en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/2405201 Comments by sarahjohnson http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/19/how-has-your-opinion-changed-on-illegal-immigration-119-blog/#IDComment145268177 My opinion on illegal immigration has fluctuated throughout the past couple of years. I used to believe that illegal immigration was bad because it kept Americans from getting jobs and it made it so that any crazy person can live in our country without us knowing. As I grew older these opinions changed because I realized that in reality “illegal immigration is only an issue for poor groups of people. Being from Detroit I live on the border separating the united states from Canada or more specifically Detroit, mi from Windsor, Ontario. As a younger child I ran track. My track team would have practice in Canada many times a week. When we would go to practice we would of course have to cross the border and go through border patrol. Generally they would ask a few dumb questions then let us pass through. Every time this happened I thought to myself we could be hiding anything in this car and they would never know. The reason why they would never know is because they didn’t really take the time out to check and see. However, on borders such as the Mexican/American border, cars are searches more carefully. This is probably due to the fact that there is more of an illegal immigrant problem on this border. The reason for this issue is because many latin Americans seek the United States of America as a way to better lives for themselves and their families. We only care about immigration if the people coming into our country are poor. If these people have money we let them in with no issue. While I realize that not everybody can immigrate here it is not fair that the deciding factor on whether or not we let someone in our country is based on how much money they have. However, while this is not fair it makes sense because if we just let a bunch of poor people in our country our quality of life levels would be lower. Also, if these immigrants were not illegal we would have to compensate them at the same level we pay our own workers. This would eventually just increase the unemployment level because we would have to include them in the count. As I think about it being an illegal immigrant would be easy because living as a legalized resident I don’t have run ins with anybody that would require me to document myself as a citizen. So, even though it can sometimes not work out well I believe that keeping some immigrants as illegal can be beneficial to our country. Sat, 23 Apr 2011 01:57:34 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/19/how-has-your-opinion-changed-on-illegal-immigration-119-blog/#IDComment145268177 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/19/what-americans-fear/#IDComment145261691 This video is a clear example of propaganda used by the united states government. We listen to what we are told by small videos such as this one and take it to be fact without investigating more. If a person really wanted to they could draw a connection between any number of issues and say somebody is trying to take over the world with religion which is essentially what we learned the Iraqis do as well. Because of videos like this when a person of Middle Eastern boards a plane we become uncomfortable, we decide that they are not American and deem them enemies of the state because of the presumed religion they have in a country with “freedom of religion”. The media enjoys reporting on what they believe will get the most buzz and catch people’s attention. “Jihad Taking over America” is a much bigger attention grabber than “Earth Day!” Just recently I was riding in a taxi cab and the radio teased a story on how Jihad is trying to take over our court system and is helping muslim people get around the laws. To someone merely listening in not truly critically thinking this sounds threatening. This all reminds me of the video we watched in class on how the head of state or the president uses propaganda to help sell war. The media also uses propaganda to sell wars ratings and other things just alike. The news cannot report that muslims are actually good people and not trying to over run democracy or whatever then they will lose ratings, viewers and probably eventually be thrown off the air. As a direct result from this propaganda, we fear these people are trying to kill us and we need to do everything possible to protect ourselves. So why are we afraid of muslims? The reason is because that is all we are told unless as individuals we decide to dig deeper on our own. Sat, 23 Apr 2011 01:20:06 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/19/what-americans-fear/#IDComment145261691 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/11/transgendered-complications/#IDComment143229951 In The United States of America we typically perceive ourselves as the freest people in the world. However, articles like the one I just read are clear evidence against this major claim. In what free country can a person not decide that they want to lead a life different than the one they were given at birth? When a woman decides she wants larger boobs and decides to get breast implants, nobody tells this woman, no you must let every person know that your breasts were not always that size because not doing so is deceiving. Nobody tells these women do not show cleavage unless with that cleavage you have a sign saying “Not my boobs”. Whether or not this man was born as such, he visually and mentally a man. The claim could be made that maybe people would feel uncomfortable because he used to be a woman. Well, newsflash but every woman does not want you and this man has said he never identified with being a female. If his birth certificate and every other