en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/3076604 Comments by psu1120 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/30/week-8-%e2%80%93-lesson-14-affirmative-action/#IDComment170129278 I completely agree with you on being surprised about white women being the biggest beneficiaries of Affirmative Action. I never really thought about this too much before so that aspect was very surprising to me. I also found the videos of the schools very sad. I wish everyone could have the same benefits but like Sam said in the lecture it just does not happen. It really stinks that not every child in the United States gets a really good education. Someone in the class made a comment about paying for taxes for the better school when your children are going to the school that does not have as many opportunities and I think that would be really hard to deal with. Wed, 6 Jul 2011 01:16:42 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/30/week-8-%e2%80%93-lesson-14-affirmative-action/#IDComment170129278 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/30/week-8-%e2%80%93-lesson-14-affirmative-action/#IDComment170128162 I really enjoyed the lecture on Affirmative Action. Sam really laid out this lecture in a way that I had not really thought about Affirmative Action before. I never really took a dive into the program and looked into who it is really helping. It was really surprising to me that Affirmative Action helps more women than anyone else. I have always thought that Affirmative Action helps people of color before any other group of people that is discriminated against. It was also very interesting to me that out of the women that most benefit from Affirmative Action it occurs with white women the most. This was very interesting to me because like I said before I had always thought that people of color were helped by Affirmative Action more. I also found it really interesting that only 10% of all hires, admissions, and other programs are completed by Affirmative Action. Along with these thoughts I also found it to be very interesting to hear about Penn States process of Affirmative Action. It was really interesting to hear how Sam had to go back and relook at resumes to make sure he did not leave out a male or person of color that applied for the job and was _____. When I used to think about Affirmative Action all I really thought about was meeting the quotas for the company, school, or program. I never knew that using quotas was illegal. This really opened my eyes to the fact that all the people applying for the position really need to be able to do the job well. I really thought it was great how Sam talked about Affirmative Action programs that just hire to fill a quota the person might get in but if they cannot perform the tasks they might not be there very long. I think this is a really important aspect to point out. The last thing I want to speak about is something that Sam pointed out that I think is extremely important. He started talking about how Obama said that his children should never benefit from any form of Affirmative Action program because all of the benefits they already have in their life. I think this is a really true statement. Whether you are black or white, male or female, Hispanic or Asian, etc if you come from a family of affluence in which you have already benefited more than the average person in the United States you should not benefit more. I think this brought up a great point that it is not only your race but what class you are in as well. A black woman growing up in a wealthy community should not benefit from Affirmative Action before a Hispanic growing up in a poor community. Wed, 6 Jul 2011 01:11:28 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/30/week-8-%e2%80%93-lesson-14-affirmative-action/#IDComment170128162 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-13-immigration/#IDComment169428640 Your posting is such a crazy story. I can’t believe that people would say that to the doctor after he had served the community so well. It is such a shame that after he worked so hard to even get an article written about him that people would be so rude to him. I think it is really sad in the United States how we have come to treat people that come here from a different country. None of the people living in the United States besides the Native Americans are people that are from here so it really is annoying to see them treating people that have come here to better their lives just like our ancestors did years back. Sun, 3 Jul 2011 21:44:11 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-13-immigration/#IDComment169428640 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-13-immigration/#IDComment169427810 I really enjoyed this lecture and I really think this is information is an essential part of learning about our country. This country was founded on people immigrating to the United States but recently we have come to look down on people immigrating to the United States. I’ve be really good friends with a lot of people that have immigrated to the United States and it is crazy to see how much they have been discriminated against and looked down upon. Especially my friends that have immigrated from Mexico. These people have become a huge part of our communities. A lot of the time they are doing jobs that other people in the United States would never want to do. Not only do they do work in jobs that other people do not want to work in but they do an amazing job working in these positions. To me it is crazy that the same people that had their ancestors looked down upon for being Italian or Irish or any other ethnicity years ago are now looking down on Mexicans or people who immigrated from other lands. I’m so sick of hearing the classic if you don’t speak English you don’t belong here. How many of our family members so long ago did not speak English either but they came here to start a new life to be able to provide for their family members and be something. It almost disgusts me that we can tell people now a days if you do not speak English you shouldn’t be here. This lecture really reminded me of a woman I used to work with. In high school I worked at a grocery store making sandwiches and a woman from Mexico worked with me. She was one of the hardest workers at the company but when customers came up and she had trouble pronouncing some of her English words people gave her a hard time. She would get really upset about it and almost embarrassed at times because she tired to fit in here so much. She really tired hard to learn the English language and work as hard as she could. It broke my heart to see how people treated