I agree with Chomsky in this video and I can understand the point of view he is coming from. I have heard the same points made before from a variety of other people.
I have never been a fan of school myself and got into trouble very often as a young kid, but I never saw myself as doing anything wrong. I was dealing with individuals who wanted to control me for no reason that I could understand at the time. My friends and I would often get in trouble for not conforming to recess standards as crazy as that sounds. In one instance we were sent to the assistant principal’s office because we weren’t participating in an activity during recess. Instead of playing soccer like most of the other kids, we would walk around and laugh and talk. The assistant principal desperately wanted us to play either soccer or cards and even provided us with a deck of playing cards we could use. This kind of behavior from the assistant principle makes me angry just thinking about it.

I have heard people describe the education system as if there is an intentional kind of conspiracy to raise children to be obedient and passive, like it’s been decided by our leaders, which makes sense. I think the education system is based on fear. As far as the origins of education go, anyone running a country must see children and its inhabitants as a threat if they are not obedient. You can’t just let kids or people run wild in your system doing whatever they wish because they may start trying to change things, and they may start questioning the system or your authority. So what you do is you put them into kindergarten and take their attention and show them things and give them names to remember and give them rules to obey. The people who run these school systems are concerned with keeping kids in order the best they can. They could care less what is being taught. What is being taught is irrelevant they’re just concerned with numbers and keeping students under control just like any government is. It’s not about growth, enlightenment, or knowledge because the people make all the rules and decisions are only concerned with control and management and are just as clueless as anybody else is on the planet.

We all know that there are certain things and ideas that are considered taboo because they question an authority or a status quo and Sam’s class has been good at opening people’s eyes to some of these things. If you really want to learn I think you have to go outside of school which is where most things are learned anyway. The things that were taught to me in school I often found uninteresting or boring or irrelevant things like math and science didn’t do anything for me, but they were mandatory for me to sit through if I wanted to pass which made me kind of passive and apathetic towards the whole system. And if I am not interested then there is nothing you can do to make me interested either. I maintained a solid B average doing what I was told to do and it didn’t make me feel better or smarter than I was before. It seems to me like students exist for the system and not the other way around. The system needs us, but we don’t need the system, which is why I think there is a desperate attempt to keep us in it. I don’t think school is necessarily needed at all for human beings to develop and I think education inhibits growth. I think one learns more significant things from life experience than from school. Yet, I can’t see any alternatives to the education system at this point in time because society depends on it to run in the way it has been. The system is so firmly established and so many people are attached to it and depend on it.

I think the internet has taken a lot of power out of the school systems hands because all of the information and knowledge that was never available to kids or that hasn’t been taught in school has now popped up through the internet and now we can watch Noam Chomsky talk about education in a way we may have never thought of before, which would be harder to access without the internet.

This video game doesn’t surprise me. I honestly thought rape video games already existed somewhere out there. If there are people out there who can make a rape video game a rape video game will be made. People will fulfill their sick fantasies no matter how offensive or anti-social they may be. There are plenty of people out there who get off on this type of stuff and I’m surprised that some people “can’t believe that this game exists”. One person said “I can’t believe the world is coming to this”. Really? This is what the world is coming to? It’s really just a video game. There much worse going on out there in the world that’s real. Stuff that’s been going on for a while too. This video game is just the manifestation of a pervert’s desires. That’s really all it is, and overall I think it’s pretty harmless.
I think it’s good that stuff like this is being brought to light and exposed to the world. The fact that this game has been thought up, made, and has been bought by some people, shows that people really do desire things like this, and there are people out there who enjoy these games. The people who enjoy playing games like these most likely live very secluded lives and don’t interact with females very much, otherwise they wouldn’t find a game like this appealing. The game just represents the anti-social behavior that exists in our species and has existed for a long time. So now that we have this game brought to the worlds attention people can openly discuss it and decide how to deal with it. The game is definitely not a good idea by any means but unfortunately it’s been created and it’s out there. This game would be banned for sure if it was released in US stores. But I think the real problem lies in the source of the game and not the game itself. I think the source of a game like this is anti-social living and a lack of human connection which is common in today’s society.

