Have you experienced a situation where multiculturalism was a threat or advancement ?

Multiculturalism is like a Yin Yang. "opposites thus only exist in relation to each other." Multiculturalism can be something positive in an environment or a society, however, it can be negative and a threat some of the times.
Mr. sam made us answer a clicker question related to multiculturalism and it was weather we think multiculturalism is a threat or not. I was one of the people who answered it was a threat. I was telling my friend: "of course it's a threat! look at the United States for example."
i honestly didn't mean it in negative way, however, it's the reality we live everyday. Multiculturalism here in the United States somehow makes it's Identity where we all know it's the most diverse place in the world. People come from everywhere. Different cultures, colors and believes coming to this land to live together. I described this coming together as: "differences clash together producing thoughts such as: this specific religion is the right one and this specific group is the right one."
Some people here in the US believe that this land their property whereas we all know that the United States is the land of immigrants.
Multiculturalism is a threat because some people just don't accept differences and certain cultures or/and beliefs. for example, some Muslim americans have to deal with racism everyday from people who don't believe in Islam or believe it's a threat to them. This is Multiculturalism. Some differences may cause hatred, fear and also being uncomfortable around those differences.
Another example black people, let's ignore the fact of racism between black people and whit people. however, Black people created certain behaviors that are included under their culture. such as, Jazz music and rap music where it became something related to black people. This created a separation and the fact of racism between blacks and whites also grows here.
Moreover, Immigrants coming from other countries carry their traditions and cultures for example, let's look and Mexican people, Indian people and even italian and greek people come to the United States carrying their culture with them where you can go across the United States and see indian neighborhoods, Mexican , Arabic and even Chinese.
It's beautiful to have different cultures together in one place, however, sometimes it can be a threat.

How have you acted when involved in racist or discriminating events?
let me start with an example: state patty's day couple of weeks earlier. We were walking downtown, couple of friends and I. As you know state patty's day here in state college is crazy and everyone is outside celebrating a day where they can drink freely. So we were walking until we ran into two Asian American girls. One of them was shouting in anger of how a bunch of white guys just insulted them by saying: "Go back to your countries etc." We actually didn't see the white guys however, we saw the shouts of this Asian American girl saying: " I am american too, how can they say such a thing etc." we walked up to her sharing her anger and trying to chill her down by saying they are a bunch of racists that you should ignore.
This incident made me realize that not everyone is opened to other races and the mentalities differ.

It's really hurtful sometimes seeing such incidents where some people might ignore and other might support or not support. In my case i'll totally stand against such acts. I sometimes get goose bumps when i see such racist event where i believe it's my job to stand out there and stop it.

Growing up in an environment where the people are the same and the beliefs are the same might be hard to open up to different races and ethnicities.

From where i come from which is the United Arab Emirates racism occurred, however, not between colors yet, between classes and nationalities. Where i'd face racism against my friends who weren't Emirati citizens and were actually from other countries such as, Egypt, sudan and Pakistan etc. Girls in my high school believe that since they are from the UAE they are better than another person who is living there. It affected me a lot since i was raised that everyone is equal. I went into couple of fights back in high school just to prove that you girls are racist and can't just act with other girls like that. It affected me also in a sense that it kept my eyes opened to the issue of racism.

However, when i made it to the United States i saw the racism but not between classes yet, between different colors and even religion.

Moreover, i just remembered an incident where some girl insulted me and couple of arab friends just because we were talking loudly in front of my friends place. Where she opened her window and shouted out : "F***ing Khaleeji guys, can't u shut up .. " I actually got really pissed that day where i promised that i'll get my revenge back. However, within time i forgot about it and just ignored such childish acts.

Racism happens everyday. We might see it or not. In my personal opinion and after taking Sam's class i believe that whenever i see such event i'll defiantly stand up there and fight for it.

I don't believe guilt is the right word to describe such emotions. I believe guilt occur when you do something wrong and it's followed by regret feelings. I don't know why some people might feel guilty for being from a certain group of people or a certain race...

