en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/759503 Comments by rlevin66 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/the-tyranny-of-radical-muslims__trashed/#IDComment69827070 I am glad that sam brought this topic up in class. I know far too many people who are quick to judge other people on the basis of looks due to things they say on the news. The photos that have been shown through out this entire war have been effecting the muslims of this country in a horrible way, and this should not be happening. I cant imagine how upsetting it is to get searched just a little more in an airport or get denied service liek that woman in the movie played in class did because of their race. being a white american girl i have never really encountered any racism other than the snide little "jew " remarks being that i am jewish. I know that can be a little hurtful but that is not written on my face. People from afar dont know that about me and while i am not ashamed of it i would find it difficult to have to hear that all day every day or get looked at differently because my race/nationality/religion is obvious based upon my looks. For people liek this womans husband i cant even imagine how frusttrating it is that stupid people stereotype all people in a religion or take one public figure such as osama and decide to portray that personality and psycho mentality onto an entire race of people! I have muslim friends and i would never ever look at a muislim woman or man and think to myself terrorist. That is just the most close minded ridiculous thing i have ever heard. I really do feel for these people and all the people that are persecuted in this country for being different since at one point , since america is built upon immigration, our peoples were the ones that stood out when we got off the boat or became residents in a new town. Hopefully after this lecture and seeing videos like this people will realize not to be so quick to judge. Im sure the muslim people in other countries are only getting the worst ideas of us from the things that they see and from how closed minded we must look to them. Is thar the way we want our country to be portrayed? This entire war has just been a huge disaster in my opinion, instead of helping a culture create a democracy we are dividing two religions on the basis of stupid media propoganda and making a mockery of our country. Now that we have began this war tho I would like to see something come out of it. If anything just the realization from the two countries that each other are not in fact bad and while governemtns might be corrupt or certain people ignorant, the majority of both countries are far from that. Thu, 22 Apr 2010 22:22:21 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/the-tyranny-of-radical-muslims__trashed/#IDComment69827070 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/women__trashed/#IDComment68387897 I enjoyed hearing what lori had to say in class last week. Everything she said was very true, that if the magazines begin to portray beauty as beign flat chested thats what the new norm would be. I did find her to be a bit of a feminist but thats fine by me. The play was pretty good,.. i think there might have been a quicker and easier way to get that message across but it was a good attempt. As for this video, i do agree that hollywood has all shapes and sizes for example the african american woman in glee or the girl from precious. they walk the red carpet like divas even though they are not rail thin. i did notice that jennifer hudson lost an extreme amount of weight,a dn probably to fit into the hollywood stereo type, but it could also just be that she wanted to be healtheir. There is a difference between trying to fit in just to look like the typical hollywood figure or attempting to better yourself by losing weight tobe out of the obese range and not put yourself in danger. obesity is a deadly condition so i dont think peopel should hate on those women for losing weight before hearing the real reason. I would lek tosee more women that are fuller figured in hollywood so everyone would feel less pressure to be model thin. All of the beauty magazines are highly retouched and that should stop as well. people literally kill themselves over those unobtainable images and there should be an end to it. I know that recently there has been a push to get less thin models on the runway and there are some levels of body fat etc that must be reached for a model to be allowd to walk but im sure those are put in place and not followed up with. It is going to be a detriment to our society if people dont stop showing little girls and growign women these images. Hollywood needs some strong female figures to set the standards. I know that i definitly try to be thin and see that as beautiful but that change in me as i began to see the media more. if men began to explicityl fight back and say they they dont like that model look im sure girls would stop. We need some sort of male intervention. if women felt beautiful and men told them they were beautiful with a little meat on their bones im sure these models and movie stars wouldnt have half the effect on the mental states of girls as they do now. Lori defiantly raised an eyebrow or two with her lecture and play and I think bringing the womens issues in to the class was definitely a good idea. Fri, 16 Apr 2010 15:41:58 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/women__trashed/#IDComment68387897 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/what-if-we-got-rid-of-welfare__trashed/#IDComment66142542 