en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/2441490 Comments by nspicer2491 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/19/would-you-hire-illegal-immigrants-over-legal-residents-for-less-pay-119-blog/#IDComment145139411 Would I hire illegal immigrants as an employer is a hard question to answer because I am not an employer and can only speak from the patron’s side of things and what I believe is ethically correct. Personally, I would prefer not to hire illegal immigrants because it decreases jobs for citizens and other documented workers. At the same time, most of the jobs that illegal immigrants work, other U.S. citizens would not want to work. For instance, I worked at a small Jamaican restaurant while I was in high school where an Ecuadorian husband and wife did everything but manage the bills. They were maintenance, chefs, busboys, and anything else the boss asked them to do. I knew they were illegal immigrants because they were always paid in cash, worked extensive hours, and could barely speak English. They said they were trying to save enough money to bring up their family from Ecuador. I thought their situation was said but they were determined to do whatever they had to to bring their family to the United States. This is supposed to be the land of freedom and opportunities, right? If illegal immigrants were not hired, then they wouldn’t be afforded these types of opportunities and would have no means to become citizens. What I do not agree with is taking advantage of illegal immigrant workers. They should be paid at least minimum wage and not permitted to work more than 60 hrs a week. If you ask them to work extensive hours and pay them extremely low wages, then you are treating them like cattle, as if they are less than human. The fact that they are not citizens should not affect the morality of how one should treat other people, with human decency and respect. From the business end, it makes perfect sense to hire illegal immigrants because they are willing to do more work for less pay and are less likely to complain. They just want to have a job and keep a steady income so that they can feed their families and bring their remaining loved ones to the U.S. Yet, from an ethical and humanistic viewpoint it is wrong to over labor people while paying them inadequate wages. I believe that all people should be paid fair wages for the amount of work they are asked to perform. Everyone wants to make it to the top in this country and a good way to grant people that opportunity is to pay them fairly so we can all have equal chances at being successful. Illegal immigrants are people too, and they do not deserve to live in a hole in the wall while we live plushly and reap the benefits of their hard work. Fri, 22 Apr 2011 15:24:55 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/19/would-you-hire-illegal-immigrants-over-legal-residents-for-less-pay-119-blog/#IDComment145139411 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/14/what-does-it-say-about-our-society-if-schools-are-more-segregated-now-than-in-the-1970s-119-blog/#IDComment143235633 Many school systems are becoming less integrated because of institutionalized racism. There are less people who are conscious and aware of these injustices and just look at them at the facts of life. The quality of education is dependent on property taxes or socioeconomic status. To think about this logically, the majority of people of color live in urban or suburban neighborhoods where SES usually reflects the people living in the community. People of color are more likely to be impoverished, have lower SES and education which all affects the ability to move up in the social realm. Considering that you live in an impoverished community, property taxes are lower, allotting less money to go towards public education. Also, urban neighborhoods populated with apartments decreases the pool of money used for property taxes because you may have one hundred people living in an apartment building but there is only one lump say to pay for property taxes whereas people owning individual homes have to pay taxes based on the individual property they own. In a community where a people have been disproportionally affected by racism, discrimination, economic and social strife, equal educational opportunities also suffer. The amount of financial support available for that community is dramatically decreased due to their socioeconomic status. Suburban communities are populated with more houses and people of higher SES, therefore increasing the quality of their public school system. If people of color and ethnic minorities cannot afford the homes in this area, then they will not be able to improve the quality of their children’s education. This is the way that institutionalized racism works. It continues to turn the cycle of poverty and lack to equal educational and health care opportunities. Many people on this side of the balance beam always get the short end of the stick, but there are some who are able to jump to the other side through hard work and resiliency. When I was growing up in a suburban community as a youngster, there were all types of people of color in my community. But as the years went by and property taxes rose, people of color started to move to surrounding neighborhoods with lower quality school systems. The prices of homes rose as well and the number of minorities moving in to the town decreased. This is another type of institutional racism because the people of color who could barely afford to stay in the town were forced out due to increases taxes and home prices. The town also conducted construction around