gdp's Comments

World In Conversation : How has your opinion changed on illegal immigration?- 119 Blog

Sat, 23 Apr 2011 00:00:46 +0000

Illegal immigration has always been a clear topic when showed in the news or any TV show, in general, however, in class last week, I saw the other side of the story which is really complicated where the government actually has something to do with it. Where the government relaxes the boarder when they need more workers and they tighten it when the market is good. This really interested me because I never knew about it and also, we sometimes see Americans talk about workers situation in other countries and they have the same if not worst condition here in the United States. I am from an Arab Gulf country and the workers there aren’t treated that well but when making the comparison between how illegal immigrants here in the United States and in gulf countries I sort of see that the workers in the gulf have a better condition than the undocumented workers here in the states. I have been asked several times about the conditions about the workers we get from south east Asia to the gulf and how they are treated and I always feel bad for them even though they made the choice to come and they know what to expect the thing that I hate the most is the gulf governments not doing much about it. And now I am seeing the same situation in America with the government knowing about it and actually helping in it, for example by relaxing the border is a little bit worst because the condition and fear illegal immigrants live in is unimaginable. My personal view in illegal immigration never changed though. I still think that if you want to move to a country you should do it by the book. I am aware that hunger and poverty is the main reason for immigration but the conditions here aren’t much better if you are poor and without and education and this is what we saw in the video when Sam showed the video of the workers in Queens, new York who don’t even have a place to sleep and the only meal they get in a day is a meal that is cooked by other people out of generosity and humanity, not the government helping them which is not the case in the gulf. What I learnt is that the United States is a really smart country and it doesn’t slip the small things to let people think that it is a perfect country which any country is far from. It makes the ordinary human being thinks that they are doing the best they can by keeping illegal undocumented workers out and then they relax the border if they want more in?

World In Conversation : What does it say about our society if schools are more segregated now than in the 1970s?- 119 Blog

Fri, 15 Apr 2011 22:07:04 +0000

This defiantly says a lot about the American society but I believe that it can be interpreted in different ways. First, it is different when you there are legal ground on the segregation problem and when there is not any. However, it still says that the American society still has the problem of segregation but the reason that people don’t talk about it and why it is not considered to be a big of a deal is because in America it is seen that the people can choose to do whatever they want to do and that the people may have chosen to go to the path of segregation which is different than the path of segregation that was taken in the 1970s. In addition, even if it is true that the schools are more segregated now than in the 70’ s it doesn’t mean that the situation had become worst, because it clearly hasn’t. People at this era are generally more open and more accepting than in the 70 ‘s. So, it clearly isn’t an issue of people being more racist but there are other factors. Also, the statement that the speaker stated was really vague with no statistical background and I just read a lot of misleading information in the past and I now tend to try not to judge until I actually see the whole situation. What I understand is that in the past even the bathroom were segregated where one is for the black people and others for the whites and this segregation is way far more dangerous than saying that schools today have only a small percentage of minorities in middle America. I do see that the occurring segregation actually widens the gap between the races causing seeing people to make an “Us” and ‘Them’ kind of feel which only adds gas to the fire. However, I do see people of being more open, accepting, and tolerant with people of different races. So, basically what I am trying to say is that the statement of “schools now are more segregated than in the 70s” can be understood in more than one way and the same statement can be re- written in a less dramatic way with out putting the word “segregated” in the statement because it only negatively portraits the picture. Segregation as in openly forcing people to go somewhere for example in the back of a bus is different than “we observe that there are less minorities in American schools” The only scary thing about everything is that you don’t always know what is right and what isn’t because in the past a lot of people didn’t see anything wrong with enslaving black people.

