en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/7157350 Comments by peaches_plums93 http://www.soc119.org/2013/07/26/week-eight-lesson-14-affirmative-action/#IDComment693431315 I agree that things are just going to be unfair for now. If we don’t see educational changes in our country we are forever going to be this way. Plus there will always be the people who are unwilling to work for their success regardless of their gender, race, or anything else complaining that life isn’t fair for any number of reasons. I have always been told life isn’t fair and if you think about it that really is just true. I too agree that things will be different when whites are the minority I just hope its different in a good way and not in a vengeful way. Kind of a depressing thing to say but true. Sun, 4 Aug 2013 03:55:29 +0000 http://www.soc119.org/2013/07/26/week-eight-lesson-14-affirmative-action/#IDComment693431315 http://www.soc119.org/2013/07/26/week-eight-lesson-14-affirmative-action/#IDComment693429913 Before listening to this lecture I can honestly say that I really had never learned anything about Affirmative action. Maybe I had heard of it but never really anything more than the name. I will even admit that I had to Wikipedia the term during the lecture…hopefully this doesn’t make me horribly naïve. I guess that is a testament to the fact that it doesn’t have much to do with me anyways. What I got from Wikipedia is that it is equal opportunity employment and from the lecture I got that it is an attempt to even out the gap between men and women, people of color and white people, disabled people and able bodies persons. Learning about it though I didn’t really think that it was an incredibly unfair thing, especially when Sam gave his example of how Penn State worked with him on his hiring. I thought it was completely fair really that they just asked him to verify that there was no one else qualified for the job as well. Maybe there is more to it than what I know and that is why some people are so against it. What I was wondering is if it is the same as when Universities take kids who are not white over white students just to fill their quotas even if the white student technically was more qualified. If so, then I could totally see why people would be so enraged because that is anything but fair and makes me angry to even think about. I even remember wanting to move to an inner city school when I was in high school because those kids have a far greater chance of getting into top universities just because of where they go to school. I don’t really think that should be the case either. I also wanted to comment on the last part of the lecture when the students were sharing their thoughts on the system. I COMPLETELY agree with the student that said he thought that the problems all start with education and can also end with education. Yes, life in America can be a vicious cycle but a huge part of that cycle is our education system. Even kids who don’t want to be in school will at least be forced to stay if their school is a better one and keeps track of absences and what not. I once watched a movie called Waiting for Superman which I highly recommend watching, about inner city schools and charter schools and how difficult it is for kids who get stuck in these bad school systems to get out, especially if their parents really have no means to send them to private school or to move. It also outlines the difficulties in hiring new school superintendents that want to make the changes and make them actually happen because of the teachers unions who are thinking of themselves and not the children’s educations. It was truly horrifying and made the future seem pretty bleak. What I got from that video is that government needs to step in and recognize the enormous problem we have in this country. We are falling behind in the statistics compared to other countries because of our public education systems. We as a country need to stand up and tell government to stop wasting money on their helicopter rides and luxury lifestyles and put public money into the school systems so we can fix the real reason for the continuing gap in equality. Sun, 4 Aug 2013 03:51:40 +0000 http://www.soc119.org/2013/07/26/week-eight-lesson-14-affirmative-action/#IDComment693429913 http://www.soc119.org/2013/07/20/week-seven-lesson-13-immigration/#IDComment691536758 Though I feel almost ashamed to admit this, I too have cleaning ladies that come to my house every month or so. They are the nicest, most hard working people I know. They are two sisters, one who speaks good English with a very heavy accent and one who is very nice but very quite I think because she doesn’t speak much English at all. We treat them as our good friends and talk to them as we would our childhood best friends. One day my mom, ignoring all political correctness, was talking to them about how business was going and how much other work they had. They proceeded to tell her that we were the only family they cleaned for because they could not find anymore work so they were trying to get jobs at hotels. My family is in the hotel business so my mom inquired about their citizenship and found out that only one had a green card. Because of this they were so limited on the level of job they could have. They both had big families they were trying to support and I know they must be struggling. I feel so bad for them and in this case wish that there was some kind of shortcut for people like them who are so kind and hardworking but just skipped