Whether gay inequalities will be diminished before racial inequalities is actually a question I have thought about in the past. I definitely think gay inequalities will be diminished before racial inequalities will. I feel like it is much easier to learn to adjust to gays then it is for people to adjust to people of a different race. People are born the race that they are they have no control over it whatsoever. In my discussion group, we talked about race and most people agreed with the fact that people of the same race tend to stay with people of their race. Yes, there are some exceptions but for the most part that is what we see. It also seems as if stereotyping is something we are born with, and it will always stay in our subconscious no matter how hard or how many times we try to tune it out. I am not one to stereo type but there are definitely circumstances where I stereo type without even wanting or meaning too, and I think everyone is like that no matter how many times they try to tell themselves or others that they are not. How can racial inequalities be diminished if people still think like this? Also, not many people are trying to do something about the racial inequalities circumstance. Everyone just kind of continues on and does not try hard enough to fix the problem. If no one tries to fix the problem then how can the problem ever be fixed? I think gay inequalities on the other hand, is a completely different story. No matter how many people do no like the thought of gays and lesbians, they have no control of getting away from it. People are not necessarily born gay, like race, they have a choice. People’s family members, friends, close-ones, can all turn gay at any time. If your brother, or your sister, or even your child turned gay, you would have to accept it. I’m not saying accepting it is forced like that in every situation, but it is definitely forced in some. Also, people now-a-days are just more used to seeing gay and lesbian ideas and people. For instance, every television series and almost every movie definitely has at least one gay or lesbian as a character. Not only is this making everyone more comfortable and accustomed to seeing it, it is also showing this idea to people of younger ages as okay. The more younger generations are exposed to the idea of gay and lesbian being normal, the more easily our world will start to adjust to it. It is the opposite of race, people are subconsciously taught to stereotype; and now people are going to be taught from younger ages that being gay is normal. I think gay inequalities will definitely become eliminated before race inequalities will.

I thought the video about the bike thieves that we watched in class was very interesting. Its very stereotypical how some people stopped either the white man or the African America child when they were trying to steal the bikes, but no one stopped the woman. When people walked by the white man, they looked at him strangely but no one actually confronted the man and asked if he was trying to steal the bike, the people just kind of kept walking past minding their own business. When people walking through the park saw the African American child fidgeting with the bike, some of them walked up to him and confronted him to ask what he was doing. When people walking through the park saw the white attractive woman playing with the bike, they paid no attention at all to her. Even when she took out the tools to break the chain on the bike people walking by still did not saying anything to her. In fact, she asked one man walking by to help her with the tool in order to cut the chain and he walked over and helped, even though it looked like she was trying to steal the bike. The man had no problem assisting the girl but I think if it was the African American child it would have been a completely different story. I hate the fact that people now a days are still so stereotypical and even racist. People will confront an African American young boy for fidgeting with a bike but they will not confront the woman? It’s just the way people have been brought up, stereo typing is in our nature whether we want to believe that or not. At this point there is no way to stop yourself from stereo typing people even if you try your hardest not to do it. There are so many invisible strings that play into this theory of stereo typing others that at points we do not even notice we are doing it. I wish there was a way to help people to realize stereo typing only hurts others and it does nothing good for the world we live in today. For example, there was just a house invasion in my home town. Four men broke into someone’s house and stole money and jewelry and were chased down by the cops. When I told my roommate this story her first question she asked me was, “Were they black?” The thing is, she didn’t even try to ask that in a mean or stereo typical way. Sometimes I think its just the way we have been programmed to think. We associate certain races with certain ideas, crimes, situations, etc and I really wish we did not live in a world like this. The bike video definitely demonstrates how people stereo type others, people are willing to stop the young black male for trying to steal a bike but not the attractive young white woman. That seriously says something about the stereo typing in the world today. If I was in the situation, honestly, I would not have stopped any of them.

This article highlights how unfair some laws, or ideas can be in America. This “man” was born both female and male, and decided to be a male. As a young child he did anything and everything young boys could do. He lived all his life as a male, and that is how all his family and friends saw him. Later in his life, he decided to get surgery in order to have all the correct body parts in order to be a male. This man applied for a job as someone who oversees men who have just gotten out of rehab. He watches them pee in a cup, so that it is made certain that no one is utilizing someone else’s pee. Seeing as this man is not a “true man” so they say, he was fired from this job and was forced to leave. This man filed a law suit against his employer saying that it was unfair. I completely agree with this man. It is unfair to him that he is being discriminated against just because he was born transgender. He could carry out this job just as well as anyone else, and it is not fair that they fired him because he had genital surgery. This is not an example of treating people equally. This man was extremely hurt by these acts, and I feel bad for him. Hes trying to pay the bills for his family in this hard economy, and he gets fired from a job he truly needs because of the way he was born. There is no way this world is going to become a more peaceful place when we cant even accept those in our own country as equals. Society is shaped by so many unseen and unfair forces, and its not fair to some people because it does not work in their favor. This man should be allowed the job he deserves, because he truly is a man who deserves the position. People in our world need to stop being persuaded by unseen forces, and really concentrate on what is right for everyone.

