gdp's Comments

World In Conversation : Japan's Disaster

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 22:28:26 +0000

I saw these photos the other day and it really hit home with me. Honestly, initially I didn't realize the full gravity of what was happening in Japan until a few days after. It's so crazy how down the road though, looking back, you have a flash bulb memory of an event, because you realize that you lived through and somewhat experienced something that will go down in the history books. I will never lose the exact picture in my mind of when I found out about 9/11. I remember exactly where I was and what it looked like, even exactly how the TV we watched everything on looked and my principal's who told me's type of facial hair. What has happened in Japan is instantly known in our whole world, especially as we are increasingly interconnected- like Freidman's book, the World is Flat. I was able to watch footage of the tsunami on YouTube. I have a friend who lives in Japan that I skyped with the other week who talked about the situation. I have a friend who is studied abroad in Japan, met his current girlfriend there, and she was able to visit recently. And I was able to send money right away to a local development organization who is doing outreach efforts there. I feel like often we get on overload though. I used to be really good at staying updated with the news, and now I rarely do. The headlines are always "x amount of people die in terrorist attack". "x corporation is laying off these people" "x person filed a lawsuit...". It makes you feel so overwhelmed, that there is so much going on that we can't possibly know about it all or do anything about it at all. Or Yahoo news gives me a headline about Charlie Sheen or Miley Cyrus's most recent exploits while important things are happening in the world. Stupid. But it's honestly easier for us to be entertained than to focus on the important things in the world. My friends Phil and Caitlin who went to Haiti over Spring Break described it as being an environment of such contrasts of great hope and great brokenness. The people are so warm and inviting, yet everything they have has been taken from them. There are children who are thankful for life itself that dance amidst the rubble, and children sitting on the same rubble sniffing glue. I wish I could see both in the media. All I heard about Haiti was fatalistic, terrible things. I want to see the truth: show me the destruction, the pain and suffering and I will look it in the eye. But also show me the joy of people who are overcoming, and starting new. I am sure there must be such hope amidst every disaster we see in the media. I send my prayers and hope to those suffering in Japan, that new life can come out of the rubble.

World In Conversation : If we lived in a female centered world what words would be used to describe sex?- 119 Blog

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 21:42:56 +0000

F***. Originally means to strike. Bang. A suddent painful blow. I honestly am not sure if using there violent terms for sex are necessarily related to male domination, or if it's symptomatic of our the commoditization of sex in our society. Sexual intimacy was largely viewed as a more spiritual thing in centuries before ours. In the Judeo-Christian it was said that when a couple has sex, "they are no longer two, but one." (from the Bible: Matthew 19:6); there was a binding together of souls. In traditional Jewish marriages, couples did not kiss until there wedding day, and that kiss was a seal of their love forever. Even though we live in the age of the hookup and it is the norm to view sex as "just sex", I think sex is such a powerful thing that that's not really possible to do without people getting hurt. One thing researchers know is that when women have sexual contact, oxytocin is released, the same hormone that is released when women breastfeed. This hormone creates a feeling of attachment, a desire to nurture, and warmth. Partially explains why girls are more likely than guys to wish the hookup would become a relationship. I don't think men realize that women are way more emotional than visual creatures compared to them. I know a woman who said she felt like she was being raped on her wedding night. Her husband had waited so long to have sex with her, and come the time they got into that hotel room, one look at her naked and he was ready to go. She wanted to be caressed, romanced. Another friend of mine's story could not be more opposite. Her husband was willing to let her take her time because he knew she was tired from the reception, and when they did have sex that night, it was amazing for both of them. Again, as Lori pointed out, I don't think women realize how easily guys get turned on, and how hard it is for them to "stop". When we put on that sexy outfit, we know we will get attention, and we know we look good, but I don't know if we realize how far a guy will go in his mind. One of my guy friends told me that he would intentionally avoid the HUB lawn during the summer, because he knew that when he saw the girls tanning wearing bikinis, he would not be looking at women as women, with thoughts and feelings, but as images that would turn him on. We are feeling wanted when he goes crazy over us, he is just feeling sexual desire for your body as an object to satisfy his sexual cravings. I don't know what woman if she is truly honest with herself, wants to be viewed as an object and not a person. Isn't this what the women's rights movements fought for? Why should we throw this away?