a few steps at some point and are kind of stuck in the same spot now. Thu, 1 Aug 2013 03:44:59 +0000 http://www.soc119.org/2013/07/20/week-seven-lesson-13-immigration/#IDComment691536758 http://www.soc119.org/2013/07/20/week-seven-lesson-13-immigration/#IDComment691533933 This lecture on immigration was a great topic to learn about for me because I don’t have much existing knowledge on the issue. I did get a little bit confused from time to time on whether Sam was referring to illegal immigrants or legal immigrants. I suppose it doesn’t really matter? I was just confused about whether or not he meant that business allows illegal immigrants into the country to work or if he meant legal immigrants. Before this lecture I was mostly against immigrants even though I know there is no way our country should ever not allow immigrants. I mean our country is one giant immigration location and was founded upon that. I think that I sometimes don’t want immigrants because I associate them with being poor, uneducated, and dangerous when in reality, as we learned in the slides, they are often times very educated and very wealthy. It makes sense if you think about it really. I also got to thinking that the rest of the people who come here that are not wealthy or educated must be very determined and hard working people to somehow find their way here and to want to work. When I think of it this way, I really don’t have a problem with immigrants. I guess its more the political issue of taxes and voting and what not for most people though. I was also interested to learn that business drives immigration policies in our country even today. How is that not all over the media like every other corruption issue? Of course it makes a lot of sense, why would we let loads more people into our country if there were not going to be any jobs for them but it was just shocking to learn that our government and big businesses are letting this happen. It doesn’t make sense to me that we would have laws about immigration and these people are coming into the country seemingly easily just because business says so? I don’t really like the idea of there not being any kind of REAL and LEGAL organization of this. Why should some people have to go through huge amounts of paperwork and classes and what not to become citizens while these people can just come right in and start working and be successful? It makes more sense to me when I learn about examples such as the one of the Pear farm owner who lost so much money because they couldn’t afford or find enough fruit pickers. That’s something I have never even thought about or heard. I can recognize the need for immigrants but I don’t think that it is right for them to be undocumented and paid less just because of that. Thu, 1 Aug 2013 03:37:27 +0000 http://www.soc119.org/2013/07/20/week-seven-lesson-13-immigration/#IDComment691533933 http://www.soc119.org/2013/07/20/week-seven-lesson-12-multiculturalism/#IDComment689241864 In regards to your comment about the rap and the unknown universal community, I think that it is not the only one. I think that there are many of these communities across the world we just don’t realize it. Globalization is here and people are embracing it. One of my interests is global fashion and trends and I currently work in retail. Most American trends originate now days from Europe and other parts of the world but it is just not noticed. We follow the other countries leads and in the fashion world it is seen as more high fashion and high society if you are not from America, as it is becoming the same for example in Professional Tennis. Ask most Americans who their favorite male tennis player is, I guarantee most of them will not be Americans. I think that while we are vastly stuck in our American ways, there are those communities we just have not yet learned to embrace them. Mon, 29 Jul 2013 02:32:00 +0000 http://www.soc119.org/2013/07/20/week-seven-lesson-12-multiculturalism/#IDComment689241864 http://www.soc119.org/2013/07/20/week-seven-lesson-12-multiculturalism/#IDComment689238318 Interesting lecture. I mostly have comments on the first lecture. My last blog post I commented a lot about LGBT so I will comment on other things for this post. I thought that the second lecture was a little bit easier for me to listen to when Professor Richards was not including religion and his own spin on things. I just decided that I will just have my views on matters while still listening to what he has to say and taking it for what it is. Starting from the beginning of the first lecture, my first notes were on Sam’s statement regarding people who go to church and not wanting to diversify and just be with people who think and act the same way they do. I don’t necessarily think that church’s and people’s religions are based on diversity. I know that personally I honestly do not pick where I go to church and which church I go to every week based on the other people that are there. In fact I rarely ever socialize with anyone else at all. I guess it is better if I just speak for myself because I do not know how other people think but I just go to church to celebrate my own faith and it is really more of a personal time so it has nothing to do with whom else is there. I think maybe it may have more to do with communities and what races are in those communities and what their religious heritage is and what not. I also wanted to comment on the slide that Sam showed that said by 2050 whites will be the minority. Being white I will admit that fact