World In Conversation : After this class, how do you think about terrorism?- 119 Blog

Fri, 8 Apr 2011 13:48:54 +0000

What interests me the most is how the students of soc 119 change their minds to the complete other direction after each class. I think that they should just be aware that both sides exist and try to stand on middle ground. When I was reading some of the comments I read that some people don’t blame terrorists. Well, I am an Arab-Muslim and I still do blame terrorists. The class had so many points. The first video of “Jihad” which showed that Muslims are trying to take over the world by war which is not true at all, but I am sure that most of the class just bought it, I also read comments of people who don’t feel safe anymore because of the message of the Jihad video. I don’t think Sam cleared that point for some of the students who didn’t get the idea of the lecture. MUSLIMS DON’T WANT TO KILL YOU. Muslims have been affected by terrorists more than any other race or religion and about those bombings that he showed in the video, I can launch my MovieMaker and make another video of how many terrorist acts have been performed by Jews or Christians with strong music and scary images; can tell you that Jews represented by the Israeli IDF have killed more civilians and showed no sympathy in bombing hospitals, and schools so WAKE UP. No Muslims are trying to kill you. It’s the same proportion of Muslim terrorist as there are Jewish terrorist and Christian terrorist, if not less. but what you only see in the media are the "Muslim" terrorists. I believe that not everybody got the idea of the first video and I am reading comments of people freaking out! Actually some of the bombing that were listed in the video were in Middle Eastern countries and have affected Arabs more than westerners. And then he showed videos of American soldiers being jerks in Iraq and then all the students went to the other way. I find it funny that three video can change your perspective on everything. The word “Jihad” in Arabic just means “struggle” and the problem is that the right wing republicans that bash Islam, interpret the Quran the same way the terrorists do and don’t get to actually read the quran. Most of the things that Sam talked about were common sense and I seriously didn’t think that people saw this lecture as “eye opening”. Maybe it’s because I am from the Middle East. However, we really don’t exchange emails about bad Americans in war. I noticed that what Sam did is showed the extreme interpretation of both sides and a lot of the students missed the point and started believing either that the American war for Iraq is %100 illegitimate or that Muslims are trying to take over the world.

World In Conversation : Do you think Sam was right in saying this will be the best lecture of the year?- 119 Blog

Fri, 8 Apr 2011 13:48:22 +0000

first video of “Jihad” which showed that Muslims are trying to take over the world by war which is not true at all, but I am sure that most of the class just bought it,You not feeling safe anymore because of the message of the Jihad video only shows that you missed the point of the whole lecture. I don’t think Sam cleared that point for some of the students who didn’t get the idea of the lecture. MUSLIMS DON’T WANT TO KILL YOU. Muslims have been affected by terrorists more than any other race or religion and about those bombings that he showed in the video, I can launch my MovieMaker and make another video of how many terrorist acts have been performed by Jews or Christians with strong music and scary images; I can tell you that Jews represented by the Israeli IDF have killed more civilians and showed no sympathy in bombing hospitals, and schools so WAKE UP. No Muslims are trying to kill you. Its the same proportion of Muslim terrorist as there are Jewish terrorist and Christian terrorist if not less for Muslims but that's not what you see in the media.

World In Conversation : What was more enlightening, the information on your own sex or the opposite sex and why?- 119 Blog

Sat, 2 Apr 2011 01:22:34 +0000

The needy penis lecture last class was really out of the ordinary and I have to say that I was more enlightened about the information about the opposite female sex even though that I think that I was subconsciously knew most of the things that were talked about in lecture but I needed one to re- say to take it to the surface. I defiantly knew that women are a lot slower than men into getting in the right mode for intercourse. However, in the real life situation before listening to this lecture, I would have forgotten about it and rushed the opposite sex into sexual activity. In addition, the fact of sex being in a male centered world has always been in my mind but I did not know about the statistic that only one third of women reach orgasm while males are performing their main understanding of sex which is what everybody thought. I am sure that this fact sort of relived some of the pressure on each gender because the males may think that they are not good enough for the partner if she doesn’t orgasm, and for the female to start faking it and not obtaining her maximum sexual pleasure which will result in a bad sex- life for both partners especially in the long run. Also, I think Sam said something that hit me really hard when he said that women who ‘chose’ to wear high heels and not wear appropriately on certain weather conditions to impress the male and when they say they choose to do so is not any different than the black little girls in the video who stated that they think that the white doll is the good, nice doll and the black doll is the bad doll who looks like them. They also made the choice but in fact that is pressure from society and what TV tells us about what our lives should be.Another interesting fact was that most undergraduates in college only have sexual activities with zero to one partners their whole college life. And that women have sex in order to find a relationship whereas men just have sex for the satisfaction of their sexual pleasures. Which is different than how people view college. Another statistic was that only I think it was 29% of people had sex in the past 3 0 days as undergraduates. I believe that Laurie and Sam did a great job of just making the students aware of the actual situation that is never been taught or viewed anywhere. I think it will equally help women and men in creating healthier relationships with partners understanding those statistics and how our bodies work.