the railroad tracks that would raise the city’s taxes. All this has created the people of color who worked so hard to get where they were revert back to where they came from, once again perpetuating this unequal cycle of inequity. Fri, 15 Apr 2011 22:24:30 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/14/what-does-it-say-about-our-society-if-schools-are-more-segregated-now-than-in-the-1970s-119-blog/#IDComment143235633 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/05/did-putting-yourself-in-the-shoes-of-the-middle-easterners-change-your-views-on-the-war-in-iraq-119-blog/#IDComment141099978 This whole conflict of terrorism really hits home to me. Firstly my mother used to work in the Twin Towers and was there the day the towers were struck. Secondly my father is a Muslim who follows Islam to the T. I am a Muslim as well but do not cover myself in the appropriate manor so our experiences have been quite different. When the tragedy on 9/11 occurred, I was only ten years old. I was not allowed to know that much information about what was going on other than the fact that the towers were gone. But, being the nosy and curious child that I was, I started to do my own research. I would sneak and watch the news when my mother wasn’t around. When her and my step dad would be watching MSNBC and discussing the latest Global news, I would eavesdrop. When I heard that America had declared war of Afghanistan, I knew that something wasn’t right. The facts just didn’t add up. The people who had committed the crime had obviously been killed during the plane crashes and Osama Bin Laden was only one guy. I knew from a young age that we were a powerful nation and that it didn’t take our entire army to go over and invade an entire country to find one guy. Then when we invaded Iraq without finding Osama Bin Laden, and changing our target to Saddam Hussein, I knew that there had to be something else behind this whole “war”. After watching many documentaries, including “Fahrenheit 9/11”, I quickly figured out that this was a war for natural resources. I have never been one to condone war and the taking of another’s life so I already did not agree with the “war on terror” but after learning about this oil crisis, I hated the war even more. I saw the ways that my father was mistreated and discriminated against all because the media had portrayed Muslims as “terrorists”. The real terrorists were Americans, our government, and our militia. We walk around the globe bullying people to get them to hand over their resources and when they don’t hand over the control, we invade their homes and kill innocent civilians. It is completely unfair and anyone who is Muslim knows that Islam does not condone murder but Jihad, the holy war, is accepted. When others threaten to take away your beliefs, religious freedom, and morals, you have no choice but to fight. My dad was mistreated because of what he believes, not because he had done anything wrong. The majority of Muslims are good people but Americans have let the media skew their perceptions of others just because they are different and do not share the same religious practices. But if everyone took the time out to learn about each other’s religious views, then they would learn that we’re not so different after all. Fri, 8 Apr 2011 22:06:55 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/05/did-putting-yourself-in-the-shoes-of-the-middle-easterners-change-your-views-on-the-war-in-iraq-119-blog/#IDComment141099978 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/31/what-was-more-enlightening-the-information-on-your-own-sex-or-the-opposite-sex-and-why-119-blog/#IDComment139265220 I thought that the information regarding both sexes was intriguing. I am currently enrolled in BBH 452 which is a class on women’s health issues. This class is centered around ways to empower women in their choices and decision making and sexuality and gender roles has a lot to do with the way a society functions. Firstly, I was aware that we lived in a male dominated world but Sam and Laurie were able to make that more clearly throughout their lecture. I used to be the girl that wore skanky outfits and heels to parties with no coat in 30 degree weather but now as I’ve matured, I’ve changed my ways. I think a lot of it also has to do with self empowerment and that I believe a man should want me for my intellect and not solely for my body. I am still a victim of our conditioned society and wear revealing clothing from time to time but I refuse to walk around half-naked with high heels on in the dead of winter. That cute phase is over. Most of the time I go out with my male friends and I am unable to keep up if I have on high heels. Also, I could completely understand what Laurie was saying about the way that men sexually function. When she said that men heat up way faster than women and most women are aroused slower than men, I understood what she was talking about. She went on further to say that in the midst of things heating up, it is harder for a man to just get up and walk away from the situation then it is for a woman. I also sympathized with this concept because I live by the motto that men think with their penis first and their brain second. I know that she was not trying to condone sexual assault in any way or to say that it is a woman’s fault for being attacked but it is important for women and men to both understand each others’ physiology so that we can try to prevent these detrimental situations. I really enjoyed this portion of the talk and was able to better understand myself and my sexual needs versus wants as well as a man’s needs versus wants. It is