did scare me a little as I am sure, whether of not many people wanted to admit it, it scared many others too. I feel that it id because a lot of times when I personally think of immigrants and people who are really foreign, I think of poverty and struggles and crime and other things that I really don’t want to have for myself and my family. I know this isn’t the case all of the time but I think this is a big reason for the fear many people have of immigrants and diverse neighborhoods. However, I will say that some of the hardest working people I have ever met and have the greatest respect for are Hispanic immigrants, some of whom I know do not even have a green card or any type of legal documents to be here but are just doing what they can to support themselves and their families instead of sitting on the street begging for money. When I think of these people who want to come to the United States and work hard and be successful, I am not afraid, I really am just proud that they would choose my country to come and be a part of. I will say that though I believe in globalization and that the future is in it, I will not agree with waking up one day and wrapping myself in a Chinese flag? Call that what you want, I do not really care to be honest. I personally don’t see anything wrong with my refusal to take any other country than the US as my own. I think especially being white and American, meaning that I am really a cultural mix, having the title of American (mut) is a whole new race almost. It is what I can most identify with. You wouldn’t ask a Mexican person if it was a big deal for them to just wake up one day and be black and I feel that at some level that is how I feel about asking me as an American if I think its okay to wake up one day and decide that I would love to just be a Chinese citizen and give up all of my American pride. This pride I have is not a bad thing and I refuse to ever be told that it is. Americans have this pride and confidence about them and it is what built us and keeps us as the strongest country. The skin colors of Americans may change but I don’t think that the same is happening in China and there must be a good reason for that. Mon, 29 Jul 2013 02:24:43 +0000 http://www.soc119.org/2013/07/20/week-seven-lesson-12-multiculturalism/#IDComment689238318 http://www.soc119.org/2013/07/15/week-six-lesson-10-stages-of-racial-identity-people-of-color/#IDComment684586964 I too thought that this part of the video was incredibly sad. I think it is easier as a white person to sympathize and understand the struggles that people of color have just because of history when I see things like this. My thoughts were similar to yours in that I was almost in disbelief. Of course I do believe it but how does this happen? This is a good example of a very serious race problem that does not seem to be the fault of anyone but of course would be something that would make me resent white people if I were black. I want to learn more about why such little children so widely believe that the white doll is better so I can start thinking of ways this can be changed. Mon, 22 Jul 2013 02:29:06 +0000 http://www.soc119.org/2013/07/15/week-six-lesson-10-stages-of-racial-identity-people-of-color/#IDComment684586964 http://www.soc119.org/2013/07/15/week-six-lesson-10-stages-of-racial-identity-people-of-color/#IDComment684584262 So I haven’t read through all of the blog posts and am sure somewhere in one of them someone has commented on this as well but I would like to start off my own post by addressing the comments Professor Richards made regarding the Catholic Church and LGBT. Ill try my best to be as concise with this as possible but I really think I could meet the requirements for about six posts with this response. Anyways, I have listened to this lecture a few times so that I could have my facts straight on what he said. I love that Sam teaches openness and loving others even though they may be different. I am pretty tired of the media and those who claim to be free thinkers bashing the Catholic Church and their teachings. Fine if you’re going to do that and that is your opinions but HAVE YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT FIRST, especially when in a position to teach young people. Many people would like to think that the strict reputation that Catholics have is equivalent to being hateful. In fact that is the exact opposite of what Catholic teaching is. Catholics preach LOVE! Don’t see what is so wrong about that that the media and people today love to hate it. Catholics DO NOT HATE GAYS? Yes there are gay priests and nuns and there is nothing wrong with that. I as a Catholic do not think that being gay is a choice and how can you condemn someone for something they are born with? I think this confusion often comes from the teaching we have against gay marriage and gay sex, which is what we often call the gay lifestyle. If you don’t agree with these teachings fine, we can agree to disagree. And regarding Sam’s statement that the Pope “pretty much” said gay people were going to hell? Sorry if this is rude but I just don’t think anyone is in a position to be interpreting something the Pope says especially someone who has not really studied the teachings in depth and taken the time to understand it. No one on this earth knows where people will go when they die and Sam assuming that the Pope said gay people were going to hell is just ridiculous. Sorry for the rant, just something I feel passionate about. Im sure my feelings regarding my religion