World In Conversation : What was more enlightening, the information on your own sex or the opposite sex and why?- 119 Blog

Sat, 2 Apr 2011 01:20:35 +0000

The needy penis lecture last class was really out of the ordinary and I have to say that I was more enlightened about the information about the opposite female sex even though that I think that I was subconsciously knew most of the things that were talked about in lecture but I needed one to re- say to take it to the surface. I defiantly knew that women are a lot slower than men into getting in the right mode for intercourse. However, in the real life situation before listening to this lecture, I would have forgotten about it and rushed the opposite sex into sexual activity. In addition, the fact of sex being in a male centered world has always been in my mind but I didn’t know about the statistic that only one third of women reach orgasm while males are performing their main understanding of sex which is what everybody thought. I am sure that this fact sort of relived some of the pressure on each gender because the males may think that they are not good enough for the partner if she doesn’t orgasm, and for the female to start faking it and not obtaining her maximum sexual pleasure which will result in a bad sex- life for both partners especially in the long run. Also, I think Sam said something that hit me really hard when he said that women who ‘chose’ to wear high heels and not wear appropriately on certain weather conditions to impress the male and when they say they choose to do so is not any different than the black little girls in the video who stated that they think that the white doll is the good, nice doll and the black doll is the bad doll who looks like them. They also made the choice but in fact that is pressure from society and what TV tells us about what our lives should be.Another interesting fact was that most undergraduates in college only have sexual activities with zero to one partners their whole college life. And that women have sex in order to find a relationship whereas men just have sex for the satisfaction of their sexual pleasures. Which is different than how people view college. Another statistic was that only I think it was 29% of people had sex in the past 30 days as undergraduates. I believe that Laurie and Sam did a great job of just making the students aware of the actual situation that is never been taught or viewed anywhere. I think it will equally help women and men in creating healthier relationships with partners understanding those statistics and how our bodies work.

World In Conversation : Would you point out the people of your own race who make racial slurs or prejudice comments?- 119 Bl

Sat, 26 Mar 2011 01:47:49 +0000

I would defiantly call out someone in my own race if they slur out bad stereotypical comments about anyone. First of all, I know a lot of people of my own race that are really racist about Asians or other races. And the only thing that I can do is try to educate them. For my part I find it funny to think about it because most people for now think that they are immune from racism. And what has to be understood is that racism is not only towards black people but it also includes every race. A lot of the people making the comments right now did somehow once be racist a certain group of people. I know for a fact that a huge percentage of people don’t really do anything to stop those racist comments when they are with their own people and would do nothing to stop them. Racism is actually common anywhere in the world. There is simply no where in the world that is racism- free. I know that everywhere I lived racism existed and it is because of many factors. Also, when reading the book I remember that it talked about Mexicans and Puerto Ricans prejudging among their own people. So this shows that even in a well mixed pot of the same race, separations will be made. Humans just cannot live without seeing some as inferior and others as superior and that can be chosen by race, color, religion, sexual orientation and we will just get more creative on putting boundaries and making an “us” and “them”. As long as this stays with us people will be prejudice and my own people are no exception. What is also funny is when I see people of certain oppressed minorities being racist about others. I have friends who are from really oppressed minorities at the time being and when they go back to their homeland they will adopt the some racist actions against people in their own home country. Another example is Israeli Jews who talk so much about being oppressed by people for centuries and then again do the same things that has happened to them when back in their homeland. I just find funny and hypocritical to for people to use their race or other things to stop racism against them but they have no problem prejudging others in the same sense that they were treated. So, people should first end the hypocrisy and also end the racism within every one of us because I know that everybody prejudges and there is no solution to that. But one should do the best they can to get people to understand the humanitarian stage where no one is different than anyone with more than 0.01%.

