gdp's Comments

World In Conversation : Voices From The Classroom

Thu, 1 Dec 2011 06:19:40 +0000

After Tuesday’s class I thought about what I previously thought about the war and then about what Sam had said. After weighing both sides, I would have to say Sam did not change any of my views on the war. I do not think that the war is strictly based on oil as Sam stated. Do I believe that oil heavily influences the fact that the war is still going on? Yes. I think there is a lot of validity to what Sam said on Tuesday. For example it makes sense that middle eastern citizens would be upset about westerners taking oil from their land. I can understand that when they are bullied, they would have incentive to fight back and defend themselves. However, when Sam was talking about the role reversal, and being on the other side of the story I think that’s where I began to disagree. When he first started I was agreeing with what he was saying about being an Iraqi and how I would be upset if someone was coming to my land to take my resources. I then began to realize that we do not just go into Iraq or any of the middle eastern countries and steal their resources. We purchase resources from them in this case oil. There is nothing stolen from them. People from the United States of America and other western countries along with western Europe send people to negotiate with political figures and business men in the middle eastern countries over the oil. Because of this it is not that we are invading the middle east for no reason, there were attacks to provoke the war. Sam posed the question, if China invaded the U.S. would you fight back? He did not take into account that the radicals who are terrorists from the middle east killed many people on our own soil in terrorist attacks. If we attacked China first then it would make sense for them to invade America. However it was not taken into that we did not do this. So if China did invade us, then yes, we absolutely should protect ourselves against the invasion because we did nothing to provoke the invasion. That is why I disagree with the points Sam made, he did not give a correct comparison when relating it to the United States, and some information was left out or not accounted for.

World In Conversation : Voices From The Classroom

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 04:33:54 +0000

I feel scared and uneasy after finding out about how many people go through life not saying anything about sexual abuse. I was also upset and moved by how many people it happens to. I would hope that no one in my family was ever sexually abused nor do I hope that anyone has a thought of someone having the “fantasy” Sam had talked about in class. If it did happen, however, I would be more upset by the fact that my family member was being quiet and not telling anyone about the incident in order for them to get help. Although, even if no one in my family was sexually abused, I would still be nervous that when I have kids they could be victims of sexual assault or abuse and there would be nothing that I could do because (based on the statistics) they would not say a word to anyone, including me or my future wife. I would hope that people who do have that “fantasy” get help so that the issues that are present in the world today that pertain to sexual assault and child abuse do not “spiral out of control”. The last thing anyone needs is for people to commit acts like this more often than they already happen. I think this point in my life none of my family members will be sexually abused by anyone because the vast majority of my family is old enough to realize what sexual abuse is and how to avoid it. I also think that my family members are smart enough to ensure that they would not put themselves in a position where there is a possibility of abuse of any kind. Because of these factors, I feel slightly more confident about my family being alright now and in years to come. However, after the current events, the points Sam brought up in class, and my own thoughts, I do not think that I will ever be able to sleep as easy as I used to because I know that there are people out there who are sexually abused and never say a word. I also will have a hard time accepting the fact that there are so many people out there that have that sick thought in their heads where they think it is attractive to deal with kids in such ways. Overall, I guess I am worried about the future and what my family will do with terrible people like that in the world.

World In Conversation : Voices From The Classroom

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 03:08:06 +0000

I thought a lot about this question even before it was posed by one of my classmates, but I was never able to fully come up with a good enough explanation to answer the question. However I think I have come up with a good and valid explanation for my beliefs of the topic. I think that the amount of money people make does affect how happy they are. I think that people are happier when they make more money is because when you are brought up a certain way or live a certain lifestyle, you feel as though certain things are a norm, and you expect certain things to always be like that. Almost a “creature comfort” type mentality. People who have a humble life style for example a store clerk who makes maybe fifty thousand a year. That is not a terrible living but there absolutely are better lifestyles available. This “person X” is used to living with this income and not knowing all that much beyond it. Now if we put him in a situation where he made much more, he would of course be happier. There would be less financial stresses if he continued to live the type of life style he had been, or he could move up in class. Have a larger house, a more expensive car, go out to eat at nicer restaurants, perhaps even go on an expensive vacation that “person X” could not go on before. These would all undoubtedly add to his happiness level. The same thing relates to people who live in a higher class already. People who live in large mansions, have a few Mercedes Benzes, wear Patek Philippe watches and go on extravagant vacations would still enjoy more money to do the things they would like to more often. More money would also relieve them in a different way because it would give people more money to fall back on to pay the taxes in the higher tax bracket. It could also add to the money they give to their relatives or gold diggers when the go to pass. Over all I think that the amount of money people make does cause people to be happier or not as happy. Would you be happy if you started out on top and found yourself with less money and unable to do the things you used to do? I know I would… and I think you would too.