I have enjoyed this class immensely and it has definitely had me thinking about new things. The class has enlightened me on subjects that I have not thought about before. I think within the class, there is a lot of insight and knowledge that can be either used or ignored and it’s really up to the individual. Some stuff I’m sure goes over people’s heads or does not connect with them. The class is definitely one of, if not the best, class I’ve taken at Penn State and I think integrating a race relation group discussion into the class is a great idea and a rare opportunity.

People don’t always do, what seems to us, to be in their best self-interest. It’s hard to truly understand where other people are coming from. So for some people getting rid of welfare may motivate them to work harder or be creative in order to make money. While, for others, it would just leave them screwed and they would have to beg or resort to crime. Some people who are disabled or old are desperate for welfare because it is what is keeping them alive and fed. To cut those people off from the benefits of welfare would seem pretty harsh and unnecessary considering how long the business of government welfare has gone on without problem. Keeping welfare would be a good idea and, I agree, that cutting it off would only lead to more problems in the future.

When I think of nepotism I think of the royal families and elites. Which could be why some our leaders seem to be incompetent. I would consider George w., an incompetent leader. He got to be in the position he was in because of his father even though he doesn’t seem to be the most intelligent of people, or the type of person fit for running a country. It is true that incompetent people can enter important positions because of nepotism, but I don’t know if becoming a doctor is as easy as that. Becoming a doctor, I hope, would require hard work and intelligence. I don’t know what it takes to be a doctor, but I assume that you still have to pass the exams and go to medical school which is important. Standards should be strict for positions of importance and social responsibility such as a doctor. If my doctor was an incompetent one I think I would notice, and I would be the first one to say something about it or switch doctors.
There are a lot of doctors out there who love what they do and who are very good at what they do, and I am sure that there are plenty of upcoming doctors who will love what they do and who would be very good at it as well because they have a passion for helping people get well. It would be hard to put an incompetent person in the position of a doctor. Eventually people would notice or you would be put in a position where competency is needed and you won’t be able to perform. Anybody who ends up being a doctor, just because a family member got them in, should reevaluate what they are doing, because being an incompetent doctor is just silly and a bad idea which will eventually lead to trouble in the long run.

I may have been taught menstruation a couple times in school. Otherwise the topic of menstruating isn’t talked about openly and remains somewhat of a mystery for most guys growing up. My mom and sister wouldn’t bring it up either unless I was to inquire about it. The only source for this information seems to be sex Ed. and the internet.
I guess dealing with blood makes people uncomfortable in general, maybe because it’s on the inside of our bodies and it’s something that is not out in the open often. The same goes for feces and urine. The expelling of bodily fluids has been kept private in our society, I guess ever since the invention of outhouses. Ever since we built outhouses and bathrooms with locks on them that business has been kept really private and discussing those matters, especially at a dinner table or in formal settings, offends people for whatever reason. The same goes for farts. What’s the deal with farts and why are they so funny and why do we desperately try to hold them in when we are around people we don’t know? If farts were expelled openly would they still be funny? Maybe only at first…but thinking about a society that openly farts is funny to me for some reason. It seems that since things like burps and farts happen only rarely and unexpectedly, formal society has formed an odd and awkward relationship with them and burps and farts have become what we call “impolite” whatever that means. There’s really no place for poop and farts in a civilized and orderly environment. I think this is because A) they smell bad B) people in polite or formal settings don’t know how to react to them when they occur, and C) it’s hard to incorporate them into a conversation.
To answer your last question about if men menstruated… Men and women both poop and sweat and yet toilet paper and deodorant isn’t free. So, no, I don’t think tampons would be free. If men menstruated it would be no different than our bowel movements. I still think it would be considered an impolite thing to discuss and would be considered inappropriate talk in formal settings, but amongst friends it would be talked about openly. I don’t know how much girls talk about menstruating amongst themselves but guys would probably get a kick out of it if we could menstruate, like Sam said, in the same way we can get a kick out of our bowel movements burps and farts. It’s just that the whole menstruation thing has been like a secret for a lot of men which makes the discussion of it uncomfortable for some. Now with the internet the younger generations have access to so much information that this kind of topic is readily available without the need of sex Ed. or awkward encounters.