now easier for me to understand that men are just so ready to have sex all the time and don’t need there to be an emotional connection or anything else for that matter, that’s just how they are physiologically structured. I think now that I understand that I am being socialized to have sex like a man, I will try to be more conscious and aware of my future actions and thoughts towards sex. Sat, 2 Apr 2011 02:14:46 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/31/what-was-more-enlightening-the-information-on-your-own-sex-or-the-opposite-sex-and-why-119-blog/#IDComment139265220 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/24/would-you-date-someone-like-me-119-blog/#IDComment137618420 I think interracial dating is still a touchy topic, even in 2011. I specifically think that white males are hesitant to approach a black girl because they don’t know what to expect. Images seen in the media or even in social situations have shown black women to be hostile and aggressive. This can be intimidating for many men, especially ones of another race. A guy has to actually come out of his way and introduce himself to a black woman, not knowing what to expect. This can be a frightening experience. Based on my personal experiences, the way that white cultures does courtmanship is completely different than that of black culture. It is generally accepted when a black man walks up to a black woman and says, “hey baby how you doin’, let me get your number.” It seems as though things do not happen that way in white culture. Most of my white friends met their boyfriends through a mutual friend or they were already friends and became lovers. This method of courtmanship keeps the circle close and allows people to find comfort in pursuing a possible mate. Meeting someone new can be a pretty scary, intense feeling and may result in anxiety prevent you from approaching that person. I think the difference in courtmanship is the main reason why it hard for white men to approach a black female. Another factor may also be that he may not know what to say when he actually tries to converse with this lady. To catch a woman’s attention, she has to be drawn to you for some reason or another and a pick up line may be the best thing for her to notice you. Coming up with pick up lines is surely not an easy thing to do. To come up with a good pick up line is something even more difficult. I am saying all of this from a Black woman’s personal opinion and based on personal experience. One white guy that I once dated at Penn State, didn’t even have a pick up line. He saw me in a club and proceeded to ask me to dance. I agreed, and it began from there. It could be something as simple as a dance or even asking for directions although you know where you are. You just have to be creative and don’t get intimidated because all Black women aren’t the same. The experience will be different with each one. And for Black women don’t be afraid to try something new. You may not be attracted to him at first, but try to expand your horizons and try something new. Be willing to break barriers and stereotypes and I think then there will be a lot more interracial dating among Blacks and Whites. Sat, 26 Mar 2011 02:27:18 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/24/would-you-date-someone-like-me-119-blog/#IDComment137618420 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/18/what-is-your-opinion-of-the-video-119-blog/#IDComment135902486 I believe the question being asked is about how you feel about the doll study and darker skin being seen as bad and lighter skin being seen as good. I will be answering in that regard. I will say that I am a dark skinned woman and have had many encounters with others about the complexion of my skin. Sam asked the class to remember the first time they remember being a member of a specific race. He said that for people of color, we notice that very young which I did not. I went to a predominantly white elementary school and I never felt that I was different. No one treated me differently, no one asked about my skin or my hair. It wasn’t until I moved to another town that was more racially mixed that I found out I was black, and more specifically, dark skinned. This transition was very hard for me because all of the kids teased me about my skin color and my hair. I long hair that my mother would straighten with a hot comb because I didn’t need a relaxer but all of the kids teased me about not having a perm. So I begged my mom to relax my hair and she did. It was the worst mistake I could have made because my hair has never been the same since. All of the kids called me names such as black ass and darkie; they said I couldn’t play in the sun because I would become crispy. That was when I first realized that they didn’t like me because of my skin. My mom was very hurt by this because she married my father partly because his skin was so dark. She wanted to erase the appearance of the white blood that was in her family. She taught me to embrace my dark skin and that I was beautiful no matter what. Even though she was a positive role model, society still tells me that I am not an acceptable face of beauty. The teasing stopped once I got to middle school and even throughout high school, but I noticed that all of my friends were dark skinned and that all the light skinned people were friends. We were segregated among our own community. When I came to college, I became friends with someone who is very fair skinned and we have had very different experiences when it comes to guys. A lot of men will say to me, oh your pretty for a dark skinned girl, or damn shorty, you bad, but too bad