I don’t think I would hire illegal immigrants even if it cost me less for more work because that is cheating the system and taking advantage of them. They may be grateful for the job but eventually they are going want as much money as the next guy for the work he is doing. As I have grown up I have constantly heard “treat others like you want to be treated” and getting ripped off and not fairly paid for my work is not how I want to be treated. Although they are not “legal” in the US, what makes their work of less quality than work of someone who is. Yes, I would be giving them a job but it also goes back to what we talked about with nepotism because if I give an illegal immigrant a job just so I can pay them less, that takes away a job from a legal US citizen who could be more qualified for the job. Some people higher illegal immigrants who are not even qualified at all to do the job instead of a legitimate employee that has potential to do great things for you and your business.
We also have our own unemployment issue with legal US citizens and if we start handing our jobs out to illegal immigrants that is not going to solve our problems, if anything it will make them worse. I am not saying that illegal immigrants deserve jobs any less than US citizens, but we have to take care of ourselves before we can reach out a helping hand. If employment is the only reason they are in the US, they are looking in the wrong place.
We need a better mentality that focuses on quality over quantity and appreciates a worker for what they do and not who will do it for the smallest dollar. Many illegal immigrants take jobs because they are willing to settle for less pay whereas an American can be picky because we are a “rich” country and we all think we deserve better than one another. Illegal immigrants get the jobs because they want the job and are willing to do whatever they have to in order to obtain it.
I would hire legal US citizens to help my country and let my workers take pride in everything they do. They would be able to get the money that they need for their families and maybe be able to help someone less fortunate later in life. I would hire legal US citizens because I would want someone to hire me instead of someone who may be less qualified. I would try not to take an opportunity away from someone if they deserved it more.

I have learned about nepotism before but it was interesting to look at it in relation to affirmative action. I think the statistics on how many people get jobs, promotions, and ahead in life because of nepotism would be mind blowing. Thinking about my own life and the success I have had so far nepotism doesn’t jump out as a huge reason why I am where I am. My father is a self-employed CPA and my mother was a stay at home mom and started working for my father after my brother went to school. My major is Childhood and Early Adolescent Education so my parents jobs and success don’t do much for me and getting ahead in that aspect of my life. The job I have now I got because I started volunteering when I was seventeen and couldn’t be hired until I was eighteen. I knew I wanted to do this job because we went on a fieldtrip with my high school class so that is how the director knew me but it wasn’t a big connection. My parents dont work for Penn State so that is not one of the reason that I got into Penn State but I did go to State College Area School District and 95% of the graduating class goes to Penn State, some want to, some dont.
My father is going to give me a job this summer because it is hard to hold down a job and go to school and do everything else I want to do. I dont really feel like I am taking a job away from someone more qualified than I am because I am replacing my sister who is moving away. I am only going to be processing tax returns so if they think I can do it I assume it is not that hard and you do not have to be that qualified.
Although nepotism doesn’t get me far with my career goals in life, there are other aspects that I have used nepotism in. My father knows a lot of people so there is always someone he can contact to get me something I need. When I need an orthopedic doctor, he calls his friend and I get in the same day.
If everyone gave up their opportunity to be a part of nepotism that world would have potential to be a stronger place but it would be so much more competitive. I honestly dont think I would try not to benefit from nepotism because in this world you have to do whatever you have to in order to get ahead.

