gdp's Comments

Race Relations Project : 300,000! What's it mean to me...to us?

Thu, 22 Apr 2010 21:55:20 +0000

I agree with both responses. I just believe that in our country we always think of ourselves, in a way first, before anyone else or someone else. The speaker put it into perspective by saying how 3,000 people died during September 11,2001 while 300,000 people died during this tragic even. I think that really did change my whole thinking about it. It's not like we are downplaying that our event was smaller its just that we are talking about human lives. I think that we could all help out each other once in a while and not think of ourselves first but not necessarily put ourselves last either. We are one race and all humans.

Race Relations Project : How am I not a racist?

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 23:34:29 +0000

I really think deep down everyone in their own way is racist. There is probably one thing that we will say behind someones back or more so behind a groups back. And as hard it is to admit I am guilty of this. Deep down we all know that it is not right and if we can not say something to someones face then we should not say it at all. It is a hard topic to cover and I believe that we need to start thinking about our actions before acting upon them. One thing we can do is put ourselves in the other persons shoes and see how hurtful it must be.

Race Relations Project : Christian Invaders - the turnaround

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 23:26:42 +0000

I really thought I had an understanding about what this lecture was about and it is interesting to see what other people thought about the lecture that we had. It seems like a lot of people in class has way different perspective than mine. Sam was not trying to tell us that this battle is between the Christians and the Muslims or vice versa. I think that the whole lesson is that we voice our opinions and see what we want based on little information that we know. For example we judge the whole country based off of Osama Bin Laden or Hussein. This is exactly what we do as well when it comes to the only different race answering a question in class or someone from a different sexuality then our own. That opinion we automatically assume relates to everyone apart of that group and it is not necessarily the case. I think Sam was trying to say that based off these evil individuals we assume that everyone in that country is like that. And is not necessarily true. The videos there were to help us depict as "Muslim Students" of what America looks like as we look at videos of Sarah Palin and Christian Camps. This brings me to the moral of the class as some people are still yet unsure about what this class' point is. The point of the class in my opinion, is that even though we are all individuals from different races, cultures, sexuality, and genders. Our opinions individually should not reflect our opinions of the whole group. For example Rosie O'Donnell, a lesbian, I see her as very open minded, likes to be controversial and likes to voice her opinion. Does that mean that all lesbians are like Rosie O'Donnell? No they are not. Sure some may be the same as her but everyone in that group is different in a way and their views do not reflect the groups views. This is somewhat the case when it comes to Muslims, we assume that every Muslim is out to kill us or their ultimate goal is "Death to America", but is that really what they want or are we just saying that because it is what depicted generally? I do not think so. We have a general idea for every group that we know and we know what and how they act. But when they do not act the way we think we are surprised. So going back to my main point we should not be so judgmental off of one instance or occurrence because it is likely the case that the people that we meet or know are not like the next people. Walk in someones shoes before judging them.

Race Relations Project : 300,000! What's it mean to me...to us?

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 22:44:05 +0000

I am always skeptical as well when it comes to money being donated. Sure we see our money going to some bag or some can but where is it really going? I guess that is why people say they would like to help first hand by physically doing something that may help. But in the same instance we can not have all of America going over to Haiti to help out for a lot of reasons. I think that the second best way to help out other then physically is to donate money. But then comes to the problem of where to donate to, they have donations for water, food, health etc. Which one should your donations go to? I would research into it and see which one needs the most or one that you believe you can say to yourself that you made a difference.

Race Relations Project : 300,000! What's it mean to me...to us?

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 22:39:01 +0000

Ian put this in a pretty good perspective and at least I understood what point he was trying to make. He said that 3,000 people died on September 11th, 2001 and 300,000 people died during the earthquake in Haiti. It is not that he was trying to downplay the actual event he was just saying how we know more about 3,000 people dying then 300,000 people. Yes, it is true that the one we know most about was here, in America. But the fact is that we are talking about human lives. Another thing that was brought up was what can we do about this? Very good question and a question I do not necessarily have an answer to. They always say a little bit goes a long way.