part of him says “male” why should he have to explain how he came to be such. When I check the female box on a job application, nowhere does it say, “How did you become a female?” We are supposed to have the freedom of privacy, yet, if we use this privacy to not disclose questions that should never be asked by an employer or that are inappropriate, we become punished. I can understand if this man was a cross dresser that lied, but he is not. The appropriate measures to be considered a male were taken, but to the employer this did not matter. Furthermore, why would the state of New Jersey grant this man a change of sex on his birth certificate if they had no plans of backing him when he was fired from his job. Cases like these make me question how free we really are and if these freedoms only apply to those who live by society’s conventional rules. Fri, 15 Apr 2011 21:57:49 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/11/transgendered-complications/#IDComment143229951 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/14/why-did-the-white-students-tell-the-story-differently-than-the-mixed-or-black-students-119-blog/#IDComment143213645 Usually when reading responses to blogs I try to understand the ignorance of some of the people writing them, however, this is the most foolish response I have read thus far in soc 119. To even insinuate that all white people have the same life experiences or that all black/mixed people have the same life experiences is close-minded and ignorant. This poster of this blog has decided that all white people are the masters of story telling because not only are the black and mixed people unable to create imagery their skin color also makes it so that they have a lesser vocabulary. The color of one’s skin does NOT in any sort of way determine what a person can do with their vocabulary or the imagery they can convey. President Barack Obama is a mixed man and he is a very eloquent speaker, however, according to this person due to his mixed race he obviously should not be a successful public speaker. All people are emotional, and the color of one’s skin does not determine this either. To say minorities are emotional and white people are emotionless is the broadest generalization a person can make. Just because you have met one minority that was very emotional and one white person that did not necessarily display their emotions means nothing. Other claims brought up in this blog were, white people have more of a chance to speak in front of large groups because they’re white and they also have more freedom of speech in their households because they are white. This blog was obviously written by a person that has not learned or gotten much out of soc 119. The claims in this blog reflect a clear ignorance on the lifestyle of black and mixed people. Just because you have seen something in a movie does not mean it is true. I believe that the author of this post skewed the original purpose of this blog horribly. The reason why the different people told the story different has nothing to do with their level of intelligence nor does it have to do with their ability to speak publicly, or the freedom of speech they had as a child. The activity required mere recitation not use of a broad vocabulary to see which race knows the words with the most syllables. The story was told differently because people have a tendency to try not to make them or people like them look bad. If I am a white person I may leave out the N word from the story I’m telling because A, I don’t want to say the actual word, and B I don’t want to make it seem like my people are doing any wrong. While on the other hand, the black people will not leave that part out because leaving it in the story does them no harm. Fri, 15 Apr 2011 20:40:51 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/14/why-did-the-white-students-tell-the-story-differently-than-the-mixed-or-black-students-119-blog/#IDComment143213645 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/03/women-and-war/#IDComment140647603 This woman and everything about her story is phenomenal. I think that as Americans it is impossible to fully grasp the feeling or climate for lack of a better term of living in a warzone or in wartimes like how the rest of the world does. When we go to battle with another country, there are soldiers who are going off to “defend our country” and we know that some of them will die, but it is never the case where our civilians may be physically harmed by the war. In other parts of the world the soldiers are defending their country, but also the civilians of the countries are fighting to stay alive mentally and physically with all of the fear death and desctruction surrounding them. Like this woman said, most of the civilians killed in war are women and children. If in the military a woman soldier’s life is more valuable that a man’s, hence why they stopped letting them drive trucks for fear of them dying from road bombs, then why is it that we have no problem with the fact that most of the bystanders or people dying period are women and children. After a war countries make negotiations, depending on what the various leaders deem the best, but with the very corrupt governments of some nations, there is not even almost the notion that the decisions being made will benefit those who are most hurt or helped by these decisions. Like the speaker, I do not believe that it is just the women who need their voices to be heard, but all innocent civilians fighting to stay alive, when there is no definite way to protect themselves. The people who have to live with the mess after countries decide to be friends should be the ones sitting down at tables negotiating because when something effects you, you are more likely to fight for what you believe in than when the subject won’t really