are just a taste of what people of color feel when they feel they are being generalized and stereotyped and it really it a bothersome thing especially when there isn’t a great forum like this to express yourself in. I liked the video in the first part of the lecture about the girls and how they felt that being lighter skinned was more beautiful. At first this reminded me of how a lot of white girls feel that being tan is more beautiful and thought it was the same to an extent. However, I realized it was very different when I saw the part about the little girls and boys choosing the white doll and saying the black one was bad. That was truly so sad to me. No child should ever feel that they are lesser because of their skin color and that is just horrible to imagine. I also wanted to comment that I was really interested in seeing the numbers of the race distribution at Penn State. My city was the most diverse city that was mentioned in the slides and when I first came to PSU I was taken back at how white it was and was glad to see that other people thought so too. Mon, 22 Jul 2013 02:21:56 +0000 http://www.soc119.org/2013/07/15/week-six-lesson-10-stages-of-racial-identity-people-of-color/#IDComment684584262 http://www.soc119.org/2013/07/07/week-five-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-white-people-cont/#IDComment682007421 I too have been thinking a lot about white guilt. I think that I had always felt guilty but never really thought about it or recognized it. From the beginning of this class I think I have been thinking about the idea of white guilt and how bad I feel about the way my race has acted. However, lately I have been struggling with the idea of being guilty at all. It is hard to not get annoyed with feeling guilty and feeling blamed all the time when you personally have never done anything wrong at all. Though I recognize that this is not at all what I should be feeling I think this is one of the biggest things that is holding me back from advancing to another stage. Thu, 18 Jul 2013 03:25:59 +0000 http://www.soc119.org/2013/07/07/week-five-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-white-people-cont/#IDComment682007421 http://www.soc119.org/2013/07/07/week-five-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-white-people-cont/#IDComment682005622 I found this lecture to be interesting but somewhat similar to the last in a few ways. However, I think I probably think it was similar because I am just not grasping the different stages. The concept is interesting to me and I think that I understand the general idea but I definitely do not really understand the exact differences between them all. I have always thought either you were racist or you’re not. So do the different stages mean that in some stages you’re racist and in some you’re not or are all of the stages grouped together as not being racist or vice versa. I can’t really decipher what makes the groups very different and am having great trouble even deciding which I would fall into. So far, I feel as though there are little parts of every group that I fit into. I do agree that there is a timeline in your development in life regarding perception of race but I don’t know if I really feel there can be distinct stages when there is constant possibility of moving forwards or backwards in each stage. I feel that while watching once lecture of this class, one could move between three stages several times. I really liked the part of the lecture that talked about realizing your whiteness but not always meaning that it will be in an accepting manner. When Professor Richards showed the video of the two white nationalist girls I was amazed. I did not even know there were people out there in America today that thought and acted like that. I guess that would put me in one of the first stages. I do acknowledge that there is racism and that not all people are completely accepting of other races and cultures today but I certainly did not know that there were people who felt as strongly as those girls and their family did. It was most striking to me when they stated that they thought the Holocaust was an exaggeration. If I was a Jewish person today and I heard that I would definitely be pretty angry. I once heard that there were people out there who believed that the Holocaust was made up but I didn’t really believe it. It really just blows my mind. Thinking that is not only disrespectful to everyone of the Jewish faith but it is also disrespectful towards just about anyone who was alive during that time period not to mention all of the families and friends of the people who died in the war to end the crimes that Hitler was committing, many of whom were white just like them. Learning of the concepts of different stages forces me to think about what stage I am in and to think deeper into the different aspects of what puts me into each category. Thu, 18 Jul 2013 03:20:58 +0000 http://www.soc119.org/2013/07/07/week-five-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-white-people-cont/#IDComment682005622 http://www.soc119.org/2013/07/07/week-five-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-idenity-white-people/#IDComment680037144 I like that you pointed this out. If you look at celebrities even, the white ones try their best to morph to what the black celebrities are doing almost as to make themselves look cooler, and it works to some extent! It isn’t a good message to send to our youth really. What does it even mean to be yourself in our society today. It is