World In Conversation : Were you surprised by any of Basum's responses or his appearance and why?- 119 Blog

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 14:33:18 +0000

My question for Basum was “How does the average Iraqi feel about Israel?”. After a long pause he replied, “Israel? *sigh*.... Israel.... Israel is Arab land. They kicked the Palestinians out.” I was not surprised by his response. In high school I learned in history about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, the debate over the Gaza strip...etc. In fact I asked because I though there might be some hard feelings. Yet I found his response to be fascinating. Throughout the whole time we asked him some very intense questions, he had such an incredible quality of not getting agitated about anything. He responded so calmly to the 29:1 ratio, and even when he recalled stories of mistreatment of his people his responses were very even keeled. Yet when he responded to the question about Israel there seemed to be a deep seated frustration, or tension, it seemed to have hit a nerve. He felt that this was such an obvious thing, yet if you ask a Jew living in Israel, I think they would say something like “This is our rightful land.” and that “We have a right to defend it.” Yet I can image that many of Israel’s Arab neighbors seem to feel “It is our land, we have a right to have it back.” I thought it was really neat that although . I hope that we as Americans can remember that experience, and the next time we are tempted to make generalizations and think “Those Muslims....” or “Those Arabs....”, or to see someone with darker skin or wearing a scarf and think “terrorist.”, to remember Basum. To remember that they are real people just like us with real hopes and dreams, with real desire for peace. Honestly, propaganda is only convincing when you don’t have true reality to compare to. Now that I have talked to (well, listened to) a man from Iraq and heard how down to earth he is, movies like the “JIHAD!!!” video we watched earlier, and the fear-mongering against Muslims in the Middle East seems EVEN more ridiculous. It was incredibly comforting to hear Basum’s response to the 9/11 attacks. “I was terrified. I couldn’t believe my eyes.” He compared Islam extremists to any other extremists, that they are a small, dangerous radical minority. I think that oftentimes we can be afraid of the unknown. Honestly, as 9/11 happened when I was going to a not so diverse school, in not so diverse central PA as a 5th grader, I had never seen images of Arab people before. My first education, my first notable encounter was 9/11, seeing and hearing about Osama bin Laden, seeing men in turban’s threatening my country. I am so thankful that over time, I have been able to retrain my brain to not assume these kind of associations. I have met real people that are Muslim, and are just like me. I can see the beauty in their culture. Our talk with Basum really helped to remind me of those truths.

World In Conversation : Why did the white students tell the story differently than the mixed or black students?- 119 blog

Sat, 16 Apr 2011 01:39:57 +0000

Part 2: In fact, when the telephone game was going down, I noticed how the n word got left out, but though, what would I have done in her situation? I don't think I could have said it, I would have said "n word" or "n bomb". I am definitely not going to claim that I am in the humanitarian stage when I'm not. I love and accept people of all races, but I have not yet the ease and comfort of talking about these things, and not worrying about stepping on toes when I talk to people of color. I don't think any of the white people felt that the violence perpetrated against the black students in the stories was not a big deal, or worth minimizing it, but we would have less loose of a tongue in describing it. What I think is a more interesting question is if we can be capable of having conversations about racism if what we base our dialogue on is what has been passed on from people. Dr. Jones' point from the entire game was saying, how can we have these conversations without information? I think there ARE cases where white people minimize racism. And that is not ok and people need to fess up for the wrong being done, and the blame that is deserved. Likewise, I think there are cases that black people think that something someone did was racist, when really they were just having a bad day, or the person was rude to them and they were just mad at them for being rude. People need to look at themselves, and realize they are often part of the problem. People need to look at others, and try to see them for who they are and what they are doing, not what we expect them to do. Nobody likes to be judged.

