Those videos were shocking. The first video that we watched in class today I found to be the most disturbing. This video was made by someone in America to gain followers against Islam. The video targeted specific individuals from Islam who had hatred towards America and filmed what they had to say. The video did not include any individuals who opposed this treatment of America. The video was harsh and demanding – manipulating the audience into believing what they were saying. Today I was sitting next to an Arab student who became exponentially upset as the video wore on. It portrayed his people in a terrible light and it would be interesting to see if there are any videos from Islam who show that Americans have hatred towards Islam. This video made me truly realize how easy it is to manipulate someone into believing what you want him or her to believe. It seemed that all of the facts in the video did seem to be correct, but they were limited to one perspective and did not show the entire situation. Anyone who is uneducated could be easily misinformed into believing what the video had to say.
The second video was also disturbing but in a different way. This video was of American soldiers in Iraq viciously destroying Iraqi vehicles. The one car was destroyed because the owners had stolen firewood. They had stolen this firewood because they were incredibly poor and could not afford to light a fire to keep warm or cook food. The other car was destroyed and the audience learned that this vehicle belonged to a taxi driver who had stated that his car was his livelihood. The American soldiers in this video were cruel. They were laughing and high-fiving one another over the destruction they were committing. To me, it didn’t make any sense to completely destroy a car over miniscule crimes. Although what the American soldiers were doing to these Iraqis was terrible, it seemed stupid that they were destroying perfectly good cars. These cars could have cost several hundred (or maybe even thousand) dollars. These cars could help multiple people with their everyday tasks. To completely destroy these cars seems pointless. This video shows even further the wastefulness and cruelty of Americans.
It always seems that Americans are under the impression that we are perfect – that we always do the right thing. But seeing these videos can completely turn one’s mind away from this. Americans destroy other country’s people and possessions for absolutely nothing. We are power hungry and believe that any move we make is the correct move and any move another country makes is the incorrect move. We make enemies in a flash, when we should really be questioning our own actions.

What if Sandusky was a black or Latino? This question is similar to one that my Chicano studies professor asked us after the scandal hit front stage: what if Joe Paterno’s name was actually Jose Paterno? I found this question to be extremely fascinating. Obviously, Joe as Jose would not have been the head coach of the football team for nearly as long. I feel that Sandusky would also not have been the assistant coach for as long if he was a black or Latino. It is true, however, that Joe had been the head football coach during a time that was less tolerant of minorities, but I feel that Sandusky could have faced equal inequalities during his reign.
It’s a completely different question when you think about it after this scandal has occurred and just not about the length of reign. I feel that more people of color would be protesting what happened. It might be that people would sympathize more with Sandusky. But it also might be that people would be more upset with Sandusky as well. It could be that people of color would look at the situation from a more sympathetic light, but it also could not be that way. It might be more divided. I guess there’s really no way to know for sure what would happen. But if you think about Joe’s name being Jose I feel like there would be many more people upset about what happened. Penn State could have more of a racist stereotype involved as well as the other negative connotations we already now have. Going back to if Sandusky was a black or Latino, I feel that there would be more of an emphasis on Sandusky than on Paterno. Paterno would not be as much in the spotlight as black or Latino Sandusky.
This situation could also make people believe even further that minorities are the primary culprits when it comes to sexual assault. It is already a common misconception that minorities are the only ones who commit sexual assault crimes. But if Sandusky was a black or Latino and this story was a big as it has been and is known throughout the world, then even more people would have the image of a black/Latino person committing these crimes. It would also be interesting to think about the victims. Would more of the victims be of color? Or would all of the victims be white people? Would any of the victims be females? Or does gender have absolutely nothing to do with race? All in all, it is a very interesting question to think about, but it is impossible to know exactly what would occur in this hypothetical situation.

I agree completely with what Sam has said about the struggles ahead for us. It shocks me that so many of us do not care at all about what is going on in the world. It is as if we are all on a boat and just along for the ride, whatever that may be. The reality, however, is that we all are the captain of our lives. If we decide that something going on in America is unjust and we do not believe that America should be continuing to behave in such a way, we have the right to speak out to try and change something.
It amazes me that so little of the students at Penn State care about what is going on with the protests on Wall Street. If this had been the case in the sixties and seventies (during America’s intense revolution), then so many of the realities that we face today would be gone. Women and people of color would not have nearly as much respect as they have today. Today, both women and people of color are (supposedly) to be treated exactly the same as a white man, whether that be in the work force or on the street – everyone is now to be treated equally. Although this does not seem as shocking to us because we have lived with it our entire lives, it is important to think about how long humans have lived on Earth. We have had societies with leaders and hierarchies for thousands of years and certain people have been treated worse than others for as long. Yet for so many years, nobody did anything about it. Everyone was under the assumption that it is what it is and nothing can be done to stop it. But what if that is what everyone had thought during the sixties? What if nobody had cared about rights for people of color and had just assumed that someone else would protest for them? Things would be incredibly different.
Today I see – with the Wall Street protests – the potential for something great to occur. There are so many people who have wonderful views and ideas about how American life should be, and are out there hoping to make a change. If they are to succeed, and do pull together some sense of how to improve the current situation, then we could be going through a new revolution. We have the power to make something change, and ignoring or blaming anyone will not improve the situation. Today is filled with moments that can never be repeated – why would you blame someone else for your problems? Why not make something of today and live the exact life you’ve been meaning to live?

