en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/2415339 Comments by tcl5040 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/21/if-prison-has-taken-anything-away-from-me/#IDComment145166464 It’s good to have somebody there to talk to and explain how the day went but also that intimacy plays a huge role in why he’s missing it so much. It’s sad to see him talk like this like he has no hope but he’s in jail for a reason for the things he’s done to people. He has to pay his time and hopefully at the end of that road he’ll have the freedoms he once had. But there is more in life to live for than just a companion if he had the desires of learning more about religion, religion can take you a long way. If he had a god he could worship that would fill almost every void he wants, if only he could commit his life to God. Many people don’t think it’ll get the job done but believe me religion can take you a long way because it’s a life goal, its not something you just attain and say ok its over now, its something that is constantly challenging and always changing. We cant fill the voids in our life with these earthly things because it wont take us very far, there are better things we can fill our lives with like religion. Fri, 22 Apr 2011 17:18:23 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/21/if-prison-has-taken-anything-away-from-me/#IDComment145166464 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/21/if-prison-has-taken-anything-away-from-me/#IDComment145166434 This letter was pretty sad I would have to say and you could tell that this person has been in jail for a pretty long time. Looking at the cell that he is in and realizing that he won’t be out for a very long time. I think once you’re in jail you have a lot of time to contemplate what you’ve done, that’s probably one of the reasons you go to jail, it’s like a really long and terrible time out. And as this person has spent most of his life behind bars I think he’s trying to fill this void in his heart. With nothing to do day to day and having the same schedule people start to long for the freedoms they once had, like this man longs for a woman in his life. Companionship, even the most lonely people get a dog or cat but this guy he can’t, we all look for some sort of companionship. Nobody wants to live alone except for the few crazy people out there, everyone longs for somebody to stay by their sides. In jail who’s that person going to be? It can’t be your jail mate and when we talk about companionship its more than just having somebody there by your side but also being intimate. I think most of all this guy misses intimacy he can find in a woman but not a man well for his case not a man. Fri, 22 Apr 2011 17:18:14 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/21/if-prison-has-taken-anything-away-from-me/#IDComment145166434 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/14/what-does-it-say-about-our-society-if-schools-are-more-segregated-now-than-in-the-1970s-119-blog/#IDComment143195004 In the 1970’s racism was very prevalent in the United States, that’s when almost everything was segregated and people were trying to somewhat integrate the different colors and bring them together. If our schools are more segregated now that means that we have stuck with the pattern and the situation has gotten worse. This is probably why we see on campus so many different racial groups only sticking with the color of their own people, you rarely see groups of mixed races hanging out together. Its kind of sad to see this in the united states, the united states is supposed to be this so called “melting pot” this land of diversity where everywhere you go you can get Mexican food, or Indian, or Asian. This place should be a place where you can walk down the street and see different races talking to each other hanging out with each other. But what can you say that only in a perfect world, or a utopia where things are all fine and dandy. We wont see desegregation for a very long time just because you cant changed something that’s been the same for a century or longer in a year or two. This processes of desegregation is happening but it is happening very slowly. Maybe we’ll see a very diverse school when my kids sent their kids to college but until then I don’t see desegregation for a very long time, which is kind of sad for me because I would really like to see a diverse country where everyone just gets along. There are way too many factors though like culture, poverty, where you are brought up, who you are brought up by, these all factor in to who you will choose to hang out with. If you find similarities in a person you get along better and it just happens to be that most people find comfort and similarities in the people of the same color or ethnicity. This school is about 80 percent white if we really want to diversify we need to bring that number down a little and I believe that it is slowly dropping but once again its all about time. But until the time comes all we can do as students of this campus is strive for more diversity we have to step out of our own comfort zones and sacrifice this comfortable situation we place ourselves in purposely and take ourselves out of that context and place ourselves in an area where we might be uncomfortable. This is the only way we can diversify this campus and then hopefully it can spread across this nation where black people and white and Asian and Hispanic can all sit together on the hub lawn together. Its all about the timing. Fri, 15 Apr 2011 19:17:29 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/14/what-does-it-say-about-our-society-if-schools-are-more-segregated-now-than-in-the-1970s-119-blog/#IDComment143195004 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/05/did-putting-yourself-in-the-shoes-of-the-middle-easterners-change-your-views-on-the-war-in-iraq-119-blog/#IDComment141394510 This class did change my views on the war in Iraq because of the different videos and points that Sam made in class. Putting