en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/2449614 Comments by psusocfan http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/19/what-americans-fear/#IDComment144651419 The United States consistently supports Christian ideals and does not have the same tolerance for other religions. Despite the “freedom of religion” and separation of church and state, Christian fundamentalist consistently create a sense of fear among Muslims. This would not be tolerated if it was the other way around. Is the government not fairly supported Islam and other religion in the United States. Is the United States doing nothing its way of supporting the Christian ideals? Or to do something would they be taking away freedom of speech? These are the limitations we are placed on within the United States. Among any religion there are going to be fundamentalists, just like Islam, Christians have them too. It is nothing new to the world, and if we better understood one another we might tolerate the other more fully. But as long as we remain ignorant of each other’s presence and beliefs, acts of terrorism and fear will always remain for both sides. Wed, 20 Apr 2011 23:28:22 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/19/what-americans-fear/#IDComment144651419 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/19/what-americans-fear/#IDComment144651356 Americans more than any other culture in the world live in a bubble. We are separated by thousands of miles of ocean from any place of conflict in the world, and surround ourselves with people just like us. As a result, we are sheltered from any other kind of religion in the world. Americans are predominantly Christian and its various forms. We rarely encounter any of other form of religion and when we do, take little time to learn anything about it. Jihad and the death of Christians is nothing different from the same terrorist activities we take part in. What about things like Jesus camp, where children are trained in a militia type activities. If I was a Muslim living in the United States, I would be especially afraid of such things, and even more sp if I was a minority in such the United States. I would feel personally threatened and afraid if this is what I saw. If an Islamic group were to make this video about Christians it would be a public outcry for freedom of religion and terroristic messages, but since it is a Christian group, it is accepted in the United States. Wed, 20 Apr 2011 23:28:08 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/19/what-americans-fear/#IDComment144651356 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/11/transgendered-complications/#IDComment143219423 This story opens up a whole new ground of possible cases. Is it even needed for a person to distinguish what gender they are? In this case it was meant to keep a man from being intruded on. But what if the actual male they had hired was gay? Wouldn’t a man feel significantly more at ease if lesbian women were watching him pee? After all, this is the basis of their argument. What if a gay man had taken the position and the people over him were to find out that he was gay? Should he be fired? In their case no. The job title said that they need “a male” for the position, not a “heterosexual male.” I find a number of problems with any title that has a specific trait needed to fulfill that position because in today’s day and age there are a growing number of in distinctions surrounding these such as this. And if the state a New Jersey did not intend to back up his right to be legally called a man, why would they issue him such documentation? Fri, 15 Apr 2011 21:08:15 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/11/transgendered-complications/#IDComment143219423 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/11/transgendered-complications/#IDComment143219367 Aside from many of the feelings I have for anyone who have been discriminated against, I have serious problem with this story because it does not uphold things we hold true, that is a person’s identification. If he had a government issued identification that said he was a male, there are reasons for that. We have gender differences so that we are able to hold certain jobs and be given specific privileges and rights. This is not help true in this case. The distinction of gender to the state does not work in a manner that you can be your gender until you surgery comes into question. My next issue is this, if that is the case, shouldn’t he be allowed to be a female urine moderator? After all, the state is saying that he is a female because everyone is without doubt either male or female according to the state. I think this would cause a variety of new problems and series of unforeseen issues. How uncomfortable would women be if he was watching them pee into a plastic cup? Fri, 15 Apr 2011 21:08:00 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/11/transgendered-complications/#IDComment143219367 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/07/4827/#IDComment140892016 This is completely unfeasible, until it comes too costly to bring in oil, we destroy out environment or one another, we will be running on oil. It will take a tipping point for us to reach this but not one that will be started by the consumer. I will like many other Americans continue to have my opinions about what we should be doing with oil or for that matter what we are not doing, but at the end of the day I always have cheap gas to put in my car and can save myself the 20 minute walk in the morning and the afternoon because I know that my actions alone will not change anything so why inconvenience myself for a lost cause. This may be the view point of a cynic but it will always be true. Americans can cry about atrocities