How did watching these videos make me feel? If I’m being honest, I was feeling mostly pissed off at the United States. I also felt happier than ever that I am not a citizen. To a non-US citizen, the US can seem very imposing. I have had conversations with many non-US citizens about this and I have heard from many that they feel like the US wants to impose their views on the rest of the world, and that they think they are the greatest even though many have never even left the country. I am by no means a supporter of terrorism, but watching these videos and seeing the situation with the eyes of an Iraqi, you could easily see why some radicalists hate the US so much. My views and opinions are so contrary to what the general American public thinks that I never voice them, but I think this is the time and place to do it. It honestly pisses me off that so many Americans think the rest of the world is underdeveloped and not as “free” as the United States, when so many don’t even bother getting to know the rest of the world. Maybe I’m jealous of the extreme patriotism that is so prevalent in this country. In Germany, people rarely display flags unless the national soccer team is playing and if people started doing similar chants to the “USA! USA!” chants that are so popular here, they would be looked at weirdly. I know all of this makes it sound like I am filled with hatred toward the US, but I am honestly not. I disagree with the American foreign policy to begin with. The US should not be so involved in everything, especially in wars that really aren’t theirs. That is what NATO is for, not an individual country. Additionally, the US doesn’t just get involved for fun and because the government is so kind-hearted, but they get involved for reasons.
I never for one second believed that the US government invaded Iraq in order to protect the poor people of Iraq from the wrath of Saddam Hussein. Coincidentally, Iraq also has a lot of oil! I don’t support wars to begin with, but ones where economic superpowers invade poor countries that are rich in natural resources, make me so disappointed in human morals. Especially seeing how these soldiers behaved in a country in which they were supposed to restore order was saddening to watch. Poverty and dissatisfaction is what causes uprisings and how the US army behaved was simply unacceptable. Crushing a poor man’s vehicle because he stole wood so that he could keep his family warm? Running another car off the road just for fun? This kind of behavior disgusts me.

When Sam said that there was at least one case of sexual abuse or physical abuse in each family, my first thought was “no”. No way would this ever happen in my family. The people I love would never be capable of having sex with one of their children. They would never beat them. My next step was to go through each of my family members and think about if they could have ever been sexually or physically abused. My family is very large, so it took quite some time to mentally sort through all the numerous cousins, aunts and uncles I have and I discovered that while there were some cousins and aunts that I was absolutely sure about that nothing would ever happen in their family, there are some distant cousins that I really know very little about. After all, I haven’t seen them in a while and who knows how they treat their children. In fact, I have only met my cousin’s husband about four or five times, so who knows if he beats his children?
Then I felt bad. Why did I almost accuse him in my mind of beating his children? Just because I couldn’t imagine any of my other family members in that situation, I picked the one cousin I knew little about and said it must be him, because Sam said that abuse occurs in every family. That’s the thing with accusations – they are most likely wrong. And should you accuse every suspect? This was the fundamental problem with this scandal: No one knew how true it was. Granted, there was precedent. But no one wants to accuse a former colleague, a friend, of something so horrible. Something so awful that no one even wants to believe it. Because that was my initial reaction: disbelief. We want to believe in the good in people and never want to think that something as terrible as abuse could happen in one’s surroundings. We try to block the bad out and try to suppress (or hide) it until it is no longer possible. This is unfortunate and terrifying to think about if there are victims but it is unfortunately the truth.
Am I scared that as my family grows, this will spiral out of control? No, not really. Because this will not happen in my immediate family. I don’t care if that sounds ignorant and naïve but I just know that I would never let this happen. There are many cases of sexual abuse where the mother says she doesn’t know about it. What I think is that she’s too scared to want to know about it. Then she’d have to take action and leave her husband, and many women are too scared to do that.

When Sam said that there was at least one case of sexual abuse or physical abuse in each family, my first thought was “no”. No way would this ever happen in my family. The people I love would never be capable of having sex with one of their children. They would never beat them. My next step was to go through each of my family members and think about if they could have ever been sexually or physically abused. My family is very large, so it took quite some time to mentally sort through all the numerous cousins, aunts and uncles I have and I discovered that while there were some cousins and aunts that I was absolutely sure about that nothing would ever happen in their family, there are some distant cousins that I really know very little about. After all, I haven’t seen them in a while and who knows how they treat their children. In fact, I have only met my cousin’s husband about four or five times, so who knows if he beats his children?
Then I felt bad. Why did I almost accuse him in my mind of beating his children? Just because I couldn’t imagine any of my other family members in that situation, I picked the one cousin I knew little about and said it must be him, because Sam said that abuse occurs in every family. That’s the thing with accusations – they are most likely wrong. And should you accuse every suspect? This was the fundamental problem with this scandal: No one knew how true it was. Granted, there was precedent. But no one wants to accuse a former colleague, a friend, of something so horrible. Something so awful that no one even wants to believe it. Because that was my initial reaction: disbelief. We want to believe in the good in people and never want to think that something as terrible as abuse could happen in one’s surroundings. We try to block the bad out and try to suppress (or hide) it until it is no longer possible. This is unfortunate and terrifying to think about if there are victims but it is unfortunately the truth.
Am I scared that as my family grows, this will spiral out of control? No, not really. Because this will not happen in my immediate family. I don’t care if that sounds ignorant and naïve but I just know that I would never let this happen. There are many cases of sexual abuse where the mother says she doesn’t know about it. What I think is that she’s too scared to want to know about it. Then she’d have to take action and leave her husband, and many women are too scared to do that.