her at times. Sometimes it got so bad that I would even step in and try to protect her from how people were treating her. I really thought the statistics of this lecture were very interesting. I thought it was crazy how lately we have been making a huge deal about the increase in immigrants but really the immigrant levels have been consistent over time. I think this fact also shows how much media and other thing affect what we think of the world. It shows that we really don’t think too much for ourselves and we let people tell us what is going on in the world without really looking into it ourselves. Sun, 3 Jul 2011 21:39:05 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-13-immigration/#IDComment169427810 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt/#IDComment167396290 I completely agree with you. I am very glad that Sam did a lecture on LGBT issues. I honestly have not had too much exposure to these issues so it was very interesting to me. I agree with you that I feel that racial subjugation and sexual orientation subjugation are very parallel. I also completely agree with your views on gay marriage and on gay parenting. I think it is great that a child can be adopted into a loving family where people really care about them instead of growing up in a orphanage or in an abusive home. I think it is beyond ridiculous that tax implications could ever interfere with people truly in love with each other and getting married. Hopefully these issues will work themselves out and gays will be able to feel comfortable and have more rights. Tue, 28 Jun 2011 02:37:48 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt/#IDComment167396290 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt/#IDComment167394269 I really enjoyed the lectures on LGBT issues. I have not really been exposed to a lot of information about gay people before. This lecture really brought up some ideas that I have never really thought of before. I am not religious but I was raised Catholic. In the Catholic religion like Sam said the Bible says that homosexuality is a sin. When Sam brought up the ideas that most people sin all of the time doing things like getting drunk or having sex outside of marriage it really made me think about how much hypocrisy there really is. I really believe that gay people should have the same rights as anyone else in the United States. I really enjoyed the stories Sam shared about the people he talked to that knew that knew since they were small children that they are gay. I think this really helps people that haven’t had the exposure to gay people understand that do not choose to be gay they just are. I really thought it was interesting how many people that are homophobic actually turn out to be gay. I feel like that makes a lot of sense because if they were not gay there would be no reason to really care about what gay people do because they are just like straight people. In the Multicultural lecture, I thought the plane was really crazy. It is insane to see how the planes follow the sun and how it really shows globalization. It really visualizes the fact that the world is becoming so dependent on each other. I also thought it was really crazy how in the survey questions people were asked like about wanting to their neighborhood to be more diverse political affiliation really made a difference. I’m wondering if the difference in republican and democrat answers relates to the races of people in those parties. I know Sam mentioned that democrats seem to know how to be more politically correct but I am thinking it might have something to do with race as well. I thought it was really crazy how all of the rap songs sounded so similar but they were all in different languages. It is crazy how the rhythms are so similar and at the same time it is in a different language. It really shows how rap music is so globalized. No matter what language the music is in it is something that everyone can relate to. I really agree with Sam with the fact that in today’s world you won’t really get far if you are not able to accept diversity and how it affects your life and the workplace. In order to rise up in an organization you need to be very accepting of all people. A lot of companies now a days are really seeing how diversity in the workplace can really enable the company to get the best ideas possible. Tue, 28 Jun 2011 02:31:36 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt/#IDComment167394269 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/22/week-6-%e2%80%93-lesson-10-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-people-of-color-stages-1-4/#IDComment165632737 I completely agree with you that Sam’s lectures are very thought provoking. I think he is great at really getting people to think deeply. I was also pretty surprised at the amount of racism from people of color. I’ve been reading the book we need to read for our quiz and even in those stories there is a lot of racism towards white people. I found the video of the young children picking dolls very disturbing. I couldn’t believe that the children called the black doll bad and the white doll good. I think this is really sad and hopefully it will change as time goes on. Thu, 23 Jun 2011 01:36:51 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/22/week-6-%e2%80%93-lesson-10-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-people-of-color-stages-1-4/#IDComment165632737 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/22/week-6-%e2%80%93-lesson-10-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-people-of-color-stages-1-4/#IDComment165630374 I thought this lecture was really interesting. The first thing that really caught my attention is that some people of color think that they are white when they grow up in a white environment. It was really interesting that some Asians really think this and define themselves as white. I think this could be completely true because I know being in a white culture my whole life I never really thought about being white. I can really relate to an Asian person growing up in a white community and not really seeing their differences. I thought it was really interesting that as GPA improves in high school white people become more popular and blacks and Hispanics become less popular as their GPA increases. I think that this is really unfair for the people of color. Just because they are succeeding and getting good grades doesn’t mean that they deserve to be any less popular. I thought Sam’s story about people of color being Amphibians and having to live both on the land and water was a great analogy. It really put in perspective for me how people of color live in their