World In Conversation : Why did the white students tell the story differently than the mixed or black students?- 119 blog

Sat, 16 Apr 2011 01:39:13 +0000

It is really odd that as Dr. Jones pointed out, from the evolution of the story, a white person calling a black person a nigger became a scuffle. I think it is less of a white person sugarcoating what is done against a colored person, and more of people wanting to be politically correct and not offend. I personally don't know how people of color would respond if I said the word nigger out loud. Black rappers can call each other niggers, but if a white rapper would call a black person a nigger, all hell would break loose. Even typing it makes me kind of nervous. I feel that as a white person, I do not have the liberty to use that word. A word that so represents years of hate and violence by people of my skin color, possibly my own ancestors, against a black person is not one that I feel I can say.

World In Conversation : Do you ever feel uncomfortable around two or more people speaking another language?- 119 Blog

Sat, 2 Apr 2011 00:29:08 +0000

I definitely have felt uncomfortable in the past when people are speaking a language I don't understand. I think I have a natural tendency to assume the worst. At my high school , being a white English as first language speaker made me a minority. Most of my peers were from Korea, or Chinese speaking countries. My graduating class consisted of 2 Singaporeans, 1 Malaysians, 2 Americans, 1 Dutch, 2 Taiwanese 13 Koreans. I had some really ridiculous girl drama with some of the Korean girls and guys, so whenever I would hear them speaking in Korean, I would assume it was gossip or trash talk. I realized that while this is sometimes the case, it is unfair to come into a relationship with the assumption that they will do you wrong before you even get to know them as an individual. In our discussion group, one of my classmates was saying that it really irritates him when his roommate speaks loudly on the phone late at night, especially because he is Chinese. He mentioned that sometimes he thinks he is saying his name, and talking about him. Being able to speak Mandarin, I asked him what his name was. Turns out that his name sounds like the Chinese word for "state", so I'm guessing that what he thought was his roomie talking about him, was really him talking about Penn State. I think that this goes to show that the ignorance we have, combined with this intuitive fear that someone has negative feelings towards us can be a double-edged sword. From here we can make assumptions, (ex. you are talking about me, you are being rude, Chinese people are rude) and form attitudes (Chinese people are so rude.") that can sometimes translate into negative behavior (I will not befriend Chinese people, I won't be as patient with Chinese people). We get freaked out by what is different and what we cannot understand. (Check out a youtube video called "What American English sounds like to non-English speakers) Now, I mostly just get excited when a person speaks in a language that is foreign to me, and I feel like becoming friends with them and learning their language. :) I think it is incredibly beautiful that our Creator God gave us as humans an ability to create culture. How boring it would be if we were all the same color, ate the same foods, did the same things, and spoke the same language? I look forward to a day when there is not strife over this diversity, but unity. A day after I die when I will see God face to face, as Jesus promised that he would redeem people from every ethnicity and language. "...you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation." (Revelation 5:9) That is going to be one hell of a party.

World In Conversation : For the white females: would you ever date a black guy?- 119 Blog

Sat, 26 Mar 2011 02:45:09 +0000

Would I date a black guy? I think all three of you men are very attractive. I would date you! So ask me out, lol. One of my friends who has dated all different colored men, black, white, asian, you name it, told me that black guys are better kissers. I personally think that biracial children tend to be more attractive than your average babies. I have always wanted my kids to have that little fro puff that black babies have. I would not only date a black guy, I would marry a black guy. I know for me the most important quality in the guy that I date is that he has the same faith as me, and is passionate about it. I am a Christian, not just in the way that that is the category I check the box next to, not just on Sundays to be religious, it effects my worldview and the way I live every day of my life. This is really more important to me than all other qualities, and skin color is not even on the list. Also, high on my list is respect. I don't know how many guys know this, but you can be the hottest guy in the world, but if you carry around a huge ego and treat girls like crap, we can tell and are not going to be interested. Most girls would rather be with an "average" level attractiveness guy who treats us well then a hottie who is a jerk. I think what would be difficult though is to date someone from a completely different cultural background than you. My friend Tracy went to life in Ethiopia, married an Ethiopian man named Solomon from there, and has lived there ever since . They are very happily married with three beautiful children, but early in their marriage they not only had to deal with the issues of being newlyweds, but also being cross-cultural newly weds. In Ethiopia, even married couples keep their private life very private. Tracy would have had an argument with Solomon, but if they were in public, he would smile and act like nothing was going on. She would see him as being passive and acting like a chicken and running away from the conflict, when in reality it was just part of culture, him doing what he knew. I would wonder whether a black guy would want to date me. It seems to me that a lot of black people and Penn State like to join organizations with other black people, like Kappa Alpha Psi, the NAACP, Black Caucus, S.M.A.R.T. Black people are a minority of 5.4% at Penn State University Park. I am guessing that that makes black men 2.7% of the population. If they are all huddling together, I have even lower changes of meeting them. I can't date a black guy if he's never around.