I ate the second piece of chocolate. Did it feel weird? Ohh yes. Definitely. But honestly, the chocolate was already produced, meaning the cocoa beans had already been harvested, meaning slave labor had already been exploited. If anything, people need to stop buying or eating it altogether. And also, with chocolate, or chips or anything that’s bad for you really, it’s hard to stop eating once you started. It’s so good.
But enough about snack food... The underlying principle here is that of our morals. If we know that what we are consuming is a product of exploitation or maybe even unfair wages, then if we consume it regardless, we are bad people. Right?
Then look down at the shoes you’re wearing. Someone was exploited for that. The same goes for you shirt and your jeans. So you probably should not wear them anymore. Well that’s not very realistic.
So how else can we fix this problem of exploitation of labor? We could pressure the major companies that utilize cocoa beans harvested by slaves.
Interest groups are already doing this and have had some success but clearly not enough, if slave labor still exists in this world.
The question of morals has recently been brought up a lot at Penn State. Is legally doing everything correctly enough? Or does one need to do more than just what is required of you? In other words, we are legally permitted to buy whatever chocolate we want. But any morally responsible person would by fair trade chocolate instead; to make sure that no person had to suffer in order for me to enjoy that chocolate.
When these slaves are liberated and they hear that people in other countries eat chocolate in truckloads, they grow angry. They are angry that they have had to go through life-threatening conditions in order for someone else to enjoy a piece of chocolate. These slaves have never even tasted chocolate. Our ignorance outrages them and they are upset that they had to suffer for someone else’s enjoyment. This is similar to what is going on here. The rest of the world does not understand how we support someone who was somehow involved in a child abuse scandal and all they see us as now, is a bunch of mindless idiots who couldn’t care less that nine innocent children have been raped. By rioting about Joe Paterno getting fired, we signal to the rest of the world that football is a greater concern to us than the serious injustice of child abuse. This sheds an awful light on our university and tipping over news vans and ripping out street lanterns definitely does not give us a better image. We have been depicted like savages, and in light of recent events, this is not so inaccurate.

Should immigrants be able to speak English? The simple answer would be yes. In general, if you live in a country, you should make the effort to learn the language. However, I lived in China for five years and I barely speak Chinese. I could get around very easily knowing very little Chinese and I was learning English at the time. But then I notice myself thinking that immigrants should speak the language of the country they live in, which is very hypocritical of myself. I find a way to excuse myself for not having learned more Chinese, telling myself that I lived in an almost closed off German community and furthermore I knew I was moving after five years. It wasn’t like I moved to China and planned to spend the rest of my life there. Even though I did take Chinese lessons, I only took them for a year and didn’t learn much that was useful to me on the streets and in real life so I stopped taking lessons.
Although I deeply regret not learning more Chinese, or even assimilating myself more into Chinese culture than I did, I don’t know what more I could have done. I did not want to go to a Chinese school and I’m glad I didn’t because I met some of my best and longest friends at the German school I attended. And while I did go to many typical Chinese restaurants and was continuously exposed to the Chinese way of life and culture, the things I did with my friends were particularly foreign. The clubs and bars we went to were filled with Americans, Germans, French people, Spaniards or anyone else who happened to live in Shanghai and was foreign.
So then we get to the question of assimilation: Should immigrants try to assimilate into the culture of the country they are living in? Again, generally I would say yes. But having been the “immigrant” (and in fact being one right now) I tend to cling to my national identity and my culture. I feel that being German is what I am and that with every day, I become more and more Americanized. I am Americanized to the point where people no longer believe me when I say I’m German. But that is still what I see myself as. I also believe that the desire to continue your cultural habits is the reason for immigrant enclaves. When you are in a foreign country together, you end up talking to strangers just because you overhear them speak the same language as you. When a German exchange student came to my high school, I immediately sought his friendship and even though we probably wouldn’t have been friends in Germany, we were friends here.