environment. They are pretty much forced to live in two worlds. I really enjoyed the videos. I especially found the video of the young black children picking out the dolls that they like best very interesting. I never knew that this happened with young black children. I thought it was really sad that they thought the black doll was bad and the white doll was nice. I wonder how much the communities they grew up in shaped these ideas. This also goes along with what Sam shared with the class. That his friend’s child who was black came home from school crying because her white friend called her dirty. The white child was not being racist they just didn’t understand the idea of race and thought about what happens to their skin color when it gets dirty. I think its really interesting that black children start to see their race at such an early age and at the same time some white college students still do not know what it means to be white. Last I wanted to talk about the video of the 101 year old woman getting beat up. I think it was really interesting to see the different reactions of the white and black men. It seemed like the white man was very angry and did not know really how to deal with it. He also seemed really afraid and uncomfortable with talking about it. Hearing the black man speak afterward on the subject of the woman getting beat up was really interesting because you can see how much more intoned he is with race. He just calmly wanted to talk about it and get his point out there. In all it was a great lecture and I learned a lot. Thu, 23 Jun 2011 01:25:54 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/22/week-6-%e2%80%93-lesson-10-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-people-of-color-stages-1-4/#IDComment165630374 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-3-4/#IDComment164424385 I thought the part of the lecture about racial identifiers was really interesting too. It is something I have never really thought about before and it is something I will definitely remember. I know a lot of my friends and member of my family have done this I’m sure I have done it too. You hear it all the time when people are telling stories on the Cata buses at PSU. I think sometimes people want to mention the person’s race because they have something to say about that person or that group of people subconsciously. I have also heard people mention physical disabilities in stories when it does not pertain to the story being told. I feel like this is similar to the racial identifiers. I think it is something that all people need to work on so that we can be accepting of everyone regardless of race or gender or any other differences. Mon, 20 Jun 2011 00:46:36 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-3-4/#IDComment164424385 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-3-4/#IDComment164423255 I thought this lecture was really interesting. I really liked learning about the different stages that white people go through in order to come to terms with their whiteness. I think it went along great with the last lecture. The last lecture introduced the topic and really got me to understand how much white people struggle to find their racial identity. It was really weird to think about the stages I am in and how I really have not fully accepted being white yet. I still need to work to figure out what being white really means. I have found myself time and time again pulling myself out of race situations not because I am racists but because I do not feel comfortable enough with my own race to be talking about other races. I am at times afraid to use different labels for people such as black or Asian because I do not know if I am using them properly. I think at times I try so hard to not offend other races and really look to them to tell me how to act towards their race. Sam had mentioned how a lot of white people do this and then try to treat all Mexican people a certain way because of what one Mexican said, such as the example of speaking Spanish to them. Many people would think it is cool that you are trying but sometimes people just think your stupid and then white people tend to just give up because they are trying so hard. One of the most interesting things I learned from this lecture is that people of color think that white people smell like wet dogs when they get wet. I have never heard of that before and I thought it was really interesting to hear. It is crazy to see how many stereotypes there are about different groups of people and the group of people do not even know it’s a stereotype for their group. I thought the part of the lecture when Sam is talking about riding a bike and someone in a car hits them. He said that if race or gender has nothing to do with it then there is no reason to put it in your story when you are telling someone. I thought that was really interesting and never really thought of it that way. I always hear people saying and then this white kid or that black guy or this Asian woman but all of those descriptors really have nothing to do with their story. I think this is something to really think about when you are telling a story or someone is telling a story to you. Because at the end of the story if it has nothing to do with the persons’ race or gender there is no need to mention it. Mon, 20 Jun 2011 00:42:01 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-3-4/#IDComment164423255 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-1-2/#IDComment163012287 I completely agree with you I have never really reflected on what it means to be white before. It is definitely going to be something I would like to figure out and get comfortable with. I know I am white and I realize that I just don’t really know exactly what it means to be white. I have also thought of what it means to be a woman. I have also seen what it means to be short. It is really weird how we think about those things but not about being white. I thought it was really interesting how there are different pathways for the race identity stages for people of color and white people too. Thu, 16 Jun 2011 00:19:31 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-1-2/#IDComment163012287 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-1-2/#IDComment163001992 This lecture was a huge eye opener for me. I don’t think I have really ever sat down and thought about what it means to be white. I know I am white but I’ve never really thought about what it is like for me to be white. I guess you could say I was in the pre-awakening stage before this lecture. I don’t even think I have ever even talked to another white person about what it means to be white. Frankly, I