myself in Middle Easterner shoes really help me see what they are going through and why some people act the way they do. Also this class made me question the reasons why we are even there fighting a war. Is it for the oil? My opinions say it is for the oil and during my discussion groups we had a lot of different theories of why we are in the Middle East fighting wars. Some went as far to say that the United States new about the 9/11 attacks but let it happen so that we can advance our troops into Middle Eastern territory. Personally I think by putting myself in the shoes of these people I have seen where they are coming from and that the United States doesn’t really need to be in this area fighting a war. I could see why some people in the middle east have hatred towards the united states because basically they see us as invaders coming into their lands taking their resources and pressing our views and opinions onto them. If someone did that to the United States we definitely wouldn’t be happy at all and we wouldn’t give up without a fight. The middle easterners are fighting back with good reason, they want to get rid of these foreign invaders and live peacefully again. Baghdad was once a beautiful city like New York but it was ruined by war and now the Middle East is full of places where land is infertile and useless, because of this useless war. I have a bigger sense of why these people feel the way they do. Putting myself in their shoes really opened my eyes and my heart to these people. Not to the extremists who want to destroy everybody but to the innocent people whose lives were lost for no reason. People whose jobs are destroyed because of this war, families who lose their fathers, husbands, wives, and children over almost nothing took a toll in my realization that this war is very stupid. The united states need to leave this area, but I know that won’t happen because things are too valuable in the middle east. Yeah people may claim we’re not there for the oil but who are we kidding we’re definitely there for the oil, we’ve become selfish and greedy people, lusting over this oil. I am sure about one thing that this class did for me and it was to help me understand where these people are coming from and they have every right and reason to be angry at us, but not to kill us and destroy us because they’re just fighting fire with fire. Sun, 10 Apr 2011 02:24:52 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/05/did-putting-yourself-in-the-shoes-of-the-middle-easterners-change-your-views-on-the-war-in-iraq-119-blog/#IDComment141394510 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/31/if-we-lived-in-a-female-centered-world-what-words-would-be-used-to-describe-sex-119-blog/#IDComment139189423 If woman ruled the world….oh this world would be very different. The world would be painted pink and the streets filled with daisies. Just kidding. This world would be very different though and think a lot of the vulgarity in this world comes from the magical minds of men and women just have to put up with it. If women ruled the world the vulgarity of this world would magically disappear. Everyone will be ten times more mature and we wouldn’t be laughing at the conversation we have about a male’s phallus structure or a woman’s womanly parts. I really believe that if the world was ruled by women all of the nasty worlds describing sex would be completely obliterated!!!! Words to describe sex would be very formal like “oh hey have you and sally fornicated yet?” those just one exam. Things like bang, f**k, smash, did it, I stuck it in her/him, hanky panky, etc would all be gone from the English vocabulary and dialect. It would be replaced with, fornicate, lay with, intercourse, and that’s pretty much it. Its not that women aren’t creative it’s that they are much more mature then men are and because of this they’d only need four words or less to describe sex. I also feel the topic of sex means a lot more to a woman than a man. For instance if a man has sex with multiple people he is given high reward for it but when a woman sleeps around shes called different names like slut, whore, dirtbag, she gets around, etc. If it were a women run world those words would be completely switched around to describe men that way if the slept with more than one person. I would say that this world is definitely revolved around the needy penis, men have ran this world for as long as we all can remember and that’s why we have many more privileges and can say the things we say. Who knows if women ran this world there probably would be inequality amongst the sexes maybe they would also be power hungry and put down men the way men put down women in today’s society. Would the roles just simply reverse or would it really be a better world if women were in control? Who knows we’ll probably never know, women are rising up in their societal status but they won’t run this country or this world for a very long time. Its just how things work if someone is in control for thousands and thousands of years it doesn’t change overnight it’ll take twice as long to change something. But if the world were run by women the term sex would carry a better connotation. Fri, 1 Apr 2011 20:18:40 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/31/if-we-lived-in-a-female-centered-world-what-words-would-be-used-to-describe-sex-119-blog/#IDComment139189423 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/22/what-do-you-think-about-interracial-relationships-119-blog/#IDComment137548941 One big thing for me is food, it might sound ridiculous but if I grew up with kimchi I must die with kimchi and no white or black person is going to accept that Korean delicacy into their lives as easily as a Korean girl would. That sets the Koreans apart from all the other races, yes indeed it is kimchi. But as our generation becomes mothers and fathers I feel like that pressure of “oh you have to marry someone of your race” will die down a lot more than our parents’ generation, this generation is more