Race Relations Project : Letter from an Inmate

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 22:34:51 +0000

This letter really hit home on a lot of things, for one I have a cousin who is in a detention center and is serving 7 years for one mistake that he made. It seems like a lot of people who are in prison made a mistake that they would have to live with for the rest of their lives. As with anything as long as you do something there will be consequences whether good or bad that you will have to live with. I am really glad that I got to read a letter from someone inside a prison and someone who is serving a life sentence. It was something that I never experienced. At first I thought the story was leading up to what lead him to be in prison but little did I know the story was actually his daily life. It seems like a day in the life of a lifer is nothing that we would expect. The way the movies portray a lifer is drugs, violence, and corruption. I am sure it goes on daily in prison but it probably doesn't happen as rampant as it is portrayed. I really believe that a majority of people serving life sentences are really good people deep down inside. And yes there is some people inside the prison system who in my opinion deserve to be there. Another way to think of this article is really how bad is your life when you are in the darkest hour? I always tell my friends it could be a lot worst or you do not know what bad is. I can see if you failed 4 exams and your car got all 4 flat tires on the way home, yes that would be a bad day. But was it the worst day? Maybe a close tie but it can always be worst. Nothing is worst then constantly trying and failing. I understand that a lot of people in this blog believe that they are getting corrupted and believe that this man is trying to change their opinion of all of the people service a life term. It is possible that this may or not be the case and we are unsure what would really happen if we just let all the lifers run free because we think they changed for the better. I think that addiction is a major problem in prisons as well as corruption and the rehabilitation process if one is required. It seems like a lot of prisons lack the aspect of rehabilitation or it is not promising. I learned in my criminology class that a lot of the people who serve prison sentences will return to prison for the same issue. I think we should all learn to learn about a person before making judgments.

Race Relations Project : Letter from an Inmate

Wed, 21 Apr 2010 22:34:47 +0000

Race Relations Project : What is the end goal...really?

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 23:09:12 +0000

I believe the end goal, at least for me, was to not be so judgmental and not to judge based on something we seen. This can really pertain to a lot of things but more so with Race, Ethnicity, and Culture that make us unique. For example, I was eating at Cici's Pizza with a friend and I saw this guy carrying back a whole plate stacked with pizzas, at first thought I said to myself "Wow, way to take all the pizza for yourself that is really rude" and then not think anything else of it, the man sat down at the table where his wife and 3 kids were sitting. I made passed judgments too quickly and I think that is what the whole point of the class is about. We are all here together, one planet, as humans. And nothing about that is going to change ( Until we live on the moon?) and we should all start to respect one another as individuals rather then a group based off of race, ethnicity, and culture backgrounds.

Race Relations Project : What about the men?

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 23:03:08 +0000

I would have to agree with many of the posts above. Many men do not conform to society as much as females. Sure to an extent we do by trying to fit in wit the things we do. At the same time we do not go clothes shopping with our 5 closest friends and ask if things look good on us. Either way as the final result we will probably get an answer, they will tell us honestly if something doesn't work with us. Such as we look like a goofball with that hat or something. I think girls more so conform to society then men do. I believe as long as you are comfortable with yourself who cares about what anybody else thinks about you. I must admit I wear some clothes that make me comfortable and not necessarily to get people to like me. If people do not like me for what I do or what I wear then they probably are not my friends to begin with.

Race Relations Project : Want to Learn Chinese (Mandarin)?

Wed, 14 Apr 2010 22:25:18 +0000

I think everyone from ever race and every country should learn one other language. The language itself can be useful when you are stuck in very unpredictable circumstances. I understand that learning Spanish for a few years may not be enough to speak fluently in the language but the basics do help when needed. For example I went to Mexico in the summer for vacation, my friends and I got into a cab and the cab driver spoke to us in Spanish and asked us where we wanted to go. Everyone in the cab was confused because they would assume that he would speak some English. So I politely told him that we wanted to go to the mall in Spanish. The moral of this story is we can not always assume that our language is accepted everywhere as well, vice versa, everyone's languages are not accepted or known fluently everywhere. It would be very easy to say that everywhere should speak the same language but thats about changing cultures too and saying everyone should dress the same. Our language is apart of what make us, ourselves. As for the Mandarin language I could not really think of reasons that a lot of children want to learn this language until it hit me. This might not make sense but the best explanation I could think of is with languages just as Spanish or German you are given words. We see words everyday and some may or may not be in Spanish. With Mandarin you are learning essentially symbols. Which should gain interest enough. Every symbol means something different and I think that is why children are interest in that language. At the same time they are learning a language they are also learning art, by drawing the symbols out. I know a lot of elementary schools are starting to teach children at a very young age different languages. This is a good age to start out. I remember I didn't pick up or even start learning Spanish words until 10th grade in High School. Learning this early would enhance the child's mental development and give the child a chance to talk with someone of a different language if the chance came up which could add confidence. But then again if they do change the requirements to learn a language early on their would be different standards for college acceptance, this could be something good as the standards of learning would be harder. Striving the students to work towards a goal that could be achieved. Another thing that might be the reason that children want to learn this language is because it is new to them. They already work with Spanish daily with Dora the Explorer and probably other shows that help gain an understanding to Spanish but with Mandarin it's a completely new subject to them and this would gain their interest.