How do I feel about the fact that white people will be a minority? Honestly, I do not think it really matters. I think the people who are afraid of being a minority are the same people who treat minorities unjustly. However, since we as a country are moving in a good direction towards equal opportunities and less and less discrimination, even if whites will be a minority, we will be treated well.
Furthermore – and I hope this doesn’t make me sound like a white supremacist, because I’m not – white people have always managed to be the elite. In any country, even when whites are a minority, they are upper class and manage to be in the country’s elite. Look at South Africa for example. 80% of the population is African, and only 9% is white. However, apartheid programs on anyone who was non-white enforced racial segregation. How do you explain that?
I think it’s easy. (And this will make me sound really racist) The white race will always manage to be on top. There is too much evidence in history of white dominance and while I by no means think it’s fair, it is a fact. Furthermore, it is not like there are more white people than any other race on this planet. The Asian continent is densely populated, with the Chinese and many other Southeast Asian countries’ populations soaring through the roof. The African continent’s population is also increasing at a much faster rate than any westernized (i.e. white) country. Additionally, the landmass of Europe is much smaller than that of any other continent, which again means less white people. Although the North American continent is pretty large and mostly inhabited by white people this still does not mean that there are more white people in the world than any other race.
Obviously then, the white race doesn’t dominate due to sheer numbers. Regardless of why the white race seems to be the elite even in countries like South Africa, where they make up less than 10%of the population, it is a fact that they do. When I lived in China, white people were obviously a minority. But instead of being treated like some minorities are treated here, we were the elite. White people were in all the places of power of foreign firms – CEOs and other high rank position were almost always held by Europeans or Americans. Furthermore, since we occupied all of the well-paid jobs, we obviously had a lot of money. With this money, we paid for our private chauffeurs, maids, and only ate at the finest restaurants. We were the one percent everyone has recently been complaining about. And we were a minority. So even though this makes me seem ignorant, I think it’s okay that white people will be a minority. Because honestly, it won’t change anything.

How do I feel about the fact that white people will be a minority? Honestly, I do not think it really matters. I think the people who are afraid of being a minority are the same people who treat minorities unjustly. However, since we as a country are moving in a good direction towards equal opportunities and less and less discrimination, even if whites will be a minority, we will be treated well.
Furthermore – and I hope this doesn’t make me sound like a white supremacist, because I’m not – white people have always managed to be the elite. In any country, even when whites are a minority, they are upper class and manage to be in the country’s elite. Look at South Africa for example. 80% of the population is African, and only 9% is white. However, apartheid programs on anyone who was non-white enforced racial segregation. How do you explain that?
I think it’s easy. (And this will make me sound really racist) The white race will always manage to be on top. There is too much evidence in history of white dominance and while I by no means think it’s fair, it is a fact. Furthermore, it is not like there are more white people than any other race on this planet. The Asian continent is densely populated, with the Chinese and many other Southeast Asian countries’ populations soaring through the roof. The African continent’s population is also increasing at a much faster rate than any westernized (i.e. white) country. Additionally, the landmass of Europe is much smaller than that of any other continent, which again means less white people. Although the North American continent is pretty large and mostly inhabited by white people this still does not mean that there are more white people in the world than any other race.
Obviously then, the white race doesn’t dominate due to sheer numbers. Regardless of why the white race seems to be the elite even in countries like South Africa, where they make up less than 10%of the population, it is a fact that they do. When I lived in China, white people were obviously a minority. But instead of being treated like some minorities are treated here, we were the elite. White people were in all the places of power of foreign firms – CEOs and other high rank position were almost always held by Europeans or Americans. Furthermore, since we occupied all of the well-paid jobs, we obviously had a lot of money. With this money, we paid for our private chauffeurs, maids, and only ate at the finest restaurants. We were the one percent everyone has recently been complaining about. And we were a minority. So even though this makes me seem ignorant, I think it’s okay that white people will be a minority. Because honestly, it won’t change anything.