open to change and it won’t be as big of a deal as it is now. Fri, 25 Mar 2011 19:02:55 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/22/what-do-you-think-about-interracial-relationships-119-blog/#IDComment137548941 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/22/what-do-you-think-about-interracial-relationships-119-blog/#IDComment137548921 I personally know that if I were to date a white girl, black girl, or whatever other color there is in the rainbow my parents would mind and probably would not like the idea but my grandparents would probably disown me. I know for my grandparents it is a very big deal since I am their only grandson from their son’s “lineage” and how I am going to be the future of the Lim “dynasty” which I find ridiculous but that is the kind of pressure I have to live with. I know that I will end up dating or marrying a Korean girl not because of the pressure but because I am more attracted to Korean girls than any other race and because we will both be Korean we will both have many things in common like our customs and the things we do and the things we eat. It is hard for other cultures to adapt with other cultures generally if someone is of your color that person will share at least one aspect of your culture with you. Fri, 25 Mar 2011 19:02:47 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/22/what-do-you-think-about-interracial-relationships-119-blog/#IDComment137548921 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/22/what-do-you-think-about-interracial-relationships-119-blog/#IDComment137548878 I am not against interracial relationships I think it’s a good thing for people of different races to date each other. It’s a good way to rid this country of the racism that is very prevalent. Personally I would date someone of my own ethnicity and race, I am Korean and that makes me Asian so I would probably stick to Asians and more specifically Korean. But when I see people on the streets holding hands and they are of different colors it does not bother me in any way, I find it encouraging seeing that people are not scared of what other people would say because it’s a black guy and a white girl or vice versa. Back in the day when our parents were our age it was very bold for a person of different colors to get into a relationship especially if that person was black or that person was white. I feel like it is more of an issue for our parents to accept if we choose to date a person that is a different color from us. Fri, 25 Mar 2011 19:02:31 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/22/what-do-you-think-about-interracial-relationships-119-blog/#IDComment137548878 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/18/what-do-you-think-of-the-diversity-at-penn-state-119-blog/#IDComment135895014 Why are there so many boundaries that people are scared to cross? None of us are really at the last humanitarian stage where we are comfortable wherever we go some of us and most of us are at the awakening stage. All I see at Penn State are groupings of people representing one part of this world, not a melting pot of people representing many different parts of this world together. Everyone keeps to themselves and are very exclusive or so it seems. Even the churches I see on campus we see asian churches, white churches, black churches. There’s never an equal mix of different races at a church usually its one or the other. What can change this? I don’t have an answer and I don’t think many of us do. I guess we need more people that are conscious about this, but on the other hand many people don’t view this as a problem at all. So yeah maybe this school is trying its best to diversify this campus but what’s the point when no one from different racial groups ever interact with each other. Fri, 18 Mar 2011 19:40:19 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/18/what-do-you-think-of-the-diversity-at-penn-state-119-blog/#IDComment135895014 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/18/what-do-you-think-of-the-diversity-at-penn-state-119-blog/#IDComment135894969 Groups of people isn’t a bad thing but its about who makes up these groups. Almost every group I see is segregated into different colors, its either black, white, Asian, etc. You rarely see different racial groups mixing with one another which is a pretty big problem not only in this college but many different colleges across this country. When I walk to the hub I generally see Asians sitting with Asians, black people interacting with black people, and white people associating with other white people. Then I really ask myself is this campus really diverse? Usually my answer is no. Diversity is more than just sticking people of different color onto on campus I view it more as sticking people onto one campus and those people interacting like they would with people of their own color. Fri, 18 Mar 2011 19:40:06 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/18/what-do-you-think-of-the-diversity-at-penn-state-119-blog/#IDComment135894969 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/18/what-do-you-think-of-the-diversity-at-penn-state-119-blog/#IDComment135894926 Penn State is comprised of almost 40,000 students here on campus and as we saw the numbers the other day there’s still almost about 80 percent that are white. The number of white people is going down but it still pretty high. Based on the numbers this campus isn’t really diverse, but they are definitely making an effort to make it more diverse, or so we think. The reason I came to this school wasn’t because I heard that this school was very diverse it was because my sister came here and I met a lot of people through her. Because of this I was already comfortable with this school knowing a lot of different people and be able to insert myself into a group almost as soon as I got to this campus. But when you look at this campus and walk to different places like the hub or the library or different class you always see groups of people. Fri, 18 Mar 2011 