World In Conversation : Only White Students Guard the Lion Shrine?

Wed, 2 Nov 2011 00:57:22 +0000

After watching the video, I realized that there is indeed a person that is black or brown. If you look closely, there is a black man guarding the lion shrine in a picture if you go to thirty three seconds. I also do not think that the Lion Ambassadors intentionally had no one of black or brown descent featured in the more current guarding of the lion. The members of the lion ambassadors most likely gathered some of their friends and did not think much about the racial aspect of the video, but instead more about the meaning of defending and guarding the lion shrine. Another possibility could be, like Sam had mentioned, that the people in the video were the ones who came up with the idea and happened to all be white. If the group in the video was the same group of people who had the original idea for the video, then I do not think that it would be necessary to have to get anyone else because it would be more of a hassle and it could potentially be a distraction to have to look for others to be in the video instead of focusing on the main point of the video which was to protect the lion shrine. Time could have also been an issue and they producers of the video may have simply used a convenience method to find people that they needed. I do think that there is a level of racial assimilation that is present in this video because a person of color was present in the video. However small a part it was, he was included and it shows that people are accepting of people of color. Admittedly I do think that they could have added another person of color in the video to whether it be black or brown. But if the movie were finished and then the producer or producers noticed that there was no one of color in the video, I do not think that they should have had to add another whole part to it. The reason I say this is because to make a video, the producers have to get a camera crew, a day that is the same as it was on that initial shoot (and knowing State College weather- that would never happen). There would also need to be editing done and it would all have to be completed before the given date. That is why I think that it was unintentional and not to be a racial issue.

World In Conversation : Arizona Senators Vote to Allow College Clubs to Refuse Members

Sat, 29 Oct 2011 00:41:38 +0000

After reading the article, I was shocked. I was shocked not because people were excluded, but the fact that there had to be a law made to say that people can be excluded. People are excluded all the time. Especially in college. If we break it down it is not really that alarming that people would exclude others in college because it has been engrained in us since we were little kids. The Little Rascals is a prime example of exclusion. “The He-Man Woman Haters Club” was clearly a club where the little boys hated girls and therefore excluded them. I’m sure every one that reads this blog entry would agree that they have been a part of a segregated and exclusive club such as an all boys club or an all girls club. The fact that people get excluded should not be a surprise to any one in the college setting. Even if a person’s university or college does not have a greek system they now what it entails and if not, they probably live under a rock. Everybody knows that fraternities are for boy and sororities are for girls. Those are funded by national chapters and it has been like that for years. Does that mean that they should accept people of the opposite sex just because someone feels excluded? There are also several honor’s fraternities and societies that I am a member of and they select people based off of GPA. That GPA is a requirement to get into that society or fraternity. There are rules in place for a reason. It is because the founders, or current members, want to have a certain type of person within the group in which they would like to associate themselves. When people decide to join a group, they usually join groups that interest them to some degree anyway. So the case that a person is turned away is already slim in the grand scheme of things because people choose clubs and organizations that have people who are like minded. However, if a person is turned away from an organization it should give them the inspiration to create their own organization of like minded people. An excellent example of this is this country, the United States of America. People originally came from Europe to escape religious persecution. Why were they persecuted? Because people did not accept them into their group. So instead of getting upset and trying to pass legislation to voice their opinions, they ended up moving with a group of people who agreed on their values and ended up creating a country.

World In Conversation : Voices From The Classroom

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 05:28:51 +0000

If I had to put myself in a stage of the racial identity spectrum, I think that I am in the fifth stage. I feel that I have accepted people of different races and that I can move past the color of their skin and realize what they have to offer as people. Genetically we are all the same and it is only a small amount of DNA that actually makes up features and skin tone. After coming to this realization, I learned to better accept people of color and look at them more as equals. I think that it was Sam’s class that helped launch me into the fifth stage of the racial identity spectrum. However, in social settings, I still gravitate toward people of my own color. I also look for confirmation form people of color when I talk about racial topics to make sure I am still “within bounds” because I do not want to cross the line. I think that my family is also very close to how I am. Originally I was more narrow minded than they were (before I went to college that is). But after being on an integrated campus and particularly this class, I was only exposed to this many people of color a few times. This helped me come to the level my parents are at. Both my parents were raised in New York. One in Queens, and one on Long Island. Because of the racial exposure they both experienced as children and teenagers growing up, I think that they jumped into the fifth spectrum a long time ago. I think they could both potentially be heading to stage six, particularly my dad because he deals with patients who are mostly people of color, and many of which do not speak English (which is the only language he speaks). He has come to understand that those who speak Portuguese and Spanish cannot instantly learn English and that they have to speak the language they know. Luckily a translator is there to help a lot of the time so he can operate on the appropriate area and fix what is wrong, but he is patient with them and allows them to take their time when trying to explain what the issue is. My friends unfortunately are very far below my stage and it is sad to see that they are close minded. I know it is not their fault because my best friends grew up in a very “white” neighborhood for their entire lives and also go to college at predominantly “white” universities. I hope one day they will jump into higher stages.