World In Conversation : What do you think of the diversity at Penn State?- 119 Blog

Sat, 19 Mar 2011 03:20:11 +0000

As of my decision to come to Penn state, the diversity part didn’t really matter to me. And that is due to several reasons. First, I would like to clarify that I am an international student and I really didn’t have much experience about the United States’ diversity issue. I originally thought that America generally has the same percentages of races at all schools. Generally speaking, When I thought of America I usually think of only black Americans or white Americans which is what is represented in Hollywood and this is what I thought and saw of America before coming. So, basically I didn’t think that it matters or differs from school to another the percentages of races in a school. However, when coming here It was an eye opening experience to see Americans from different background. I honestly never thought of Asians being Americans. I still don’t know how it is in other schools in the United States; however, me personally, I do see it as a diverse campus and this is what a lot of people don’t agree with me with. Maybe when I see the percentages of races in the penn state main campus, it shows that this school is mostly white, but when I walk around campus I don’t really give it much thought. I think I see a good percentage of Asians and blacks all over campus but does it really matter? I think it does in a sense of people educating their selves and trying to accept or understand other cultures than your own which allows more tolerance and might eliminate any pre existing ideas about one’s culture. People coming from cities in the United States that are more culturally diverse are going to most certainly see Penn state campus as a predominately white campus. And other people who come from areas or high schools that are predominately white are going to see Penn State University Park campus as being really diverse. Everytime we have this kind of discussion, I start looking around the class and try to see the colors of people. The soc 119 class has a nice mix of races and backgrounds but other classes might not have the same degree of diversity. Also, around campus we see a lot of organizations and clubs for students of different backgrounds. For example, there are the Mexican Student association, the Arab student union, the south asian student association and a lot more and they all have events that help to learn more about that ethnicity which is definitely a good thing. We also did an experiment in class where we calculated the percentages of white vs. colored folks in the penn state manual and it was found to be accurate.

World In Conversation : Is it selfish for people in poverty to have more kids because of their lower income?- 119 Blog

Wed, 2 Mar 2011 16:20:36 +0000

In a way it is selfish. If you can’t afford something you don’t take the risk of owning it. If you don’t have the money to buy a Ferrari don’t get one. And human lives are way more precious than Ferraris of any sort. If you cannot sustain a decent life for your child then you maybe you shouldn’t have had them in the first place. I can defiantly understand the unimaginable desire for children sometimes which is totally valid but one must also calculate all the other things that will come with the package. I also can sympathize with a poor family of two but when you go over two that is too selfish for your own and your children’s own good. I think the magic number is two but even two sometimes can be unmanageable and must be taken into consideration. However, if the poor family goes over two, my sympathy would have some kind of decline and that is for two main reasons. Firstly, they made the choice to have that big number of kids, they could of chosen otherwise. I am talking in general, there are many tools and medication to prevent having more kids, the magic birth control pill or simply using a condom which cannot be more expensive than supporting a new life in today’s world. And now making that choice to have more kids when you can’t “afford” the expenses, you have to live with it and live with seeing your little beloved ones being classified as underclass. I have full sympathy and support for the children but the parents on the other hand defiantly had it coming with their selfish act of bringing a child to life without calculating the aftermath. That can be seen as taking a pet and not being able to support it or, adopting a child with one not having the money or skill to handle it, which I think is not possible. If you aren’t allowed to adopt something that already exists if you can’t handle it, why is it allowed to actually make babies when you can’t handle it. I personally know a friend of mine who was raised with his 22 brothers and sisters but they had the money to provide for them, not nearly the skills, which is also as bad. People differ from one person to another. People who have money and don’t think they have what it takes to manage the kids, shouldn’t have kids. And the people who have the skills but not the finance to provide should NEVER have more than two kids, even those two kids should be seriously considered

World In Conversation : Do you think in today’s society people are more racist toward Muslims or Blacks?- 119 Blog