and everything we do, but at the end of the day we all like our lives and will keep it that way. Fri, 8 Apr 2011 02:47:08 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/07/4827/#IDComment140892016 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/07/4827/#IDComment140891974 This article attempts to bring attention to the manner in which the oil industry dominates Washington which I believe to be true. The article cites the public opinion poll in support of this bill proposed by Obama to rid 4 Billion in government subsidies to the oil industry. The American tax payer likes the thought of this but as much as we all complain about the efforts that are put into bringing oil into America we all reap the benefits. If not for this, we would all be paying a much higher price for oil than we already are. Additionally, we would be facing a shortage of oil that we receive from many of the OPEC nations. This is the way Americans have always handled things, we don’t like to know where or how we get the products but we want them fast, readily available and at a cheap price. Yes I can be said to complain about our nation’s dependence on oil, but I always choose my words wisely. I don’t plan on hanging up the keys to my Honda any time soon to make the 2 mile walk to my job in the morning. Many of our fellow Americas want to complain but don’t want to make the action themselves. Fri, 8 Apr 2011 02:46:52 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/07/4827/#IDComment140891974 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/20/bigotry-can-get-ugly/#IDComment137345523 This video is truly awing to me. The first assumption that is made is that all Muslims are terrorists, rather than some terrorists are Muslim. Note that I say some, in fact, in American history there have been more domestic Christian terrorists than there have been Muslim. Why aren’t all white men considered terrorists because of our founding fathers? Were they not terrorists? What about men like Ted Kaczynski or timothy McVeigh? I believe he was classified as a terrorist. However what do they think about us? As a nation we enter their countries, force our will on them for the benefit of oil. We start wars and enter into their diplomatic affairs, I find it completely absurd that we condone this but not some other forms of protest. I also found it comical how the one protestor was ignorant enough to say “It’s one nation under god, not Allah.” Yet Allah means God in Islam. My next argument is how is this allowed to go on? This is a clear form of harassment in a nation that is supposed to support the separation of church and state. Calling these people pedophiles, sexual molesters and other demeaning names is a clear form of harassment. Our nation tolerates religion as long it is consistent with Christian ideals. I want to note that I am not some flaming liberal, and in fact am a practicing catholic. I just believe that if these people are going to yell about their constitutional rights like they are in this video, than the separation of church and state should stand as well. The problem I have with people constantly protesting over their rights is such: People always pick and choose which items of the constitution, bill of rights, or other legal precedents they wish to uphold. I can only imagine what the backlash would be if Muslims protested outside an evangelical church in the United States. But again, we do not truly have a separation of church and state. We always want line items upheld as long as they are in that persons best interest. Additionally, like many religions, people pick and choose what aspects they want to argue about. Clearly these Christians miss the part where is says love your enemies and you neighbor. Thu, 24 Mar 2011 22:33:26 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/20/bigotry-can-get-ugly/#IDComment137345523 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/09/what-would-make-this-guy-less-white/#IDComment135650066 And I think that this is a big way people think about white people, they see them as being an awkward group of people. My next thought is why there is always the black person that some people call white. For example, I have a friend we always call the whitest black person ever. Why is this? His skin tone is not any lighter than any other black person but he comes across as, well, white. He grew up in the suburbs (predominately white), he does not talk with the slang we associate black people and does not wear clothing that is generally associated with black people. Some of our friends even go as far as to consider him the whitest amongst us. I always find this ironic because white and black were always used to describe a race but I realized that it may be the least of things it describes and rather is a description for characteristics, attitude, and socioeconomic factors. Thu, 17 Mar 2011 18:58:39 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/09/what-would-make-this-guy-less-white/#IDComment135650066 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/09/what-would-make-this-guy-less-white/#IDComment135650006 When first thinking about what makes someone “white” or “black” it is important to think about what characteristics go along with each of these descriptions. When I think of someone being very “white” I think of a few things. The first is the way they speak, if they talk with no slang, an awkward sense of humor, and just drawing attention to awkward parts of life I consider them to be talking white. The next thing I note is the way in which they dress. Shirt tucked in high around the belly button, and a general level of ‘corniness’ that is associated with the way they look. He also gives off a very ‘awkward’ vibe, for some reason I also associate this with someone I