World In Conversation : Tax Dollars at War

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 00:40:04 +0000

I thought that the video was enlightening, however I do not think all the figures were inaccurate like Sam had stated in the description of the movie. I think that the video gives a decent amount of detail as far as how the money is allocated toward government military sectors and projects. It was interesting to learn that there was a also a black box that money gets allocated to that the public never knew about until someone slipped and said something about it during a speech. The point I did not like was that the narrator made a wild estimate of how much extra money he thought the government took to put into that fund. There was no support for his extra twenty billion dollar addition. The fact that the government is using drones or “predators” to fly over the Middle East isn’t enough justification to assume that. The narrator and creator of this film seems to have more liberal views on war and the allocation of money to begin with. That being said, wouldn’t he be against having troops in the Middle East? If anything he should be supporting the fact that the government is taking the additional twenty billion that he claims is added to the black box in order to save lives and not have to jeopardize our troops’ well-being. Personally, I don’t mind giving all that money to the military. It is them who allow us to sleep easy at night and not have to worry about being attacked by terrorists every waking second. In the words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt the United States “speak[s] softly and [carries] a big stick.” In translation: We have a B.A. Army and we know it and you should too. Because of this attitude and ability to have such a great military, Americans are not being occupied by Germany under a Nazi regime because we had such a superior military during the Second World War. We are always at the forefront to help allies who are in need and we have the capability to do so. I love knowing that I am safe because we have the latest, greatest, and most innovative military equipment and tactics to keep my country safe which in turn keeps my family and friends safe. The United States of America is the country that I grew up in, and the country that I know and love and preserving it should be the number one factor, no matter what the cost is.

World In Conversation : Voices From The Classroom

Fri, 7 Oct 2011 18:44:08 +0000

Personally I take offence to that. I am not sure what kind of “guys” the two girls in this video hang out with on a regular basis, but they should consider befriending some new, more put together “guy” friends. To start, men, not guys, know how to dress and usually do so on a regular basis. I’m not the oldest or wisest person, but when it comes to dress, I try to dress with class. Also it is not that guys do not “even have to worry about looking good.” The vast majority of guys at least try to put themselves together; although I cannot speak on behalf of people going to classes. The major factor controlling what guys wear is that the style men have to choose from does not particularly allow us to dress uncomfortably. In fact, it is women’s fault men don’t dress more uncomfortably and have the appearance of “not having to worry about looking good”. The reason I say this is because the fashion industry is run predominantly by women. When the argument of how men dress is boiled down its bare basics, it is women who decide how men look and what their comfort level is. As for women and what they wear, it is no one’s fault but their own when they wear short skirts and high heels and sacrifice their comfort. Some girls wear it because it makes them feel “sexier” and it is a confidence boost. Maybe some girls like to wear high heels to give them a couple of extra inches because they feel shorter than others. There are many factors that go into what makes people dress the way they do. However, if girls have such a big deal about it, then they need to take action to change how the fashion industry designs women’s clothing. The best way to do that is simply to stop buying that type of clothing. Industry is based on supply and demand. Simple economics. If there is less of a demand for short skirts and high heels, then there will be a swing in the market and the designers will begin creating clothes more suited for the consumer. This process cannot be done by just one or two girls; it would take the majority of the population to make that change. Judging by what I saw down town last night; that is not going to change anytime soon.