change anything for you. If you were told farm or a family across the country might go hungry tonight, there is less motivation than if you are told, farm or your family will go hungry tonight. Thu, 7 Apr 2011 04:53:25 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/03/women-and-war/#IDComment140647603 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/05/after-this-class-do-you-still-blame-terrorism-119-blog/#IDComment140645761 After this class I technically “blame” terrorists for doing what they do because they still are killing others and responsible for their answers. However, I do not in the other sense blame them because I cannot for sure say I would not do the same thing they are doing. If someone came in my house and stole my kitchen because they decided they needed it to open a bakery and me and my family were not benefitting from this invasion I would be more than furious. To make matters worse, let’s say they brought in all of their bodyguards to “protect” my kitchen from others, however, anytime someone I knew or in my family stepped near the area they were shot dead. I know in my heart that eventually I would make a force of my own and fight these people until they removed themselves from my kitchen. These terrorists are in a sense no different than we. These terrorists take it upon themselves to go in a country bombing and killing people to make a statement. We go into their country with troops, guns and bombs and kill as many people as necessary to defeat the ominous bad guy. To make matters worse, we search for years and years for a so called terrorist leader who even they don’t support and come up empty handed. If I were a middle eastern, that would spell corruption to me. The only difference I see is that we are lead officially by our government to kill these people. When we watch the news we see all this nonsense about a war on terror, however, everybody knows that this is a war to control oil. The same oil that rightfully belongs to these people. I do not understand how the united states goes into foreign countries and kills thousands of people for money and a resource and this is seen as acceptable, however, if these people kill other people to get them out of their country they are somehow morally corrupt. I do not condone the killing of other people but a kill is a kill is a kill. I do believe that both medias and civilians slant the media in a way that fits their purpose and makes them seem right. But I also believe that these people are living in a war zone so no matter what the terrorist threat level is at an airport in the united states, it is much higher and much more real in the middle east. For this reason they have a right to be defensive angry and even scared. Thu, 7 Apr 2011 04:40:50 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/05/after-this-class-do-you-still-blame-terrorism-119-blog/#IDComment140645761 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/18/m-s-story/#IDComment139225524 After reading M’s story I thought back to the needy penis lecture. M truly believes that he is deserves the punishment he is receiving because he aided in the murder of a man, however, I think he only believes this because it’s what he was told to believe. Society says that we should not kill other people because it is wrong but when we are at war with another country this wrong is all of a sudden right. Murderers are bad so we decide that capital punishment is a solution. Either way a life was lost and it is not up to a human to decide whether or not someone deserves to live. Soldiers at battle kill somebody and receive a medal of honor, a gang member kills someone and receives a life sentence. A murderer is told to feel bad because they have killed an innocent person, but a soldier is told to feel proud because they killed an enemy of the state. I am by no means proposing that there should not be crimes for those who kill others, but I am saying that before we as society condemn these people to life in a box, maybe we should treat them for whatever is wrong with them. As in M’s case he is obviously not a cold blooded killer, and he feels remorse for what he did, so why can’t he be introduced back into society. Why is prison an inescapable place for so many people that could become productive members of society? Why should these people be told to feel any worse than a soldier? Why is killing for a flag, power and money for your country better that killing for your street, power for you and your friends, and money for your friends? After all, what’s in a rose that by any other name would smell as sweet? Or in this case, what’s in a murderer that by any other circumstances is considered a hero? Fri, 1 Apr 2011 23:34:06 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/18/m-s-story/#IDComment139225524 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/29/do-you-ever-feel-uncomfortable-around-two-or-more-people-speaking-another-language-119-blog/#IDComment139219170 Do I feel uncomfortable when two or more people are speaking a language around me? At first I thought to myself “Duh! Who wouldn’t?” but then as I thought deeper I realized discomfort is least of all my feeling in these situations. As a younger child I would spend most of time at my aunt and uncle’s house. My aunt is a Guatemalan woman and Spanish is her first language. Whenever I would be at her house I found myself confused when she would speak to other relatives in the house, I couldn’t tell if she was speaking too fast or I was listening too slow or what was going on. It was not until I got a bit older that I realized it was Spanish she was speaking. I often find myself in similar situations when people are speaking in another language. I’m usually confused because it takes a couple seconds for me to realize “Wow, that’s not English.” However, that is