you ain’t light skinned. Even though I have so called “good” hair, society says I am still not good enough. Men always complement my light skinned friend on how beautiful she is and how pretty her hair is but they always assume that I have a chemical straightener in my hair because I’m dark. In magazines, light skinned singers and actresses are always shown such as Halle Berry, Alicia Keys, and Beyonce, which all have been mixed with white blood. What that message sends out to me is that society is still telling us in 2011 that it is not acceptable to be dark skinned. These images perpetuate the ideals that are deep rooted in self hatred of our African roots and if light and dark skinned people don’t stand up and ban together we will never make any progress as a people. Fri, 18 Mar 2011 20:23:22 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/18/what-is-your-opinion-of-the-video-119-blog/#IDComment135902486 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/02/is-it-possible-for-affirmative-action-to-take-things-too-far-119-blog/#IDComment133584907 Affirmative action is a program that was implemented to help promote equal job and educational opportunities for minorities and women. The young man in the video almost seems like he’s asking could affirmative action be considered reversed racism. The answer to that question is no. Statistically speaking, there is no way that minorities will ever fill the jobs of all white people because there are just simply not enough of us. Black people have the highest rate of unemployment in the U.S. which supports the claim that affirmative action has not significantly decreased the availability of jobs for whites. People of color make up approximately 30 percent of the national population making it impossible for the job market to be dominated by people of color. There are just simply not enough people of color to even consider decreasing job opportunities for whites. Al l affirmative action sets out to do is to ensure that people of color are not turned away from certain jobs because of their ethnicity or race. I think it’s even unfair to make this claim because of the injustices and discrimination that have been proven to happen when a person of color attempts to get a job. People discriminate and there needs to be a system in place to ensure that discrimination does not oppress people of color. Racism and discrimination are very indirect in today’s society so without laws to ensure equality it would be very difficult to pinpoint racist and discriminatory acts. And to point out, the law is not perfect and there will always be ways around discrimination. Discrimination of applicants still goes on today but may be marked off as other reasons. A lot of people seem to have the idea that affirmative action is unfair because they think it allows people who have lower credentials to obtain an opportunity of higher status. Not to say that this doesn’t happen, because in higher education status it does. Students of color are usually let in to prestigious universities even though their SAT scores or GPA may have been a little lower than desired. Affirmative is a program that is asking that specific minority groups, including women, be adequately represented in higher education institutions and the workforce. People of color make up approximately 30 percent of the total population and represent only about 15 percent of students on prestigious college campuses. To focus at a level more pertinent to us, Black students only make up 4 percent of the Penn State population yet represent almost 13 percent of the U.S. population. What does this say about affirmative action at the higher education level? Minority students are underrepresented in the systems of higher education. Sam said that minorities are already starting a few paces behind in the race to success, so affirmative action is just supposed to offer an opportunity to close the achievement gap between people of color and people of European decent. Wed, 9 Mar 2011 12:31:48 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/02/is-it-possible-for-affirmative-action-to-take-things-too-far-119-blog/#IDComment133584907 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/24/is-it-selfish-for-people-in-poverty-to-have-more-kids-because-of-their-lower-income-119-blog/#IDComment130721034 I have mixed feelings about people who have a lot of children and are living in poverty. On one had I think it is unfair that people should have to choose to have children just because they are poor. No matter what socioeconomic class you come from, you should have the right to keep your family’s existence alive. But on the flipside, why would you have a multitude of children that you could not take care of? In Tammy’s case, I think I do not disapprove of her having four children because they all had their basic necessities met. They didn’t look like they were starving; they had clothes on their backs and a roof over their heads. They obviously were not going to be given the best life possible because they were poor, but they have the opportunity to climb the success ladder. If Tammy only had one child, then they might have had a better chance of becoming successful but that child would have still grown up in poverty. I think I disapprove of people who have a lot of children and then milk welfare for their maximum benefits only to use the money to buy cable, designer clothing, and other unnecessary things. I think Tammy having four children is not unreasonable compared to the fact that her father had 22 children. One thing I did notice was that there was no father present in those children’s lives, leaving Tammy