I think the welfare battle is a very difficult one. if we got rid of welfare all together then many people who are on it would just fall in to a bigger economic slump. It may potentially make those who are just on it for bad reasons like being lazy or unmotivated, (because im sure there are some people who have the potential to succeed and just arent trying) attempt to better themselves. it might be used as a crutch for some people similar to the unemployment payments that some people take when they are not even trying to get a job. I know personally some people who said that x y or z happened and they lost their job, but instead of going job searching they are just using that money to stay on their feet. That same principle might apply to welfare , it might motivate some people to get moving. On the other hand, those people that grew up in welfare and did not get the opportunity to go to schools with AP classes, or a good academic program will always be left behind. As sam mentioned in class those people that start out in front, stay in front and those that were in the back generally stay in the back unless some other force may act on them to help out, in this case welfare. So back to what i was aying, those poeple who grew up in bad schools werent able to go to a good college and then get a good job therefore putting themselves back in welfare. people can take this path or turn it around by working their way up from the bottom, being a janitor or something and at least make a livable salary. I dont believe that people who grew up on welfare dont have the abilities to get a job, so why dont a majority of them at least try? i say, if it can be proven that welfare is being used as a crutch it should be taken away.If it is helping those poeple that are struggling to make ends meet who have been left in the bottom due to growing up in welfare and are really trying very hard to succeed, they should reap the benefits for a few years, maybe not their whole livces, but just to get them on their feet to get good clothes for work or buy transportation of something. It definitely should be given out in moderation, just enough time to get the people who need that little boost to get the boost and begin living independantly. So in general i think that welfare is a good thing, when used in moderation and for peopel who seriously need the economic boost. if it were to be taken away, we would be able to see just how many people were using it for a crutch or how many people would begin to work harder to make their life comfortable. Tue, 6 Apr 2010 01:34:40 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/what-if-we-got-rid-of-welfare__trashed/#IDComment66142542 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/are-whites-the-only-people-willing-to-humiliate-themselves__trashed/#IDComment63738663 I think this is a very interesting point, it is a bit odd that not many black women went on this show but that could be that they just dont try out? I was thinking that there are alot of other reality shows on other channels like VH1 that are predominantly black. So i am not sure if the question was raised because its a lack of black people on a more popular network, or because there just arent black women on those specific shows. i think that it might just be that black women arent attracted to these stuck up white men that they use, or maybe the network crew chooses only the most "attractive people" to be on the shows, and those people happen to be bias towards the looks of white people. But i want to counter this video by saying that its not like black people arent on any of the reality shows they definitely are. all of the real world and real world challenges have black people and the race shows, and game shows always have a large variety of races, and other channels have shows with many black people. For example on the ray j show of the "flavor flav" show it was mostly black people, and the man they were fighting for was black too. So mayb it is just that people on those shows arent looking for an interracial thing and it is not the broadcasting network! I think there are many white people who are attracted to black men and the other way around so im sure there have been a few of the opposite color contestants on these shows in the past. The post above me mentioned that it could be this way because of polls taken where families dont want to see interracial couples, and that may be true, but i find that hard to believe since our society is attempting to be so politically correct and avoid any such maneuvers that would make them seem racially biased in any way. The bachelor in particular is a very stupid show in my opinion the women on them are really just looking for fame. They are looking for fame in that particular zone, so white women looking to be singers or actresses, while the black people on the ray j shows and other reality shows predominantly black, are looking for fame down that avenue in the hip hop area. So that makes sense why colors stick with colors for a lack of a better term , white people arent looking to sell themselves to a black audience and black people aren't looking to sell themselves to a white audience, because after watching a few episodes of any show it always comes out that one woman is an aspiring singer or actress etc. those shows are all fake anyway so who cares! Tue, 23 Mar 2010 23:27:33 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/are-whites-the-only-people-willing-to-humiliate-themselves__trashed/#IDComment63738663 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/does-this-rudeness-thing-cut-both-ways__trashed/#IDComment63068045 