I agree that it sucks that we (women) have to dress up and the guys get to wear whatever they want and it has no effect on the women they talk to or the outcome of the night. I do not go out very much but on nights that I do I always say “I want to dress up and look cute.” I “like” wearing heels, not necessarily to walk around campus in a short skirt and no jacket but they are cuter than sneakers and other shoes and I “like” them. We dress up to compete with each other and to compete for attention. We talked about how it could be because women have low self esteem and they think they have to dress up to look good and talk to guys but if guys are only talking to girls because of what they are wearing then they are shallow. Why has it become a man’s world where it is ok to pick a female based on looks? Physical attraction is important but its not the only part of a relationship. I believe that on a daily basis I choose to wear what I want but it is because of what the world has trained me to do. If I were to go out in jeans and a t-shirt and other girls are in dress and heels I am going to get looked over for a girl who is showing more and whose “butt looks better because she is wearing heels.” Because we live in a male centered world we have to go with the flow and do what we think will get us farthest. I wish the tables could be turned for even one day so men could see just how much your toes and feet hurt after a night of walking blocks in heels.
I think every girl realizes that there are more comfortable things to wear. Although this lecture brought light to the situation and maybe made girls think about whether they really do “want” to wear what they say they do, I dont think anything will change in girl world. This lecture and the realization of our wants does not change the fact that we are living in a male driven world and guys are still looking for girls who wear short, skimpy, outfits so they can get what they what.
There are girls that realize that what you wear doesn’t determine who you are and you can still get a guy in jeans and a t-shirt but it is a whole different part of the world. It would be an interesting experiment to have all girls go out in sweats and have the guys dress up and see how it changes the outcome of the night.

The first thing I thought of when I heard this prompt was nail salons. They are run by oriental families and they talk to each other while they do your nails, toes, whatever. They will ask you questions occasionally, but I always feel like they are talking to me no matter what I say, do, or am wearing. I have no reason to feel this way and no reason to think they would be but I do. It makes me uncomfortable in a sense that I keeps trying to feel if I have food in my teeth or think of possible reasons they could be talking about me so it makes me feel uncomfortable about myself. These salons are run by these families so why wouldn’t they talk in their native language. If people have a problem with it then they can go someone else or do their nails themselves.
In certain environments it makes me feel differently. Right now there are two people behind me speaking in a different language. They are Asian and I am typing this so it is hidden and even I cant see the screen and I am uncomfortable because I am essentially writing about them. If I weren’t typing this I wouldn’t think anything of them speaking a different language behind me because it isn’t any of my business. We are a very diverse school and everyone has a right to speak the language they want to speak.
A lot of the time I am intrigued by different languages and I wish I knew what they were saying. My friend was ordering Asian food a few weeks ago and she was worried about calling and it arriving at the right place because usually she cant understand the person who works at the restaurant so she doesn’t know if she is giving the right information. Honestly, we were both quite surprised when the delivery guy showed up and he was white.
There is no reason to feel uncomfortable because people do it so they feel comfortable. If we are allowed to speak English because it is natural and comfortable to us then why shouldn’t others be able to speak their language and feel comfortable as well?
Sometimes I feel uncomfortable when its like me and two others in an elevator or a small area and they are speaking to each other and I don’t know what they are saying or who they are talking about. Is this because of the language they are speaking or because its an elevator and they are awkward in general? For the most part, others speaking in different languages does not make me uncomfortable.

I think it really depends on what race you are and who made the comment. I personally would not feel comfortable standing up to someone who I did not know at all and calling them out on their racial slur. With friends it is a completely different story. I know I have called my friends out on their prejudice comments or their unnecessary racial signifiers. I can remember specific times that my friends or I would use racial signifiers when they were not necessary or didn’t help the story at all and for some reason they were still used. However, even with friends, race is a kind of standoff subject. I wont even tell someone if they have food in their teeth so to call them out on a touchy subject is a difficult thing for me to do.
I think this also goes back to the whole “pass the blame” thing because if you are sitting with other people and you are not the only one to hear the racial slur or prejudice comment then you are going to wait for someone else to say something about it and if no one does then it is usually to late to do it without it being awkward. This is the same thing when you are around strangers and hear something, you are going to assume that if you want to say something then so do other people who heard it and I just hope that someone else will take care of calling them out.
It also depends on what is meant by point out because ill definitely talk to my friend who is standing by me if we both heard someone make an ignorant comment. If point out means recognize then yes, I recognize it all the time and we aren’t oblivious to racial slurs coming from our own people. I think white people get called out for it the most and if I were to call someone out on it then it would be someone of my own race.
There are also different ways to point things out, some are more obvious and some are subtle, or you can just straight up tell them. Making a face can be a way of telling them that what they said what messed up or even a simple “Dude” or “wow” would let them know that what they said was not okay and that would make them think about it for a little, depending on what stage they are in I guess. Talking to them and telling them straight up would be the most beneficial way and most logical, but with people like me that is not always the easiest.