This is completely insane. I am so sick of hearing about and witnessing police brutality. The video of Scott Olsen (who was an Iraq veteran) being badly injured just for taking part in a protest is very sad. It’s as if these police officers have no idea what is going on – as if they are not also part of the 99%. But they are – we all are. Why would they bully against those who are going through the exact same scenario as they are? Why don’t they feel any sympathy? Is this just one case of an obvious police brutality, or does this happen often? Are they just individuals who are bullies their entire lives and decide to be police officers so that they can get paid to bully others? Or what is exactly going on here? It is true that we often witness police brutality in State College on football weekends, but this is an entirely different scenario that deserves some questioning.
These questions can never be answered, so I will focus on something else – how shocking it is to see people in Egypt protesting for United States citizens. Egyptians have traditionally hated Americans – just like every other country’s citizens, yet we are all coming together against an equal enemy – the 1%. This is what we should have been doing all along. It is true that Americans are not protesting against the torture and eventual death of Essam Ali Atta (all for wanting a phone sim card), which we should be doing since Egyptians are doing something so much more powerful than this. Yet it is mind blowing that they are not seeing it in this way – they are protesting for us anyway.
It is also interesting to think about the amount of wealth that Egypt holds. As Sam has said, Egypt is not a wealthy country – with a fifth of their population living below or at the poverty line, yet they still decide to protest for the United States who is a much wealthier country. As we learned in class, it is something like the poorest people in America are the richest in comparison to the rest of the world. It says a lot about these individuals of Egypt to care about our well being when we have done so much harm to other countries and are not a typically poor country. It is true that Egypt is supposedly one of our allies, but the United States is full of shit when it comes to this word. We want allies who will benefit us, and Egypt is one country that we see doing this, not a country that we actually care about. The Egyptian protest was awesome, and I am amazed that so many people came out to join.

This topic of speaking Spanglish is one I’ve been experiencing lately. I’m American and speak English, yet I’ve taken a lot of Spanish classes and often like to think in Spanish. My goal is to become bilingual and be able to do something with language (maybe teach English in a Spanish speaking country), but my Spanish is far from perfect. Sometimes it is nice to think in English yet incorporate words of Spanish into sentences in order to constantly be aware of the language, so I understand completely why there has been such a raise in Spanglish. It is interesting to think about our future as a Spanish speaking country. Since our Hispanic immigrant rates are increasing every year, it is very common to hear Spanish spoke. This is by far the most common language (besides English) in America. When I used to live in Texas, I heard Spanish spoken everyday – almost as much as English. Obviously this state is very close to the Mexican border, yet it is true that this language has grown to take over cities in the North. It is still a language that is spoken primarily in bigger cities, yet my idea is that Spanish will feed into smaller cities as the population of Hispanic immigrants in the United States becomes larger.
I personally believe that children should be taught a second language during elementary school. It is amazing how much faster children pick up a second language than adults do, and we should make use of this fact and educate our children even further. Knowing a second language is immensely important for the work force, but even more important for communication. Even though we would like to believe it were so, English is not the only language on the planet, there are hundreds of different languages throughout the world and to be able to know more than one is extremely beneficial.
Although I have this view on the world, it is probably true that there are some Americans who are scared of the growing numbers of Hispanic immigrants and use of the Spanish language. There are some who believe that Americans should solely speak English and that other languages are ruining what we have. Yet this idea is very ignorant. There are so many different people in the world with different experiences and ideas, that it is crucial to be able to communicate. We are all built the same, yet we have successfully accustomed to life in different ways (particularly with language use), and being able to see and show that is amazing. If it weren’t for this, there would not be so many countries in the world that are trying to learn English. Why don’t we become like them and try to teach our children a foreign language as well?