I think this is a really good point. I am not sure where i stand on this because i see it from two ways. First is that the negative words that surround being black are very hurtful because they have previously been used in a very negative way. just simply saying them could imply that you are a racist and become very innapropriate. If i were black and got called one of those names or i was black and was referred to by a stereotype i woudl be seriously offended if the speaker was a white person. This is only because of the history. while many people now say that the history excuse is over, and its been too many years and we are on an equal playing field now, i stil dont agree. There are so many kids and adults these days who are racist, there is still the KKK there are still white supremacists there are so many people out there who hate blacks. There arent really huge organizations of black people who go around attemtping to rid the world of black people , or say nasty things about whites, so as long as blacks are still CONSIDERED a minority ( they may not actually be, by population a minority or anything in certain places) but while whites are still thought of as the powerful majority, it is unfair to use these words. The root of these words is very deep and it will take along time before these words of phrases can be said without causing a huge upraod. On the other hand i think that it is time that white people get what they deserve on the race table as well. I have not come in contact with these people but im sure there are many black people who really dont like what people , and give them a hard time. This probably occurs in inner cities with gangs or within schools or etc. Im sure a white kid somehwere gets picked on by black people for being white. That being said, it is time that we all just get rid of the lines that separate race and take nasty terms equally offensivly on both the black half of the table and the white half. If a black girl were to call me an ugly white girl, the fact that they said white would not really offend me, maybe the ugly but not the black! I think this is because through out our history it has been good, a positive thing to be white and i am not ashamed at all to be black. This is another reason that the uneven uproar might be caused. White people dont react with back lashes when black people say that we like ray bans and chap stick because we dont really care because its not offending us. For somethign to be offensive, it has to hit home, so for white people i guess this doesnt happen when people say bad thigns about our race. I think that although the history thing is getting old, it is going to stay this way, that blacks feel much more offended by white negative words because it is so deeply rooted in our society. Unfortunately it is this way, i wish it weren't, but it is. As far as penn state though, i see much less prejudice and discrimination than i have ever seen at home . Here i rarely ever even see a white person kidding around with a black person about race here because i believe that as one becomes more educated they become less offensive and immature. Sometimes, that text board does not exemplify this, but it is a good tool for noticing the small things like this. Fri, 19 Mar 2010 23:27:25 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/does-this-rudeness-thing-cut-both-ways__trashed/#IDComment63068045 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/native-americans-question-one__trashed/#IDComment59617892 I think that is very important to teach Americas youth about the TRUTH of our past. I cant remember learning about the Native American genocide till about 7th grade, and i remember it being touched upon very lightly. I can remember though, learning about all 50 states, how we acquired them, lewis and clark and the age of independence very well. i remember holiday parties like thanksgiving where some kids dressed as pilgrims and some as native Americans, and i don’t remember being taught about the truth of that holiday. About the genocide, or the blankets of small pox given to rid the country of their native peoples. I don’t think it is necessary to go and teach 3 years olds about genocide and gruesome things because they are so young and that is not a happy topic, but once they are old enough to learn about races and history the truth should be told. Once the elementary schools begin to teach American history, the real history should be taught without being iced over. I think that throught schooling the American history books should tell all sides of the story, not just the side where white people are amazing and industrious etc. I think that it is important to teach our history, but on the flip side, there is not much we can do about it now, so continuing to talk it to DEATH after we teach it would be of no use, instead we should discuss equality, and ways to improve the culture barriers that exist now. While being educated is important, focusing on the past and not discussing ways to better the future are pointless. there should be education on race relations and ways to make all people think with a positive attitude and possibly think of ways to fix this current situation. NA shouldn’t live in poverty now and always because they were once persecuted. we should enforce new rules and help out the reservations to get back on their feet, so they can flourish and grow and not succumb to poverty and alcoholism and the other things that are going on in the reservations. We should even try to find a better way