19:39:48 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/18/what-do-you-think-of-the-diversity-at-penn-state-119-blog/#IDComment135894926 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/09/what-would-make-this-guy-less-white/#IDComment133784117 Everything in this video labels this guy as a “white” guy. From the way he speaks to the way he acts this guy is very white, apparently. First thing I guess from the stereotypes of this world is he is highly interested in guns let alone concealing guns from people. He probably thought that this was the coolest thing that he could find. It’s a stereotype that the whitest of the white are obsessed with guns especially rifles, I guess him having a glock makes him a little black, lol. I found this video very funny to be honest just because of how serious he was about this little belt thing. He seemed so happy that he found something this amazing in his life, and he made it such a great infomercial for this holster. Another thing that makes it very white is the logo at the bottom its US CONCEALED CARRY and it has half of an American flag on the logo, can you get whiter? No brother from the hood would have a holster like this they just put the gun underneath their belt that as closed to concealed as they get while this white gentleman has an entire holster just for concealing his desired weapon. He also make this holster so casual like everyone has one or owns one. “You can even wrestle with your kids in your living room with it” that was pretty funny he made it sound like it was family friendly too not only consumer friendly. Even the way he tried to fit jokes in just made things more awkward for himself, which made the video some what enjoyable. I would say him being very overly professional for the video also made it seem very white as well. He made sure everything was politically correct he could’ve said things like near your pelvic area but he would make sure he steered very far away from saying anything like that. The holster being very near that area didn’t make the video any less white it just made it even whiter for some reason. I think a combination of what hes talking about and how he is talking about it really makes him the definition of a while man. There’s nothing whiter about a guy talking about a gun and how to conceal it so no one knows you are holding the gun. If that man was of a different color it would be offensive or even “dangerous” but since it’s a white man concealing the weapon its ok everyone will be safe, there will be no deaths due to a man hiding his gun and whipping it out in a very well populated area. If that man was black and middle eastern it would be a whole different story. Thu, 10 Mar 2011 06:21:14 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/09/what-would-make-this-guy-less-white/#IDComment133784117 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/22/do-you-think-in-today%e2%80%99s-society-people-are-more-racist-toward-muslims-or-blacks-119-blog/#IDComment130210575 I really believe that racism won’t end because there will always be another group or type of people that other people will hate. Just like this racism is definitely taking a transition in today’s society. Today we are seeing racism start to die down against black people but really pick up towards Muslim people. Of course there are the black Muslims where people are racist towards their skin and their religion but you can see in today’s society that people are definitely being more racists towards Muslims when compared to racism towards black people. Racism is still the same though, and it’s very stagnant. Racism will never change, the only thing that will change is the people that are being victims of racism. We’ve all seen the way people were racist to black people, they had separate theatres to go to, separate water fountains to drink out of, they had to sit in the back of the bus, etc. How is this any different than the racism we see against Muslims. They are stopped at every security station in airports and are demanded to open up their luggage. They are given dirty looks when they enter a plane or a highly populated area. Terrible things are said to them like “do they have a bomb in their luggage” or “are they going to kill us”. For both black and Muslim people the racism is the same thing, just done a little differently but the message is definitely sent across these people. The message is of hate, inequality, fear, ridicule and much more. How can we stop things that have been going around for centuries, how can we stop racism. Is it even possible? Probably not, because there’s always going to be those extremists or those people who are innately evil. Someone is always going to hate on somebody else, for the color of their skin or the God they pray to. This racism is definitely still here just taking a different form and moving to its next victims which happen to be Muslim people. It only took a few people to ruin the names and meanings behind a Muslim person. A hijab is suddenly much scarier than it ever was in the United States, people who wear it are immediately ridiculed or judged. The media portrays Muslims as terrible people, that they are always the ones who are responsible for bombings and acts of violence. With racism it’s not a matter of how do we stop this, it’s more a matter of who is next. It’s sad to say but will racism ever end? Won’t there always be a group of people who hate another group of people? Is the end of racism that hopeless? I don’t know maybe one day we’ll see it come to an end. Thu, 24 Feb 2011 00:44:08 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/22/do-you-think-in-today%e2%80%99s-society-people-are-more-racist-toward-muslims-or-blacks-119-blog/#IDComment130210575 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/16/do-arrests-of-different-races-occur-more-due-to-racism-or-more-police-in-urban-areas-119-blog/#IDComment128705103 I believe that some people do get arrested for being racists. I also feel like a majority of drug dealers