World In Conversation : Voices From The Classroom

Sat, 1 Oct 2011 01:02:30 +0000

The reason that women are seen as more innocent than men is because of chivalry through out the ages, men have put women on a pedestal allowing people to view them as not capable of doing bad. This thought process has been around even before the renaissance era, dark ages, and up until the modern age. I think that this thought process was influenced because of how women were treated years ago. Women were supposed to be house mothers and to stay at home. They were supposed to raise the kids and ensure the dinner was ready for the husband to eat when he got home from a long day of work. Going back further in time, women were supposed to support the children and they were supposed to gather nuts, berries, and small items around the camping ground. Men on the other hand were the ones to go out and hunt for food to bring back to the rest of the village. Granted, these were much simpler times, but they were the norm for centuries. Because of these norms, women were thought to never do anything out of the ordinary and therefore seem more innocent than men. Men also make a bad name for themselves as far as innocence goes. Men are almost always the villains in movies and tv shows because people associate men with actual “bad guys”. People such as Al Capone, Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and others don’t help. Then there are characters such as Scarface, Gordon Gekko from Wall Street, and George Jung from Blow. Its men who take risks, even illegal ones to try to better themselves and therefore are viewed as bad people. A lot of the thought that women are more innocent than men went out the window come the Vietnam War. During the Vietnam War, women and kids tried to kill United State soldiers, and that unfortunately was a psychological issue for many of the soldiers. The men had the idea that women and kids were innocent and had issues protecting themselves because they were not expecting such people to come out and try to harm them. This situation caused many men to have issues with women and kids later in life, and even in America the place where they protected during the time that they served. It is unfortunate that people do not view women as innocent any more and that they are now being viewed as more of an equal to men.

World In Conversation : Everyone Respond to This For This Week's Blog!

Sat, 24 Sep 2011 01:45:19 +0000

For the Haiti project blog I would like to first start off by saying that it is amazing that these Haitian entrepreneurs have the drive and motivation to create these business ventures. They are adding to their communities’ economic situation and building a better area around them. Not necessarily in the sense of building homes or repairing buildings, but bringing in money to help stimulate their towns. Not only was I blown away, I learned about the Haitians’ situation that they are currently faced with. I learned that they have to travel extreme distances just to run their business. For example the entrepreneur, Suze Fleuriza, has to travel 2 hours away to the market every time she needs supplies for her business such as, peanuts, cups, and aluminum foil. I also learned that the Haitian people do not have cafeterias in their schools, causing even more hardships on the families because it is another meal that they must worry about. Luckily Suze Fleuriza did an incredible job creating a business of packaging different types of peanuts to sell to the local community. She cleans, roasts, and packages the peanuts along with three other workers. Unfortunately the cleaning and roasting process takes three hours each to complete. This time burden costs her money in the long run because she is unable to make more product to sell to people in the surrounding areas. Suze Fleuriza is also expanding her business to peanut butter, trying to figure out ways to better expedite the peanut cleaning and roasting process, and is trying to broaden her selling radius to neighboring towns and schools for kids’ lunches. Clarene Blaise is another entrepreneur who takes slightly worn jeans and makes hand bags with decorations on them. These bags also include pockets for cell phones (another thing I learned that many Haitians have). Not only does she manage to make these durable bags for about $25, she also makes collared shirts for companies using silk screening. However she runs into a problem with the silk screening method since it is not as good as the methods we, in the United States, use. Clarene Blaise is an incredible woman who does not want handouts, but wants to make her business great by her own will power. She also wants to be able to buy cheaper textiles from Asia instead of the Dominican Republic so she can further expand her business. These entrepreneurs have amazing aspirations and should be a motivation to all entrepreneurs around the world. To be able to push through hardships and make the best out of the situations at hand.

World In Conversation : Voices From The Classroom

Thu, 15 Sep 2011 00:20:58 +0000

I think Judaism is not a culture or a race, but a religion and strictly that. There is significant evidence as to why it is a religion and not a culture or race. If Judaism is a culture then every other religion in the world would be a culture as well. For example Christianity (more specifically Catholicism because I know it best and practice it) would be just as much of a culture as Judaism. If the argument of celebrations in the Jewish faith is said to be a culture, than the same can happen with the Catholic belief. Jewish believers celebrate Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, Hanukkah, and other celebrations. Followers of Judaism also practice eating kosher food and have other rules that they follow. On the same note, Catholics believe in Easter, Christmas, Lent, Ash Wednesday, Holy Thursday, and Good Friday. During the Lenten season all Catholics are supposed to sacrifice something that they enjoy as reconciliation for the sacrifice Jesus gave. All of which could be considered part of a culture. The reason Judaism is not a race is because race cannot be changed. Christians, Jews, Buddhists, and Muslims are all practicing a certain religion and if they choose to they are allowed to change their belief. People convert to different religions all of the time. However, people from Italy are not allowed to just say they’re Portuguese if they’re not actually from there or have descendants from Portugal. For example, I (an American with heritage from Italy, Germany, Austria, and several other countries) cannot say I am African or Chinese. I will also never become African or Chinese no matter how hard I try. I could get a citizenship in one of those countries/ continents, but I will never truly be a member of that race/ ethnic group. People’s beliefs can be changed and that is why people change religions such as converting from Christianity to Judaism. But does that really make that person a part of the Jewish race? No. Because people cannot change ethnicity or race. Judging by the fact that people are unable to pick and choose their heritage and race; and because people are allowed to convert to different religious beliefs, Judaism is clearly not a race. Judaism is not a culture either because there are many religions that believe in doing certain things during different parts of the year and have beliefs that they follow which changes their eating habits or requires people to act in different ways. Therefore, Judaism is only a religion and is not a race or a culture.