The story didn’t really specify whether the team she was coaching was an all women’s team or an all male team. I’m not even sure is women football teams exist in schools but if it was an all woman’s football team a woman coach would seem necessary for that position and not surprising either. Coaching an all boys team is more of a breakthrough and would most likely come with a little more hesitation or resistance from the players or fathers of players. I assume that she is coaching a boy’s team.
I didn’t know that there have been no female football coaches ever. I thought female coaches were present in all sports so it surprised me to read that the first female coach is coaching a high school football team. You would think that in 2010 women coaches would be commonplace by now, for every sport. I wonder how much resistance she will face or if she has faced any yet. There no reason to discriminate against a woman who’s coaching a male dominated sport just because she’s a woman. She can probably do the job just as well as a man or better since she has such a passion for the sport. It’s clear that she has experience with the sport as well. The players seem to respect her, I imagine she is a good coach being that it’s something that she enjoys doing and she is a true athlete herself. There are probably many other females who have a passion for football and would make good coaches too. This breakthrough may inspire other women to step up to the position of coaching a male dominated sport like football, the kind of position that would have been intimidating for women otherwise.
I understand why the story is newsworthy but it really doesn’t seem that big of an issue at this point in time. It seems like it was an inevitable thing that just took some time to happen. I don’t see how woman coach would be much different than a male coach. I wonder how her team will do and I wonder how much pressure she feels to do well. She probably feels like she has a lot to prove since she has so many eyes on her waiting to see how she does as the first woman coach. But whether she does well as a couch or poor as a coach it doesn’t really prove anything about women coaching in general. Some could point to gender as the reason for a loss or whatnot but it really isn’t the issue, and some coaches, regardless of gender, are better or more experienced or have a more successful football team than others. But gender in sports doesn’t really matter and any kind of female coach discrimination at this point is silly.

Moose seems like he’s being honest and believes what he is saying. If there was a bald headed angry looking guy promoting an all white league then his intentions would be a little more obvious. But moose on the other hand is an funny and interesting individual. My guess is there is some unconscious racism in moose. Creating an all white league seems pretty racist to begin with. His explanations for the league didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me either; I really don’t get the points he was trying to make.

Here’s something that I was pondering after watching the video. Lets say that moose is really being completely honest and doesn’t have a racist bone in him. If the whole world believes that moose is a racist because he is doing a somewhat a racist thing and the whole world treats moose like a racist then is moose a racist? Because he has all the characteristics of a racist. Another thing to consider is if you think that moose is a racist, you may hold some assumptions about moose that may not be true. You may even discriminate against or talk down to him if you saw him in real life. Now is your discrimination any different than any other form of racist discrimination? Are you just as much a part of the racism problem as racist people are? Even non-racist people can be as much a part of the problem as racist people I think. We are all somewhat responsible based on our assumptions about other people and how we choose to interact with others. Hanging back and pointing fingers, or getting angry and hateful at other racist people only adds more hate and moves us further from solutions. Discrimination comes in a lot of different forms and I think we all carry it around to some degree.

So what is the solution to racism, and can it be solved? If we see other people being racist, what can we do exactly? You can’t really force anything on them that would only create resistance and more conflict. It’s hard to change other people’s beliefs. I think the only thing we can really do is work to resolve the hatred and discrimination in ourselves only.
Race relations works best when you can learn something about yourself because that’s where the real change comes from. When we get closer and open up to one another and experience new things these racist models thoughts, beliefs that we have inside of us start to be revealed and we learn more about ourselves which is real progress. We may even realize that we have more racist thoughts in us than we first thought or didn’t know about. Moose is an example of someone that may be racist at an unconscious level and may not even realize it. Or he may just be lying to the cameras. But, my point is, making judgments about other racist people is just as much a part of the racism problem as racism is.