Race Relations Project : This is totally off the hook

Thu, 8 Apr 2010 01:05:31 +0000

WOW is right...I am not sure what to say after viewing something like this. I know when we all thought that Grand Theft Auto crossed the line with the hiring of prostitutes and the killing but this! This is on a whole new level. I honestly don't this game would be approved for sale in the United States but still them creating the game for any location is really unacceptable. Japan really does do a lot of their stuff over the top, such as toys which always goes to the next level with technology. But with them taking the gaming to a whole new level with this approach is not going to work for them. I don't think a lot of people would get this game.

Race Relations Project : I really want to know also...

Thu, 8 Apr 2010 00:58:53 +0000

I think this question is brought up a lot in this class and what really we did or did not learn and what we should take out from this class. I think personally as long as you change your opinion about one thing you got something out of the class. I can see how some people in the class might not be able to think of anything and I am not sure if they were sitting in the class. I think one of the biggest lessons that I took out of the class was that we should not really judge anything without looking closer. For example when I walked into class I had races down to groups of people, whites, Mexicans, Blacks, Asians, but now I realize that there are more groups and more subdivided down that they might not actually go by that category of race. And most of the time we might think that some Asian people all look the same, when truly it is because we never really got to know every group as we know about our own group. Another thing that was brought up was about how gays are not really flaunting themselves as gay but more so we just realize it more because we are paying attention to it. Not because they are walking around directing the attention to them most of the time. I think the problem with most people that they have with this class is possibly the information as in facts. We do have some facts about slavery and other facts about types of slavery that happens but for the class we just know some definitions with not a whole lot of information. I get that. I think as long as you leave the semester knowing that it changed your opinion about one thing you learned something. I noticed a lot of the blogs on here realize that the starting point for change in our mind was the LGBT lecture which I personally believe should be a requirement for all Penn State students to sit through. If anything that was really one lecture at Penn State that I felt like it changed the way I think about things. It was definitely a reality check to me and a few other members of our class. Another thing we learned was about Native Americans and how we are all living on there land. There is some people who do not get how they are effected and they think that why should they be blamed for something they did not do? The truth is we are living on there land, and as you read this right now you are probably on red land. That's how we are all to blame. We need to start taking things out of this class and see how we can imply them in our lives that we live.

Race Relations Project : Flip the Script for a Moment

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 22:36:18 +0000

Yeah this is definitely a tough topic that a lot of people had there best "wtf" faces on that day when it was asked. I believe everyone is entitled to their opinion, but sometimes that opinion is not socially acceptable. But really what is acceptable? It's what we, as humans, categorize as the right and wrong thing to say. Somethings are still hard to talk about and most people just want to entirely forget the conversation even happen. I respect Sam for bringing up this point and at the same time I can see how it's awkward. I really don't know what viewpoint to go with Sams, or the class because they both have a good point. I think we were never brought up saying that announcing when a ladies friend comes for the month. It's not what we think is right.

Race Relations Project : Nothing About the Census is Easy

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 22:29:05 +0000

I really have a problem with this, not because of what people want but more so about where do we stop pleasing people. I can see that people might not fit into a category but there is other on there for you to put whatever you like. More and more everyday we get more races inside the United States and it could sometimes be difficult to keep track but more so to please everyone. I can get mad about a few things that exclude some groups on there and other things but that's what a census is about. Its supposed to be broad but at the same time an accurate depiction of the makeup of the United States. If we listed every race on the US census that is known to man, that would be quite a survey to fill out. In the 2000 census I believe there was 400+ races that were noted in the US. Not sure about the facts but I just think we need to stop getting mad if things don't come out the way we want it to. We fill it out every ten years. This year it is different because two men or two women can fill out as married on the census. But its up to the Census to determine how to categorize their marriage. (http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/...

Race Relations Project : Those Dolls Say Alot About Who We Are

Wed, 31 Mar 2010 22:22:07 +0000

As I sat in class watching this video I was very much surprised about how the black children chose the white doll a majority of the time. I would have thought at first this experiment is simple ,white people would chose the white doll and black people would chose the black doll. Which was not the case at all. This brought a lot of speculation about why they actually chose the white doll. For the most part I sat there trying to figure out why this was and really try to find out something that was reasonable. For the first part I thought, well maybe there is not a lot of black dolls out. Sure they have some black Barbies and some Bratz Dollz but for the majority of them, they are white. I think what we depict as the right choice to children is white characters. If you think about it a lot of the super hero's and characters on tv are white. This would lead the kids to believe that the white one is the one that most people would chose. I am not saying that we brain washed the children to chose the white doll or knowing that white is a choice because they grown up with it. I think most people chose white because its the majority of what we see. I think that is the same example with anything we see, beauty, luxury, funny. If I say imagine a luxury car, you will probably think of something really fancy that has a lot of features and something that is expensive. But really I could say that maybe luxury is not really all of that but its a Ford Taurus (no offense). If we grew up knowing that this car was luxury people would be amazed when they see one on the street and believe that person has money. Same thing going back to the main point about white. We see white everyday with toys and maybe this passed along to our children for the right choice. Another thing that really blew my mind was when you google beauty as we did in class. A majority of the pictures are white. When I did it recently I did find one black person in there. I can see how we interpret things as a majority and that is how we base our decisions off of collectively. We need to start thinking for ourselves and teaching children them about what really is beautiful and what really is a good choice. We should all be happy to be ourselves and never want to be someone else. I think a lot of people every day wake up and say, what if my nose was smaller, I had lost this extra weight off my stomach, or something about critiquing ourselves. I know I do somethings in the morning but I think it is time to forget doing them. What makes us unique is that we are ourselves.