Are Whites racially oppressed?
as far as my opinion i don't believe they are oppressed however, let me talk from their perspective.
I believe that Whites in the United States believe that the United States of America is their country where all the black, latino, Asian and Arabs are the others who are living among them and getting advantage from the land of freedom.
Some whites may not know the true history about the United States where people migrated to It years ago. However the white people had control and until this day seeing that they are losing their control they will stand out there shouting they are oppressed.
I'm not stating that all white americans think the same and believe they are oppressed, however, there is this percentage of Whites that believe that if they didn't stand up now within time they will lose their power.
I'm not against their protests because the first Amendment is "Freedom of Speech" and anyone can express their feelings.
On the other hand, it may be argued that the White man did a lot of harm to other races in the past, however, i believe it's human nature to group themselves in different groups due to their beliefs, culture, traditions and identity.

The entire world is standing against the white people for all the discrimination against other races especially Black people and recently Arabs or Muslims. Now that everyone is getting their rights; of course there is a percentage of white people will feel oppressed. They are feeling they are losing their power. The US is getting more diverse everyday. People are migrating from everywhere and Now after over 40 "white presidents" a "BLACK" president come along. Of course there are people who will feel oppressed because they are starting to lose their power and anyone i meant anyone who was in their shoes will feel the same way.

Some people might find it 'stupid' for white people to feel oppressed and protest about it. however, we don't know what goes in their minds and how do they see the world. We all see the world from different perspectives. Some of us might say: how do they feel oppressed after what they've done to black people? and how they insulted the Arabs by believing all muslim are terrorists?

Yes i might agree with that, however, if we think about it deep inside we are all racists in one way or another. The word racism is bigger than we actually imagine it. Racism happens everywhere starting from color to lifestyle and also classes.
I believe White men are feeling oppressed now because they didn't try how to be discriminated against. They had control on everything from the beginning and now when the world started to change and others started to get their their rights their power is threatened. I believe that's their reason for protesting and believing they are oppressed.

If you're referring to the United States yes i believe the Society is most racist towards Muslims and Blacks. It's not for the fact it's a racist society, yet, i believe that there is a percentage of the people view Muslims as the enemy and black people the others who entered their country. I'm not saying that is true for everyone but some people might still think of it deep inside. Racism in the United States is mostly towards Muslims, Blacks and colored people, however, racism by the color of the skin is mostly only here in the United States.
For example, in the United Kingdom you can see some people that tend to act stiff against others who are not from the same country as them. Moreover if i'll go to my homeland, the United Arab Emirates or let's say the gulf countries you can see racism between people, however, it's not racism by skin color, it's more as racism by classes or family names.
I believe that people are biased by nature. it's not about the color or family name or region. I think it goes like every environment differs and the people in each group feels that anyone from different groups are different than them. The culture differs from place to place, the language, the society and even the mentalities.
Yes we are different when you go from place to place, yet, this doesn't mean everyone is racist.
I believe racism is not pointing out the physical differences and putting ourselves into groups. As far as my thoughts go, racism is acting with in a discriminately way with others and having the believe that you or your group is better than other groups. That's racism in my mind.

Globalization.The world is getting smaller and you can connect to someone overseas and any where around the world in like seconds. The internet nowadays makes everything easier for us. For example, you can know breaking news happening in countries around the world live, from the spot.
We can see experiences that people go through, issues and latest events easily. YouTube the video sharing website here and now gets over 1 billion viewers daily. As far as my personal view youtube made me notice a lot of video's of people's experiences, music, issues and so on.
Us as human beings are born to feel. it's like a part of human existence. for example, sometimes when i watch certain movies that are acted pretty well, i get the vibes and emotions from the movies weather it's sad or happy. It's human nature to feel sympathy.
however, globalization is not always a positive thing, there is always a black side. the use of media changed, everything is viewed on Tv, Internet, and cell phones. Technology is making people stuck to their places. Anything they want it's right there. People started to forget about the real issues and experiences around the world and focusing on entertainment.
I'm not trying to generalize here.there are people who care, however, there is a big percentage of the people who are not watching what's happening around the world from, poverty to injustice.
the processes of bringing the experiences others are going through elsewhere closer to us here is easy and you find it with a click on the internet of by broadcasting. yet, the people may lose focus on what's actually happening to stuff that entertains them.

