I think society dislikes immigrants for several reasons, and some of these reasons may have been brought up because people are simply uneducated or misinformed about the effects that immigration has on the United States and its society. For example, one of the first reasons why I think people in the US dislike immigrants is because they believe that immigrants are taking over the jobs that people in the US could be doing. However, as mentioned in lecture, most of the immigrants coming to the US are extremely hard-workers and they fulfill the jobs and duties that even some of the poorest people in the US would not want. Maybe if people considered this idea, they would think twice before complaining about all the immigrants coming into our country. After all, we should feel fortunate to have been born in this country (to whom this applies) and be proud to welcome other people who wish to come to this country in search of a better life, especially when they’re willing and expecting to work in undesirable conditions and receive very little pay.

Another reason why I think society dislikes immigrants is because sometimes Americans get annoyed with people who may not be as “Americanized” or assimilated into our culture. For example, many Americans get annoyed and maybe even angry when they come into contact with people who do not speak English very well, and as a result have a negative view of immigrants and may think or say things such as “Go back to your own country!” However, again many Americans fail to realize that without immigration, most of us would not be here in the US. Unless we can directly link our ancestry with Native Americans, we all came from other countries at some point in our past, so we should really be thankful for immigration. Not all of our ancestors came to America speaking clear and fluent English, so why should we be condemning the people who are immigrating now and can’t speak clear English? At least today we have programs like English as a Second Language (ESL) to help speed up the process of immigrants and their children learning English.

I think immigrants are mainly portrayed badly because of these two reasons and because most Americans are too impatient to deal with immigrants’ assimilation into society. Many Americans fail to realize that immigrants’ decision to risk everything including their lives to sneak into the US illegally is actually almost admirable because I’m sure most of us would never consider leaving our country with almost nothing to try to become successful in another country where people speak a different language and many of these people have a negative attitude towards you. These immigrants clearly care so much for their families that they are willing to risk their lives in order to help their family survive, and yet we don’t even try to understand their situation. Instead, we think “Why don’t you just go back to your own country?” rather than “I wonder what they left behind to get here?”

The video that had the greatest impact on me was the one where some US soldiers drove a military tank over a civilian’s car, completely destroying it. As I was watching this video, I gradually became sicker in my stomach as I watched a civilian’s way of living disappear right before my eyes. I had heard about some US soldiers’ brutal and unnecessary treatment of Iraqis and/or other Middle Easterners, but actually watching a video of this brutality in action really got to me, making me feel both angry and upset. I understand that while serving in Iraq and the Middle East some soldiers might get in a certain mindset that may cloud their judgment, but still. There is no excuse for mistreatment of innocent civilians, especially since we are the ones who are invading their country. I think that our soldiers deserve to be punished for these kinds of actions because this is a serious issue and if our purpose in invading the Middle East is to help these civilians, our soldiers should not be doing the opposite by destroying their livelihoods.

I think this video had the greatest impact on me because it was difficult for me to watch someone’s way of living be decimated, especially when the soldiers drove the tank over the car not just once but at least twice if not several times. I think once would have been sufficient for the soldiers to make their point (whatever that was), but instead they had to humiliate the civilian even more and ensure that he was left with nothing but a damaged vehicle and broken wood. No wonder the people living in the Middle East have a negative view of Americans. I’m sure I would feel the same way if I were in their shoes, and this was reinforced in class when Sam had us pretend that we were Iraqis.

Overall I felt that all of the videos used in class were useful in helping me to see the war and its impacts from the Iraqis’ point of view. These videos also really put several things in perspective for me, such as how Middle Easterners may perceive our soldiers and why Middle Easterners might be angry with the US as a result of our presence and influence on their daily lives. By starting class with the example of China and the US’ supply of coal, I became more understanding of the situation in the Middle East and my mind was opened to more and new views. With the use of both this example as well as the videos shown throughout class (especially the one I previously described above), I became more informed about the Iraq war and how it has influenced Iraqis’ lives and feelings toward the US.