kind of hard to be yourself, especially when you’re white, when you don’t even want to be your own race or act it or even know what it is. It funny how when you’re trying your absolute best to not be something instead of trying to be something, you just end up appearing to be what you were trying to avoid in the first place. We as white people cannot just simply be! Mon, 15 Jul 2013 00:43:27 +0000 http://www.soc119.org/2013/07/07/week-five-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-idenity-white-people/#IDComment680037144 http://www.soc119.org/2013/07/07/week-five-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-idenity-white-people/#IDComment680034912 LOVED THIS LECTURE! Professor Richards was dead on in that white people are almost the only ones to not talk about their ethnicity. I am white and I feel like not having a connection to my ethnicity like many of my Columbian or Japanese friends makes me miss out on being a part of something. I miss out of the possibility of having a whole other community of people to connect with and to be a part of. I honestly would not even know where to start if I tried to “connect” with my white identity now. I don’t even know if there is any connection to be made really. I mean there isn’t a certain language I should know or speak at home or any kinds of foods that would be unique to me. I have not really thought about it before but I definitely have always felt that something was missing almost. I think it is definitely a good thing and also a very beneficial thing to be able to identify with your race. However, I don’t know if it is a necessity to have that connection. I wonder though if it is only in America that we as white people don’t discuss our whiteness. As professor Richards was saying, the black and brown people of America talk about their race all the time but if you think about it, they are often the minority in their community and also in the country. I wonder if for example in parts of Africa where there are only a few white people if this is the reverse. I wonder if it takes isolation to force the connection and bond with each other. Another part of the lecture I really liked was when professor Richards talked about political correctness. I really hate political correctness. I do UNDERSTAND the point of it is to not offend people who have already been offended a great deal but I don’t know if it really helps solve any problems. I think we have gotten to a point in our society where we have almost leveled off in our strides toward racial equality. I think that this is partly due to political correctness. Being PC has become so complicated that people would almost rather not discuss the topic of race at all than use the incorrect term. As we have learned from many of our lectures and supplements given, not talking about our problems is no way to solve things. Lets face it, people who are truly racist really don’t care about being politically correct anyways so why save it for the people who really do care and want to make the changes. I also liked how professor Richards pointed out that it is no ones fault at all. There really is no one to blame here and that is a pretty good starting point in the launch towards equality and openness. Mon, 15 Jul 2013 00:36:41 +0000 http://www.soc119.org/2013/07/07/week-five-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-idenity-white-people/#IDComment680034912 http://www.soc119.org/2013/06/30/week-four-lesson-6-race-ethnic-inequality/#IDComment680027540 Part two of this week’s lesson was really hard to believe for me. It was so hard to believe that I went ahead and researched crime rates or different races and different facts about them. I even looked up the percentages of different races represented in the judicial system to try and see if it was proportionate and found that about 71% are white. I guess the information given was pretty much verified but I am still having a hard time feeling angry about it. I am more annoyed at this point with the legal system. I feel like our generation is trying hard to move past the race barriers and do our best to break down the inequality that has been going on in America for so long. However I feel that our efforts are just being cancelled out by the older generation, the generation that is in positions of authority. That same generation though is the one that is bringing the issues to the table and basically calling out our generation. I am tired of being grouped in with the older white people who are causing the race problems in our society. It isn’t fair, just as it isn’t fair that all blacks are generalized in many harmful ways. Like I said though, I don’t feel angry and sorry for the black and brown people in prison that committed the same crimes as white people who aren’t in jail. I feel angry that those white people are not in jail though. I believe that if you do something wrong, you need to be punished no matter what you look like. It is almost like our court system needs to only hear cases and not see the defendant. That way they really would be “blind” as they say they already are. I am tired of crime and people getting away with doing things that are fundamentally wrong. I really don’t care what you look like. Another thing I wanted to touch on was the idea that black and brown people were held back and that there was never a fair and clear starting point. I really don’t believe this to be true. If humans came about and originated at the same time, would that not be considered a fair start for