not the only feeling I get. When you are hanging out with a different group of people they tend to have a lot of inside jokes with each other that you don’t understand. This may make some people feel uncomfortable, but as for myself I just feel left out. I am a very social person and I love talking to all types of people. Therefore, when I hear people speaking in another language I am upset. I am upset because I cannot talk to them. I usually do not try to talk to them or learn any words in their language because I do not want to be perceived as nosy and like the typical American always making fun of other cultures because of their differences. However, I do not agree with people who act like being uncomfortable around people speaking other languages in absurd. It is not unusual to be uncomfortable around these people. As humans we have a tendency to fear the unknown. If someone is speaking in Chinese, Italian, French or whatever language it is that a person doesn’t not know, that is also the unknown. To be angered with that person because they fear the unknown is the same as being mad at someone for breathing regularly. I do also believe that people should try to overcome their fears at some point, but some fears are not easily broken. All in all, I do not feel myself uncomfortable around people speaking other languages, I just feel left out. In the future I will probably make more of an effort to communicate with these people so that I can learn something. Fri, 1 Apr 2011 23:10:16 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/29/do-you-ever-feel-uncomfortable-around-two-or-more-people-speaking-another-language-119-blog/#IDComment139219170 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/15/lgbt-families-theres-a-lot-of-fear-out-there/#IDComment137592839 I remember a couple months ago a friend of mine showed me a video she saw in her psychology class. In the video people were asked how much money they would need to be paid in order to kill a puppy. After the video I tweeted that I would kill a puppy for $10. I was half joking and half serious, however, the response I got from my followers was disgust. I told them in other parts of the world killing puppies might be the norm and killing and eating chickens is disgusting. I told them the only reason why they have a negative opinion on killing puppies is because that is one of the values instilled upon them by their parents or whoever they were raised by as well as the society they grew up in. They told me that these countries are also third world countries with child labor and other “bad” things. The society in which you grow up shapes your mind in so many subconscious ways that we don’t even realize. The only reason why we have any of our opinions is because it’s what we were told. No matter what someone claims, they are unoriginal because we are raised to think and agree with what those around us think and agree with. Why is gay marriage bad? Well, because in some religion made by a human being claiming to be inspired by a higher being decided that two people with the same reproductive organs meeting together is wrong. Looking at the man in the video, a man who would be considered a role model for all children and young adults there is no logical reason why gay marriage is wrong. There are so many “evil” people in the world raised by straight parents, however, no one has decided that heterosexuals are unfit for marriage and should not raise children together. The man in the video could bring all the proof in the world of why gay marriages should be allowed and gay couples should raise children but depending on who’s listening the evidence will not matter. People will only hear what they would like to hear. People are extremely one sided and only listen to and agree with their side of the story. Our world/lives are relatively static and very rarely is change accepted throughout history. Our generation will grow up more willing to accept and grant gay rights, but just like how there are still old racists who hate no matter what they are told, the old antigay activists will not change their minds any time soon. Fri, 25 Mar 2011 23:27:47 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/15/lgbt-families-theres-a-lot-of-fear-out-there/#IDComment137592839 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/21/rethinking-education/#IDComment132400157 I originally watched this video in preparations for my soc 119 exam, and didn’t take much time to actually think about the material. After viewing this video a second time, I stopped to think and everything stated in this video makes perfect sense. Most adults say that they are constantly learning from their children, and that kids are so smart. At some point, everybody was a child, so logically adults should be astronomically smarter than their kids. However, the opposite appears in the world we live in. About a month ago I told my friends that I felt as if high school drained my brain of knowledge. The reason for this is because all throughout elementary school and middle school I found myself defying the limits set upon me by school. I did not behave as a traditional student would. However, once I hit high school I realized that behavior would no longer be acceptable if I were to move on to a respectable university. As I conformed to people’s standards, I became less of an individual. I stopped thinking of innovative ways to behave, and instead learned to tell a teacher what they wanted to hear, or give them what I knew they wanted to read. As time moved along, I was molded into the shape that society believed to be correct. Modern day schools do not encourage learning they encourage grades. As students we are encouraged to memorize a list of terms so we will pass the test, not so that we will actually know and internalize these things. I