Before the lecture on the Needy Penis, I had thought about why girls dress up while guys dress down when going out, and my friends and I have even talked a little bit about this standard. Both before and after the lecture, I felt it is extremely unfair that women are expected to dress up when going out while guys can simply wear jeans, a t-shirt, and sneakers without anyone noticing or mentioning the discrepancy between “dress codes”. After hearing Sam & Laurie’s lecture, I realized how great of an impact the “male-centered” world has on how women are portrayed and expected to dress in society. In our male-centered world, a greater degree of emphasis is placed on women’s image as compared to men’s image. As depicted through the media in magazines, on TV, and through celebrities, women are supposed to dress a certain way in order to gain attention from the opposite sex (or the same sex to provoke jealousy or peer acceptance). I feel that this is way more true for women than men in today’s society.

Although the main goal of women when dressing up to go out may not be to try to impress or outdo their girlfriends, I feel that it is still an underlying thought in most women’s minds. Like the example Sam gave in class, if all of your friends are dressed up to go out, you most likely wouldn’t go out with them in sweatpants because first of all, your friends might not want to be seen with you because of the way you’re dressed and secondly you probably wouldn’t gain the kind of attention you want from the opposite sex. In this way, it may seem that women dress up not because they want to, but because they feel obligated to. However, I know that after a week of what I consider “dressing down” for classes and my weekly routine, I’m ready to get dressed up on the weekends to go out because it’s just natural for me as a girl to want to dress up at least every once in a while. Although I may want to dress up, this is separate from not wearing a warm coat or pants in the winter, which I can say I’m totally not a fan of. I do wear jeans with a nice shirt in the winter instead of skirts and dresses (which is something girls should opt for rather than freezing their legs off in mini skirts in January), but it’s still cold regardless. Fortunately for guys, society doesn’t expect them to wear anything besides jeans and a shirt when going out, so they don’t experience as much of a problem with the winter weather. While this lecture probably won’t change the way I dress when I go out, it still provoked more thoughts about our male-centered world and why women feel the need to dress in certain ways despite what they may or may not want to do.

I have no problems with interracial relationships and accept all people who choose to date across their race line. I have even considered how I feel about myself being in an interracial relationship, and I believe that if I find someone that I love who also happens to be of a different race, then so be it. I have nothing against dating someone of another race, although I’m sure my parents and other family members would most likely have different views about this idea. Although I have never been in an interracial relationship, my cousin is currently engaged to someone of a different race. My cousin is white but her fiancé is Puerto Rican, and it has taken a long time for my aunt and uncle (especially my uncle) to come to a greater acceptance of the relationship. The couple has been together for about 5 years now, but I still remember how my family members acted when they first interacted with my cousin’s fiancé.

When I first met him, I may have been a little hesitant to start conversations, but that’s how I am when I meet anyone for the first time regardless of their race. Once I got to know him (which didn’t take long), I felt perfectly comfortable hanging around him. However, I remember both my aunt and uncle appeared uncomfortable interacting and speaking with my cousin’s fiancé for the first year or so of the relationship. My uncle especially seemed to have difficulties and he would often give my cousin’s boyfriend a hard time, even in front of everyone else at holiday gatherings and meals. Fortunately the boyfriend’s personality is very friendly and understanding and he was able to “brush off” any negative comments directed at him. Even my grandparents were able to enjoy the boyfriend’s presence without making judgmental remarks in regards to his race. This actually surprised me because I would have thought that the older the generation, the harder it would be for them to accept interracial relationships. However, this did not seem to be the case, and I think it may be because it was not their child who was dating someone of a different race, and since it was their grandchild they did not feel directly affected by the interracial relationship. I think that if it was my mom who dated someone of a different race, my grandparents might have felt differently about the idea.