This is an interesting question because it is pointed strictly at blacks and not people of color as a whole. It makes sense though, since the world is currently a white centered world, which incorporates only one race and not multiple.
A black centered world would be much easier for blacks. In the United States today, the majority of the population is white, and so it is difficult for citizens of other colors of skin to feel like they are at home. They are constantly thought of as the minority and are scouting out others who are the same color as they in order to feel more comfortable. It was interesting today when Sam had whites put themselves in the shoes of those of color when it comes to being a minority. It is almost impossible for a white person to feel like he/she is the minority (in the United States especially) when whites are always the majority. The only time for a white to experience this issue would be to go to a foreign country or a city with a higher amount of colored people. In a black centered world, this would not be the case. The majority of the people in the United States would be black, and whites would constantly feel like they were the minority. I would like to say that there would be less racism, but I am unsure, since blacks are just as capable of producing racism as whites are. It would be interesting to see if whites would have been slaves instead of blacks. And if whites would constantly be trying to look “black” – thinking that darker skin and kinky hair was more attractive since today it is the opposite.
It would also be interesting to see if other people of color (Asians, Native Americans, Hispanics, Muslims etc.) would feel more comfortable in a black centered world. However, I am doubtful that this would be the case since blacks would probably just take the same role the whites had. It is true that those of color are a closer shade to black than whites, so they may be more considered of a higher status than whites, but I am unsure. In regards to racism it should be noted that blacks do not come from Europe – where racism began – so racism could have possibly been a completely non-existent term, but I am unable to believe that this would be the case because of the imbedded selfishness of the human race. Everyone is always looking out for him/herself and it seems impossible to me that color of skin would remain invisible throughout history.

I find this situation extremely interesting. Brittany and Abigail share every single waking moment together. This includes pooping, eating and showering together – but it also includes sex. This is my biggest question about their conjoined life. It was recently said that Brittany is now engaged. Brittany is engaged, not Abigail. This means that if Brittany and her fiancé were to participate in sexual relations, Abigail would be there as well. It is also true that Brittany and Abigail share the same feelings in their vagina. What would Abigail do when they had sex? Just pretend like she wasn’t there? Or would she have to also enjoy it in order for Brittany to enjoy it? Also the whole idea of orgasming would be interesting. What if Brittany wanted to orgasm but Abigail was not into the sex enough to allow it to happen, would they not orgasm then? Do they both have to orgasm at the same time? What if Brittany wanted to go on the pregnancy pill and Abigail didn’t want to? Brittany could ingest the pill against Abigail’s wishes, but the pill would still be working in Abigail’s body. It seems like there would be a lot to discuss between the two.
I also would find it interesting to know what would happen if Abigail were involved in a relationship once Brittany already was tied down. What if Abigail wanted to have sex? Would that be considered cheating for Brittany? Through this contemplation, my guess is that they have a pact to not have sex with their partners to alleviate the anxieties and troubles involved. But this could also arise to other difficulties. What if one of the twins was more promiscuous than the other and wanted to experiment with oral sex and the other felt uncomfortable about it. Obviously they would have to work out a way to deal with the situation. They said in the video that they made trades with each other in order to do things. You can eat a cookie if I’m allowed to give a blowjob to Tommy?
Regardless of this, they did say that they were interested in having children one day. This means that they would share a child together since they have the same uterus. So who’s spouse would they choose to fertilize the child? And how would they decide? In the end, it doesn’t matter who’s spouse is picked because both of them would have to take care of the child because they are constantly with one another and do not get any time alone. I think the best idea for them would be to both marry one man, so that they could both enjoy the man together. But I guess this would involve a lot of jealousy and inequalities. The whole situation just seems very complicated and difficult, with a lot of fighting involved.

In today’s world, the porn industry is extremely raunchy. It is hard, as a female, to enjoy porn. In order to find any porn that turns me on, I have to search very hard. All of the porn is too crazy. The women are always very trashy (wearing ass-less chaps, having whips, wearing too much makeup), and the men very masculine (big muscles, short hair, large cock). There is never any porn that I enjoy. When I do get the urge to watch porn – which rarely happens – I try and search for sensual and romantic porn, but this is one in a million. My favorite kind is the most boring kind – with the most basic positions and the women and men looking very normal. I am not at all into crazy porn with multiple males or females and feigned pleasure. I like to watch porn that is real and that both partners actually enjoy.
In a women-centered world, porn would probably be similar to the type that I enjoy. Since we learned that females are more interested in sex that is slow and passionate, the sex that would be seen in porn would most likely be like that. The male and female would be dressed normally, without too much makeup and props. The sex would be using the normal positions, with intense foreplay (including oral sex for the male and female) and slow and steady rhythms. The male would make sure that the female enjoys the intercourse, and the female would not pretend that the sex was pleasurable when it really wasn’t.
It is also possible that there would be more lesbian sex and more vibrators involved in the interactions. In a women-centered world, females may be more curious about other females and experiment more, but I am not entirely sure if this is true. Since it is a male-centered world at the moment, and men enjoy lesbian sex and props, then it is possible that this amount would decrease since men would not be the only ones to please. But it is true that females are interested in vibrators and might enjoy the act of a man pleasing without his cock.
There would also be a decrease in tongue piercings. It is a common knowledge that many females get their tongue pierced in order to please their man orally. My sister’s boyfriend even bought her a tongue piercing for that reason. I believe that in a women-centered world this type of situation would be completely different. Females would be a lot less pressured into pleasing males, and males would have to pick up the slack and figure out where a clit and a g-spot actually are.

