I personally love South Park. My favorite episodes are generally the ones that make fun of things that occur in the world today. I’m a Muslim who watched the episodes “200” and “201” and I thought it was great! The purpose of the episode was to not only poke fun at the Muslim religion, but to also bring back some memories from previous South Park episodes.
Here’s a brief story of what happened in the South Park episode (Spoiler Alert). The 4th grade kids of South Park Elementary go to a chocolate factory for a tour and find Tom Cruise packing chocolate by the conveyor belt. Tom Cruise was then offended when one of the kids said he was a “fudge-packer.” Tom Cruise and several other celebrities planned to sue South Park for being ridiculed. In order to avoid the lawsuit, Tom Cruise asked South Park to bring Muhammad to him. South Park is now caught in a dilemma between a huge lawsuit and getting bombed by Muslim radicals. Afraid of revealing Muhammad, South Park chose to keep him in a Bear suit, hidden inside a U-Haul truck. Throughout the show you see a large black box labeled “CENSORED” to not reveal Muhammad at all.
It’s a shame to see that some Muslims will go as far as violence to defend the religion. The Muslim extremists are being a little too sensitive about the episode. They seem to feel that they’re the only ones being attacked. They should know that every religious figure is ridiculed at one point in South Park history like Jesus, Moses, and Krishna. The censorship was frustrating to watch. The last minute of the show was completely bleeped. And it wasn’t even about Muhammad! I didn’t see what the big deal was poking fun at Muhammad. South Park is one of the biggest satirical shows in the U.S and it WILL make satirical jokes about anything in the world. There was an episode where South Park made fun of Scientology. Unfortunately, one of the voices for the show left because he was offended by the episode. I don’t think anyone should get riled up over an episode like the recent two. I’m sure Stone and Parker (producers of South Park) tried their best to avoid crossing the line. I really hope nothing bad will happen to Stone and Parker. I read in an article, that their death isn’t a threat, but a prediction. They were sent a message with a gruesome image of the Dutch Filmmaker who was stabbed to death in 2004 for criticizing the Muslim religion. Some people just don’t joke around. A radical could do just about anything if he or she is offended.

The last lecture was real intense. I’m an Indonesian who was raised as a Muslim as a child. It was just as shocking to me as to every other non-Muslim in the class. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw that YouTube video about Jihad. I can’t even recall blinking when I watched it. My own country, the largest Muslim-populated country in the world, Indonesia, had been terrorized at one point in time. It scared me to see that the Jihad’s mission is to dominate the world and convert the whole world into Islam. The Jihad, in my opinion, is disgracing the name of Islam. No religion should ever terrorize other people for differences. Every good Muslim in the classroom must have felt the same way I did when I watched the video. I was never taught to hate someone of a different religion. My parents showed that it doesn’t matter what they believe in, as long as he or she is a good person at heart. They could care less if I spent the rest of my life with a non-Muslim woman.
Ethnocentrism didn’t make as much sense to me until that last lecture. In my opinion, Sam did a very good job at bringing the class to see in a new lens. Even I had to change my lens. I was born here in the United States and have seen the world in the perspective of the United States. Therefore, ethnocentrism does exist in me, in the same perspective as many of the students in our SOC 119 class. I had to place myself in the shoes of a Middle Eastern Muslim. When Sam showed a countless amount of videos to the class, I felt angry; angry at the U.S. I’m standing on land that is mine and a bunch of people in the U.S are taking the oil that sits beneath the land I stand on. And they think they have the right to gain control over it? It’s so unfair. Why can’t I control the oil that’s in MY territory? Watching the tank crush the car owned by the citizens made me clench my fists. The people needed that wood. Of course they had to loot. They have nothing left to survive. They need food to feed the kids. And also that video of the truck that was pushed off to the side of the road: That was absolutely terrible to see. The soldiers’ mission is not to ruin the days of the citizens. They’re only sent out to take down the enemies. Not every citizen is an enemy. Some may even be welcoming. The soldiers’ actions just makes the citizens hate them more. And that is why they are now seen as “Christian invaders”.

Like Sam said, a numerous amount of times, menstruation is just a natural part of a woman’s life. It shouldn’t have to be an uncomfortable subject that makes people cringe or feel grossed out. People should be more open and respectful about it. We unfortunately live in a society where women are taught to leave some things unspoken. For years and years this world had been a man’s world. Although today’s world is less of a man’s world, an imbalance remains through conversation. I have many guy friends who complain and don’t want to hear about girls and their periods. But, I also have female friends who are very uncomfortable with talking about it. This kind of thing upsets me. Why do guys not want to hear it? And why do girls not want to talk about it? I believe that sex education has a lot to do with this too. At adolescence, some of us are required to take sex education courses to give students a better understanding of a natural aspect of life. But the problem is, there are some things that need a lot more emphasis such as the menstruation cycle. I recall that the menstruation cycle was only taught for two days when I was in middle school. This leaves people confused. Males will feel that it is not an important topic and doesn’t need to be discussed. Females will also feel that way too and only choose to talk about it with other females. The lack of focus in the menstruation cycle does have an effect on adolescents as they grow older. If we wanted to change this we should take it straight to the roots, sex education in middle schools.
Now what if men had a menstruation cycle? Things would not be the same at all. Men would have no problem at all talking about it. If anything, they would be boasting about it. And no, tampons wouldn’t be free. Men and women both need deodorants, shampoos, shaving cream, and etc. You don’t see any of those items being free. If men are comfortable talking about masturbation, women should feel comfortable talking about their menstruation cycles.
Now what if we live in a world ruled by women? This whole thing would turn around. The subject of menstruation cycles wouldn’t be uncomfortable at all. I don’t know for sure if they would boast about it. But I am sure that men won’t complain when they hear about.
All in all, we see that there is an imbalance between the two sexes in society. Not a single subject should be an uncomfortable subject. We should be able to talk about the menstruation cycle as much as we talk about hunger, thirst, and etc.