was surprised we even talked about being white in a race relations class. It seems like when anyone speaks about race it is usually people of color and not about white people. One thing I thought was really interesting is how Sam talked about how if you are left handed or super short or super tall you define yourself as that. I’m a 5’2’’ white female and I defined myself as short before I define myself as white. I think apart of that is because being short affects the way I see the world more than being white. I do not think that if I was average height I would define myself that way. I think Sam hit right on the money for white people and political correctness. I think a lot of white people try so hard to be politically correct that it is almost exhausting. I know personally when I first started this class just doing the Voice Thread postings were making me very anxious. I did not want to say the wrong thing or use the wrong term for a group of people. The majority of white people that I am close to are not comfortable having a race relations conversation with someone from a different race. I really enjoyed the stand up comedian clips about the typical stereotypes of being white. I thought it was really funny because most white people do not even realize our own stereotypes. I think it is interesting how you start to realize that some of the stereotypes in stand up comedy are true. For instance, in Dave Chapelle’s clip he talks about white guys getting messed up and their friends passing out. When their friend passes out all of the other guys mess with him and do weird stuff. I do not think I have ever seen anyone do that besides white people. I also found the clip about the sign funny and at the same time kind of sad. It is sad that we have to be so politically correct all of the time to not even say what a sign means. I thought it was very interesting that the black woman in the clip said that there was no way that the people could be black because they do not have Afros. I know the majority of black people I know and I am friends with do not have Afros either. Wed, 15 Jun 2011 23:31:28 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-1-2/#IDComment163001992 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/02/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality/#IDComment160796935 I really enjoyed the King of the Mountain example as well. I really agreed with it and thought it was definitely true. I completely agree with the fact that we are free but at the same time we are affected and tied down to the norms of our culture and upbringing. It’s crazy to see how people’s backgrounds and races can change how successful in life. I think it is really amazing to see the people that are able to beat the strings that tie them down and live a successful life. When Sam was demonstrating this with the King of the Mountain example it all became real to me. A lot of people say well just overcome the hardships in your life but a lot of times it is almost impossible to do. I am from the suburbs of Philly so when I go into town I can definitely see the inequalities you have mentioned. Like Sam said a lot of people going into cities blame the cities being a mess because of the people that live there. I know a lot of my friends have said that too. It’s really interesting to look at it from the view that Sam gave us. Thu, 9 Jun 2011 00:34:49 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/02/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality/#IDComment160796935 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/02/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality/#IDComment160502024 I think these two lectures on inequalities were very informative. Not only did I learn a lot from the lectures but the applications and examples really helped it to sink in for me. My favorite part of the first lecture was how Sam explained the King of the Mountain and connected it to how someone gets to have the control. I thought it was really interesting the connection Sam made of when you are the King of the Mountain you have leverage. This leverage means you can kick people who try to come up onto your mountain similar to how a certain race in control can stand in the way of certain groups being able to compete. I also thought it was interesting how we can connect this concept back to the way people think about situations. That the freedom view would be to think that the strongest people get to the top of the mountain while the determism view might think getting to be king of the mountain is just luck. The section of the lecture on the GI bill was kind of confusing for me. It seemed as if Sam was saying that if the United States had just fairly distributed the aspects of the GI bill to all races and not more to whites than black or brown people there would be less inequality. I’m not sure I completely agree with that fact that one event could really change that much about being able to buy a house years later. I know that inheritance is important to how much money you have but I am really not sure that the money or aspects of the GI bill is really a factor in inequalities today. I thought it was insane how we were able to compare the races of inmates to see that there could be some racism in the criminal justice system. I have always heard people talking about the racism issue with police officers but I never looked into it to find data to see if it was true or not. I think one of the biggest reasons we see more blacks and minorities in jails for drug use is because of urban areas. It is a lot easier to get caught in an urban neighborhood selling drugs than a suburban neighborhood because of the conditions already in urban areas. I think this kind of goes hand in hand with the fact that when black and brown people could not buy land they went to the urban areas and white people moved out. Sam did a great job at explaining how even though some people may say that it is the black and brown people’s fault the urban areas are rougher it could just be because of the lack of good schooling and opportunities for jobs. Wed, 8 Jun 2011 02:47:38 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/02/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality/#IDComment160502024 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality/#IDComment158689364 I also really enjoyed these lectures on inequality and found them very interesting. I completely agree with you about the Oprah clip. It was really sad to see the conditions that students go to school in the city. It would be really nice if everyone could have the same opportunities in schooling. I really admire your