everyone? Just because things have happened more recently doesn’t mean that it is the entirety of our history as humans. There are more white people in the world who are not American, so instead of grouping whites together with the thought in mind that they are American, why not specify just as Professor Richards specified between African Americans, blacks, Haitians, Ghanaians and so on. Seems like the generalizations are a little unfair. I can acknowledge that at some point white people got to the top of the mountain, but in theory couldn’t it have been blacks in the same position. If we were to redo history ten times, would whites always be the ones to get to the top first? I feel that many times whites are asked to put themselves in the shoes of black people and be realistic in attempting to see life the way they see it. However I have never heard a black person be asked to do the same and think of what it would be like if they were in the same position. I feel that emphasizing the difference and the advantage that white people almost accidentally have/had only enhances the problems and peoples anger toward them, which in turn divides people. I am not by any means a socialist and trust be the idea of it frankly disgusts me but if we were all to just try to be color blind from now on and just not talk about the topic (while not forgetting the mistakes made) I think we could be able to solve our problems. Mon, 15 Jul 2013 00:13:10 +0000 http://www.soc119.org/2013/06/30/week-four-lesson-6-race-ethnic-inequality/#IDComment680027540 http://www.soc119.org/2013/06/30/week-four-lesson-6-race-ethnic-inequality/#IDComment675458015 I agree that people in power, often white people, are compared to kings and act like it too sometimes. Politicians are these kings today. There are white kings and black kings in our society though. It doesn’t matter what color you are, if you are on top, you’re going to make life better for yourself and your friends and family. For example, the DC government is mainly black, and are forever in the news for being corrupt and helping out their friends and getting favors and what not. In the south, the governments are often white, and are also in the news quite frequently for doing the same thing. My point is, instead of pointing out that white people try to get ahead, why not recognize that it’s within us all to try and do so. Who wouldn’t want to get ahead, that’s just part of our selfishness as humans. Why not instead criticize ALL groups for not making the effort to work together to help out those groups who may have had an unfair lot years ago. Trying to hold back the white people will do nothing for us but make people angry. Helping others to catch up would be a much better strategy. Mon, 8 Jul 2013 03:46:13 +0000 http://www.soc119.org/2013/06/30/week-four-lesson-6-race-ethnic-inequality/#IDComment675458015 http://www.soc119.org/2013/06/23/week-three-lesson-5-social-inequality/#IDComment673083314 I agree and disagree with this. I don’t think that someone’s outward appearance and dress directly represents who they are all the time. For example, the stereotype of a female bum is sweatpants, baggy t-shirt, and hair in a ponytail. I can really say this is my outfit of choice almost any opportunity I get but i am surely not a bum. I work 40 hours a week, workout 2 hours a day 4 days a week, practice for my team another 2 hours for three days, and study for classes the other time I have left over. I don’t think this is bum like behavior. I do agree that there is a terrible epidemic going around of people not realizing that there is a time and a place to be carefree about outward appearances. If you’re going to a job interview, obviously look put together so that you can SHOW to your hopeful future employer that you are hard working and organized and caring about yourself and your possessions. There is a time and place for everything but I don’t think one concrete label can be placed on someone because of how they or something they may own might appear. Thu, 4 Jul 2013 02:50:11 +0000 http://www.soc119.org/2013/06/23/week-three-lesson-5-social-inequality/#IDComment673083314 http://www.soc119.org/2013/06/23/week-three-lesson-5-social-inequality/#IDComment673078483 Professor Richards was definitely correct when he said this was the most exciting class so far. Not only were his lessons on inequality beneficial in an educational way but also they were also just great life lessons. I think unfortunately today our generation feels like there is no point in trying things because those who came before them may not have been able to accomplish those same things. For example, when Professor Richards was saying besides few exceptions, there really is no limitation on kids to become great at a particular sport. I have met people who have children under the age of 3 and are already planning what sport they are going to play. If family history says that the child is going to be short then the parents sometimes limit their children by ruling that sport out for them. Instead of letting their kids decide what they like the best, the parents just choose for them by looking at what most major league athletes looks like and try to match their child up to that. Thinking about this while keeping in mind what Professor Richards said, it really is just ridiculous. Telling a little kid they cant play basketball because of how they were born really just sets them up to have the mindset that they are going to be limited in many other ways throughout their life. I think