know people who have “perfect” 4.0 GPAs, so by society’s standards, they would be considered to be smart. However, if I were to further converse with these people I would realize that they are not truly smart; they just go through the motions put before them. As a country, we would like to get ahead in the world and become innovators for the next generations, however, if school systems don’t change and begin to actually educate their students, we will remain behind. Fri, 4 Mar 2011 16:10:26 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/21/rethinking-education/#IDComment132400157 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/21/stranger-kidnapping/#IDComment130374561 This video captures all of United States culture when it comes to important issues. We sit around biting our fingers afraid to be on a plane with a person of Middle Eastern descent because we associate them with terrorists, we all buy masks because a few people got the swine flu, and we blow up kidnappings and pretend that they are as common as cornfields in Pennsylvania. After 9/11 people were afraid to get on planes because they feared they would be taken over, so they decided to take more trips in their cars. The only problem with this analogy is that you are much more likely to die in a car accident than in a plane crash, and statistics will reflect that the number of motor vehicle deaths rose after 9/11. However, I don’t blame people for their fears because when you take a deeper look at things, they are valid. The media enjoys reporting on what they believe will get the most buzz and catch people’s attention. “Manhunt for man who tried to abduct boy” is a much bigger attention grabber than “Boy Wins Spelling Bee.” Just like “Jennifer Aniston Reveals new hair color” seems more important than “Haiti Election Results.” In the United States we like to publicize things that are unimportant and don’t really affect that many people. The news cannot report that nothing important happened today because that doesn’t sell papers or gain viewers on television. As a direct result from these scare tactics, we fear that society is taking a turn for the worst and we need to do everything possible to protect ourselves. We tell our kids not to talk to strangers; even though statistically speaking we are the least safe in our homes. Even when taking a look at the cases in media where children go missing, the outcome of many of them is that the parents were involved in the disappearance or the murder of their child. So why are we afraid of freak accidents? The reason is because that is all we are told unless as individuals we decide to dig deeper on our own. Thu, 24 Feb 2011 17:37:17 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/21/stranger-kidnapping/#IDComment130374561 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/23/what-is-your-opinion-of-affirmative-action-and-has-the-lecture-had-an-effect-on-you-119-blog/#IDComment130369266 My opinion on affirmative action has fluctuated throughout the past couple of years. I used to believe that affirmative action was necessary because blacks needed it to get hired and I also thought of it as a way to apologize for slavery and segregation. As I grew older these opinions expanded because I realized that affirmative action was not just for black people, but also for all minorities whether it be a Hispanic person, a gay person, a jew, or a woman. I remember a case a few years ago when a man sued because he had not been let in school over a black person even though he had more qualifications; they had to fit an affirmative action quota. This was something they called “reverse racism” I thought to myself that was a valid point and my views on affirmative action changed and I no longer supported it. After being in soc 119 and realizing that there is latent racism and there are people who get a job over others just because they have a white name, or white skin, I once again support affirmative action. People can call it reverse racism if they like, but in reality it is just admitting that you are discriminating as opposed to hiring a person with a criminal record over someone with no criminal record just because they are white. In reality the world will never be a fair place where everyone is equal and discrimination. People will discriminate against a person for any reason beyond just their race. Having affirmative action in place is just a way of trying to level out the playing fields more. Affirmative action, in my opinion, is not having someone an advantage on a silver platter, it is helping some groups of people get what they may not get because there are some people who will try to hold them back due to things out of their control. Supporting affirmative action is not saying that all white people are racists and will not hire minorities, nor is it saying that all men are bigots and less likely to hire a woman. This is just saying that evidence proves that some people act in that manner whether it is a conscious effort or not. Affirmative action does not mean that you hire somebody just to be your “token black person” it makes sure that QUALIFIED people are given jobs. So yes, being in soc 119 did change my beliefs on affirmative action, it taught me why affirmative action is probably necessary and isn’t just some excuse people make to take the easy way out. Thu, 24 Feb 2011 17:17:37 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/23/what-is-your-opinion-of-affirmative-action-and-has-the-lecture-had-an-effect-on-you-119-blog/#IDComment130369266 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/17/how-much-government-do-we-need/#IDComment128931555 There is a certain point where government goes too far. Yes, we need policies for children who bring guns to class, rapists, etc. But to have a policy in place for every personal