Laurie brought up some good points in the video. The black white relationship is definitely more significant than other racial relationships in America, and I think the reason lies in the historical significance of slavery and the civil rights movement. The Africans that were brought over against their will to the United States to work as slaves is a significant and undeniable part of American history. There was also a lot of harsh discrimination towards blacks that followed even after slavery was abolished that is considered much worse than the slavery itself.
Its seems as though the capturing of slaves along with the harsh discrimination carried out was a bad blunder, or bad karma on the part of our ancestors that is still being worked on in this country to this very day. It is as if the people who brought these large amounts of slaves over didn’t realize that they have to live with these people, and that these slaves are not going to be happy with you, especially if you are going around claiming that this country is the land of the free and equal. The founders of America took them from their homes banking on the idea that slavery in America was going to work, but it didn’t, which is why, I think, discrimination got worse. It seemed to be an attempt at suppressing blacks after realizing they have a voice and they were upset, and they could be a threat to the old ways of business. The Americans were the ones who brought them over here against their choosing and now they would have to deal with them themselves.
The blacks had a lot of power in this country during those times mainly because they had been screwed over so badly, they wanted their rights, and because blacks gained more and more attention as discrimination got worse. The discrimination got so bad in this country that the only option at that point seemed to be a revolution or civil war. The media played a role by capturing some of the horrific scenes that took place during the fifties. These powerful images show real human suffering and struggle, the result of one race trying to be above another.
The civil rights movement was one of, if not the most important historical event in American history. The figures that characterized the movement spoke of universal freedom and basic human rights and it was truthful, powerful, and undeniable. Regardless of what race you are or what country you are from the words and the message spoken by some of the leaders of the civil rights movement held a significant truth and timelessness. Black History Month and Martin Luther King Day are now celebrated and remembered in this country for that reason alone.

I don’t think Cameron’s intention was to make a movie about race and I don’t think race was really on the minds of most of the people who went to see Avatar. Brook’s does bring up an interesting point though. A lot of people will dismiss these kinds of articles about race and say that the movie is solely for entertainment purposes and shouldn't be analyzed, and I agree for the most part. But it is a thought provoking article mainly because there are other films that contain the same themes.
I do think that there is an underlying white messianic theme in the films but I think they are a product of the cultural mind or the collective unconscious and not intentional. Whites conquering other civilizations, or greedy governments stealing land are a real and classic part of history, so I don’t see the plots of these stories being conjured up by the filmmakers but instead already existing and just being used by the filmmakers.
In terms of the white messiah figure portrayed in these movies, old Hollywood movies used to glamorize white man conquering brown cultures especially in old western movies. Also, the Hollywood industry was predominantly white during the Golden age of cinema and the films that came out during that time often targeted a white audience and had white heroes and protagonists. So I think that movies like Avatar demonstrate the classic Hollywood portrayal of white American heroes that began during the early years of cinema.
I’m sure James Cameron imagined Avatar with a predominantly white cast before even beginning the film not intentionally but because, most likely, that’s what he grew up seeing and hearing from movies and history. The story of a white figure becoming immersed in another culture, falling in love etc. has been portrayed before in Pocahontas and Dances with Wolves. Tales like these are based on historical events and they also make good stories. The classic story already existed, Cameron just played around with it and put a sci-fi spin on it. The formula and plot of these stories makes for a good vehicle to create the over the top, big-budgeted entertaining Hollywood popcorn flick that Cameron wanted.
I also think any country, when being shown against another culture or civilization on screen, is going to want to come off as right or noble compared to that other culture. This is what people like to see no matter what country they come from. People usually like to feel proud of themselves and their country even if in reality there is nothing to be proud of. Movies create that kind of escape from reality that people enjoy.