This lifer’s article about what and who a man really is was very honest and sincere. He believes women should be treated like gold, and men should do all their power allows them to do to protect and take care of their women. He believes men should still respect the chivalry code, should still pay for a woman whenever they are with one, treat her respectfully, be as open and truthful with them as possible, and do everything you can to make and keep your woman happy. The twist about this article is that this man did not always treat women like that. He never fully appreciated any women he was in a relationship with, and now after being in jail for so long, he has finally realized and accepted the way women should be treated no matter what. He says the ways in which television, movies and the media have portrayed a male and female relationship were more about sex and money rather than true love. He was so used to seeing women treated inappropriate ways that he never truly treated a woman the way he should have. The invisible strings here are that he was so accustomed to seeing women being treated and treating men in these ways that he never took the time to slow down and truly see the ways in which a woman should be treated. He says whatever the next relationship he has with a woman is, he will treat her with the utmost respect that she deserves and he will never mistreat a woman in any way, shape, or form again. It’s amazing how prison completely changed the personality and views of this inparticular lifer. Time in jail made this man realize he should treat women with respect and help them with whatever it is they may need help with. So many of these lifers completely change while put away in prison, and a lot of it is for the better. Its great how these men and women can be sent to jail for life and have zero freedom, but at the same time have the most freedom they’ve ever had.

This lifers letter proves how fear is a feeling and idea that overcomes and takes hold of our minds, even when we are not aware of it. This man “R” was put through so much emotional and physical pain as a child. I can’t fathom the idea of his father raping him, and abusing him physically and mentally. How can someone torture their own family member in such a way. His parents and siblings tried to convince him and force him to commit suicide. I can’t even imagine the pain and fear this man was put through his entire life. It’s amazing how fear can cause your brain to repress memories and force you to forget anything had ever happened. This man went through so much of his life with repressed memories of his family’s abuse, and didn’t even remember it happened until his mid 30’s. The invisible strings here would be that this man went through so much pain and discomfort his whole life, that he couldn’t ever be happy with a woman because he was so haunted by his family. He lived in fear and didn’t even know what it was he was so afraid of. When he finally remembered what truly had happened, he murdered both his parents. Imagine hating your parents so much that you kill them? This man was put through so much pain that hed rather live in a prison cell, then live a “free-er” life. He can now accept the fact that he has murdered his parents, but he does not mind being in jail for it. He knows that no one will ever believe the truth about how he was abused as a child, so hed rather live in jail with the blood of his parents on his hands. I think it’s so brave of these lifers to be able to admit they knew what was wrong, but they know themselves why they did the things they did, and they know what the consequences are for the crimes they commit. Its upsetting that so many people will never know the truth behind his bars, and I think it’s amazing that this man can accept the consequences so willingly, because the invisible strings force his life out of jail to be even worse.

This “no resident behind act” may seem like a great idea, but in truth it may not be. When people who live near nuclear power plants are told to evacuate, they all evacuate at once and cause an even bigger mess than what it should be like. I think the idea of only evacuating the counties or cities that are closer and at a higher risk of getting injured should be evacuated first. But then think of the cities that aren’t as close as the high risk ones, but are still close enough. They have to be evacuated after these cities and that’s not fair to them. These nuclear power plants are so dangerous, although scientists and officials may believe they know the dangers of what this radiation can lead to, they may not know all of the dangers to their fullest extent. Think of Japan for a minute, they just suffered a huge earthquake, and a huge tsunami back to back. Now they have to deal with a power plant that is supposed to overheat and send out radiation waves to those in its area. If I lived in Japan, I would definitely get out no matter what they told me to do. This radiation isn’t a joke, and it can severely injure people. We should work on creating safer evacuation plans, or even work harder to detect any of these possible explosions more in advance so we can evacuate a larger number of people in safer ways. Since this most likely isn’t possible, we should keep people away from living so close to these power plants! Why would anyone want to live so close to something that can possibly kill you from its radiation waves? And why do we allow these people to live there? To keep people safe, we should form a larger distance that they should keep away from these power plants. People are being exposed to radiation that they shouldn’t be exposed to and its because they are way too close to it. With the improvement of moving people further from these plants, and creating safer evacuation policies, it will form a safer environment for the people close to the plants.

Today’s class was definitely the class I enjoyed most all semester. I cant believe so many of the lifers, even the ones who did not commit murder or any crime, are completely okay with being sent to jail for life. This article definitely grabs my attention most and boggles my mind that any man or woman sent to jail for life could ever think in the way this man does. All he did was accomplice a murder, and he believe he should be in jail for life. He opened a window and sat in the room while he knew a counselor was being murdered, and believes that he should be locked away for life for not doing anything. I believe this is one of the most courageous and honest acts ive ever heard about in my life. The fact that this man can accept he was wrong, and not feel one bit of pity on himself for the act he committed honestly boggles my mind. All he did was open a window, and he feels more guilt than the man who actually killed the counselor. I cant believe he is so accepting of the fact that he will never live another minute of his life free from bars. Honestly, I wish I could be like this man in everyday life. Just admit im wrong for my faults and feel the honestly he must go through everyday. He is so powerful and brave to admit to himself that he deserves the punishment he got, and does not fight it. I think its also courageous of him to mention in the end of his article that he is not writing for pity on himself, and when we read this article we should not think of him, we should think of the victims and the people who were hurt by the victims death. He doesn’t want honor or recognition for being so honest and brave, he just wants you to feel bad for the person who was killed and their family and friends for the evil he participated in that night. And to me, that’s the most honest and sincere thing I’ve heard in a while.