If you place rudeness on a balance scale of fairness, the white side and the black or brown side aren’t at all even. I noticed the same exact thing in that one lecture with Sam. When one of the people who are on the “white side” said being white means “having to deal with loud black girls in the computer lab,” the whole class went crazy about it. When the people on the “black or brown side” said being white means “to be stuck up,” no one really said a word. It’s hard to find a reason why that actually happens. I feel that it might be because white people are too afraid to fight back when it concerns race. If it was the case where they do fight back, they would be considered a racist. But why can’t black or brown people be considered as racists if they make offensive comments? To answer the topic question, yes, rudeness does go both ways. No one should have to bring anyone else down. It just gives people a reason to fight back and create even more problems. It was very surprising to see what types of comments showed up on the screen. Some of the comments were a little too touchy. One race shouldn’t have to feel superior compared to others. Plenty of comedians deal with this kind of thing too. It’s not very often that you hear a white comedian makes jokes about other races. They must be too afraid to do so because they know people will call them racist. But for some reason, it’s fine for comedians like Dave Chappelle or Russell Peters to make comments about other races. Sure, it’s real funny to hear the jokes but realistically, it’s unfair to make white people feel like the racist ones and to make it lenient for black or brown people make rude comments. I remember when the black or brown people were asked to text, they all ready to “fight back”. I’ll admit I was ready to make a response to fight back. But I had second thoughts about it. I realized that it would be pointless to do something like that. That action will only create an endless circle of racial conflicts. But how do we plan to end this unbalance? Well, there really is no straight answer to this. I just think we need to get passed this level by being comfortable with each other without offending another. That way no one would feel need to be either offensive or defensive. Let’s hope one day when we are asked what it means to be a certain race, we won’t have to feel superior or inferior to others.

The death of a language just sounds devastating. A loss of a language is the loss of several hundreds of thousands of voices that had been arranged by such intelligence. As many cultures advance through technology some fall behind and remain within the shadows of humanity. Unfortunately, the advancing cultures choose not to bring other cultures ahead with them. Humans just continue to compete with each other, trying to be the most intelligent, trying to be the strongest. In other words, it’s survival of the fittest.

What’s worse is that a language is unnoticed until it is ready to vanish. It was a big “eye-opener” hearing Boa Sr say the words she speak will never be heard again. I begin to wonder, how could it just fade away like that? Hmm… maybe it’s because: 1) We’ve taken the cultures of the ancient for granted and moved on with our own out of selfishness. 2) We’ve shoved our cultures down other people’s throats just to unify society. 3) We just don’t care.

Now a new questions arise: Will we now act to save dying languages? Probably not. There are other things that people are more concerned about unfortunately, like their own intelligence. The intelligence of the people that created these languages that lasted for hundreds of thousands of years are often disregarded and render useless to advancing cultures. What many don’t know is that they can understand so much just by studying these languages. The ancients have been able to predict the weather without machines. Why can’t we? They’ve also predicted astronomical phenomenons without telescopes and computers. Why can’t we? Don’t we want to know how they did it?

Now don’t get me wrong, I do know that there are some people that actually do care, and I respect them for it. These people can see how amazing the complexity of language is. This curiosity may be the key to understanding humanity.

I can’t imagine being the last person to speak my own language. It would just be too painful to see that no one can understand and relate to you. Reading the quote by Johnny Hill Jr. about how he can only speak to himself made me feel sorry for all the cultures that get left behind.

Now back to my claim about how some cultures shove their own language down other’s throat. I was talking about the English language, by the way. Yes, I understand that we need a common language to establish trade and etc. But I feel that other cultures shouldn’t be forced to drop the language they were raised with. Every language should be cherished and spread from generation to generation. No language should ever die.