World In Conversation : How do irrelevant racial signifiers affect racial stereotypes?- 119 Blog

Fri, 18 Mar 2011 05:39:51 +0000

I don't think that racial signifiers affect racial stereotypes, I would more say that racial signifiers are evidence of the presence of (or lack thereof) racial stereotypes in a person's thinking. Like Sam was saying in class, if a person uses too many racial signifiers when unnecessary (my black assistant pastor did this, my black assistant pastor did that) it can show that there might be a deeper issue going on, as would if a person avoids racial signifiers even when they would be helpful. Stereotypes are a sticky thing, but I feel like people have them for a reason. It seems evident to me that we as humans are meaning makers. We never see an event simply as an event in of itself, but want to connect the dots. Why did this happen? I think this ability to create schemas, to order the wealth of information we process into meaningful categories is part of the wonders of the human mind. I would argue that stereotypes are not necessarily bad, and can even be helpful. It becomes dangerous when we assume that this generalization applies to everyone in the group, or when we judge people without getting to know them first as an individual. For example, I generally assume that people who are obese have low self-esteem issues and do not take care of their bodies. This is grounded in reality that often this is the truth. However, this is not always the case. Perhaps a person is obese for reasons beyond their control. Perhaps they are very confident and very obese. Yet in my lifetime, most friends I have that are obese do in fact have self esteem issues and do not take care of their bodies. It is helpful for me to generalize that, because I can know what someone may tend to struggle with if they are obese. When I was in my senior year of high school at an international school that was predominately Korean, I witnessed some pretty horrible drama between my fellow female classmates. Best friends became mortal enemies, and it escalated to the point that my one friend Jenny was personally victimized. At one point, the bully's got so irate, I was sure she was going to hit my friend. I defended my friend, and the bully and her sidekick cussed me out. This was not the first time I had experienced Korean girls being extremely rude, mean and catty. When I shared this story with my roommate and explained how mean I felt Korean girls are, she was rather unmoved and said "That's just girls." It had never dawned on me that I had made a complete generalization that all Korean girls had this higher tendency to be catty, life ruiners. I was so wrong to make that assumption, and I think we can all agree that sometimes we make mistakes when we try to connect the dots to make sense of our world.

World In Conversation : Is it selfish for people in poverty to have more kids because of their lower income?- 119 Blog

Sat, 26 Feb 2011 01:52:41 +0000

As we heard Tammy's story, I couldn't help but think about Elba's story we watched in one of my other classes. This 17 year old girl had just given up her first child to live with her mother, and was moving away to live with her new, 14 year old boyfriend. When her case worker asked if Elba was pregnant again, she replied "Yes." When her case worker asked if she and her boyfriend had jobs, they both replied "No." Speaking of having her second child, she commented, "We wanted something of our own." This larger issue of having kids when clearly a person is not ready to be a parent, and cannot support them financially seems to be about a complex tangle of problems. Though I think it is selfish of her to seek love in this way that is so detrimental to others, I don't think that's the issue at its core. I would also, however, say that there is selfishness involved if we look at the child-bearing and child-rearing practices of the more upper and middle class. I would venture to say that for every two families that says "I don't have enough money to have x amount of children." one family DOES. My Uncle always thought my parents were crazy for having 3, then 4, then 5 kids (though number five was a surprise baby. some sperm are so persistent they defy birth control). However, his definition of raising children meant that nothing they wanted was ever denied them; buying the most expensive clothes, going to expensive summer camps, full tuition paid to whatever tier college they chose...etc. I think it is just as selfish to want that child to be your model child that has a "perfect" life, as maybe Tammy's father or mother was for seeking love in a way that was so detrimental to her family's future. Our population distribution of young versus old in America used to be a pyramid, with many young people on the bottom, and gradually fading out to fewer old people on the top. However, recently it has been more of a square- with a relatively equal amount of older, middle aged and young people. In some nations in the world, the pyramid is actually completely inverted. Some of this is no doubt due to the fact that older people are living longer. However, much of this is due to the fact people in developed nations are having fewer kids. A friend of mine told me that his sociology professor once told his students, "Wanna save the West? Go have sex with someone and make a baby!" Though his classmates joked that "Wanna save the West?" being their next pickup line, this illustrates a legitimate issue in our society. Say the societal norm is for two people to get married and have one child, the population would not even be able to replace itself. When those two people die, only one child lives on in their place. This also means that that one child is paying social security money into the pot what two people need to get out. This becomes even more of an issue when we consider couples who do not ever have children, or individuals who never have children. They are inherently reaping the benefits of others' children. Maybe Tammy's Dad and these people can learn from each other.