This guy takes himself and this product so seriously. I think his age is one of the reasons that makes him sound so white because he is actually interested in it and it seems like he feels he needs it for some reason. He looks so put together and not like someone who would need to carry a gun down his pants and be able to sit and bend over with it. The clothes he was wearing and his overall appearance just embodies “white guy.” Every time he pulled up his pants he redid his belt and he had to make sure we knew he had shorts on which was humorous because people walk around with their pants by their ankles everyday as it is. When I think about this product by itself without him telling me about it or demonstrating it, I don’t see it on someone who looks like him. I see this product being for someone who has a reason to need concealed weapons on their body. I think one of the most humorous parts of this was that he tucked his shirt in and was actually advising why and HOW to tuck your shirt in. I see the logic in it, but doesn’t a belt cause a problem too?

I think the pause at 1:56 was awkward for many reason. One reason was because it was a rhetorical question, but it made you think about it and many people could actually come up with the last time they stared at someone’s zipper. It was also awkward because it was just a weird thing to say in general especially when he is trying to be so serious, but the video clip was cut there so you have to wonder if he said something more that didn’t make the cut or if he just felt awkward saying it so they had to start and stop again.

Another humorous part of the video is at the very beginning when he doesn’t know what he bought. Just by looking at the product you have to have an idea as to what it was and many things have write ups so you don’t just sporadically buy things, so why did he buy it if he didn’t know what they heck it was?

It is also humorous as to how great he thinks the adjustable straps are. He loves how they fit him and how he found the perfect spot to wear it so it fits comfortably, the lower the better! He finds this thing so enticing that I swear he could go on and on about it. I think he feels special that he could own a gun, wear it, and hide it, but still feel special that he owned a gun. I think youre “whitest” friend wants to be cool like this dude.

I guess it just confuses me how you can put yourself in that position. You have one kid and maybe you’re in good condition then but when you start struggling and can no longer provide for the lives you are bringing into the world, why keep having kids? Yes there are times when pregnancy is an accident but I doubt Tammy’s parents accidentally got pregnancy twenty one times. I think it is selfish and irresponsible to have kids that you cannot provide for and give a respectful, meaningful life. They don’t need to have all the nice things in the world, but they should be able to get an education and eat and not be ashamed to bring their friends home. I think people with more money choose to limit their child bearing on reasons other than money, but people who cant even support themselves should not be bringing children into that atmosphere, let alone twenty two.
I would say it is selfish to want a kid so bad that you would bring them into an unstable world no matter how much you are going to love them. People of poverty should think about the future that their kids are going to live in and ask themselves if they want the same life for their kids. There is a definite possibility that the kids are going to be able to grow up and get a decent education and climb their way up to a decent life worth living but Tammy didn’t and a lot of people don’t.
People with money know just how hard it is to raise a child with money, let alone twenty two, let alone with out and I think a lot of them think with a more level head in the beginning. People with money also have their jobs that bring them their income and a lot of other factors that play into their time management so they use that in their decision of just how much time they will have to care for a family. Not all people with money are good parents and some without money can give children a much more loving home and sometimes a better life but in many cases that is not the case.
I think people in poverty need to be selfless and put their wants aside and think about the lives of the children that they would bring into the world. You don’t have to have a lot of money to care for a child and give them a good life, you just have to have enough money. You don’t have to have a big home you just have to have a healthy and safe environment to raise the child in.