too that kids my age limit themselves in terms of becoming successful. I liked that Professor Richards pointed out that there are always going to be options no matter what. Some decisions are just going to be more obvious than others. I sound really old saying this but I have a really bad taste in my mouth about other kids my age when it comes to working. I work forty hours a week at a low paying job just for the experience of it and because I know its better to start making my own money now than just relying on my parents at this point. There are other kids who I work with who I am pretty sure are not as well off as I am and are probably not working because they want to but their attitudes towards working are really just sickening. Every chance they get they are trying to halfway do a task or “calling in sick” every time they have a shift scheduled on Saturday morning. It’s really just unbelievable. At that point it is hard for me to look at their situation from a sociological point of view because I know that I am working harder than them and am choosing to do things the right way without complaining every second I get and the last thing I want to care about is how they have to take the metro home and I get to drive in a car. I think Professor Richards delivered a very good lesson while attacking all sides of the argument someone might make towards the issue of inequality. I do believe everyone can be successful and do acknowledge that something there are limiting factors but I think today a bigger issue than those factors is just the sheer willingness to be successful and want to get ahead on their own terms instead of living off of someone else and feeling sorry for themselves. Thu, 4 Jul 2013 02:38:52 +0000 http://www.soc119.org/2013/06/23/week-three-lesson-5-social-inequality/#IDComment673078483 http://www.soc119.org/2013/06/23/week-three-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment670886853 I agree, I was fully disappointed in the entirely new perspective that was presented to us in this lecture. We are always being told how terrible it is in China and North Korea and other countries that are given distorted images of reality from their government. I feel that in some way, in a very small way compared to this, we are being fooled as well. Especially with the recent information leaked and mistakenly uncovered such as the scandal in Bengasi and the wiki leaks info. I understand and am completely okay with anything related to security and intelligence, I feel that the government should do what they think is necessary to keep my family and me safe. That may be selfish but I have a feeling there are many people who feel the same way whether they admit it or not. However, covering up scandal and distorting the horrors that really happen overseas just so they can advance themselves is truly unacceptable. Sun, 30 Jun 2013 03:25:03 +0000 http://www.soc119.org/2013/06/23/week-three-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment670886853 http://www.soc119.org/2013/06/23/week-three-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment670882486 Interesting lecture again. I like that it diverged greatly from the topic or race and ethnicity which we spoke about last week but still kept with the idea of diverging cultures. When Professor Richards first said that this lecture was going to be on the Middle East I started to tune out a little bit. Last semester I attended a World in Conversation discussion group as part of my Comm 110 class requirement. I had no idea what I was going to be going in to and I wasn’t really excited to be there. Needless to say it was a little rocky. It was on the topic of the Middle East and its relations with America. Basically, the entire thing was about how we as Americans perceive those from the Middle East and vice versa. I definitely was interested the entire time and gained a little bit of a new perspective but really still walked out of the room knowing nothing more than what I had known about the Middle East before the discussion. To be honest I really still could not even define exactly what the Middle East is made up of or who the people are that live there. I really have no idea what religions are in which regions and which people are where and what their cultures are and what not. I walked out of the conversation realizing I knew nothing and then not doing anything about it at all. That means that I just must have not cared about the topic enough to take the time and research it. To me the words Middle East have always been accompanied by a feeling of fear and thought I stated this in the discussion I went to and the girls that were there who were all from the Middle East were very upset about this statement, it still has not changed. To go along with the theme that Professor Richards had of explaining that he UNDERSTANDS motives and reasoning for people doing what they do I decided to come up with my reasoning. I was in second grade when 9/11 happened and all I remember is coming home to my parents crying on the couch and learning that my cousin had died in the world trade center that day. It was pretty rough and difficult to grasp at that age and even now. It’s pretty hard to think that anyone from the same place as those same terrorists who killed my cousin could be nice people though I know there must be some. Unlike the World in Convo discussion where I left feeling just plain stupid for not knowing anything about the Middle East and feeling like my opinions were wrong, I ended this lecture