After several years of getting to know the boyfriend better, my aunt and uncle have come to accept him as part of the family, even after my cousin had a baby girl with him. Although it took longer than me for my aunt and uncle (and other family members) to accept my cousin’s boyfriend, I’m glad that they have come to love him for his personality rather than judging him because of his race.

I had actually just watched the same video in one of my earlier classes on the day that this was showed in class, but my reaction remained the same: shocked and relatively upset. When I first watched the video and noticed what questions would be asked, I almost expected to see the unfortunate results of the study that were shown. When the question was asked of the first child, “Which doll do you like better?”, I had a sinking feeling that the child would pick up the white doll as opposed to the black one. As the study went on, I felt increasingly upset that most of the black children chose the white doll over the black doll because I felt that it was my race’s fault that the black children perceived the white doll to be better. It was especially sad to see the black children pick up the black doll when asked which doll was “bad.” When asked why one doll was nice versus bad, the children’s answers reflected their perceptions of people with different skin colors as they said the “nice” doll was nice because it was white and the “bad” doll was bad because it was black.

As mentioned in class, I immediately felt that the reason why the children responded the way they did was because of how the media portrays black- and white-skinned people. The media mostly uses white people in advertisements, commercials, magazines, and other forms, so to children growing up with these surrounding images, it may appear that white people are the “better” or “superior” race. However, the media cannot be blamed for everything because people of color are also increasingly appearing in the media, and not always in a negative way. This is not to say that people of color are always portrayed negatively because white people are sometimes portrayed negatively too. Also, the media is not the sole source that influences how we come to portray people of different races. Our own family backgrounds and experiences can influence the way in which we perceive of different people because as we grow up, our family members’ actions towards or words about people of different races may contribute to how we develop our views of different races.

Overall this video really opened my eyes to how severe of a problem we have in society to the point that young children are already making inaccurate judgments about people (or dolls) of varying skin colors. This goes to show that it’s very important to watch what we say and how we act around young children especially because it is much easier to change their way of thinking at a young age as opposed to an older adult.

I think that irrelevant racial signifiers lead to more deeply entrenched racial stereotypes because when people use irrelevant racial signifiers, they are reinforcing the existence of stereotypes. Why else would a person use a signifier if they didn’t need to unless they were trying to reference or confirm a racial stereotype? Sometimes people don’t even realize that they are promoting the concept of racial stereotypes when they use irrelevant racial signifiers. Maybe a person’s family background and previous experiences have led them to use irrelevant racial signifiers. If a person’s family members used irrelevant racial signifiers often at home throughout a person’s childhood, then they may grow to use signifiers without thinking they’re not necessary in all circumstances, and may not realize that they are contributing to the continual use of stereotypes.

However, there are some people who use irrelevant racial signifiers as a way to express their own stereotypes about certain races without explicitly stating the stereotypes out loud. I know my parents and even grandparents are guilty of this at times. For example, if my parents are driving behind a slow or poor driver, or encounter problems with drivers on the road, they will often later explain the situation to me by saying something like, “An Indian lady/guy cut me off today while I was driving to the grocery store.” Although the racial signifier is not necessary in this situation, my parents want to express the stereotype that “Indian people are bad drivers” without actually saying that statement aloud for fear of being labeled a racist. I know I’m even guilty of this at times when I’m not necessarily thinking about the way I’m describing a situation, but I really should try to eliminate this way of speaking and maybe this will encourage my parents to do the same.

Most of the time, when people hear others use irrelevant racial signifiers, they probably do not correct the person or ask why they felt the need to use the signifiers when its use was not necessary. I know I typically do not say anything to my parents when they make comments such as the example I gave. If people fail to make others aware of their unnecessary use of racial signifiers, stereotypes will only continue to prevail because no one is stepping in to try to eliminate these racial misconceptions and assumptions. With this in mind, I think that the continued use of irrelevant racial signifiers will continue to promote the existence of stereotypes because if signifiers are not essential to use in the situation, then they shouldn’t be used unless you’re aiming to provoke stereotypical thoughts in your listeners. If we really want to combat stereotypes, we should start by encouraging others as well as ourselves not to use racial signifiers unless they are necessary in the context of the situation.