to deal with the issue, putting NA on plots of land and calling them reservations is horrible, they should speak out and meet with governmental figures to find a way to make it a more equal lifestyle. it would be unrealistic to say we should give their land back because as great as that would be , its clearly not possible and i am not being pessimistic or racist. its obviously not possible to go back in time and give their land back, so we need to find a way to make their lives easier better and more equal. This is what should be focused on as well as the educational aspect. It is embarrassing to say the least that our peoples are not educated, that kids think of Indians as holding a bow and arrow and nothing else. NA are a great people with so much wisdom , kindness, history, knowledge etc and this should be taught. It would be good for children to know just as much about their race as any of the other races or history. We are all taught about the holocaust, slavery, the crusades etc, other HUGE genocides, and racial experiences through out time so there is no need for this specific incident to go under the radar because Americans are ashamed of the actions of their fore fathers. Wed, 3 Mar 2010 20:08:12 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/native-americans-question-one__trashed/#IDComment59617892 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/inequality-class-question-two__trashed/#IDComment58685380 Personally i think this is a great question ! HEY EMILY!! i strongly believe that the money you have can get you out of trouble in the judicial system. I know dozens of kids from my high school that all used the same really expensive well known lawyer to get them out of DUI charges and other really offensive crimes just because they had the funds to buy that lawyer. I think that many people like blacks in inner cities that commit the same crimes as my rich white friends dont have the money to buy these lawyers that win their cases based upon who they are and their high standings with in the system. I think that although lawyers are great and necessary in some situations, the name of the lawyer or the price shouldnt allow the judge to make their final verdict. When these types of situations arise i think that the system should know better and be moral enough on their own to not take the blame off people that deserve to be sentenced for their crime. I have always thought that. Even when friends of mind had been let off for charges since they hired this particular lawyer i have always been happy for them that their record isnt tained, but thought it was so wrong of the courts to let someone who clearly broke the law get away with it. Black people may not have this opportunity to hire an expensive lawyer, so their statistics might be much higher as emily said. But besides that fact, i do think that the black community could do a better job of presenting themselves in a better manner. While many black people are highly educated, wealthy and from good homes, the public gets their bad images from the tv radio and news. Rappers only project the idea of the :" thug' into the eyes of the population because they speak about women so horribly, show their guns, tatoo's and talk about violent acts of crime. This should stop if black people dont want to be seen as the bad acting aggressive thug. Of course the public shouldnt generalize based on these images, but its hard not too. Just like other groups look at our white figures like actors and singers and judge us as snotty white people, white people see these rappers and figures and judge them as aggressive. If we could take these images out of the public, maybe the general public including the courts would see black people as less of a threat and finally put them on an even playing field. I do believe that there is some racism in courts which should come to an end. It is not fair to people of color that they are looked at differently in the courts if they are just as at fault as white people. The only t hing i can say in their defense is that there is still racism which needs to be ended, but in the defense of whites,that their public image has to be changed, and that would happen by taking the figures that get so much attention from the media, and change their image Thu, 25 Feb 2010 19:08:56 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/inequality-class-question-two__trashed/#IDComment58685380 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/men-and-women-were-really-this-different__trashed/#IDComment57166716 I think im going to take 2 stances on this one. 1) Having this outlet for a man might be a great thing, leading to less womanizing and using. Even though technically, he would be womanizing poor sally or beth or what ever they name her probably every night, it is less harmful to a human spirit. It might help men who have issues with intimacy to get out their sexual frustration and satisfy that carnal desire without having to hurt innocent women along the way. For all of those college guys out there ( who probably couldn't afford this in the first place) It might allow them to fulfill their needs without having to go to a party, meet a girl, pretend he likes her, whisper sweet nothings in here ear and proceed to have sex with her and kick her out. This is just another sex toy , which i think are acceptable in society so it might be a positive for some men. Consider those men who have trouble opening up to a women but still want to have sex, or men who may not look like what society wants and cant get a girl for a long period of time. It is just giving them an outlet to express themselves sexually. Like mentioned in the article, and after seeing sex rehab with dr. drew , this almost seems like it could be a helpful tactic for those men with sexual issues. Those sex addicts constantly use women and drop them, and cant connect on a deeper level with the women they have sex with, and just hurt people along the way. Maybe a doll for those that have problems with sexuality and forming strong human connections can use this without harming anybody. 