I completely agree with this idea to “end the R word.” Honestly, I’ve heard so many people overuse the word retarded, whether it be about themselves or others; people use the term for the wrong reasons. I understand how the word has spread among the teenage population, because teenagers always use slang even if they don’t mean it. But the fact that older adults are now using it, especially people representing the white house, means that the spread of this word has gone too far; and I agree that we should stop it. Think of how the words “faggot”, “nigger,” “spic,” offend people. The word retard is offending those who are mentally challenged just as much, except they cannot defend themselves in the ways others can. I know I definitely use the word retard or retarded way too much, and I’m definitely going to put a stop to it. After watching this video, I see how much people take the word retard personally and its not fair to those who are actually retarded that people are utilizing the word in ways it should not be used. It’s a very offensive terminology, retardation is a serious illness and most of the population just throws the word around like it means nothing. I hope the efforts of “spread the word to end the word” actually work, because people need to learn how offensive the word is and that they shouldn’t be calling people or things retarded that aren’t. As a college student, I hear the words retard or retarded almost anywhere I go. Whether it be someone in class, one of my friends, walking through the hub, or even out at night on the weekends; people are overusing and misusing the words everywhere. This slang terminology is not fair to lose who suffer from this illness, and since March 3rd into the future, I hope to see the word only be used when necessary. I’m definitely going to stop using the word as much as possible, and I hope those around me will also. The invisible strings here are definitely that everyone around us is using the word “retarded” in the wrong ways, so since one person does it we all think its okay to do that. In reality it isn’t, and we need to change these invisible strings into only using the word when necessary, and then people will follow that as well.

Kidnapping is a very vital part of a young child into a teenager or adolescent’s life. Most young adults are very scared of the fact of being kidnapped. Think of when you or one of your friends were five years old. One of your worst fears was definitely kidnappers. The invisible strings causing this would definitely have to be movies or books where we see young children being taken advantage of just because they don’t know any better. Most young kidnapping stories go along the line of: “ hey there kid, do you want some candy?” And the young child responds; “yes;” and either gets in the persons car or goes along with the person wherever they may be going. Young children are so easy to take advantage of these days just because they are not aware of the horrible things that happen in the world around them. Most young children are not educated on either the amounts of rape that go on each day to the amounts of rape that happen each day. These kids are taught to trust everyone around them; meanwhile some of these people are there just to take advantage of them and they are not even aware of that. The unawareness is what stimulates this process. The more people who become unaware of this process contributes to the amount of people who fall into this process. In this video we see a man try to take advantage (kidnap) a younger man, without realizing he is with an older old lady. Once the child responds to the strange man, the man realizes the child is with someone and walks away. When he walks away the narrator of the video characterizes him as “smiling.” This man is definitely smiling because he thought he could easily get away with something that he realizes now, definitely needs a lot more practice. I think its really messed up that older people think they can just take advantage of other younger people who may not know the ropes as well as they do. We should form every city into a much safer one by educating children on the hazards of either drunk adults or pedophile adults. This city would be a lot safer with the knowledge of either what happens when people get too drunk or what happens when people are pedophiles.

I don’t think our country is very free if only 30% of the US population has a passport. One invisible string here may be that we have so much to offer us here that many other countries do not. For example we have many different cultural people here, so we have cultural diversity. Also, like the article mentions we have the mountains, the prairies, etc. In addition we have a better off economy than other places, and not everyone can schedule vacations out of the country because their work is very important to them. Another invisible string is the idea that it may not be safe out there. For example we’re in the middle of a war, a lot of people don’t want to travel at a risky time like this. Also, were not very knowledgeable of other things going on in other countries, for example: Egypt. No one wants to travel into other countries in a time of danger. Also, after September 11th 2001, many people do not like to fly. That is definitely an invisible string; people don’t like to fly places like out of the country, because terrorism may always seem like a threat to them. Now, there is another issue such as the new airports that may encourage people not to fly. Now, to secure the airports more effectively; they have placed machines that see right through your clothing in order for you to board an airplane. A lot of people are discomforted by this; they feel as if that is violating their rights to privacy. An invisible string to those who don’t travel, would be that their home to them seems so safe; and they’ve heard many bad or dangerous things about other countries; that it is forcing them to never travel out of the country. Overall the comfort the US citizens feel, keeps them here. They feel as if everything they want and need is right inside the United States; and that there is no need for them to ever want to or need to fly out of the country. Invisible strings hold most of the population back from the want to travel.