This year, I am living in supplemental housing with 7 roommates. Although we are only of two different races, the differences in character between us divide us more than race ever could. We are six white girls and two Asian girls. One of my Asian roommates grew up in Vietnam and the other grew up in a less well-off part of Washington, DC. The latter, let’s call her Amanda, hangs out with mostly black people. In fact, out of the millions of friends she has and has brought over, only one of them was Asian. The fact that Amanda only hangs out with black people didn’t even occur to me until she brought over he Asian friend because Amanda talks and acts like a black person.
The definition of a poser according to urbandictionary.com is someone who tries to fit into a profile they aren’t. Technically speaking, Amanda fits this category. She’s Asian but grew up around other minorities (my guess is largely African Americans) and thus acts like them. I would not have considered her a poser however, because I often think of her as black. To me, a poser is someone who PRETENDS to be something they’re not. An example of this would be if I, an extremely white (in all meanings of the word) girl started hanging out with people from North Philadelphia and tried to be like them. But that’s not the case with Amanda – she doesn’t have to pretend to be black, she pretty much is. But maybe I don’t consider her a poser because she is a minority. Maybe I would look at it differently if she were a white girl who only hung out with black people and tried to speak and act like them. But even then, the environment you grow up in shapes who you are, even if it doesn’t fit the stereotype of your race.
I’m not trying to say that acting like people of another race could never make you a poser, because it can. For example, in the movie Bring It On (Part 3), this stereotypical white cheerleader is forced to move out of her privileged school district and into a less well-off area. At first, she largely resists changing herself to fit in with everyone else, but eventually she caves in and starts to act like her new friends. When her old friends see her, they call her out on it and tell her how much she’s changed. This girl then is a poser because she changed to fit in with other people. It would be comparable to me deciding that I only want to hang out with Latinos from here on out and start to speak and dress like them. It’s not who I am and if I pretend to be something I’m not, then that makes me a poser.

I don’t know if it is my race that shapes my view of the world but rather my ethnicity or my culture. I believe my genetic makeup has a lot less influence on how I feel about politics, social values, morals and all of the other things that shape how I make decisions. Rather, I think my upbringing and the various environments I lived in shaped me.
For example, from very early on, my parents always explained their decisions to me rather than just punish me for something I did. Therefore, I believe in conversation. I believe talking about it, regardless of if you are white, black or brown can solve everything. Other things I learned from very early on that I do not believe are intrinsic in your genetic makeup is tolerance and openness to other cultures. My parents also stressed the importance of that but what really taught me to be tolerant was living all over the world and traveling. Often times, I was a minority and even though everyone was always very nice and even excited to see someone of a different race, I still felt… different. Excluded. I can’t even begin to imagine what it must be like to be a minority and suffer under discrimination.
The question if your race determines your view of the world also touches on a current very heated subject: terrorism. Since 9/11, terrorism has been closely associated with Middle Eastern Muslim men. So does that mean that because they are Middle Eastern, they are prone to be violent? No, because anyone can be a terrorist. We cannot generalize that simply because in recent years there have been growing feelings of anger towards the United States and the Western world in general, all Middle Easterners are violently inclined. No race has certain intrinsic values. This belief is what led to the holocaust. The Nazis, and many before them, believed that certain races were better and others inferior. They also frequently spoke of the Germanic loyalty, which according to them, only people of the Nordic race possessed.
Furthermore, I have many friends from various races and it’s not like I have noticed that for example, Asians in general are less friendly or blacks would be very honest. Every person is different not because of their race but just because of who they are. You cannot make generalizations about a race because your race doesn’t define who you are. If I was black or Asian, I would still be the same person. Even if I was born in India but then adopted by my parents, I would still be exactly the same person because I was shaped by who raised me, not by my skin color.

There is some truth to all stereotypes, or else they would not exist. However, not all of them are true for every person of a certain race or socioeconomic group or some other subcategory. And the degree to which they are true for certain people varies also. I suppose technically stereotypes are bad. They make us form opinions preemptively and are often incorrect, yet they are (at least for me) impossible to exclude from our minds. Here are my personal stereotypes for some various races:
Whites (Americans): suburban, single-family home, one car per person, try very hard to be politically correct, make sure their kids are involved in various sports and go to church every Sunday. Clearly, what I described here is the white middle class. So what about the working class? They do not “fit” my stereotype, yet they are white. And they certainly do not hold true for all of my friends. Granted, this applies to all of my friends from home since we live in the same school district and thus in similar neighborhoods. However, this stereotype only applies to about a quarter of the friends I made at school, almost all of which are white.
African Americans: I did not have much (or any) contact with this race until I got to college. There were about five black people at my high school and they pretty much stayed by themselves. I was not even aware of many of the stereotypes encircling black people until I had lived here for a year, and the ones I had before then were relatively harmless. The only stereotype about black people I had was that their English was intelligible to me. It was pretty hard for me to understand English as it was, but with their different way of pronouncing things, I had a much harder time understanding them. This stereotype has held true. At work this year was the first time I ever had prolonged conversations with an African American girl. It was difficult for me to understand her at first, but I have gotten better at it and we get along really well.
Asians: since I have lived in China, I cannot see Asians stereotypically. Before I moved there, I thought all they said was “ching chang chong” and that they eat dogs, but even that I only thought jokingly. I am glad that I had the opportunity to live there and to experience the Chinese culture firsthand. While the Asian work ethic really is as crazy as everyone says, and while yes, the children do all learn to play the piano and study all night, there is so much more to the Chinese culture than the obsession to be over prepared for every situation.