daycare.
I think that a lot of times today getting hired at certain companies oftentimes comes down to “who you know”. Many times there are so many applications that are being sent through, it is helpful if you “know someone” to help give your application a boost. And in all reality, I do not feel that this is fair because there may be other people who are much better qualified whose applications do not even get looked at.
In even more serious cases, when someone hires a close family member or friend simply because they are in need of a job, I feel that this had several detrimental effects. First of all, they are employing a less qualified worker – which means that they are not looking out for the best of their company. Why would you employ someone, if they were clearly less qualified then another worker? It simply doesn’t make sense. In addition to this, you are taking away opportunities from those better qualified people, who probably have worked hard to get this job, which also is not fair. For all that you know, these people may be in an even worse situation than your family member and their lives could possibly depend on this job.
What would happen if a nurse at a doctors office was hired by a close friend simply because she needed the job? Let’s say that she was clearly less qualified then another applicant, but you decided to hire her instead because, well, she is one of your best friends, and you would expect her to do the same for you. First off – this is not fair to the other applicants. Second of all – you may be putting other people’s lives in danger by hiring a less qualified nurse. Since she is less qualified, she is more likely to make a mistake – which in this case is a HUGE deal. In my opinion, this is in no way fair or ethical to anyone in this situation.
I do believe that there will always be biases when it comes to hiring people, and that unfortunately, they will never go away. However I believe that the ones who are clearly “the best for the job” are the ones that should be hired.

I believe that Sam was wrong when he said that women are not entirely free because we did not want to have a discussion about or admit that we are menstruating or “bleeding”. I feel that just because this may be a topic that we do not want to discuss does not mean that we are not truly free. In my opinion, today in class the women had the freedom to choose to answer the question however they also had the freedom not to answer this question. For me freedom is being able to talk, or not talk, about whatever I choose.
I was not on my period when Sam asked this question, however I do not think that I would have raised my hand if I had been at the time because for me, being on my period is personal. And although Sam brought up the fact that menstruation is a natural process for all women, I still believe that it is personal to many women, including myself. Personally, I feel very comfortable talking to my friends, and most of the time, talking to other women about being on my period. However, just as for many other things, admitting that I am menstruating and speaking about it in front of a large group of people would make me feel very uncomfortable.
I feel that many women do not like to talk about this, especially in front of guys, because we are afraid that they will think we are gross or something along those lines. Since we know that all women experience this, we feel more comfortable talking about it with other women because they know exactly what we are experiencing. However, since men have not experienced it, we fear that they may judge us – or simply joke about us PMSing. We would much rather talk about it, or more often, complain about it to our girl friends because they all know exactly what we are going through.
I feel that this is very comparable to pooping. Most people do not talk about this subject in public with large groups of people. However, this too is a very natural thing that every human being experiences all the time. And although I feel that these are personal things, I do have to agree with what Sam said in asking: why are these things personal to us? Maybe it is because we do not talk about them enough every day. Or maybe it is because we were taught not to talk about such things when we were younger and have just been living by what we were told. Either way, I still do not believe that “not talking” about these things makes us any less free – I believe that we have the freedom to talk about whatever it is we want to talk about and should not feel the need to talk about things that we do not feel comfortable discussing.

Prior to hearing Sam’s lecture, I had always been very afraid to die. In all honesty, however, I am afraid of a lot of things – from thunderstorms and haunted houses to blood and needles. I have never seen someone die or been with someone when they passed, but even the thought of it gives me the chills. I think that mostly the reason that I was so afraid of death is because I didn’t know what happens afterwards. I am a Catholic, and I like to believe that eventually I will go to Heaven. However, how can we know for sure that this happens? And what exactly is Heaven?
Sam’s lecture today definitely made me think more about death – and what will happen to us after we die. I was very comforted to know that, after many studies from around the world, they have found that the immediate experience after you die is a comforting place, where you feel at peace. The fact that many people “feel the presence of a being” also strengthened my faith in God – whether or not it be the one true God that I believe in. The information from these studies made it seem that death is not something that we should be afraid of, and almost made it seem like it should be something that we look forward to.
I feel that after Sam’s lecture I am still afraid to die. However, I with all of this new information I am much less scared about what happens afterwards because I do believe that I will be in a comforting and happy place. I am still afraid to die though, because (at this point in my life) I am not ready to leave the earth yet. I’m only twenty years old and have not experienced everything that I want to. I want to get married, have children, raise a family, see my grandchildren grow up and travel to different countries and places that I have not yet seen. This may sound selfish, but death would take all of this away from me. I also fear death because I am afraid of the mystery of it. I do not know how or when I am going to die, and the thought of it scares me even more. It could be tomorrow at 5:06 pm while I’m in a car, or when I am ninety-four years old sleeping in my bed.
I believe that when I am much older, I may be more accepting of my death. I think that I will still “fear” it, but hopefully it will be a good fear – more of a “butterflies in my stomach” type of fear; because one day, I do look forward to going to Heaven and meeting God and Jesus.