Sat, 26 Feb 2011 06:49:12 +0000

I would definitely say that todays society is way more racist towards the Muslim population than towards the black one. It would certainly be worst if you were a Black Muslim because you will get a double hate dose from all of today’s society. Me speaking of personal experience, I would like to say that it mainly depends on the place you are in. I am a Muslim and I know where I will expect different treatment and I know where I would not. It is really sad but I just now have to cope with it. I know that Airports are great place to observe racists actions towards muslims. In addition, the place you are in makes all the difference because I have friends in Parkersburg, west Virginia who get racist comments about once a week and they actually got a death threat once just because of speaking Arabic in a gas station but me living here in state college I only had faced one encounter that can be called more of curiosity than racism. I know I read in the book that if you live in a nice neighborhood and at some point a flood of Mexicans start moving to your neighborhood and everything was calm and cool for 100 days and then one Mexican breaks into a car, then most likely all the other races in that community would start hating on all the Mexicans and seeing them as bad people. All it takes is one person to provoke people in the wrong manner especially if one doesn’t know much about. This is exactly what happened for muslims. At first no one knew much about muslims until the terrible attacks of 9 / 11 and all it took was a few people out of 1.6 billion people to give a bad representation of islam and muslims. I read a statistic that hate crimes jumped to more than %1000 after 9/ 11. It is sad to see that this picture is still going on. There are crazy people everywhere, there will be crazy people everywhere, but it is sad to see the media focus on the negative and forget the good. Just two weeks ago a 63 year old veteran drove his car from California to Detroit with a truck full of explosive material wanting to do harm to the nation’s largest mosque in Dearborn, MI. It is really sad to see the media completely ignore this story, how about if the crazy guy was muslim, how would the media react. I would say in a completely different manner. If the media wasn’t so biased people in the world would better understand the fact that there are mentally sick people that don’t represent anything but their sick mind.

World In Conversation : How do you feel about the way people live in America compared to other places around the world?- 119

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 17:51:15 +0000

Sam stated in class that the 10% poorest Americans are actually richer than two thirds of the world population and I believe that this statement might be true but it’s highly misleading. It is possible that the other two thirds have better lives than those poor people in America. The life style expenses are different from one place to another and who might be considered poor in America might be considered rich in other parts of the world. For example, in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and other Gulf countries you see a lot of workers from South - East Asia working the hardest jobs for long hours with crowded accommodation and harsh treatment sometimes and they only get paid like $250 a month, or maybe less in some cases!! However, when they get back to their home country they are seen as rich and that $250 can buy them land houses, bikes...Etc. For example, $250 in Srilanka can maintain a good life style for over a month. I also know that in some places in the world, 1 dollar is WAY more than enough for food for a whole day. And I know that one dollar in America is worthless, not even for a tip. Life expenses are different. I think defining how people are poor by money isn’t effective, at all. Poor people around the world are the same. So the poor people in America, who think they are doing better than two thirds of the world, cannot be totally true, they might have a bit more money but their money can’t maintain good life in America, but it can get them a great lifestyle in Indonesia. Also, if you think that Americans have the best life and that they are really lucky to get their education, let me burst that bubble for you, no one should pay $100,000 for education that is supposed to be a right, not a dream!! It was also interesting that most of the class voted in the clicker question that they will still buy appliances from walmart even if they knew that it was made by slaves if it is for a lower price. But when Sam showed the video of the cocoa slaves everybody was shocked and then when sam asked the question again a lot of people changed their minds on if they are still willing to buy goods made by slaves. It was really sad at the beginging of class when most people said that they will still buy products even with knowing that it is made by slaves, but the video changed at least 70% of the class’s mind. It’s funny how we condemn our ancestors for not standing against slavery and we now are doing the same thing. We shouldn’t need a video to show us that slavery is wrong.