Throughout time, women have acquired certain characteristics about themselves – innocent being one of them. It is often thought that women have an image to uphold, and in order to be successful in life, they need to make sure that they constantly come across as innocent. This goes into what we learned about in class today – women are much less likely to be convicted of a crime than men. Men make up 90% of prisoners, with women as a measly 10%. Why is this the case? Are females just less likely to commit a crime than males? This could definitely be the reason. Women are supposed to be innocent. They are supposed to be the ones who are involved with raising and supporting the child while the men are supposed to be supporting the family financially and risking their health in order to do so. I believe these stereotypes feed into the results of which gender commits more crimes. It also might be that a female who does commit a crime and is arrested for doing so, may be more likely to get out of going to jail than a male. Females may be looked at in a more sympathetic light because of their gender. Maybe the judge would be worried about the female’s family if the female were placed in jail for an extended period of time. Males rarely are the primary child owner, and therefore would not be looked at sympathetically in that sense if convicted of a crime.
Stereotypes could also feed into the reason why people of color are much more likely to be convicted of a crime than whites, even though whites may be committing more crimes than they. When you think of a crime being committed, often times you think of the person as black. There is a common stereotype that colored people commit more crimes than whites. This feeds into our search for criminals. We may unintentionally target a criminal of colored skin before targeting a criminal with white skin. Although many law enforcers swear that they try to be as antiracist as possible, there still may be an unconscious thought process occurring that targets colored criminals.
It is definitely unfair that these scenarios occur today – after so many years of humans of all sexes and color fighting for equal rights, yet the best thing to do would be to look at this situation at the individual level. If law enforcers and judges are having these thoughts towards women and colored people, then the rest of society is also doing so. Controlling our thoughts to appreciate and recognize everyone as equal is the most imperative step in order to see changes in our criminal law system.

I looked at a couple videos and am unsure whom I would like to work with. I looked at Clorene who needs help with her sewing business. She needs a logo so that she can have a tag in her clothing and not just use tags that she finds around the market that are cheap knock-offs of other brands. She needs an embroidering machine and a silkscreen machine, so that she can do both more effectively, and compete with what Americans are able to receive from other companies. Lastly, she needs bulk amounts of fabric that does not come from the Dominican Republic where they inflate the prices because of the many hands that has passed the fabric down. I enjoyed the fact that Clorene did not want money handed to her. She was willing to pay a bit of money each month in order to pay for the fabric and was not looking for pity or donations. I also liked that she was paying all of her employees with a fair wage and was not forcing them to work under terrible conditions.
I looked at Anaes, who was interested in selling her designer totes. Sam really focused on the help that she needed with figuring out how to improve her bags. The handles of each bag seemed very week and looked like something that she needed to change in order for her products to become more popular.
Thirdly, I looked at Euclid who was struggling with her designer collection. Her only employee at the moment is her husband, but he works the night shift as a security guard and it is hard for him to work with her collection as well. She really needs some new fabrics and paints but she is unable to afford expensive products. I thought that she seemed a bit more difficult than the others to help.
Lastly, I looked at Sonia. She was selling insulated lunchboxes and bags of all kinds. I enjoyed her products, however, there was little footage of her business, and I was unable to pinpoint exactly what she needed help with. I know she would most likely need more raw material and more employees, but she did not go into detail.
At the moment, the entrepreneur that I am most willing to try to help is Clorene. There were a lot of details about her business included on the site, which helped me to sympathize with her situation and wish to help her. I also thought that I could find ways to answer her problems – especially with the issue of tags on her merchandise. I am unsure as to how to start this project, however, and am also willing to look at the other entrepreneurs more closely and change my decision. All in all, every single entrepreneur needs help because of the terrible conditions that they live in in Haiti, and anything that we can do to help would make a difference.