World In Conversation : How much can a person use the ignorance card?- 119 Blog

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 23:59:58 +0000

I don't think we can play the ignorance card. With great power comes great responsibility. I have a hard time believing that Ryan or anyone in our Soc 119 is really in the bottom 3% of the world. Have you ever seen poverty with your own two eyes? I have. This past summer when I was in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia my team visited a community of people that lived on a giant trash mound that they called "Korah." Children there lived in homemade cardboard tents, the stench of the refuse that made us almost vomit, was their backyard. They made their livelihood through picking out metal scaps, plastic bottles and other salvageable objects from this giant heap and selling them. While we walked up to this heap, I held a young girl's hand. She proudly pointed to the heap and said "My home!" As we walked up the mountain, she stopped, because she got something stuck in her flip flop. Turns out, a huge piece of glass gashed through her foot and she was steadily bleeding. Fortunately, we had a medical kit with us and were able to clean and dress her cut. I couldn't help but think how unfair it was that she could have just as easily contracted HIV from stepping on an infected needle in that trash heap instead of that glass. Leaving that place, I was overwhelmed and felt so powerless. Yet two of my friends that were there on that team decided to do something about it. They put on a fundraiser at their university that raised thousands of dollars for Korah, now the cycle of poverty can be broken. For about a $50 sponsorship each they can. Frankly, the responses to the Wal-Mart question and Ryan's comments made me leave class feeling disturbed and livid. I don't think we can ever be so poor that we cannot give. Ryan seemed to have a nice phone and nice clothes. Did he NEED those things? He is in a fraternity, does he NEED to pay those thousand dollar a year dues? I am not meaning to point the finger, but to get all of us to think. I know I am guilty too. I wish I could take back how much I have spent on getting the most recent style of clothing. This money could go to getting dozens clean water for a year, and I spend it on the American dream. I don't think we can know about every injustice, and do something for every cause, but we can do our part. What if our whole class committed to only eating fair trade chocolate for the rest of our lives? What a difference that would make. What a ripple effect it could have. Maybe slavery is YOUR issue to fight against, your cause to champion, maybe it's abortion, maybe it's cancer, whatever it is, we must act. None of us can save the world, but each one of us can change the world. Each one of us can be the world to one.