I don’t think it’s necessarily selfish of poor people to have many kids, but I do think it’s a result of poor decision-making on their part. If you don’t have enough money to support the kids you have, then you shouldn’t have had those kids, plain and simple. Everyone has choices to make in their lives, and if we decide to make poor decisions without thinking things through first, then you deserve to suffer the consequences of your actions. Poor people generally don’t become poor after having kids (although this is definitely possible since having and raising kids is expensive), and instead they have kids at times when they know they can’t afford it. Sometimes this may be by accident if the people in poverty don’t have access to birth control or adequate information about having kids and its costs, but in other cases people know fully well how expensive it is to have kids, yet they choose to have kids anyway and hope to get money from outside sources to help raise them. Some people in poverty may even think that if they have multiple kids, their kids will grow up, move out to go do bigger and better things, and may someday be able to support their parents. However, in any of these situations, I still feel that if people cannot afford to properly raise their children and support them financially, they should not have kids at that time. Maybe sometime down the road if the situation is looking better they can start to think about having kids, but without really considering all of the costs beforehand, people just have kids whether it’s the best decision or not. This really isn’t fair to the children either because they are born into the situation without choice, and therefore from the beginning they are left to work their way up from the bottom without much assistance.

I understand that many people, including those in poverty, hope to have their own children someday and that restricting poorer people from attaining this dream can seem a little harsh. However, many people in poverty are the ones who end up with large families and typically have more children than wealthier people. This is where having children really becomes a problem because poorer people aren’t just having one child. As Tammy said in the video, her family was quite large and she had 20-21 brothers and sisters! Didn’t her parents get worried about their finances and supporting their children when they had the fourth or fifth child? People really just need to make better choices and consider the consequences of their actions before they go ahead and have 20 kids. If you want to have that many kids, then you need to work to make your (financial) situation better before you get yourself in over your head.

I know that people in America live in way better off environments than people in other places around the world, especially those in poverty. Even the people in poverty in the US are in better off conditions than those in poverty in other countries. My guess is that most people in America are also unaware of how much exactly we are better off than people in other countries. Sure we see pictures in magazines, movies, commercials, and other media sources that attempt to show us what poverty is like in other countries and how bad off many people are, but we can’t truly comprehend or fathom the extent to which people are suffering every day. One way in which people can see in-person the extent to which poverty prevails in other countries is by visiting, vacationing, or volunteering in poorer countries. Fortunately, I’ve had the opportunity to vacation in the Dominican Republic twice and once in Jamaica, and on the bus rides from the airport to the resort, I’ve seen how vastly different people in these countries live as compared to people in the US. Shacks line the streets and people walk right up to stopped vehicles begging for money. I always feel slightly guilty about the way I live as compared to these people, especially since I’m in their country to vacation while they will probably never understand what a vacation is or be able to afford to go on one. I also feel extremely fortunate and thankful to live in the US because I was born with more money, opportunities, and material things than these poor people who may have been born with little to none of these things. However, while thinking these things, I realize that in a way I am helping these people by vacationing in their country. For many of the countries in the Caribbean such as Jamaica and the Dominican Republic, tourism is one of, if not the main source of revenue for the country. Since I can’t afford to give money to every single person who needs it, I can instead help by trying to improve the economy in the hopes of helping more than one person down the line. By vacationing in poorer countries, this is one way in which wealthier people can try to indirectly help those in extreme poverty.

Another way we can try to improve the numbers of those in poverty in other countries is by going on mission trips to poorer regions and helping to provide services and/or goods that these people cannot afford. These services could include teaching children in poor-quality schools or building better houses for those living in dirt and grass huts. While I have not personally gone on one of these trips, I have heard many good things about the positive experiences people have encountered on these trips. Not only would people be helping to provide for those who have little, but they would also be able to interact with the people, hear stories of living in poverty, which could even enhance our own lives or alter ways in which we live.