Race Relations Project : What are all of you thinking about Asians?

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 22:42:11 +0000

This is a good question and I enjoyed Sam's point about how if either there is a small group or an individual that is gay, black ,white, or Asian the moment they speak in the class people believe that they are representing the group as the whole. I never really put too much thought into this until after Tuesday's class but this does make sense. I know when I listen to someone in a class I really do think that everyone in that group is thinking the same way as that person and it is not necessarily or even remotely true. We are all made up of our own opinions and we need to start thinking about our opinions as individuals rather than our opinions and base them on a group.

Race Relations Project : Prom or No Prom: Just Don't Let the Queer Students Dance Together

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 22:35:46 +0000

I agree with both I can see them canceling the event for either dry humping etc but not for someones decision to bring the same sex to prom. Again we should realize that the time is now, in this era. Not 30 or even 50 years ago. Like the previous writer have many friends in the LGBT community and I respect them as if they were no different then anyone else. Really they are not any different, we are all people and we need to respect that. Canceling an event because same sex date just gives a message to the children of the school that being gay and sticking up for what you think is right is not right at all. That's the wrong message we should give them and we should actually encourage diversity instead of knocking it down.`

Race Relations Project : Prom or No Prom: Just Don't Let the Queer Students Dance Together

Wed, 24 Mar 2010 22:27:05 +0000

This issue really gets on my nerve. I really do not see what the big deal is if the girl wants to bring another girl to prom or a guy with another guy to prom. We as Americans have a right to choose. I really do not understand what the big deal is because it is not really harming anybody. Sure it might cause a distraction to some that are at the prom but as we learned in class gay people are not flaunting that they are going out with with another girl or guy of the same sex it is just us who see them more noticeably. I could see how this could be the same issue about 50 years ago if a white man or women wanted to bring a black man to the prom. As this was looked down upon back then. Still as we learned from our mistakes last time what is the big deal? It seems like a lot of people just want to interfere with other peoples happiness and think about themselves. The decision to not only take the rights of the women who wanted to bring a same sex date to the prom as well as canceling the prom entirely because of the issues that it may cause is absurd. Along the way we all might be to blame for letting this happen. A lot of people have not yet accepted the gay community as a whole. Some, more then others, believe that they are superior and do not want to give everyone equal rights. I believe that if it makes you happy you should live with it and do not let anybody else change your mind. It's just as absurd as canceling the prom because a guy wants to wear a red tux. That would be a distraction to some but its the way of the person expressing themselves. In a way I could also seeing them taking their aggressions or whatever rebuttal they have with the girl on a personal level whether it be bringing her into the office or sitting her aside and just reasoning with her about how it is still not accepted in some societies or something giving her some sort of thought about why they did not want her to go with a same sex date. But instead they have to pull her out on the side and personally cancel the prom because of one individual (or two). Which does not make sense at all ,because that seems like the way that they would be teaching children in that school. That being gay is not right and the actions would cancel an event. What impression does this leave them with? To not accept the gay community? Let us get real and move on.

Race Relations Project : Why Is This Racist? Really...

Thu, 4 Mar 2010 00:30:53 +0000

I also tried to give this man at least a chance to explain why this would be a good idea. But I really can not think of a good reason that could hold up. Mainly I think we are a very diverse group of individuals that makes up the United States but still there is thousands of groups that want to separate the diversity that we have. The whole idea of sports and life is that we work together to hopefully achieve a goal. This is only possible if we work together as one instead of many. We need to stop thinking of ourselves as a group and start thinking about us, together.

Race Relations Project : Are Whites the Only People Willing to Humiliate Themselves?

Thu, 4 Mar 2010 00:22:10 +0000

I can see how this might sound like these two shows are racist. In my opinion I am not completely sure how these shows are still running, yes I know the answer because people watch them. But in my opinion by watching it the producers believe that they are doing something right and therefore will continue running the show with the likelihood of the same setup as previous season. I also believe that we can turn anything we see into racist or sexist. It is just our own personal prospective and how we interpret things when we see them the first time or when someone draws attention to it.