2) this is sort of gross? It says that it is an ideal woman but she is 5'7 and 120 pounds, that is on the very skinny side. This already presents an issue. If men are going to use this, they are going to expect an extremely thin, lifeless doll out of a woman when they have a real relationship. They might expect their girlfriend to just be a sex toy that they can stick wherever and whenever they want while expect their skin to be flawless, makeup perfect and body exquisite. It is sort of similar to the barbie doll issue that arose 20 so years ago. Women are being compared to plastic and it is only harming their self esteem. This doll seems to be directly implanting these same thoughts into men, giving them something to compare a women to. I also feel that this would probably make having relationships hard. Men would stop linking sex to romance and love and intimacy and just start linking it to a quick orgasm and pleasure. If the love is taken out of the sex, then the idea of men being sex driven pigs will only worsen. Men that are already unlikely to settle down and treat women as a prize would probably only become worse after seeing that some " women or pseudo women" can give out sex hundreds of times a day ! I believe that this doll will be taking the romance out of a relationship by giving men an alternative, someone who doesn't talk back to them, listens to them and offers infinite sex. What else could a man want? Well hopefully they want intimacy and love and conversation and understanding, but this lifelike doll is actually a far cry from a real women and could potentially be a detriment to relationships everywhere Wed, 17 Feb 2010 02:58:40 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/men-and-women-were-really-this-different__trashed/#IDComment57166716 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/animals-vs-humans-vs-welfare-cheats__trashed/#IDComment56412736 This is the perfect blog after todays discussion on the history of African Americans. The lecture today really hit me and made me think about all the racial slurs I have ever made about black people being lazy or just taking the money off of welfare. I realize now that those comments were so ignorant considering the path these people have taken to get here in 2010. If it wasn't even until the 60's that they got their "rights" i don’t see how it would be possible to quickly work up the ladder of income and be able to be on the same playing field of rich people like Bauer. If he would like to consider all of the people on welfare animals then he should categorize all of the rich people as cruel nazis. Because that is how drastic and idiotic that statement sounds. It is completely necessary to consider all of the circumstances of those " animals". Maybe one of these animalistic families was middle class until their child got cancer, and now their medical bills are through to roof. Maybe without health care they couldn't afford the treatments so they used all of their life savings, and now they are jobless due to long nights in the hospital and on welfare. What about the black family, who has never had the opportunity to make a higher wage because they grew up in a bad neighborhood. Their parents were alcoholics, so now they have no money, no transportation to a better school, no clothing to look presentable for an interview... so they don't have a job. Well this vicious cycle of poverty continues. What does Bauer have to say about that? What good explanation is there for calling these people animals when you truly look at it on the microscopic spectrum? How are the people on welfare supposed to get out of welfare if the opportunities given to rich white people are not offered to them. Similarly to the video about the run down school vs. the rich school shown in class Tuesday. How are the welfare kids going to go to a good school , then go to a good college and get a good job... if their school classes are taught by uneducated teachers and their facilities are not up to date. Welfare might be thought of by some to be a waste of the rich peoples tax money, but when people truly realize how selfish it is to hoard your own money, they would see that welfare is not giving their hard earned money to lazy drug addicts. These people these, ANIMALS work just as hard as the average comfortable american, probably harder. They probably work 4 jobs to keep their electric on and their water running and their kids clothed for school , while the comfortable american works 7 hour days comes home, and watches a football game with a can of beer. How about we take all the resources and money away from Bauer and see how well he does for himself. Try telling him to get up and get out of his house, go live in an impoverished town . Lets see him try to make his way to the top, the way he did when he had all of those resources from mommy and daddy. I doubt he would end up in politics. He would probably end up trying to make ends meet in any way he can. Consider that Mr. Bauer. Thu, 11 Feb 2010 23:24:56 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/animals-vs-humans-vs-welfare-cheats__trashed/#IDComment56412736 