decision in the world is absolutely ridiculous. Studies may show that children who are breastfed are less susceptible to childhood obesity but the sociologist should ask what other factors are in play for these children who are obese as children. People are not perfect and sometimes make bad decisions such as eating Big Macs, but it should be that person’s choice whether or not they would like to deal with the costs of health care due to their decision to eat a Big Mac. At the end of the day we are all accountable for our actions and deal with them accordingly. However, I do not want to be held accountable for the fact that someone else wants to breastfeed his or her kid. Studies did not show that breastfeeding would help to cure cancer, or even definitely lead to the reduction of lowering childhood obesity, so why would I want to pay for something that MIGHT help. Both the issue of the Big Mac and breastfeeding forget one thing. If a person would like to stop eating burgers or McDonalds to prolong their life, let them do so. If a person wants to breastfeed their child, let them do so. There are some people in the world who don’t want to be small and believe that big is beautiful. Say whatever you would like about their feelings but if Americans truly were a “free” people then the decision of being fat or of breast/bottle feeding our kids would be left up to us. With some issues, the government needs to stop holding our hands and coddling us. There comes a point where the government should realize we are big boys and girls and can make decisions and live with their consequences without intervention. Fri, 18 Feb 2011 22:31:00 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/17/how-much-government-do-we-need/#IDComment128931555 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/16/do-arrests-of-different-races-occur-more-due-to-racism-or-more-police-in-urban-areas-119-blog/#IDComment128926177 I believe that high arrest numbers of blacks and Hispanics are due to racism. I believe that people like to try and act like racism doesn’t exist because it is 2011 and slavery “ended” in 1865. However, the fact of the matter is that segregation was active and accepted in the United States as late 1970s. This is within many of our parent’s lifetimes. Since people are not born inherently bad, some invisible strings must come into play when thinking of how people become that way. I say this to mean that people must be taught to be racist. If racism and segregation was active throughout our parent’s lifetimes it is to be assumed that many of them were taught to be racist at some point. At some point there may have been other teachings to try and reverse what used to be a widely accepted norm, our childhoods and what we learn hold many invisible strings that affect our lives. This means that although a person may have been taught not to be racist, if they were originally taught to be a racist, deep down those feelings might still hold true. I have also heard of a study where there are pictures shown of white leaders with inspirational words shown next to the picture. Groups of people are asked to click yes or no as to whether or not the words are true. The same words are shown with the pictures of black leaders and the same task is performed. Of course everybody chooses yes to both people, however, it takes longer to choose yes. This is not to say that all of these people are racists, it just shows that it is harder to accept good from a minority. Urban cities are huge and filled with millions of people. By comparison, the suburbs where many whites live are small. Therefore it would only make sense to assume that cities have more police officers. The police force of a city or suburb should be proportional to how many people live in the community. That being said no matter where you live there is an equal opportunity to fight crime. Saying that the reason why blacks and Hispanics are disproportionally imprisoned is due to where they live is yet another lame excuse. Even in suburban areas, I believe studies will show that black people are more subject to arrest than whites. For example, there was an incident at a school where a student was accused of writing a bomb threat on the Internet. The police force came to investigate, and after speaking with a black 9-year-old suspect for five minutes, a white police officer put her in handcuffs and said, “I don’t care what the evidence shows I know this girl is guilty.” Later on the girl was proven innocent and the real culprit was found. This did not happen in an urban area, so explain the reason for that. Fri, 18 Feb 2011 22:12:09 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/16/do-arrests-of-different-races-occur-more-due-to-racism-or-more-police-in-urban-areas-119-blog/#IDComment128926177 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/08/why-dont-we-see-wealthfare/#IDComment127448585 The reason why we don’t see “wealthfare” is because the wealthy are the ones who are in control. Like in “King of the Mountain” the people on top of the mountain determine what the people below them do and think. The wealthy people in power wouldn’t want people realizing that the money they’re giving themselves is welfare because then their subordinates would think of them as free-loading. I believe this is comparable to many situations, for instance, military endeavors. When a country is at war and a fellow soldier kills another they call it “friendly fire”. These words sound welcoming and make the death of the soldier seem less than it really is. On the contrary, when a civilian is killed their death is reported as the killing of an “insurgent” this word has negative connotations so we automatically assume that it was an enemy soldier when it could have been an innocent bystander. Another example that I can think of on this