consider to be very white. But my question is why do some white people appear to be whiter than others? I went I evaluated why I felt like this guy was very white, it all went back to a lot of the emotions I felt. This guy was incredibly awkward. I felt weird watching this video, especially when he had to keep noting that he was wearing gym shorts underneath his pants. Thu, 17 Mar 2011 18:58:26 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/09/what-would-make-this-guy-less-white/#IDComment135650006 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/28/the-lottery-as-a-blessing-or-a-curse/#IDComment132225174 If our perception of people we felt closes to and trusted changes, of course it is going to decrease our happiness level. Whether or not people who win the lottery will be happy is shaped by a number of social and economic factor. Is also has a great deal to do with what their lives were like prior to winning the lottery. I think success if fully able to be achieved if the person makes good changes in their lives. One of these changes might be to move. Getting out of an area you once lived to start a life where people do not know you might be better. But who honestly wants to do that? The only winners who would benefit from this are ones who did not like their lives before, maybe someone who lives in low income housing, or lives in a high crime area and wants to get their kids out. Regardless happiness by winning the lottery will come only if the individual is able to protect themselves from the hurt that could be associated with it. Thu, 3 Mar 2011 23:29:21 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/28/the-lottery-as-a-blessing-or-a-curse/#IDComment132225174 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/28/the-lottery-as-a-blessing-or-a-curse/#IDComment132225122 This article really hits at the age old questions of, “Can money buy you happiness?” I always answered this question with a quick witted response that I had already stored in a back of answered in my head. I always said, “Money cannot buy you happiness, but how many people who are poor do you know who are happy?” I believe that the reasons surrounding unhappiness by winning the lottery are different from those of income based happiness. When I think about the unhappiness that winning the lottery bring me, I always think about the people who would call asking for handouts and money for things they would have never accepted in the past. I also think that this is a lot worse with most lottery winners. Most winners come from poorer areas and are generally themselves among the poverty. This is based off the type of person who generally plays the lottery. They are going to surround themselves with people who are more likely to call asking them to help them pay for this or that or just for a pure handout. Personal relationships in life are the areas that bring us the most happiness as a person. Thu, 3 Mar 2011 23:29:08 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/28/the-lottery-as-a-blessing-or-a-curse/#IDComment132225122 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/21/rethinking-education/#IDComment130620956 Students were once given the summer months off so that they would be able to work in the fields. This is irrelevant in this day and age. If we made our schooling year round with more two week breaks throughout the year, our students would retain more information from year to year. This also plays into the theory of education being based around our economy. Many industries, namely tourism, would suffer if this were to occur. I also found the issue of “one size fits all” interesting. I find a college education to make a lot more sense in that you take the class regardless of what year you are. Standardized testing is hurting public education, I think that it puts too many students into categories where they have to attitude to move within the levels of intelligence. My big question is, why haven’t things changed? Why has an education reform not occurred? For that matter, why have we continued to move in the opposite direction? Education is being dominated by bureaucracy, and until the right educated minds get into position to make the correct decisions, our nation will be stagnant on this issue. Fri, 25 Feb 2011 16:20:02 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/21/rethinking-education/#IDComment130620956 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/21/rethinking-education/#IDComment130620713 As a current secondary education major and a future educator in America I took a personal interest to this education reform proposal. For a long time I questioned who many of the education methods are suppose to represent. The American system of education is completely flawed. It was once a time where a high school degree meant about what a bachelors degree does today. This was during the time when our nation was still a manufacturing based nation as opposed to the service based nation is has come to be today. A college education is the norm in this day and age, and too many young adults are entering college when it is clearly not the best option for them. For a majority of students, college does not serve them the justice in what they believe a college education should give them today. Another issue is the way our public system is set up. The summer months are designated as the months off from school. The original idea for this is because our nation was an agricultural based society. Fri, 25 Feb 2011 16:19:27 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/21/rethinking-education/#IDComment130620713 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/17/how-much-government-do-we-need/#IDComment128746982 However, often the government spends money on things that the tax payers do