World In Conversation : Do we have a responsibility to fix inequality?- 119 Blog

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 16:56:59 +0000

Inequality is something that will exist for ever but we still have the full responsibility to fix this issue. Inequality occurs everywhere, from one’s household, work place, to the whole social surroundings. It always interests me when Sam talks about the Native Americans and how they were mistreated because I didn’t really know about this until I came to the United States. The question I always ask myself is, should this existing generation be held responsible for what their ancestors did in the past? And how do the natives feel when they see their land taken by immigrants? When will there be complete compensation to them? I would say that the issue is not completely solved and that at least all the “elites” who are immigrants to this country should not only acknowledge their ancestors wrong doing but to actually let the whole country and world know of it. Because I honestly didn’t know that before I came to the United States. A similar situation has been going on now for the past 80 years in the Middle East where immigrant Jews from all over the world come to take and settle on Arab land with no international action taken. Let us say that after in one hundred years in what is now called Israel a professor in Tel Aviv University has a soc class and says the same things that Sam has said about natives. That Arabs were mistreated and their land was taken by force and now they are in some way second class citizens after being the owners of this whole country, I would at least want everyone in the world to know this; however, not many people from outside the states know about this. And I fear that no one inside or outside of Israel will know that in the future and Israeli Arabs will be second class citizens. Inequality will always exist but, yes, we have the responsibility to fix it. “we will never have an Asian president” was also something that Sam said a few times, while Asians are seen to do the best out of all races in terms of money and education, America will still never have an Asian President, why is that? And how can we fix it? Another thing was said in class that if Sam was not white, he would probably not make it in life. And that being white affects what you can actually be, so despite that we are 99. 99 % the same, in real life we are not, we don’t have equal chances. As sam said his black friend who is a better painter than Sam couldn’t get the job and that was mainly because of his skin color.

World In Conversation : Why Don't We Live Like the Monkeys?- 119 Blog

Sat, 5 Feb 2011 03:26:21 +0000

The video that was shown in class the other day was actually really funny for a couple of reasons. First, People usually think that they are exempted from judgments when seen. For example, when Sam said in class that it is not ethical or acceptable to sign your name for attendance then leave class even if there is an emergency because there are three freebies; then he followed by saying that when the time comes and students have an emergency they will think that the rule does not apply to them because of their special case; however, in this video no one, absolutely no one can see them selvs as not included nor exempted from that video because if you are simply human you are a monkey that forget that he is just another monkey. It was just too funny looking at ourselves; being all the same, but then separating ourselves by imaginary lines, categorizing people and putting them in certain classes when we are all the same. We all have 99.99% of the same DNA or whatever so what causes us to do that. Are we really smart? Or are we all just too stupid to realize this. The video had a great message that was sent clearly to humanity. After thinking about it maybe the homeless guy at 6th street is actually smarter than all of us and we are just living in our own stupid elusions caring about what everyone thinks of us. (http://www.metacafe.com/watch/172809/we_are_all_monkeys/) this is the link of the video that was shown in class if you have missed it or wanted to see it again because it is honestly true in a sad funny way. This definitely has two sides to it, and each of the sides is extremely different than the other. The first is that we should always look at the bigger picture and actually see ourselves as monkey to realize that no one is better than anyone; and this simply would never happen because humans are just too reliant and most people reading this including me see their self as excused from this and all the other people should start then we will just follow, but really this is the problem. No one is going to let their ego down and step up with pure intentions (including you & me!). For example, Canada is never going to just say that it will be a part of the united states because really why are they different countries they speak the same language and have the same culture! The other thing is that seeing ourselves as equal should never stop competition to rise to the best. But this is the problem, there is no middle solution. It is either that we live as equal or we just compete and create different classes and categories for people.

World In Conversation : Why Do We Associate With People of The Same Race and Ethnicity as Ourselves?- 119 Blog

Sat, 29 Jan 2011 00:45:22 +0000

This is the natural reaction of all people in general. People tend to stick with the people who they can associate and relate their selves with. As a matter of fact, I believe that if you (yes you!!) go to my hometown six thousand miles away from the United States, you will stay with the other westerners and Americans, and you will not try hard enough to connect with the culture and people that much. And I know that for a fact because I have actually been in both sides where, first, I witnessed the international people in my home town, mostly connect with people of their own background. And the other side where I traveled abroad and did what I have criticized earlier. First, in my hometown in Saudi Arabia there are a lot of Americans and westerners and they tend to make their own little groups and don’t make friends out side of the work area or with locals which I thought that those people are just a bit arrogant. On the other hand, after being in the situation my self , me traveling to study here in the U. S. I find my self doing the same thing, where most of my friends are actually from the same background as mine. However, I did make a group of American friends but I honestly don’t click with them the same as I do with my own people. Jokes, to name just one, are a thing that snaps with people of my own culture. I find it ironic that people who criticize what the international students are doing, will defiantly do the same thing if they will work abroad for a long period of time, which is exactly what I did where I first criticized what the international people doing in my home town and then my doing the same thing when I traveled to live in another country with a completely different system, culture, and people . I cannot say that doing that is a right or wrong thing to do, but it is a matter of what people will most probably tend to do. That includes both condemning people of the same culture / language hanging out with each other and speaking the same language; and that also includes actually doing what you have criticized in a point earlier. To conclude, I have lived in both sides and what I have once criticized is what I am doing right now which is what the lady in the video is saying. So the point is, it is just the natural reaction of all people and what they do without knowing and it’s doing what you are comfortable with thinking that you are exempted from the rule.