story of determination and hard work. You should be proud of yourself that you could overcome your obstacles and keep bettering your life. I completely agree with you that you need a good balance of freewill and determinism. I also agree that these two factors also really depend on your successes. Fri, 3 Jun 2011 00:44:12 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality/#IDComment158689364 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality/#IDComment158687980 I really enjoyed the two lectures on social inequalities. I think this topic is really important in today’s world. I really like how Sam uses examples to describe to us different situations in which different types of views on why inequalities occur. I have heard many people with these three view points of inequalities but I never thought there was actually research and names for these view points. So many times I have heard people say someone is better or worse at something because of their biological differences. I have also heard that people are better or worse off because of the choices they make or they are better or worse off because of their life circumstances. I really like how Sam explains these topics using examples of people’s grades. Getting an A or a C in a class is based on the choices that you make and also the choices you have made in your past. I really thought it was interesting how Sam talked about both conservative people needing to think more about determinism and liberal people needing to think more free willed. I think it is completely true that the best situation is to think in the middle ground of both of these. Yes, sometimes people’s circumstances effect them but they can also make a choice to get away from the obstacle. I grew up in a working class family and my parents always stressed the idea of working hard to get what you earn. Someone growing up in a different environment may not have had working hard stressed in their life. They may find it harder to work hard but it does not mean that they can not chose to work hard. I thought the video clip from the Oprah show was very interesting. I was really crazy how city schools are so much different from suburban schools. I thought it was really cool how they did back to back comparisons of each of the schools. It was really interesting to see the reactions of each of the students going to the opposite schools. It seemed like the students coming from the suburban school were kind of sad that students in the city went to school in such a bad environment. The students from the city seemed to be really astounded by the technology and opportunities the students from the suburban school had. It would be really nice if all students could have the same opportunities but like Sam said no rich people are going to want to give up opportunities for their children to give to poor city children. I really found a lot of the statistics in these lectures interesting. I really thought it was interesting how SAT scores and college degrees are based on wealth and parents education. Fri, 3 Jun 2011 00:36:51 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality/#IDComment158687980 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment158370352 When trying to visualize how Arab Muslims feel in our lecture I felt like they feel attacked similar to how the United States feels attacked by them. I think one of the big differences though is how much scarier it must be for the civilians in these Middle Eastern countries especially Iraq. Some may even like the United States like we saw in some of the pictures but they could be killed at any moment. I thought it was really disturbing that we have a cut off number for how many civilians can be killed in order to kill one of the people they are looking for. When Sam was telling us in the lecture about the cut off number for the civilians I could not even imagine another country coming into the United States and doing that to us. I was just imagining a young college girl my age living in an apartment building a couple floors away from an extremist that the military was going after. She might have never hurt anyone but she still gets killed when the building gets bombed. This was definitely an eye-opening lecture that really got me thinking about how I view others in the Middle Eastern countries and how I have really been generalizing the group instead of realizing there are many different types of people there. Thu, 2 Jun 2011 00:56:29 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment158370352 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment158370199 I never thought about how Arab Muslims view the United States and Christians. I never really put myself in their shoes until the “Christian Crusaders” lecture. I was always very nervous and still am sometimes nervous around Muslims here in the United States so I can’t even imagine how they feel about the United States in their country. Thu, 2 Jun 2011 00:56:13 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment158370199 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment158370133 However, I never considered how alike I could be with them. Seeing pictures of Iraq before the war was crazy. A lot of the people were doing the same things as people in the United States. Some of the Iraqis even dressed like people in the United States. I thought this was crazy to see. It really hit home seeing the college students that were just like me. Something that I also really found interesting was the family asking to take a picture of them and take it back to the United States to give to a family there as a gift. I think if people in the United States knew that another country was going to be bombing them the last thing someone would do is be nice to the country that was going to bomb us. Thu, 2 Jun 2011 00:56:01 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment158370133 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment158370087 I have always thought I was pretty open to other cultures and races until listen to the “Christian Crusaders” lecture. Going through the first lecture on ethnocentrism I definitely did not connect myself to being someone who thinks that way. I have always seen myself as someone who tries to get to know people before forming an opinion about it and I usually think that I see things how they are. I cannot believe how much I assumed things about Arab Muslims. I knew that not all Muslims were the same and some were more extreme than others. I also knew that not every Muslim wanted to kill people in the United States. Thu, 2 Jun 2011 00:55:48 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment158370087