to be a single mother living in even more poverty without a significant other to help her financially. In the question the person compares Tammy having for children to someone of a higher socioeconomic status. This is an unfair comparison. People who are of a higher socioeconomic status usually have fewer children for two main reasons that Tammy wouldn’t really have to worry about. The first reason is not that women of higher SES usually work in more demanding corporate jobs and may want nor have the luxury to have many children. They are forced to constantly prove that they can do their job just as well, if not better than men and maternity leave is seen a downfall to the modern working woman. Tammy works at Burger King, cleaning toilets and such. This is neither a high stress nor high paying job in which most people can meet the requirements for. The second point is that people of higher SES usually think about how much it is going to cost to care for their children and the cost of college. Tammy has no savings and is probably living paycheck to paycheck, so she is not concerned about what the cost of college may be for her children because she just simply can’t afford it. Fri, 25 Feb 2011 23:55:47 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/24/is-it-selfish-for-people-in-poverty-to-have-more-kids-because-of-their-lower-income-119-blog/#IDComment130721034 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/16/why-with-more-education-do-people-believe-that-success-is-mostly-a-result-of-hard-work-119-blog/#IDComment128921135 Being a student at Penn State has really made me realize that it doesn’t matter how hard you work as much as who you know matters. Networking, networking, networking is the main point of advice that is drilled into my head. The plus of having a higher education is that you meet people who have the same goals as you and who are able to help you network. They may also have connections with people who can get you to that next level that you want to be in. At a young age we are taught that we can all achieve our goals if we work really hard. In the process of working hard it was never mentioned that we need to meet others who can help us achieve our goals. We need people who can tell us about different opportunities available to us. And in a capitalistic society we are all fighting to get to the top. It is a competition that we are all competing in and two people with similar credentials could apply for the same job or school but if someone put in a good word for you or your parents were alum, you have a better chance of getting the position. That example clearly shows how many instances of success are achieved through networking. As Penn State students we constantly live by that lifestyle. We are always trying to get in good with certain individuals because we believe they will be able to contribute to the success of our futures. In a school of 43,000 students there is bound to be someone whose parent is the CEO of a company or works in your field of interest. Once we meet those people, we are constantly trying to make a good impression on them so that they can help us get in to grad school or get that corporate job. Another great example of how networking benefits our success is the programs that we engage ourselves in. We are all trying to boost our resumes, so we join student organizations that can get us leadership positions within the Penn State community. A lot of the people that in these leadership positions don’t even care about being the best leader for their organization, they just want to be able to say on their resume that they were the President of some organization. So the best way to explain what students of higher education do would be to say that we work hard to manage and split our time between school, extracurricular activities, and our social life. We may work hard to get good grades but not as hard as we work to stay involved on campus to pump up our resumes. Fri, 18 Feb 2011 21:54:46 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/16/why-with-more-education-do-people-believe-that-success-is-mostly-a-result-of-hard-work-119-blog/#IDComment128921135 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/08/how-have-the-choices-youve-made-and-determinism-affected-your-life-119-blog/#IDComment127419985 I feel like free will and determinism has played roles in my life but I think that determinism more than free will has influenced my achievement till this day. My parents grew up in inner city neighborhoods and were from low socioeconomic statuses. Fortunately my mother was able to land a job in corporate America, which I believe has greatly impacted my family’s ability to make certain choices. My mother was the only person of color working on her trading floor for 25 years. I think it is safe to say that she was there to fill a quota. Because of affirmative action my mother was able to earn a good living and put my sister and me through private school. When I was 8 my mother decided that we would to a better neighborhood in which we could attend their public school system. This decision was one of the best she ever made. The town we moved to was more diverse than many others and there were many other people of color living there within higher social classes. My mother tried to give us every opportunity to enrich us as individuals which is all determinism. I wasn’t born poor, never grew up poor and I was able to live a life with stability, knowing every night there would be dinner on the table. My sister and I participated in a multitude of extracurricular activities. We were involved in sports, dance, instrument and voice