topic is the genocide of Native Americans vs. genocides in other cultures. In schools within the United States when we learn about topics such as how the pilgrims came over to America and came to power, the part about how they wiped out almost every person living on the continent is downplayed or left out. However, if we were to learn about the genocide in Rwanda, we would learn every detail of how the people were killed, how many were killed and made the Hutu tribe seem like collectively some of the most evil people on earth. Same goes with the Holocaust, and even stories of the Aztec empire falling. When in schools we learn about the formation of the “greatest country in the world” we don’t exactly capitalize on the fact that it was first off, built on the graves of the original habitants of the land, or the fact that it was built with the blood, sweat, and tears of people stolen from the other side of the world, ripped of their culture, broken, beat and enslaved. However, when we speak of Soviet Russia, the evils of Stalin are never downplayed and made irrelevant. This is because the people who write the books or oversee the teaching don’t want Americans to have a negative opinion of the United States or call them out for their wrong doing. I would estimate that the most welfare is spent on the wealthy on things like bank bailouts, government subsidizing of large corporations, etc. Since the wealthy don’t want to make themselves look bad or wrong, they zoom in on the money that is given to poor people, most of which are children who can’t fend for themselves anyway, and make it look like they are lazy. Sat, 12 Feb 2011 01:27:02 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/08/why-dont-we-see-wealthfare/#IDComment127448585 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/04/the-not-so-invisible-structure-that-shapes-us/#IDComment127410150 I found this article quite interesting for many reasons. In one part of the article they mentioned how the cost of going overseas including lodging, flight and other expenditures had decreased to just $2,708 per person. But in reality, on average what family has that type of money to spend on a vacation overseas. That is not a reasonable figure for a vacation when within your own country a person can take a vacation for just a small fraction of that. Also, a point that I do not think the article touched on was the American mindset. When I say American I mean those people living in the United States. From a young age, our educational systems push the thought that the United States is the greatest country on earth. With this mindset why would one want to leave their own country? If you live in the promise land, everything else must be irrelevant. This means that if you are already number one, why would you can what number two, three, or four have to offer? The United States is seen as the melting pot of all cultures, so if that theory was true, anything that can be found in another country can be found in the United States. The article mentioned this saying that you may be able to find something like it in the United State but it can never compare. This same mindset is taken with Americans regarding learning other languages. Although there are more Chinese in the world than any other people, we believe that they should learn English instead of us learning their language. On the west coast there is a huge Hispanic population. Instead of learning their language, Spanish, we decide they need to learn English because “This is America and we speak English” though the nation has no official language. American’s lack of traveling the world has connections to the values we instill in ourselves. We teach our young that we are better than everyone else so we refrain from fraternizing with the rest of the world. Fri, 11 Feb 2011 21:26:43 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/04/the-not-so-invisible-structure-that-shapes-us/#IDComment127410150 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/30/conformity-rules-the-day/#IDComment126038894 While this video is obviously funny, I found some things interesting while watching the video and about the video. The first thing I realized is that this has actually happened to me before. In an elevator with a group of friends, when one person got on we all decided to face a separate corner. As I looked out the corner of my eye I realized that although I was faced towards the back left corner of the elevator, the boy who got on was faced the same way. Although at the time I had heard nothing of group speak I knew something had to explain why he would face the same way as me. I feel like although everyone pretends to be an individual, they’ve been socialized to act in unison with a group following basic knowledge to wherever they’re from. These actions aren’t a conscious decision to conform; they’re just something that has been beaten (figuratively) into our heads since childhood. All day, every day we breathe. We don’t sit around reminding ourselves “breathe” because it’s second nature. A better example would be walking. When I would like to get up and walk across the room I don’t tell myself “right, left, right, left, stand up straight” as I cross the room, I just walk across because that’s what I was socialized to do. We do not make the conscious decision, “turn as soon as everyone turns” it’s just something we’ve been socialized to do without really considering what we’re doing. This is in a way a different type of group think than the one discussed in class where no one speaks up about something being wrong. Although in both types we’re trying to fit in, in situations such as forcing a pledge to drink to much and no one speaking up is a more conscious decision. I say this meaning you know what you’re doing is wrong and even though in class we said it was the