feeling more open about getting to know the Middle East culture and ways. It didn’t bombard me with facts and statements about how little I know rather it forced me to get to know the people and think about them as actual people and to put myself in their shoes which in turn makes me want to learn about them and to discover more ways to fix the ongoing problems in the Middle East. If only everyone could think this way and be forced to empathize with each other and realize that we are all in the wrong, we would be much more successful in solving our problems and making life so much better for many people. Sun, 30 Jun 2013 03:12:15 +0000 http://www.soc119.org/2013/06/23/week-three-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment670882486 http://www.soc119.org/2013/06/15/week-two-lesson-2-introduction-to-race/#IDComment666555916 I agree with you in regards to the monkey comment. That last video really left a bad taste in my mouth for some reason. I think this class is a lot about perception and the way that I perceived that video was almost condescending. It somewhat ties into the comments made in the lecture about faith and beliefs on evolution and what not. First off I will come right out and say I was born and raised a Catholic. I attended public school until my last three years of high school so I essentially had a public schooled education. There was really no ambiguity regarding Professor Richards beliefs on evolution, which is fine by me. However, stating that 65% of people who believe in creationism do not have diplomas implies that they are lesser of a person and that their thoughts are not as important. Our society today tends to tell us that people are not intelligent whatsoever if they don’t have an education. Not true in my opinion. Many Catholics and people who believe in creationism and who have strong faith grow up in third world countries or in families who cannot afford to let their kids finish high school let alone go to college. I wonder if this was taken into account and I wonder why this aspect was not brought up. I realize this is not a religion course but I just found it interesting. Public education today is training kids to believe what their parents and what other people have told them is wrong. This leads kids to be confused and think that there really is no truth and that they can think whatever they want and do whatever they want because everyone who teaches them something is wrong. So why not be your own boss and do whatever you want? Society cannot go on to function with everyone being in charge. Little bit of a rant I know. Just my thoughts! Sun, 23 Jun 2013 03:40:59 +0000 http://www.soc119.org/2013/06/15/week-two-lesson-2-introduction-to-race/#IDComment666555916 http://www.soc119.org/2013/06/15/week-two-lesson-2-introduction-to-race/#IDComment666548499 Again, I thought this lecture was very interesting. I was really into it until it got to the part about religion and evolution and faith and then I found it almost a bit offensive and was turned off. Hopefully that does not carry over to the rest of the class. Besides that, I was most interested in the picture that he showed of the black women and asked which most Americans would be more comfortable around. Before he had even asked the question I had already established who I found to be most appealing and therefore, whom I would be more comfortable around. I had never really thought about it but I definitely think he is right in that we feel more comfortable with those who look more like us and around those who we are bred to believe are attractive. My family loves to travel all over Europe. We often go to Italy but I had always felt very unsafe there. However, when we would go to England for example I always felt almost right at home and felt very safe there. Well I did some research and found out that in terms of crime in the locations that I was in in those countries were the opposite of how I felt. Thinking about it now though, many people in England look like me, white, blonde, blue eyes, while the people in Italy do not look like me at all. This was a very interesting realization for me. I also loved the idea that if one were to walk across Asia or Europe for example, they would not notice a change in people as much. This makes great sense to me and makes me think about how I look at people and group them in my mind even if it is subconscious. It makes me put more of an emphasis on people as individuals and less on their race or heritage. It makes people more interesting me to almost. The idea of a gradual transformation really just fascinates me and makes me want to look into it more to see what it would really be like. My thought on race after this lecture is that there really is no race. Just as there is no such thing as an American really. An American could be anything, any color or mixture. When it gets so complex to where we are spending almost an entire minute listing everything that we have in our blood, it almost becomes unnecessary to even talk about. However, I do not think that it is particularly something that we should just forget about in terms of importance. Knowing where you came from and having pride in that is a good thing to me. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be different and I think that knowing what we are all made up of is a great way of being able to differentiate ourselves in a peaceful way. Sun, 23 Jun 2013 03:21:02 +0000 http://www.soc119.org/2013/06/15/week-two-lesson-2-introduction-to-race/#IDComment666548499