lessons, theatre and religious services. We traveled every summer and saw the way that people of other cultures really lived. We were not given any choices as to what we wanted to get involved in but my mom knew that she wanted the best for us and that is what she gave us. She never asked us if we wanted to go to college and there was never any question as to if we could afford it, it was just this unspoken thing that we knew was in the plan for us. All of the decisions that my mom has made for us have helped me to get to Penn State and to be a better individual. As I see it, determinism, the cards that I was dealt, were the most influential factor in my life growing up. Now as an adult, I am free to make my own choices and my education and future is in my hands. But, I feel like if I had not had those deterministic influences in my life previously, I would not be equipped to make the best decisions for myself now and to have the appreciation for things that I have been blessed with. Free will continue to be the most influential factor in my life until I begin to have my own family but it is important to me that I cannot forget that my parents decisions have determined that my life follow the road of success. Fri, 11 Feb 2011 22:27:21 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/08/how-have-the-choices-youve-made-and-determinism-affected-your-life-119-blog/#IDComment127419985 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/03/inequality-in-home-ownership-119-blog/#IDComment126021667 The great economic disparities among races in this country have many different influencing factors that vary by race. As we saw with the statistics shown in class, people of Caucasian decent had the highest distribution of wealth per capita. The wealth of Caucasian people was extremely high compared to any other race. Native American statistics were not even shown which could be indicative of how impoverished the people are. The Government owns the majority of the reservations that these people live on, giving them no opportunity to own land within their communities. Most of these reservations have no means of income other than a casino. Even if they generate a large amount of revenue from the casino, they disperse that wealth into their community and do not profit from it individually. This even distribution of wealth in the Indigenous community does not allow them to acquire the means to move to a better neighborhood where they might be able to purchase a home. Native Americans are among the poorest, if not the poorest, group of people living in the U.S. The cycle of poverty has been shown to continually affect people of color. Black people are affected by the home ownership crisis linking all the way back to slavery. People who were of African descent were denied their humanly rights which would definitely include denial of the right to purchase a home. If a Black person did purchase a home, they were usually intimidated into moving out or paid a large sum of money to move. The homes that they were purchasing were typically in a white neighborhood, where people of color were not accepted. So in the fight for housing, housing projects, or low-income housing was created. Black people were forced to live in the same neighborhoods where their availability to education was based on property taxes. Property taxes in these neighborhoods were low and less people owned homes because they lived in an apartment. The constant oppression of Black people caused a major setback and has prevented the race from progressing as a whole. Education, housing, jobs, were all things that were denied to Blacks or given to them in poor quality which made the playing field unfair. The cycle of poverty, lack of education and other things have kept Black people from being in a financial position to buy homes which has created such a huge gap in the distribution of wealth per capita. I think the unequal distribution of wealth among Asians and Hispanics is mainly due to a large influx of immigrant population. Asians, more specifically the Chinese, come to the U.S. for higher education and then they return to their homeland. The ones that do end up staying in the U.S. are usually living in poverty and are undocumented. Hispanics as well are usually undocumented, making it hard for them to obtain jobs that will allow them to support their families appropriately. Hispanics work low paying jobs which puts them in a lower income bracket, making it hard for them to purchase a home. The under the table jobs that Asians and Hispanics work, may account for an inaccurate number for distribution of wealth per capita. Fri, 4 Feb 2011 23:46:44 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/03/inequality-in-home-ownership-119-blog/#IDComment126021667 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/26/why-do-we-associate-with-people-of-the-same-race-and-ethnicity-as-ourselves-119-blog/#IDComment124432814 To address the question of why do people of the same race gravitate towards each other, it seems the major reason is comfort. People want to be able to feel comfort when they are around friends and don’t want to feel like they can be themselves in front of others. Political correctness may play a part in this because people who feel they have to be politically correct in public may not be sharing their true feelings about the way they feel about people. They may have biases against different ethnicities or races which could hinder the development of a friendship. Also the fear of being rejected or not looked at as equal may be another reason why many people don’t intermix. People want to have friends that have their