Propaganda: information put out by an organization or government to promote a policy, idea, or cause (from Encarta dictionary (English, North American).
That is one word that I feel as if a majority of students are unable or unwilling to fully understand. What aggravates me or rather frustrates me is to see all of the students in the class that can’t or don’t want to understand that there is more than one side to every story. I thought this class was one of the better lectures of the year but at the same time I feel as if Sam could have hit it even harder and brought it more to the heart then people realize.
When Sam was talking about the “War on Oil” what people don’t realize is that the U.S.A. went into the middle east back in the late 80s to early 90s and most people say that we (the U.S.A.) went in then for oil and would someday go back to finish what we started. I am not trying to sit here and say that it the war was solely based on oil because it wasn’t but at the same time I think there are some very ignorant people in the class who refuse to see any other point of view.
Personally I feel as if Sam did a great job and made it apparent of the double standards that are placed on the world for a U.S.A. perspective. We in the United States feel as if were the best and nothing else can touch us and that just isn’t true. People view all Muslims as bad and if you remember in the beginning of the war on the Middle East some news outlets were saying it was the us against the Muslims. So why is it so hard for you as a college student to understand why or how people in the Middle East view the war as a Christian Invasion?
People in the class who got mad at Sam for this lecture are clearly ignorant in some respects. Sam wasn’t trying to blame everything on Christianity he was trying to show another point of view to everyone and its completely ridiculous that some people can’t see any other point of view. I think he did a great job with this lecture and have had some serious conversations about the exact points that Sam covered in this class with some of my friends. Sam has said since the beginning of the class that he isn’t trying to change your opinion; all he is trying to do is get you to think. I feel like the most important thing Sam does in this class is that he makes you defend your opinions to yourself and that right there is one of the hardest things to do.
It’s our right and privilege as citizens of the United States to educate ourselves especially with all of the opportunities lying right in our hands. It is downright ignorant to blame someone or cast an individual out for having different opinions as yourself. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion yet at the same time I feel as if we as college students, which means we are by no means stupid, should be able to see another person’s point of view on any subject. We don’t have to agree with that person’s perspective but we must be able to see their side. It’s when we are unable to see another person’s perspective that leads to bigotry and prejudice.

This wasn’t the first time seeing this video however I will never forget the first time I saw this video. I feel as if this is one of the best examples of what racial issues truly mean. There aren’t many true examples that can not only affect but also influence all people no matter what their race and this is one of those few times. This video is truly unsettling and rather disturbing. I cannot even begin to express all of the emotions that this video instills in people. It is truly sad and rather frustrating to realize how much the media and society portray beauty and I feel as if a good amount of people never even fully realized the impact that society can have on our viewpoints until they saw this video. The most disturbing point of this whole video is to see the distress and pain in the children’s faces. It is so disturbing to see that a child at four years old views a white baby doll as good and a black baby doll as bad; I mean where does this viewpoint originate from? Do these viewpoints come from the parents? or how about the media? Or why not both?
I want to sit here and rant about how media has negatively affected and influenced not only us but children at such young ages; however I cannot sit here and blame just the media. We, as a society, influence those who work in the media and thus we are to blame just as much as the media. A young child doesn’t become influenced to this extent, to pick a white baby as good and a black baby as bad, just because of the media but rather children are influenced by their parents and those they look up to. I think that we as a society must take some of the blame (I am a white male in case anyone was wondering) and realize how much influence we can have on children. I feel as if a lot of people are taking the role that it is all the Medias fault but when you really think about it, which truly influences your children, here let me answer that for you; you do. I am sick of the media being blamed for everything, it’s an escape goat. If you’re a parent and your four year old is racist, the child didn’t learn that from the media rather they learned that from the parent. What you must also realize is that the media is made up of people that were influenced by their parents and thus another question comes to mind; who is responsible for their (the people who run the media) beliefs and opinions?

I can personally understand both sides of this equation; I honestly believe each individual was in the right. The flight attendant was merely following procedure when she saw something she knew nothing about with a suspicious look to it. On the other hand the Jewish boy was merely praying and it isn’t his fault that most Americans are ignorant to most other cultures. I am not going to sit here and say that I personally know everything about every religion seeing as I do not but I am aware of a lot of other cultures and aware of different praying rituals.
I would like to interject that both the boy and the girl seem to show an immense amount of maturity in this situation by cooperating with the authorities to make sure the situation was cleared up in a timely fashion. I must mention however that I am basing my assumptions, on the fact that the boy and girl acted with the utmost respect for the officers and maturity during the situation, on the word of the police sergeant and the grandmother and we must remember that the police officer wouldn’t say that the children were anything less due to the fear of further negative publicity of their police department. I am not discrediting that the kids were anything but respectful and mature in this situation but I would just like to say that we can’t always believe everything we read we must decipher the real from the politically correct and the bias in everything.
Now back to the ignorance of Americans. I feel as if it is a nationwide problem in the United States. Take for example, how republicans hate what is going on with politics right now while democrats are in love with their country. I hate to say it but most of Americans are not fully aware of other cultures. I personally am Syrian and most people I tend to tell this to seem to back off a little bit. I am only 25 percent and I can feel the caution in Americans in regard to anything they aren’t comfortable. I feel as if the flight attendant should have been educated in different forms of prayer and this is no fault at hers but rather the fault of the airlines. The airlines have faith that their employees will act more cautiously since 9-11 yet it seems that they are forgetting some minor things such as education of their employees. It is the airlines responsibility to educate their employees and I wish that they would take a greater role in this whole situation. It’s unfortunate how scared Americans are today yet it is no surprise as Americans are not used to this kind of things happening to them on their own soil. As horrible as this is to say, I truly believe that if this awful experience happened elsewhere in the world there wouldn’t be nearly as much safety regulations in the travel.
Thus in conclusion I do believe that this situation occurred for more than one reason and is really no one true’s fault rather the nation is at fault as a whole. I think Americans need to be more educated and our government should work on educating our own instead of spending money in other areas that aren’t always our problem. The boy should have realized that his actions were going to be a little questionable but again the flight attendant should have realized and known what he was doing was merely praying.

hi