I think a good amount of us realize that we are better off than the majority of the world but whether people realize just how good we have it and how bad others do is a whole other story. Like we have discussed in class, even the lowest people in the United States live better than a lot of the world. Many people compare their wealth to others who are well off and better off than them even though they know there are people who don’t have beds and food. We throw away tons of food when there are kids and people around the world who are starving and don’t get to eat for days at a time. We know about these unfortunate people but we don’t think about them every time we throw out our leftovers or let something get old and gross in our fridge or cabinets.
There are people out there who are taking small steps to make things better. Church groups that go to Haiti and the Dominican Republic and those commercials that show you the poor, innocent children who don’t have parents, food, shoes, or shelter. If the money actually makes it to those people it would be a great way to give some of your wealth to others who are not so lucky.
Simple things like going on freerice.com and answering a few questions a day to help a family eat or going on a mission trip or saving up and instead of buying new shoes or new clothes or something for yourself, donate the money to someone who needs it more.
Just educating yourself on how many people live in poverty and what you have that they don’t will put you one step closer to helping them. Once you are educated you can educate others who may be in a better position to help. Everyone can do something but not everyone has the mass amount of funds to donate or the medical skills to help out and save a life. My father’s friend is an orthopedic surgeon and he does some free work for people who are unable to afford it and people take advantage of it. A lady came in with an expensive phone and an expensive watch, fully clothed in warm winter gear, that is not what these clinics are for. Not taking advantage of people and their gifts when you are better off is one way we can make a change. Donating to doctors without borders or surgeons that give their time, talent, and money to the people in poverty is a sure way to help the people in poverty and make a change, a change that takes the focus off ourselves and puts it on the people who need our help.

I think that was kind of the point of the exercise because Sam could tell that we were going to do that. He wanted us to jump from one extreme to another to prove his point. That is the problem in society today is that we believe everything we read and we take sides without knowing the whole story: we have been doing this ever since we were kids. I think the first time he asked the question required more of a rash judgment because we did not know anything about the story, we did not read the article, and we just used our first thought from the title of the article. As Sam presented more and more information about the article we were able to change our opinions because we thought we knew more about it when in reality, they were just more titles and we still did not read the article. After Sam started to rationalize and give us reasons besides race as to why she could have been arrested people changed their minds, but even at the end, Sam said we couldn’t know so we should have been in the middle the whole time. I was one of the people who changed from one extreme to another and after Sam talked about what was not said in the title it was really eye opening at just how many people make their decision and formed an opinion so quickly. I think the setting that we were in, the anonymousness of it, and the thought that we would probably get we were wrong no matter what we chose played at part in how nonchalant we were. The people who write these articles and come up with the titles are completely aware of what they are doing and making people think but it also makes someone read the article, which is the point of a captivating title in the first place. Our opinion may or may not matter but in this instance no one knew what we chose and nothing was really going to come from it but this point was still able to be made. A lot of things fall apart because of how fast we make decision and how fast we jump to conclusions. Our fast pace society keeps us on our toes and there is not much time to sit around and contemplate the side we want to be on.
People have been making rash decisions since they were able to talk. We are taught to go with our gut be able to make a decision on the stop for anything that may come our way, but many don’t know when to think and when to go with their gut.

I think determinism and free will have definitely both played a part in where I am today. My father graduated from Penn State and is now self-employed as a CPA. My mom was not as lucky because her father did not believe that she needed to go to college. My mom is still a very intelligent woman, works, and has raised three kids. My sister is graduating from Penn State this spring and my brother has a bright future ahead of him although I do not see Penn State being his number one choice. Not going to college for me was never really an option, not that I was fighting it or not I didn’t have the free will to say no, but it was always just assumed that I would go to college right after high school. College was not set in stone, but my parents have always wanted the best for me and Penn is just a stop on the path to success. My dad has always told me I can be a lot of things in life, but lazy is not one of them. The choices I make with free will have kept me busy, motivated, and striving to be the best I can be in college. I have grown up loving kids and I have wanted to be a teacher for as long as I can remember and college is where I have to be to get the knowledge and skills I need to be a great teacher. Free will has set in a lot since I have been at Penn State. Although I do not live far away, I am out of the house and I have to make my own decisions and I have to deal with the consequences if I make the wrong one. Going to class or not is a big free will decision that could change a lot of things and that everyone struggles with. Ending up at Penn State was favored by determinism because I went to State College Area High School and more people than not end up at Penn State whether they want to or not. Being here at Penn State was a free will choice in the sense that this is where I wanted to further my education and it is the only school I applied to. I did not come here because my father is an alumni or because this was my sister’s choice of school, but because it is close to home, it teaches the major I wanted to get into, and it is a great school with a lot of pride. I am lucky that my parents make enough to send me to this school and that I was able to make my choice and go to the school that I wanted to when I know some people are not as lucky as I.