not want such as military spending on a war the citizens do not support. The problem is things change whenever the money is being spent as a result of a personal choice. Despite the overwhelming social structure that leads to someone being overweight it is still seen as a personal trouble for why a person is overweight. Therefore people look at it as the government taking care of a person’s choices that resulted in something negative. This for a large part is true, the amount of money we spend on people for poor health as a result of life choices could begin to add up in the near future. But is doing nothing better than doing something? With the astronomical amount of money our government spends I do not find it ridiculous for them to sponsor promoting safe health acts, the problem is where do we draw the line? What about tax break on nicorette gum for people trying to quit smoking? Or what about a tax break on condoms in order to practice safe sex methods? These are the decisions our government will have to make in the near future as we begin to sponsor more health care decisions. Fri, 18 Feb 2011 05:58:50 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/17/how-much-government-do-we-need/#IDComment128746982 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/17/how-much-government-do-we-need/#IDComment128746893 In a world where there is a constant struggle between the right and the left over the size of government and the role that it plays in our lives, it is no surprise to me that it even comes into play with breast feeding. I am far less concerned with the freedom choice of breast feeding and more with consistency in government choices. For example, if the government is supporting people financially I think that it is fair for them to place sanctions on them as well. Here is where is issue lies, it is left sided liberals often want government to support its people but want the government to stay out of their social lives. I do not dislike the government giving people incentives to practice good methods of healthcare or social practices. After all, how different is it than the government giving businesses incentives such as tax benefits to act in their favor. The government is able to protect people from themselves, for instance, I have heard examples of clinics handing out clean needles to heroin addicts, is it an issue where government should interview? Do tax payers want the government to be paying for such things? Fri, 18 Feb 2011 05:58:09 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/17/how-much-government-do-we-need/#IDComment128746893 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2010/04/04/this-is-totally-off-the-hook/#IDComment126826288 My immediate response to this news article is sickening, like many of you who watched, I too was greatly offended by the content that was shown. In a modern society where rape statistics are so high, the concept of promoting such acts is mind blowing. However, I tried to take a non-bias approach and put this game in context of American society and not Japanese. The news report makes the point that how is this that much worse than the “shoot ‘em up” video games that we see flooding American stores, and I realize that there is not much difference. I by no means consider myself a Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh supporter who only rant and rave about how the Columbine high school shooting was as a result of video games (maybe poor gun control, but that is another argument), but I do think some truth lies within these claims. I do support the claim that these games depict similar violence that is shown in these rape games found in Japan. For example, “Grand Theft Auto” supports acts like stealing, murder, shooting police and then running from them, and eliciting a prostitute. At the end of the day the player is rewarded for their actions. Almost everyone who plays this game is not going to shoot up their local supermarket or steal their neighbor’s car, but I do believe there is some logic behind this. If youth start playing these games from a young age there is a subconscious reinforcement of negative actions that can support similar actions later in life. One could call me a hypocrite because I too have played these games, and to most rational people it is harmless. However, we are not talking about the rational people and rather the irrational ones who may act on some of these reinforced actions. These Japanese video games now need to be placed in context of the American gaming industry. Anyone reading this will still most likely find games depicting rape to be just as absurd as they were before, but what about American games? I think for there to be action against these Japanese games we need to start with censoring what we allow in our American markets. When I log onto Xbox live to play Call of Duty and find myself playing with my friend’s nine year old brother I see a serious problem. Then again, where do we draw the line? Movies, books, magazines, and similar media would all need to be censored more heavily and I do not see this occurring any time soon. Wed, 9 Feb 2011 03:20:40 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2010/04/04/this-is-totally-off-the-hook/#IDComment126826288 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/27/americans-gone-wild/#IDComment125731529 When I first heard this story and then later read the article I responded in my head like most people did, “This is insane!” I too thought about how ridiculous this whole situation is and what could possibly be going through the heads of the school administrators who suspended the child for such acts. To me, this is a very controversial situation to my own personal thoughts. I am an education major who one day intends to be a school administrator. So I asked myself the question, what would I do? As much as things seemed so absurd at first, the answer became less clear the more I thought about it. Yes, there is no way this child really knew what was going on, and how could he be punished for this? However, there is a greater importance beyond the child learning what he did wrong, school administrators must look at the entire situation. If this is let go, as we all think it should be, where does the line get drawn? What if he had been 6? 