When I am interacting with someone, I am usually much more cautious and quite when I first meet them, and gradually as I get to know them better I feel more comfortable with being myself. I feel that this is all a part of my shy personality, and regardless of what race a person is this is how I would react. However, I must admit that, although I do not do it purposefully or intentionally, I do view people of different races slightly different than my own. I am in no way trying to say that I look down at other races or see races as unequal, however I do very often notice the differences and initially feel more nervous speaking to someone of a different race (mostly in fear that I may say “the wrong thing” or that I may offend them in some way).
I came from a predominately white, Catholic high school. All of my neighborhood is white. My town is mostly white people. Needless to say, I was not exposed to a lot of diversity as a child, or even as a young adult. After coming to Penn State, my vision has slightly changed. My roommate freshman year was from Malaysia, and most of my floor was Asian students. There were blacks, Asians, Indians, and Hispanics in all of my classes. Being in a diverse community soon became much more normal for me, and two of my best friends here now are Asian. Now, I have realized that interacting with other races makes me learn so much more about cultures that, before, I knew hardly anything about.
I was a little bit shocked when I learned that all human beings are 99.9% similar, and that our physical skin differences only account for 0.01% of our genetic makeup. This information really made me step back and think again. Why do I sometimes feel uncomfortable talking to people of a different race when we are all almost exactly the same? Yes, we may have different traditions and experiences; however we are all human beings who are going through the same thing.
Why does our world put so much emphasis on physical appearance, if we really are so similar? Why should interacting with people of different races make people uncomfortable? I think that this information is really going to make me think more about how equal we all are, to get me to look past people’s physical appearance. Not because I “judged” people of a different race before, but simply just because I looked at them differently. I believe and hope that I will not notice these differences as much as I had before, and see all people as how similar we really are: 99.9%.

I feel that in society today, there is a difference between a guy calling another guy hot, and a girl calling another girl hot. As mentioned in the video, it seems totally normal for a girl to call another girl hot. However, if a guy were to call their guy friend hot, the friend would probably laugh at them, or question them with something like “Dude, what did you just say?” As we know, many girls tend to obsess over their looks, and are very concerned about their physical appearance and what others will think of them. I feel that the reason guys may feel uncomfortable with this comment is because of the intonation of the word “hot”. If a guy were to tell them that they “looked good” or “fresh”, I feel that most guys would not have a problem receiving this compliment. Although the comment probably is equivalent to girls saying “you look hot”, I feel that it is the particular word that guys seem to be uncomfortable with.
Another reason that a comment like this may make a guy uncomfortable is because they do not complement each other as much as girls do. Girls will typically say such things to their friends as a confidence booster and to let their friend know that they really do look good in their outfit. They expect their friends to tell them these things and therefore do not feel weird when a girl compliments them. It is a very normal thing to tell your girl friend that you love her outfit today, or tell her how cute she looks in her new dress. Guys however often do not outwardly show that they are concerned about how they look. Because of this, their guy friends do not compliment them as much as girl complement each other, and since they are not used to this kind of attention from another guy, this may make them feel uncomfortable.
When Sam approached a boy in class and asked him how he would feel if a gay man told him he was hot, it was clear that he felt very uncomfortable with this. The boy also looked as if he did not want to share his opinion with the rest of the class. I do agree with this kid but only to a certain degree, however. I am a straight girl, and although I do not have any problems with gays or lesbians, I would probably feel slightly uncomfortable with a lesbian coming up to me and telling me that I looked hot. If I was in such a situation, I would most likely thank them for the complement and move on to a different topic of conversation. However, it would probably make me think again about why she said that comment and what her intentions were, even if she simply just meant it as a compliment. That being said, I would probably feel the same way if a random guy came up to me and told me this; I would be unsure of how to react to this, and would also question what his intentions were.
In conclusion, it seems to me that society has made it “weird” for a guy to call another guy hot, whereas it is totally taboo for a girl and a girl do to the same.

If I knew that my child was gay, I would not tell them. First off, although there may have been indications that my child was gay, I could easily be wrong. If this happened to be the case, telling my child that he is gay would probably offend or upset them. Another reason I would not tell my child if I knew that they were gay is that, although I am their mother, they know themselves better than I do. Therefore, it is not up to me to tell him if he is gay. Some may argue that telling your child he is gay may help him “come out” however I would want my child to tell me himself, rather than forcing him to admit this to me. After listening to our discussion in class, it seems that oftentimes people who are gay have a difficult time admitting it to themselves and an even harder time “coming out” to the public. Whenever my child is ready and comfortable with telling me that he is gay is when I would want him to tell me. I believe that if I was in this situation, I would not want my parent coming up to me and telling me that I was gay. If I had been comfortable with being a lesbian I would have told my parents, and having my parents tell me would only upset me even more. I know that for me coming out would be a very difficult thing, but I would want to do this on my own and would want my child to have the same choice as I did.
If I knew that my child was gay before they decided to tell me, I would do my best to create a home environment that supports this. I know that many people are afraid to come out in fear that their parents or families will not support them, or that they will be exiled from their family. Hopefully by doing this my child would realize that we would support him and would feel more comfortable telling us himself.
When Sam asked the question whether we would abort our child if we found out if they were going to be gay before they were born, I was a bit surprised at the response. I did not think that so many people would choose not to have their baby just because they were going to be gay. Although, many people may prefer for their child to grow up, get married and have a family just like their own, I would still love my child unconditionally whether they were gay or straight, just as I would love them if they were born with or without a disability. I want to encourage my children to be themselves, and I do not believe that they should have to change who they are because of what society believes to be “right”.