World In Conversation : Voices From the Classroom

Fri, 9 Sep 2011 03:05:05 +0000

I think, even that after watching the “we’re all monkeys” video, that we evolved past monkeys and that we are more superior than our evolutionary cousins, the ape. The reason I think that we as humans developed from apes is because of what they said in the movie; that genetically we are so close to them. The fact that we are closer genetically to apes than two different species of elephants speaks volumes. When you break down the body and how it forms, the building blocks to life and genetic makeup are DNA strands. Mutations in deoxyribonucleic acid is how we have so many different life forms on this planet. Life was created when the Earth was young. The friction in the air caused lightning and the power of the lightning created amino acids which are the building blocks to DNA. With the DNA single celled life was formed and over millions of years, the DNA mutated and caused multiple cell organisms to be created. With that process continuing further, animals became more and more complex and it was only a matter of time before life advanced to the point where it became land based. While the land based animals evolved they became smarter and in due time apes were luckily mutated. This constant mutation allowed for smarter and bigger apes which soon lead to the birth of homo sapiens, aka human beings. What really separates us from apes is the fact that we have extremely developed brains and with that came the amazing mutation that gave us “free will”. This is what truly makes us superior to all other animals on the planet Earth. (I say on Earth because there could be species out of our solar system that could be smarter than we are. However, that is a different discussion for another time). The fact that we have the choice to do what we want, have feelings, and can control our bodies like no other animal can makes us superior to all other life forms. Some may run faster than us. Some can open doors. Some can swim for miles without taking a single breath. Every animal has “won” in their own respective way and in their own special fields. In my opinion however, human beings have “won” the ultimate prize of being the most superior animal on Earth. We “won” the ability of free will and have the power to dominate any other life form that comes in our way. Free will has given us the gift and power to say that we are the superior life form, and it all started out with evolution.

World In Conversation : What do you want to know before it's all over?

Wed, 31 Aug 2011 16:44:59 +0000

There are many things I would like to learn and figure out during my time in sociology 119 this semester but there is one thing I would like to know that really interests me. I would like to know if there is still a need for affirmative action and who is to decide if it is time for the law to be ceased. Originally instated in 1961 by John F. Kennedy, affirmative action was to help achieve non-discrimination. This, at the time, was a serious topic of discussion and became an issue to many people in the majority. As time went on different amendments were added to increase the effectiveness of affirmative action to make sure it was working effectively. With an increase in the number of working minorities, I would say that affirmative action definitely worked well in the beginning and even up to today. But now with American culture and acceptance of minorities the way it is currently I do not think that there is a need for affirmative action anymore. Several reasons for this are because affirmative action helps “minorities” which are not just blacks. It is Hispanics, Asians, Native Americans, and many other groups of people as well except white. In 2002, a poll was taken by Harris Interactive for the journal American Demographic. In this poll 77% of whites and 64% of Hispanics opposed affirmative action. Their reasoning for this was because they thought it dictated racial quotas. In the same poll 80% of whites and 71% of Hispanics were against the special preferences given due to affirmative action laws. In both of those portions of the poll, a large majority of the Hispanic minority group thought affirmative action was not benefiting them, but in fact hindering them. On the other hand, 84% of blacks feel affirmative action is still necessary. The most predominant reason for my belief that affirmative action should be rescinded is because a minority has officially made it to the most prestigious position possible: President of the United States of America. A black man beat a white man for the most powerful potion (arguably) in the world. This shows that there is no “glass ceiling” keeping minorities down and preventing them from holding positions of power and extreme wealth. It proves that anything is possible for minorities and it also shows that they are supported by the majority of the country and that is clearly the white population. In conclusion I would like to see who should get the final say in the argument of keeping or expelling affirmative action. I would also like to know if this generation of students thinks that affirmative action is still as necessary as the 84% of blacks think it is. http://usa.usembassy.de/classroom/affirmativeacti...