World In Conversation : What Do You Think? - 119 Blog

Sat, 22 Jan 2011 00:19:43 +0000

I defiantly agree that the experiment of dividing people and lumping them together in groups was really interesting and quite provocative. I felt that the experiment also had greater meaning than what Sam just talked about. Sam concluded at the end of the experiment that we simply cannot categorize people and accurately state their background based on outside appearance; and after thinking about it now this sentence has a really wiide meaning, especially for people who represent minorities in America today. First thing I understood in this experiment was that no matter how smart you think you are, you cannot be absolutely positive about identifying a race based on looks which is exactly what we saw in the experiment when the Latin lady was placed with the Arabs. Second thing I got and that was not so apparent at first, was that even if people looked alike they must be treated as individuals and the race/background thing should never be the first thing on your mind when looking at a person; because you can either simply be wrong and the person maybe of different heritage, or that the person is not in real connection with his / her heritage that much. Looks can be very deceiving and that was what we saw in Sam’s experiment. I also think that the people who participated in the experiment were courageous to stand in the mercy of two freshmen grouping them based on looks including the two freshmen who also showed courage. And why do I see it as courageous is because we all do think about these things in our minds every single second we meet someone new, and for Sam to actually put out an exercise that we practice in our dark little minds every day, and for the students to be that open minded is great, especially when Sam made a sarcastic comment stating that the girl who groups people together put an Arab next to a white guy was something “smart”; it’s really a sad fact to think that still in this age and time there are people who can make assumptions on people and to give them their own characteristics based on their outside looks. Something else also interested me that is in relation to the experiment. Sam showed us a slide that had a map and the map was shaded in different colors depending on the people skin color that live in those regions; and after thinking about it. Its not only skin color that people share across the map, but also some other physical features such as the eyes with Native Americans and people at east Asia. I knew that a class about race will be interesting but I never thought it’ll be this great.

World In Conversation : Last Name “A” – Intense Debate

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 12:53:25 +0000

SOC 119

World In Conversation : Disney Teaching Prejudice Against Arabs?

Wed, 8 Dec 2010 01:29:53 +0000

It just seems to me that you're just trying to be a dick or push some buttons but I will try to reply to the points that you raised. First of all, amputation of hand for stealing DOESN'T occur in Saudi. I am saying this because I'm Saudi and lived there for 15 years; I actually know a couple of thieves that stole a lot of things and the most they had was 2 years in prison. Plus, they usually talk about these stuff and I never heard or saw a guy walking without a hand in any of my 15 years except a friend of mine who lost his hand in a car accident. Talking about the past. yeah, they actually didn't cut hands for stealing except in rare rare extremely rare cases that RARELY occur. First, we should all agree that stealing is a bad thing to do, and to have a society that doesn't have robbery in is just too great. Second point is that in past Islamic nations they would NEVER cut a hand of stealer if ANY of these cases occur: 1- If he is in need of whatever is stolen. 2- if the thief is poor. or the society lives in poverty 3- if the thief stole something that is not high in value 4- if the thing that he stole was visible ( so if he stole something that is in sight(not hidden) they would never cut his hand but punish him with jail time or whatever) 5- whatever that was stolen must not be food. (food doesn't qualify for the amputation of hand but maybe jail) 6-If the thief was not an adult,or was not sane. ( no amputation penalty for kids, crazy, or drunk people) 7- if the guy that was stolen forgives the thief then not cutting is going to happen. That's why it almost never happened 1400 years ago. and that's why it is not preformed nowadays. So if you steal anything and got your hand cut off, its because you stole something that you don't need and it was high in value and it was out of sight and its not food and you're not poor and you didn't get forgiveness from the stolen one nor the governor. That system worked to prevent stealing and no one got his hands cut off. So, its actually works as a WARNING but NOT a punishment. For public execution I am 99.9% pro it. If someone commits murder to an innocent soul he sure deserves death penalty. That is also what happens in most countries, including the States. you should open your eyes a little. About people getting offended by the little things, I find that hard to believe, especially if you a foreigner. People will just laugh it off and tell you to be careful not to do it anywhere else because it is disrespectful in their culture; so, your part is to try to understand and respect their culture without offending anyone again. Not everyone is from Kansas city, you know that cultures and what is considered offensive differs from a continent to another.