same as an “ambiguous decision” to turn with people on an elevator or to pick the wrong matching line, they are not the same. In the following two examples Sam said that a person who is more of a sociopath would break the rules of turning in an elevator or picking the right line but I don’t believe that to speak up when someone is clearly doing something wrong is sociopathic, I think it’s common decency. Sat, 5 Feb 2011 00:53:15 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/30/conformity-rules-the-day/#IDComment126038894 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/03/do-you-think-race-can-stop-being-an-issue-in-the-future-119-blog/#IDComment126032869 I find this question particularly amusing because in my opinion the answer is obviously no. Although we’ve learned in class that the biological differences between different races are extremely minute, this must be thought of on a larger scale. Every semester at Penn State over 700 students take our race and relations class (the largest in the country) learning that the differences between races are small. In one year that’s only 1,400 people learning this new fact. If we add in the people from other schools that may examine this same thing, maybe there are a few thousand really talking about the fact that the biological differences between races are small. There are over 6 billion people in the world so in relation to the very small number of people learning the differences, nothing has changed. Even if we were to try educating more people, just think back to the discussion last week and this Thursday. We spoke about how many people didn’t actually know the meaning of the Confederate flag even though I consider that to be basic US History. We also learned this Thursday that many people in the United States don’t have something as seemingly simple as a high school diploma. The point I’m trying to make is that if as people, we can’t even educate ourselves on basic history, or graduate from high school, how are we supposed to collectively grasp something as profound as our races having more alike with another race than they do with their own. Aside from the technical impossibilities, there is also basic human nature to be considered. Humans have a tendency to group every single thing by their differences no matter how small. For example, there are millions of species on the planet, and instead of being content with the fact that we all somehow find a way to balance our lives and live somewhat aesthetically together, we force everything into little categories and subcategories to point out their differences when in reality WHO CARES?! We as people also like to rank ourselves – throughout history in all cultures – in some type of order of importance. If there were nothing that made you biologically different/more capable than another person, why would anybody be inclined to follow your lead? People also like to think of themselves as better than other people or even species for that matter. I can’t think of any other reason why there would be beauty contests, spelling bees, tests, etc. other than to prove superiority to another person. The easiest way to prove your immediate differences from someone is to look at their outside appearance and how it differs from your own then somehow prove how your features make you best fit to be the leader or the best. Sat, 5 Feb 2011 00:32:06 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/03/do-you-think-race-can-stop-being-an-issue-in-the-future-119-blog/#IDComment126032869 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/27/what-does-the-confederate-flag-mean-to-you-119-blog/#IDComment124455898 (continued) Slavery also symbolizes millions of people being captured from their homelands, separated from their families, raped, tortured, broken and treated like wild animals. While many people of different backgrounds can state their family origins and ethnicities, black Americans who are the descendants of slaves do not have this same luxury. The history and culture of these people more than likely remains unknown. Along with that, the affects that slavery had on black people are still very much prevalent in black communities across the United States. To display or wave a Confederate flag is a slap in the face to many black people and damages race relations. If a black person sees someone displaying a Confederate flag they are more likely to avoid this person, this will only lead to them sticking to their own race and not branching out to speak to others. The question to be asked is if you had a family member who was tortured and brutally murdered and one day you were out and saw a person holding the gun used to murder your relative would you converse with this person or decide that the two of you had nothing in common? I believe that most people’s answer would be the latter. Sat, 29 Jan 2011 02:18:18 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/27/what-does-the-confederate-flag-mean-to-you-119-blog/#IDComment124455898 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/27/what-does-the-confederate-flag-mean-to-you-119-blog/#IDComment124455853 (continued) The Confederate Flag also symbolizes the south trying to form their own country and unsuccessfully breaking off from the United States which I don't believe should be celebrated. I feel that if a person were to walk into a Jewish community sporting a swastika claiming they wanted to restore Germany to its strength between World War I and World War II this would be viewed by the public as heinous. The world would never accept this just as they do not accept “skinheads” who sport swastikas and send messages to the public of “White Power”. Sat, 29 Jan 2011 02:17:56 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/27/what-does-the-confederate-flag-mean-to-you-119-blog/#IDComment124455853