If I could ask Basum one question that wasn't asked, it would be what was is like under Saddam Hussein? There is no doubt that Hussein was a horrible man who did atrocious things to both his own people and people from other nations; however, I'd like to hear it from an actual Iraqi. How did it affect Basum's day to day life? What was the worst thing he actually witnessed while Hussein was in power?

I remember Basum being very thankful for the United States eliminating Saddam's reign. He said that if it were not for us Saddam and his family would have reigned for another hundred plus years doing the same awful things. This brings some sense of justice to me. While I had, and still have, many many doubt about what the United State's intentions for going into Iraq. I believe most of the reason for going in was for the natural resource of oil. Perhaps the U.S. was waiting for a suitable cause to go in. In any manner, hearing from the mouth of an Iraqi that they're life is better with Saddam Hussein out of it makes me have a little more faith in our government. At the same time the way we are taking over their natural resource of oil is not right. Basum brought it up that Sam's lectures were very accurate and that they want us to leave the oil to Iraq.

I thought the information on both genders put together is what made the most influential argument. The fact that so often we overlook the woman's perspective on sex. That a man's almost constant desire for sex and immediate ability to be ready to do it have become the norm. And even though a woman's sex drive and hormonal system are different and have different needs sometimes to be psyched up to get into it in bed, we assume they should be the same as men. When they're not, we label them as cold, prudes, or not into it.
Another interesting point i thought sam and lori brought up was how when you do bring up the fact that the penis is "needy" that most men, myself included, took it as a compliment. A macho boost, a sexual "hell yeah". When in all other circumstances being "needy" is a bad thing. Women are wired differently, and the fact is they you gotta put in some work to get them going.
A final interesting thing is that most of us learn about sex from porn. This is dead true. In a sexual culture that we live and grow up in, NO ONE talks about what you have to do to be good at sex besides friend to friend after failing countless time, so we all watch porn. Not only does this make us feel inferior about our dick size, but it also gives us visions of grandiose that we cant really live up to. It also teaches us that the only way to do it is to give your best jackhammer impression when doing it and just rail into the girl for as long as stamina will take you.
From the lecture i felt like men had more to learn about the opposite sex, but women had more to learn about themselves. That they have been programmed a certain way, a way that makes them doll theirselves up, brave sub-zero temperatures in mini skirts, and just make themselves look like those pornstars we've grown up looking at. That's not to say that guys don't do the same things in certain aspects. Overall, everyone needs a crash course in how women are wired. This will hopefully allow for an appreciation of their tendencies and also help to ensure a better time in the bedroom for everyone!

Now that we know about these disparities we have a responsibility to acknowledge them and do our best to at the very least appreciate the disparities that we were luck enough to dodge. I'm a white suburban kid, who has had a very easy lifestyle. Don't get me wrong, I've worked hard for everything I've achieved, but I always had a safety net behind me in the form of my parents. They were always there to support me, emotionally and financially. They pushed me to do my best and because of this I've been able to get where I am now. All that said, I took for granted many of the things they do for me. Coming up here, some people work 3 jobs to help pay off loans, some people got here despite not having the best home environment, and I take my hat off to those people. But now back to the question at hand, I don't view it as my personal responsibility to fix the overbearing problem of inequality. I'm not a racist, never have been despite coming from a fairly racist town. I'm a decent person with strong morals and i do my best to not add to inequality. If everyone could chip in and have that same mindset we would see a decline of inequality. However that isn't the case. Inequality isn't something that can be fixed by legislature or the government, it's something that everyone needs to take on as a personal matter to resolve. Quite honestly, racism is bullshit. Plain and simple. The only reason it and inequality exists is because of mankind's inherent need to look better than the next person. But it is inherent, so does that make racism inherent? It's hard to say but there will always be bullies in grade school, there will always be people who will need to feel superior so for that reason, sad as it may be, I don't think inequality will ever be fully resolved. However, we can take baby steps in the right direction. I feel like this class is a baby step in the right direction. It raises awareness of racial disparity, and when people become more educated on a subject, they notice it more in their lives. Hopefully people will notice the disparities they create between themselves and other racial groups and do their best to eliminate them. Every individual helps, and this could be an effective long term solution.

I'll respond to your last question first. I believe that it isn't just society, or just us that classify ourselves. I think that both are able to classify you. That said, those classifications don't have to be the same. Often times society stereotypes individuals and classifies them accordingly. I can't tell you how many times I've heard a girl say "people think i'm a bitch before they meet me." And most times they're right, the girl is a really sweet, caring, and fun person. But for whatever reason people think they look mean or standoffish. This would be an example of when society's and personal classifications can clash. That said, societies classification of us can also influence us to conform to or reject that classification. If I'm labeled a "jock" I'm gonna want to keep going to the gym to maintain that positive stereotype. However, if I'm labeled something undesirable I would personally try to change something to refute that. This brings up its own interesting idea... who decides what's favorable and unfavorable? Where do we get the idea that skinny and toned is better than chubby? That nobody likes gingers? That one article of clothing is fashionable and another isn't? It's all social influence, something that's so big it's nearly impossible to escape. I doubt I ever will, whether that's a good or bad thing is yet to be determined, but i'm content with myself and my life to this point. If I had to classify myself, I would say I'm athletic, social, middle class, white, tall, friendly, and after that I struggle to think of anymore. I think it's hard to classify yourself. It's only when someone classifies me wrong is when I notice.

I thought the exercise Sam did today was pretty clever. Taking the 4.0 students and asking them to sort a group of people based on ethnicity and race. Honestly, it's something that not many of us have any experience with and we tend to just group a ton of nations as one "group". An example that really stands out for me is the Asian race. I was of the opinion that they all look the same, until we watched that video comparing all the Asian countries faces to one another. There were remarkable differences in the eyes and shapes of there faces that i never saw because I could never compare them all at once. Another thing I found really interesting is the number of people who are mixed. Often with 3 or more nations or backgrounds. It really made me wonder what kind of blood I have in me. If my parents really know our lineage or not and just what kind of crazy mix I am. Its interesting to think if this same exercise was done in Asia with different type of caucasians would they be able to guess our nationalities and would we be offended if they got it wrong? Just some food for thought.

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