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/the-enlightened-west-knows-best__trashed/#IDComment54910114 I find this piece to be quite disheartening. It seems crazy, illogical, and unfair for a government to try to tell its people that they can not dress or act the way they want to. First off, enforcing this would be quite difficult. If a woman were to wear it in her own home or around her neighborhood i'm sure they would not be stopped by the police. In Public this would be not only uncomfortable for police but hard to pin point women in a large crowd, pull them off to the side, and scold them. What would they do, send them to the principles office and force them to change? They are not children, they can choose to wear what they want , when they want and how they want. If a cop has better things to do, I dont see why stopping a women from wearing the attire she likes and feels religiously obligated to wear would be at the top of a list in a large city with much more large scale crime. If a women wants to wear this attire because it is her religion, I feel that the government has no say in that. There has been and always should be a separation between church and state. No ruler would ever come out and say that people should not be able to walk around wearing crosses around their necks would they? Islam has been getting slammed in the news lately and I think this is prejudice at its best.I feel that is a person is doing no harm they should not be punished. That is a basic fact that you learn in kindergarten, if its not broken, dont fix it ! If the government is coming at it from a standpoint of protection, I can SORT OF understand that. It may be hard to recognize a person in that attire, or be sure that a woman picking up her child from school isn't really somebody else hiding under that large outfit. If that is the case, they should ask those people to show a form of identification or show their face. I didn’t feel that the majority of the video even tapped into the idea of protection, I didnt really see what their point was at all for that matter. Their reasoning didn't come through with any great force, they did a horrible job of showing the use of this law and how it would help the French society for the better. Im sure the percentage of people who even dress like this is so small that after the law was passed it wouldnt be spoken of... so why pass it ????? Who is this helping , nobody. Who is this hurting…The integrity and self worth of those who believe that this tradition is long lasting and meaningful. How does the French government who has no knowledge about the Islamic religion going to make such a bold statement and offend so many people. They should look into it first ,and realize that women don’t feel this is gender persecution, and arent unhappy in this attire. If they took the time to poll or interview women they would see that they actually enjoy wearing it, feel confident in them and would not choose any other way of dress, so they cant come at it from the perspective that they are helping these women be “freed”. All of this points blatantly with a big huge black arrow to the fact that this law is ridiculous and quite unnecessary. Mon, 1 Feb 2010 22:40:30 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/the-enlightened-west-knows-best__trashed/#IDComment54910114 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/i-guess-it-pays-to-learn-a-bit-about-other-people__trashed/#IDComment54015575 Personally, I think this story says a lot about our countries closed mindset and unwillingness to learn. Being a jewish person I personally understood right away what they were describing when they began talking about the leather laces going up his arms and hands. I may even at first have been a little unnerved if I was on that plane when I saw that happening, maybe at first glance I would not know what he was doing, but after reaching back to my jewish teachings I would quickly remind myself of the practice of tefillin. I would like to start off by saying that I am very surprised by the way the boy and girl reacted to the incident. They stayed cool calm and collected which many might not have done in that situation. They could have gotten extremely emotional about it, complained, felt embarrassed or angry but they chose to take a path of understanding. That is a very brave and courageous path I may add, when considering the situation from an outsiders perspective. I know that if a plane had to be landed because of me I would have been mortified and upset that the people around me weren't informed enough to understand that what I was doing was a thing of peace, not hatred. I would have been upset that people around me were scared of me, and accusing me of being a terrorist, I would be upset that all of these people had to suffer a longer travel time and aggravation because of me. With that said I do really have alot of respect for these children who acted bravely, intelligently and were open minded enough to realize that others around them were not as informed as they were about the religion, and to take a stance of understanding. I cant say the same for many other people had they been in the same situation. If I had been handcuffed for praying to my god I would have been appalled, rather they took the time out to make a kind statement .They were understanding of the positions of the other people on the plane, and were able to step outside of themselves to have empathy for the pasengerss sitting near them who may have been quite frightened by