World In Conversation : What did you get out of King Of the Mountain?- 119 Blog

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 21:48:13 +0000

The King of the Mountain concept was fascinating. I love being able to learn concepts through images and illustrations. They stick, and force us to realize that these concepts we are learning were not made for the classroom, but relate to our real world everyday lives and interactions. I have never played this game so it was new for me. It made me think how ridiculous it is that one man on top can oppress many people on the bottom. Like Sam said, if the two guys had banded together, they totally could have taken him down. The whole time I watched the example, like when the one chick had to lie down on the table and then everyone held her down, I was getting frustrated. I kept thinking, why are they listening to him? The six of them together are so much powerful than one of him by himself. I think if we played this game, I would get the other people together, be like "screw you!", and push Sam off the table. That being said, I definitely think that the mental and psychological aspect of oppression is huge. We learned in my HD FS 315, Family Development class that often times, parents' job experiences affect their childrearing worldview. They often socialize their children to fill the same position they as parents filled. Education factored into the equation: college educated parents seemed to value autonomy and independence in their children, whereas those without a college education valued conformity and obedience. I couldn't help but wonder if parents with higher education have a sense that "I have come this far in life, I want you to do as well.", and parents with a lower education have a sense that "I have only come this fair, don't disappoint yourself by trying to dream and achieve higher." These findings relate closely to the psychological concept of learned helplessness, the act of giving up due to prior consistent failure, even when an opportunity to get out of the situation is possible. Take for example, that girl you know who is in a bad relationship with a boyfriend who doesn't treat her right, but won't get out. The last time she told him to stop saying things that hurt her, he lashed out even more. She has been in a relationship with this guy for so long that she thinks, "What is the point of getting out now?" or "It's not possible for anything to change." This dysfunction has become the new normal, and is accepted. I wonder if a similar phenomenon occurs and is part of the cause of the great of disparities out there; and why there is always a "King of the Mountain" whose word and action is golden. It seems to me that there really are many factors involved in why some people are on top and others are not. There is no way we can peg an issue as "it's because you are x race", or it's because you are lazy...etc. We must seek first to understand, and then be understood.

World In Conversation : Why Don't We Live Like the Monkeys?- 119 Blog

Sat, 5 Feb 2011 03:02:50 +0000

The film Sam showed in class was equally both thought provoking and offensive to me. Is it a good think that we as humans are capable of thinking for ourselves? Should we act live for the sake of living, like the monkeys that we are? Well, I don't think we are monkeys. Evolutionary theory is in fact, a theory, not fact. Many of the bones that are evidence of the transitional species between humans and monkeys come from China. The corruption is so bad that they get away with putting melamine in the milk that goes to America, lead in the crabs that are sold by weight that go to Korea. What's to keep them from making fake bones to make some cash? Maybe those prehistoric man parts should have the all too common "Made in China" tag too. And even if those are real and not doctored, so many are cranial and facial "fragments". Who is to say that we are piecing these fragments together correctly and not taking or bias towards this particular theory and then taking our artistic license too far. People have done studies to show how similar we are to monkeys. Such as teaching monkeys language like humans, and observing. Take for example, Koko the gorilla, who is said to have learned over 1000 words in sign language. Koko had a cat that he seemed to become very attached to that experimenters had stay in his living area. One day the cat died. Koko picked up the monkey and signed. "Koko sad. " The researchers marveled at our clearly intelligent and emotional cousin: groundbreaking. After a short pause, Koko promptly tossed the cat across the room and put his hand out for a treat. Smart monkey. Smart conditioned monkey. That monkey is not my cousin. I think that we as humans do act like monkeys, and it's a mess when we do. I see it downtown on College Ave and Beaver every weekend. We, who have one life to live, who are capable of being rational beings and making a difference in the world, choose to live less. We dress up in our best getups, drown ourselves in alcohol and go hook up with people we may or may not know. Sounds pretty instinctual and animal like to me. I think that as beings with free will, since we have the great capacity to do good, we have the equally great capacity to do evil. The wrath of a kitten is only so wrathful. The wrath of a dog is even greater. The wrath of a tiger, now that is what you call intense. Likewise, since we as humans have the ability to create, ponder, love, we have the ability to destroy, waste, hate. If we were simply animalistic and instinctual like our monkey friends, we couldn't do as much damage, but we also couldn't do as much good. We have the potential to be the next Hitler, or the next Martin Luther King, Jr. It's our life to live.