I do feel slightly guilty about the way I live compared to those in poorer regions, but at the same time, I can’t help them all by myself. It will take a global effort to help combat extreme poverty, and the ways I’ve mentioned are only a couple methods we can try to implement to get a start on helping people out of poverty around the world.

I think the fact that arrests occur more often to people who are of non-white races is due to several factors and we can’t simply pinpoint the problem to either racism or more police in urban areas. I’m sure it’s no coincidence that since more non-white people live in urban areas where there are more police roaming the streets, more non-white people are arrested for various crimes. This makes sense because then more arrests are due to a matter of the population’s racial proportions and the number of police who are making arrests. However, racism could also play a part in the reason why more non-white people are arrested in urban areas because maybe police target non-white people when they are on patrol. It’s really hard to state that only one factor contributes to this issue because it truly is a matter of several factors.

In regards to this topic and the statistics that we discussed in class, I was actually surprised because I didn’t realize that the statistics were so drastic. I had kind of thought before this discussion that whites often get off the hook when it comes to our justice system, but I didn’t realize the extent to which this is true. The statistic that struck me the most was that blacks are significantly more likely (I think it was 6 times, maybe more) to be found guilty by a judge for the same crime that a white person committed. That really says something about our justice system and how race obviously still has an impact on this issue today. So maybe arrests of different races are more due to racism since this statistic doesn’t specifically say it had to be people who live in urban areas.

I was also slightly surprised to discover that while non-white people are typically the ones caught and incarcerated for drug use/dealing, white people are the ones who have the highest percentage of drug use/dealing. This discovery really opened my mind because I had previously assumed that non-white people used/dealt as much if not more drugs than white people, but clearly this is not the case. What I really wonder is what is a possible solution to this problem? Why are people of color (particularly blacks) more likely to get sentenced by a judge than a white person, and why does our justice system continue to appear (and possibly be considered) racist even after so many years of working towards equality? Although it may seem like we have come a long way towards achieving equality, we clearly still have a long way to go, especially in our judicial system. I also wonder if the statistic about the judge would remain the same if the judge was of another race? My guess is, probably not and this would be an interesting topic to look into.

My free will has definitely affected who I am today and how I came to Penn State, and one of the biggest decisions I have ever had to make was when I was in 8th grade. I went to a Catholic school from kindergarten through 8th grade, but after “graduating” from 8th grade, I had to decide whether I wanted to continue my education at the Catholic high school or go through the public school system. The public schools (middle school for 9th grade and then onto the high school) I would be attending were larger and had far more resources and opportunities for me to take advantage of throughout the rest of my high school years, whereas the Catholic high school was much smaller and had a lot less to offer me in terms of classes and extra-curricular activities. My parents said they would support me no matter what I decided, but it was evident they were leaning towards public school. However, it was my choice to make, and without much thought I decided to go to public school. It would be a whole new experience for me, especially being surrounded by many more and different people than I was used to (my 8th grade graduating class totaled only 17 people).

After going to public school, I came into contact with many more people of different racial backgrounds as compared to my Catholic school class where there was one Indian boy and one Vietnamese boy. The rest of us were white (Caucasian). When I got to high school, I became best friends with an Indian girl, something I had never expected would happen. As a result of my decision in 8th grade, I have become much more accepting of people of different races, cultures, and ethnicities, which is something I’m not sure I would have gained if I had chosen to continue my education at a Catholic school. Meeting and interacting with so many different people in high school also prepared me for coming to Penn State where there are even more different races I’ve never encountered before.

When I think back on it, attending public school really helped me to “break out of my shell” and discover that I have different thoughts and perceptions about people of different races than my parents do. Since I have had the opportunity to interact with a greater variety of people than I think my parents did when they were in school, I have become more open-minded and accepting of people from different races than my parents are. For this I can be grateful that my own free will choice led me to discover new ways of thinking and perceiving people of all races.