First of all, it was an impressive clip. It made me think for a while there. I believe it's not impossible to change the way we live, however, it's really hard and challenging. We all have this empathy in us, yet, it might be hard to make it with different beliefs and mentalities.
Referring to the Son's of Adam and Eve's story, when on killed another because of jealousy that his brother is marrying the prettier sister. This tells us that even at the beginning of humanity there was some kind of jealousy, hatred and wanting the best for themselves.
I don't disagree when it comes to All of us have some kind of empathy in us and can feel the vibes of others, however, i also believe that men are selfish and sometimes they are willing to do things to fulfill their desire.
If Human beings really had this empathy with no other distracting feeling we wouldn't end up fighting. Moreover, within the centuries more religions and groups started to raise up, different beliefs of what's right and that's all due to myths said my the people along the centuries.
I believe even if the human race loved one another, yet, it's human nature to be biased especially when it comes to religion. They will reach a point of disagreement.
This change is possible, yet, hard when we have different mentalities and beliefs. Over 150 countries in the world and every environment and community differs. The question is if people have empathy, yet, biased and believe in a certain thing, is it possible that they forget about all these different issues and focus on equality between people and that all of us go back to Adam and Eve.
As far as my opinion, it's possible if we just deep inside put the differences of others aside and consider the human being as one. The feeling it's self is different. believing that we are all brothers from different mothers is by it's self flattering. However, how can you make over a billion people in the world to believe in that?
There is always a way of change if we start with "believing" in history and how civilization pushed us all together. the best example is globalization. The world is getting smaller and nowadays you can reach someone in the other half of the world in a minute using the internet. Every generation changes. People are discovering new things in the world and by time realizing the empathy they have to each other.
As it was mentioned in the clip that the our world is not Utopia that's why we can see empathy which i believe is true.
This clip impressed me a lot and i actually agreed with nearly everything.

If we are talking about believes here, GOD for me is not a He nor a She. as a Muslim i believe that god is beyond that. referring to God 'allah' as a she or he is just making allah on the same level as human which is wrong or let's say doesn't make sense at all.
what i see is that we pray to god. God made us human. The earth, the planets, the sun, the stars, animals and even disasters etc. Everything around us is God's creation. How can we refer to 'allah' as a he or a she.
However, this doesn't mean it gets on my nerves that other people from other religions refer to god as a he or a she. Every religion believes in different ideas. Moreover, what is see is that the idea of god is a he or she is just a meth used by people centuries ago.
As far as my personal opinion on this. referring to god as a he or a she does not irritate me in any way, yet i still believe God is beyond referring to him as a 'he' or a 'she'.

Yes, i agree. we shouldn't say it 'Never' happens.
Yet, you are also talking about the minority of people. Stiff mentalities with narrow thinkings are there and we can not deny it. However, Stating that all arab people are ruthless. This by it's self is generalizing.
No one is perfect. Yet, people always look for the bad things happening and talk about it and do a big deal and forget about the beautiful part of Islam and right way of thinking.
Moreover, if Your talking about Saudi Arabia and certain attempts happening, see it from the other part of the world.
Look at the United states and the Chaos happening. If you are going to compare you'll stand speechless at the corruption happening due to not applying the right punishment.

One more thing to Mr. Jason http://www.rasoulallah.net/v2/index.aspx?lang=en
< this is a website that states everything about Profet Muhammed *peace be upon him
Read this and knowledge your self about Profet Muhammed's miracles and Islam.
it's such a useful website for some that don't know about islam and muslims.
thank you :)