7? 8? At what age can we definitively say that something is an accident or deliberate? What if someone had been shot accidently? What if he pulled it out and pointed it at someone thinking it was a toy? What if he said he thought it was a toy but it really knew it was not? This is what I am getting at, we cannot make this determination, we have no way to answer all of these questions with exact answers so instead we just say no. Zero tolerance, because the thought of another Columbine shooting is too great for us to interpret what is a harmless act and what is a deadly threat. And yes it is really sad that it must be done to a five year old, who is completely the victim in the situation. Yet at the end of the day this is still a hard question. I think everyone is in consensus that the father needs to take a gun safety course, and maybe some other repercussions, but what about the child? I may be called crazy, and I may be criticized for it, but I stand behind the school administration decisions to suspend the child. I understand that to the child he gets nothing out of this, and it may even have some mild psychological effects on him, but in the realm to the system in which we live it must be done, it is a sad reality but it is the only way to insure that there is no interpretation as to what can and cannot pass in schools. This is the world we live in, and to insure that the system does not fail, this must be done. Thu, 3 Feb 2011 18:12:55 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/27/americans-gone-wild/#IDComment125731529 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/23/how-free-are-these-90-students/#IDComment124201725 Ok, that is not entirely true. I agree with the fact that there are social barriers that funnel each person to a more likely scenario. These factors are important when looking at the situation as a whole, but on an individual case they cannot be taken into consideration. What about the other four out of five girls who are not pregnant? If society shaped their lives to put them in a likelihood of becoming pregnant why aren’t they? What is society giving back to them for not becoming what some might see as a burden to everyone else? The answer is nothing. At the end of the day and on an individual basis, pregnancy is a personal option. No one is forcing any of those girls to get pregnant (unless rape is a large factor). Personal responsibility must come into play at some point in their lives. So as I think it is important to use sociology to evaluate the situation as a whole and search for solutions, I think it is also important to apply personal responsibility to individuals. Thu, 27 Jan 2011 22:54:59 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/23/how-free-are-these-90-students/#IDComment124201725 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/23/how-free-are-these-90-students/#IDComment124201689 At this high school it is obviously clear that there are additional factors that are leading to such high pregnancy rates. In fact, if 50% of the school is girls, than that means that almost one in five girls in that high school is pregnant. So here is the big question, the one everyone is wondering: why? What makes this area so prone to high teen pregnancy rates? There is no way it is just a coincidence because very few things in life are. There are clearly social factors surrounding this. There social factors might be a few things, certainly income is a major factor because use of contraceptives are expensive. However, that cannot be the only reason because there are certainly school districts in poorer parts of the nation with lower pregnancy rates. Maybe these students find comfort in being pregnant with one another, see the chance for them to end up on MTV, or maybe like the thought of babies and do not understand the financial burden that is required when raising a child. Clearly this cannot be their choice; many people will say that it is not their fault and that they are merely “products of their environment”, after all society made this there only option. (Continued on next comment...) Thu, 27 Jan 2011 22:54:48 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/23/how-free-are-these-90-students/#IDComment124201689 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/15/what-does-it-mean-to-be-free/#IDComment122643325 If you are able to act as a person the way in which you are feeling you are a very free person. Who would then be the least free? Someone who cannot reflect their emotions? This might be a soldier. A soldier cannot always show their emotions, especially in combat. And isn’t it ironic that these soldiers are said to be upholding these very “freedoms” that every Americans claim to hold dear to their heart, the same freedoms that heaven forbid our government would infringe upon. I find it so sickening that citizens of the U.S. can talk about “their rights as an American citizen” but forget all of the freedoms that are given up in order for them to have these rights and freedoms. I think freedom lies within, and freedom to choose the things that mean the most to you is what makes you the freest person. Fri, 21 Jan 2011 02:55:37 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/15/what-does-it-mean-to-be-free/#IDComment122643325