World In Conversation : U.S. Health Care Not So Muslim Woman Friendly?

Thu, 2 Dec 2010 07:44:33 +0000

Muslim women have every right to ask for a female doctor if available and will not interfere and / or affect any other needier patient for the female doctor. I don’t see any problem to ask for something that will make you more comfortable without doing any harm to anyone. In Saudi Arabia one of the most extreme countries in putting Sharia and Islam as its main source of law and ruling, doesn’t prohibit male doctors from taking care of female patients; it is actually common in any hospital for a female to see a male doctor if a female doctor is not present. So what I am trying to say is that women in the united states have all the right to make a special request but if that request is not available or wasn’t approved that should not be an issue, at all. I also never heard of men asking for make doctors instead of a female doctor. So the gender part should not be focused on as much as the ability, professionalism, and good reputation of the Doctor. If a female Muslim is not comfortable with a male doctor treating her she should inform the hospital of her wish and if it is not granted she should not put the problem on the back of religion but she should explain that she is simply not comfortable with a male doctor. This is what happens in Saudi Arabia. I know a lot of women who gave birth to their child with the assistance of a male doctor which is approved by the Islamic government, so religion is not the thing to blame.

World In Conversation : Bill Maher Alarmed by Islam in England

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 11:35:01 +0000

I usually wait 'till Thursday night for my comment but after seeing this I just had to post a comment. I am really pissed off by the ignorance of these people. I researched Bill Maher and the guy clearly has a problem with Islam. In another video he used some retards that can't even speak to ask them about Islam, and later hold it against Muslims. Seriously, I can show Pastor Terry Johns all day in Arabiya Channel and say this is America and Christianity. He is just promoting fear and intolerance. The other lady guest thinks that she knows everything, but the fact of the matter is that the Sharia law practiced in Bahrain isn't different than the law enforced in any other country. Sharia law courts aren't becoming "institutionalized" as a "parallel legal system. Jews in the U.K. have had similar yeshiva courts for a long long time now and they aren’t doing any harm. Bill Maher yes you sir are definitely are a racist; I am really surprised of how you can get away with such bigoted comments such as one he made in another video where he stated that “they bring that dessert stuff to our world”. So he is just grouping all muslims to Arabia. Not only that but he just insulted a whole culture. I really hate a lot of the cultural stuff that are in the middle east but as a guy who appears on TV regularly, you should know what is the line of a simple criticism and an insult.

World In Conversation : England's Most Popular Baby Name For Boys

Wed, 10 Nov 2010 22:06:48 +0000

I read a similar article, I think, a year ago and what I first thought is that regular white Britts in the United Kingdom will oppose and start spreading fear and hate because of the growing number of Muslims in the country. People usually hate change and new things. Moreover, people will even hate more if what was used to be a minority hits the top, even if it’s just by an Islamic name being top named in the United Kingdom, which can be seen as Muslims will become the majority in this country?, and that may sound fearful for a few . A simple example of people resisting change can be shown by when a popular website such as Facebook or YouTube change the appearance and layout of their website even if it is for the better, people will still resist and fight change. Similarly, I thought that non-Muslims in the United Kingdom will start to fight and resist the change of minorities becoming a significant part of the community. We also have to not forget that the name Mohammed is the number one name for new borns in a few other European countries; however, it apparently didn't catch the media's attention; nor it changed the lives of the white Europeans. Islam isn't inferior to other cultures. Islam should work at any time and age; especially when taking the stupid cultural things that aren't related to it. So, living in the west and being a Muslim shouldn't contradict or change an Islamic lifestyle by any means.