Avatar was the one movie that all my friends were telling me to see. I initially didn’t take must interest in the movie until EVERYONE watched the movie. I thought I missed my chance to see it over the winter break because I didn’t really plan on watching it at State College. Fortunately, I had a good amount of friends who still haven’t seen the movie. So, we all went out to see it and loved how it turned out. Many of us had picked up on the similarities Avatar had with Pocahantas and FernGully. Need I say, we were all Asian and not a single one of would be offended by this White Messiah deal. To us, it was just a movie with an interesting (familiar) plotline and amazing visuals.
There may be a reason to why the White Messiah fable continues to be portrayed in many movies. We live in the U.S where white culture remains “sorta” dominant in society. Therefore, writers might only make the protagonist a white person to appeal the typical American. It’s all a matter of money in my opinion. OR if anything, they didn’t even think about that kind of stuff. I doubt there was any racism intended.
I think the real issue is the fact that these happy endings that exist in these “White Messiah” movies are far too imaginative. During the ages of conquest, the natives had always fallen to the ground and been thrown off their land. The conquerors/explorers will generally have the bigger guns or swords that overpower the arrows and axes. It’s always about which team has the bigger guns. But what if the natives win (for example, Avatar)? In Avatar, the humans were sent out of Pandora after defeat. Would they honestly not try again? Chances are, they would make even BIGGER guns and invade again. That kind of stuff may have happen at some point in history. The ones who were in search for a new land may have lost at some point and could have tried to attack again.
Yes, Brooks made a valid point on the hero being a white person. But I feel that writers truly meant to show that war over territory is unnecessary. No human-being should conquer another human-being’s land whether or not resources are being depleted. Things like these should be the reason why humans should conserve energy. Avatar showed that Earth was dying due to mankind’s misuse of natural resources, which led them to go out and try to take someone else’s home away for them to keep. We should really understand that we should work with what we have AND that we can’t have everything we want. This just comes to show that people suck.

This is truly unbelievable. It is a shame to see how other countries have not been able to look past people of different color. Although the black population in Europe is low compared to that of the United States, there should no excuse for displaying such behavior. A lot of countries look up to America as a model for freedom and opportunity yet show no progression in regards to diversity. Although racism still occurs in the United States, for example, opposed to President Barack Obama, their measures are not as extreme as those in Europe. This act gives Europe a bad name. Would an American of color really want to go to Europe for a vacation after watching a hoard of fans racially taunt players? Probably not.
This year, the World Cup will be held in South Africa, which only a few years ago was apartheid, a system of racism enacted by the government. This will truly be a test to see if European fans will be able to conduct themselves in appropriate manner toward African-American player. The idea of shutting down the stadium for racial acts needs to be strictly enforced. If fans are really that passionate about the sport, they would be able control their behavior to enjoy the experience of watching the game.
It seems that the president of FIFA was all talk. It has been four years since his remarks and little has changed. Many Europeans do not view this as an issue. Some may just say that it is only a problem within a few number of people and that they don’t represent Europe as a whole. But seriously, how could they just let that go? People need to open their eyes and see that this type of abuse has led people to fight each other for years and years. Do they not understand the emotion that fills the minds of the abused? They need to place themselves in the shoes of the racially abused. They need to know what it feels like to be singled out for being of a different race. A man should be respected for their skills and significance in society, not tormented by words sharper than a dagger.
I have dealt with racism a good number of times as a teenager. I would walk down the streets of Philadelphia and have a random douche bag yell the word “CHIIIIIINK!” as he is driving by. I would also have some people ask me to cook them some “fly lice” (fried rice). Can you believe that shit? I’m not even Chinese, I am Indonesian for pete’s sake! I actually have very large eyes for an Asian. But hey, at least it’s not as bad as it is in Europe. Something really needs to done there. Thanks to this video, I won’t be going to Europe anytime soon.

papaya

I definitely agree with this comment. An occurrence like this is clearly inevitable. Viewpoints continue to change from generation to generation. In my family, I am a part of the first generation to be born in the U.S. Both my parents have been born and raised in Indonesia. My parents see this world much differently from the way my sisters and I see it. To this day, my parents remain prejudice. Not only do they make comments about different races and ethnicities, but also the physical features, gender, and sexual orientation of a person. It’s countless to say how many times I would watch the news or a TV show and hear one of my parents say “He/she is so fat”, “Women shouldn’t do that”, or “Obama shouldn’t have been president because he’s black.” They would make comments about the friends we hang out with. They would limit the things my sisters can do just because they are females. My sisters and I would try to argue with our parents. But, it just doesn’t ever get through to them.
Home isn’t the only place I experience this. I’ve been a waiter at a Thai Restaurant where all the elders in the restaurant came straight from Thailand. Every single time the economic crisis is brought up in a conversation, Obama is to blame. I mean, seriously? It irks me when I hear comments like that. It just makes me want to throw them into an economics class to make them understand how a recession works. But then I say, what’s the use? A majority of them haven’t even finished high school.
These experiences have brought me to understand that the older generation will mostly likely never change their viewpoints to agree with the younger generation. It is impossible to tell an older person that homosexuality is acceptable. It is impossible to tell an older person that race shouldn’t matter anymore. I don’t mean to sound like a jerk but, all we can really do is wait for this generation to age away. Take their judgments to their graves. I never want to raise my kids by making the comments my parents made in front of me. I want to show them that no man/woman is different from another.
And yes, I know racism still exists within the younger generation. But, we should know that some instincts can be controlled. Prejudice is an instinct. Humans were born to act upon differences. We don’t need to make rude remarks about people different from us. We don’t need to set a distance from a person of a different color. Luckily, I’m living in a generation that is shifting away from this issue and I hope that it will one day dwindle down.