World In Conversation : Why Do We Need to be Politically Correct?- 119 Blog

Sat, 29 Jan 2011 04:51:54 +0000

Sam explained in class that although political correctness arises from a well meaning desire to not offend, it often results in silencing. I agree with his observations and think political correctness is not only unnecessary, but can be dangerous. I don't understand why calling someone "black" versus "African American" is offensive. What is wrong with being black anyways? Now if someone called someone "black" with a derogatory tone, I would be deeply offended. It seems that the issue at stake is what is the sentiment behind the words? If someone is genuinely a racist or completely inconsiderate of others, it would be no better or worse for them to express them in a"PC" way. My middle school geography teacher and soccer coach once shared his interesting experiences growing up in the United States in the 80s as a hybrid. He is self-proclaimed Asian looking but American in every other way. He recounts an experience when he was playing forward at the final match of the soccer championship. After he skillfully took the ball from one of his opponents, the guy proceeded to approach him, shove him on the ground, spit on him and he collided call him a "Chink". It seems to me that the focus of our concern should be on addressing the ugly beast of racism like this that clearly still exists and not get hung up on semantics. He also shared of an experience he had during a trip on the Amazon River. As they were traveling in a small boat on the river, they could peer into the edge of the Amazon Rain forest. In a particular instance, he saw some of the tribal people peering out. He was fascinated by the young boys of a completely different world who peered out at him, only wearing small loincloths. These boys, however were fascinated by him. They pointed at him, and put their hands on their faces and made gestures of squinting their eyes at the funny looking man. It seems that as people we tend to form distinctions between ourselves and "others". Both my teacher and the boys from the Amazon thought they were respectively "other" weird. Different. Strange. I once saw a poster that said "Political Correctness: Throwing Common Sense out the Window." There is some truth in this. Instead of thinking of the Golden Rule and acting accordingly, we go out of our way trying to avoid stepping on toes. On the one side, if people have prejudiced attitudes toward certain races, by all means they should shape up and we all have grounds to be offended. On the other side, if people are so easily offended by mere words that have no prejudice behind them, maybe they should rethink things. Oh, save me from this silly culture of PC!

World In Conversation : Why Don't We Know? - 119 Blog

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 16:48:11 +0000

What a great question. The fact that there are more slaves nowadays than at the peak of the slave trade as we know it in the West rocks my world. The stat that Sam shared in class was that there are 27 million people that live as slaves in the world today, and that nowadays we pay only $90 for a slave vs. the value of $40,000 in 1850. This not only disturbs me, but makes me want to do something- and I hope you feel the same way. Though we could blame this issue of ignorance on a number of external factors like education, consumerism that no doubt exacerbate the issue, I think the most logical explanation is not to where my finger is pointing out, but to look at the four pointing back to myself. Like we discussed in class, societies are all made up of individuals and therefore this societal problem of ignorance can be traced back to me. And you. It’s not as if I don’t have the means to educate myself. I would rather sit in my comfortable bubble where I am far well fed, educated, safe and free than the majority of the world population than to turn on the news and see people starving. The media does not cover world issues that matter enough, but has really become more of an entertainment industry. Yet many media experts argue that it is individual's thoughts and choice that impact the media, not vice versa. With great power comes great responsibility, and we would rather ignore that we have both that power and responsibility in our world. Honestly, why not just turn off the depressing scenes and return to my comfortable bubble? I think that beyond your question of why do we not know, is the questions of "Why do we not care?" and "Why do we not act?" Say that I do listen and KNOW about world issues, will I CARE? Say I KNOW and I CARE, will I act? I think we can all agree that we live in a very consumerist society- and I daresay we are very consumerist individuals. I would rather spend my $250 on a new pair of Ugg boots than to invest that same amount of money in a week of aftercare for a freed slave from the sex trafficking industry (http://www.ijm.org/give/impactofyourgift). Messed up, messed up to the core. "Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a while and then vanishes." This statement from James 4:14 from the Bible illustrates how brief our lives really are in the larger scope of life. I know that I want my brief blip of 80 or so years in history to be one that is a life that makes a difference, and not for the sake of myself, but for the glory of a person and a cause that will outlast myself.

World In Conversation : Why Don't We Know? - 119 Blog

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 11:55:46 +0000

(1) The fact that there are more slaves nowadays than at the peak of the slave trade as we know it in the West rocks my world, and makes me want to do something. Though we could blame it on a number of external factors like education, consumerism that no doubt exacerbate the issue, I think the most logical explanation is not to look where my one finger is pointing to, but to where the four are pointing back to. Like we discussed in class, societies are all made up of individuals and therefore this societal problem of ignorance can be traced back to me. And you.

World In Conversation : Last Name “O” – Intense Debate

Thu, 13 Jan 2011 04:20:39 +0000

hello T.A. friend!