similar viewpoints because they don’t want to feel like they are under attack all the time. Personally, my friends do not have the same viewpoints as myself but we gravitated towards each other because we like similar things. Being in the minority population at Penn State will also cause people to gravitate towards people of the same race because there is a small population of minority students and they may feel that they have to stick together to overcome adversity and discrimination they may face. I know that facing discrimination on this campus and in State College has made me shy away from making friends who appear to be of European descent. The fear of not knowing what this person thinks about minorities or how they will react to a simple conversation with you is deterring. Coming from such a diverse neighborhood also makes it even harder to understand the bigotry and the racism because White people are not that way at all in my town. Being in central Pennsylvania causes people of color to realize that racism and discrimination are still alive, even in a place of higher education. People who are European descent may be scared to pursue anything with someone of another race if they have not yet interacted with someone of a different race. People are scared of what they don’t know and they are afraid to try something new. International students are even more scared to interact with others different than themselves because they have been immersed into a completely different culture and do not want to be ridiculed for their lack of blending in. I don’t blame them for wanting to stay to themselves because it is hard to try to be outgoing in such a foreign setting, especially when English is not your first language. In order to fix these issues it’s best if everybody would try to be more outgoing and speak to someone that you usually wouldn’t speak to. Strike up a conversation with someone different than yourself in one of your classes and see how many new friends you can make or what you can learn from someone of a different race, ethnicity, culture, or religion. Fri, 28 Jan 2011 23:33:00 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/26/why-do-we-associate-with-people-of-the-same-race-and-ethnicity-as-ourselves-119-blog/#IDComment124432814 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/14/what-do-you-want-to-know-blog-1/#IDComment122669027 Race and Ethnic relations is an extremely sensitive topic for most people, especially people in this nation. However it is essential that issues involving race and ethnicity are discussed because there are many differences amongst people who identify with specific groups. Some issues that come to mind when talking about differences among races are body type, socioeconomic status, and disparities among different racial groups. Firstly, to further discuss different body types I would ask why do women of African descent tend to have higher body compositions than that of women of European descent? There are a few reasons that I have come up with to explain the differences but I have not yet come across a concrete answer to this question. The differences in diets between the two races could account for a difference in body shape. Black women eat higher fat content diets opposed to White women, but what about two women of different races who eat similar diets? In a nutrition course I took last semester, our book stated that Black women naturally have more lean tissue than White women which distorts the data supporting BMI, making it seem like there are more Black women overweight than there really are. Another disparity found between races is male penis size. There were plenty of rumors that Black men all had large penises, which has been proven to be false, yet there is a difference in size when analyzed by race. It is reported that Black men have the largest penis average followed by Caucasians, then Hispanics and finally Asians. What factors are responsible for these findings and what other resources are available to learn more about this topic? The next thing that runs through my mind when we discuss racial and ethnic issues is the trending topic of socioeconomic status. SES seems to be a recurring factor in so many influencing determinants of health, education, prosperity, and success in our society. What I want to know is why there are still racial and ethnic disparities in the year 2011 after things like affirmative action, health care reform and other programs have been put into place to bridge the gap between the different groups. If slavery happened so long ago, how come people who are descendants of slaves haven’t been able to reach the same achievements as their white counterparts? Looking at SES, a higher percentage of Blacks live in poverty than whites, but what about those Blacks that come from middle and upper-class families? A lot of times even they don’t succeed. In terms of health care, there are many disparities that exist. Although more and more women today are getting mammograms, Black women are more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer in the later stages and Hispanics have a higher rate of cervical cancer. Many health services have been made available to the public either by the government or by a sliding scale based on amount of income earned, yet these disparities still exist. So my final question is how do we bridge the gap between racial and ethnic disparities and afford all people in America with equal opportunities in education, health, and the workforce? Fri, 21 Jan 2011 04:49:29 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/14/what-do-you-want-to-know-blog-1/#IDComment122669027