the novel situation. He had the maturity to understood that these people simply were not informed when many may have taken this to a court as a law suit or make some outlandish statements to the news to get attention or their 60 seconds of fame. If I were him I would use this opportunity to educate those around me on my culture. I think this shows a lot about or society that we are all very closed off to understanding the traditions of others, and that many people aren't given the opportunity while growing up to experience other cultures. If the majority of the people in this country put some effort into understanding each other, we would not have instances like this one. There would be much less racism and much shorter lines in airports! This may be the first time a jew was stopped in an airport/airplane but just imagine the amount of negative looks or double security checks people of tanner skin or muslim faith get when they walk through an airport. It must be heart-wrenching to feel that you are being socially outcasted in a situation simply because of your religion. My roommate was raised Unitarian, and i think that is a great path for people to take. I dont believe that people should not have a religion and turn unitarian by any means, thats not what I am trying to say. What I am trying to say is that the Unitarian faith encourages their young to be taken to various temples, churches, mosques etc, to learn about other religions and cultures. If all of our religious practices encouraged us to learn about others I believe there would be much less animosity in the world. Wed, 27 Jan 2010 01:38:46 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/i-guess-it-pays-to-learn-a-bit-about-other-people__trashed/#IDComment54015575 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/last-name-begins-with-l__trashed/#IDComment53866734 Rebecca Levin is here !! woooh follow me :) Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:34:34 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/last-name-begins-with-l__trashed/#IDComment53866734 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/clubbing-the-bejesus-out-of-rationality__trashed/#IDComment52859447 I find it hard to believe that Pat Robertson truly make these statements on live television. I can understand though, why people like him say the things they do and act the way they do. He clearly has no idea of the world outside his own bubble and it probably makes him feel self important to make such bold statements. He has created his own earthquake in response to his statement, which probably is exactly what he wants. He says things that are unique to him, because no other jackass would dare speak them, and he is for a moment god-like and a great leader in his little ignorant world. It seems to me that this type of self-elected leadership is very Hitler-esque, not a great place to be. He speaks his mind, although his points are so off center and cruel in attempts to get attention and fame. I feel that with these statements he is attempting to make a connection with other ignorant people who are in need of a belief system. To a person who is lost and vulnerable, a person with such strong convictions as Pat might easily be a person to follow. It requires no personal intelligence or beliefs just to blindly follow a person like him. He thinks for his followers and they willingly follow. It is a shame that some human beings out there might have believed his statements to be historically true and an actual cause to a disaster that is unimaginable to us. Not only does he look weak by targeting the unintelligent god fearing population in this country with his beliefs, but he sounds himself like the devil! I have never heard such an uncompassionate statement in my life! Whether his religion taught him that “fact” or not, it is a time for people to come together and help, not try to find a statement that explains how they deserved this tragedy. No one deserves suffering, and for a man of the bible and the church, I thought that his life goal was to help others find a positive way out of hardship. Helping people through times of hardship and struggle is what makes a man worthy man in gods eyes according to his very own bible. I don’t know the source of that story, but it seems that he searched Haitian history to find a story that he could use to explain how they are deserving of this torture. That is just not human. Maybe he is a racist, or maybe he is searching for a source of fame, infamy or maybe he is just a true asshole. No matter what the reason or the religious background you are from , it is inhumane to take the standpoint that he did. There is no way that he can truly look at the pictures and videos from Haiti and say to himself, in that horrible accent “ well, they deserve it”. After watching that video, the only thing I can think of is that this man has been raised and surrounded by people just like himself, which is a recipe for failure. Living in a world closed off to others opinions only lead to a cult like society filled with negative thoughts and hatred. When a person is not exposed to the way others think, live, or believe they are destined to a life of ignorance. I think Pat Robertson has had this type of life. After hearing his statements I hope that if there is any good in this world his own creator, this god he tries to stay so true to ,will see his inhumanity and cruelty and he will be damned to hell. ☺ Wed, 20 Jan 2010 01:02:23 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/clubbing-the-bejesus-out-of-rationality__trashed/#IDComment52859447