reside in the urbanized area which means that a majority of police who are trying to crack down on drug trafficking would stick around these urban areas. Its rare for cops to bust big drug dealers in the suburban area also because there is less of them in those areas. I also feel like there’s a larger amount of black and Hispanic people who are selling drugs on the streets in those urban areas. Like the Hispanic guy in the video was talking about how he would choose to sell drugs over flipping burgers any day. I also feel like for a lot of these individuals that becoming a drug dealer almost isn’t a choice. For example, what if that person came from a very poor family and had to drop out of school to work, but realized that working at the local mcdonalds wouldn’t pay the bills. People like this, I would think, would turn to things like selling drugs or different things like prostitution. People make an easy $20,000 in a week or they could and if they have 5 kids to feed and themselves to feed and clothe then why would they pick a job where the hourly wage is $7.50. If you look at the population of the urban area there are a lot more black and Hispanic people than white people which might be another reason why it just happens that the majority of drug dealers that are arrested are black. The urban area itself could be a major reason but I definitely think that racism has to play an important role into this situation. Sam made a very important point where he was talking about juveniles and how the black kids end up transferring to actual jail. I don’t understand the entirety of what it means and why but I think the number itself can explain that there is racism going on in this justice system. I feel like the justice system has been the way it is for so long that itll be hard to change it from what people know as the norm. Not only can the justice system be racist but I also feel like some cops are racist as well and only target or choose to target black or Hispanic individuals. Racism and urbanization definitely play a role into the numbers that were shown this past Tuesday. People are racist and the justice system might be racist as well, but many black and Hispanic individuals live in the urban areas as well. The only way to change this is to get more of the black and Hispanic individuals out of the urban areas and giving them a better chance in this society so they stop reverting back to selling drugs. Fri, 18 Feb 2011 01:31:07 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/16/do-arrests-of-different-races-occur-more-due-to-racism-or-more-police-in-urban-areas-119-blog/#IDComment128705103 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/10/what-did-you-get-out-of-king-of-the-mountain-119-blog/#IDComment127423463 The way I see it the king of the mountain in this day and age is the United States. We started off as the kings of the mountain ever since we came into this land and stripped the Native Americans away from it. No one really tried to over rule us because we made many alliances and we were a powerful country. The Native Americans still haven’t tried to over rule their land and take it back because either they have forgiven the American people or just gave up. I also feel like white people were also the kings of the mountain but their kingship is slowly coming to an end as people of color and rising up in this nation. Our president is black so maybe that mountain is beginning to be shared amongst black and white people. Also Chinese people and their business and country are starting to rise in power and fame. Many kings are dethroned but who will be the first to dethrone the great kings of the United States. Another question is who is even strong enough to become the new king of the mountain? Is it possible in this day and age without waging war of certain countries and starting the destruction of many people? Then there’s also a question of what religion is the king of the mountain? Christians, Muslims, Buddhist, etc? In the United States is it Christians and Catholics that rise up in power or is the prevalence of atheist and other was of thinking becoming more powerful? I believe there are many different mountains with many different kings ruling over them. Its just a matter of what you’re talking about either religion, economy, military, etc. I also believe that the king of the mountain that reigns of the military have a strong hold over many different countries because of that fear people have in dying if they even try to dethrone that current king. Many people fear the United States because of the military prowess that we have and the destruction we could cause upon their lands. I feel like the United States is the king of many mountains and its easy for us to push people down but what if people start fighting back. I wonder what the United States would do if it came to that time where people started climbing the mountain with each other just to bring is down from the mountain we’ve been reigning over for decades. Our time may come to an end but I don’t think it will be for a very long time, as long as with have that military power and alliances with many different countries no one will really dare to dethrone us from our mountain. Fri, 11 Feb 2011 22:48:32 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/10/what-did-you-get-out-of-king-of-the-mountain-119-blog/#IDComment127423463 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/03/do-you-think-race-can-stop-being-an-issue-in-the-future-119-blog/#IDComment126001842 Race will be an issue for a very long time, things don’t just change over night but race will start to take a fall and other things will replace race. This meaning that race wont be that big of an issue in the very far future but there will always be other things to replace race. People will always hate other people, the entire world just cant love each other, whether it is race or something else like sexual orientation someone will always hate on someone else. But in this day and age you see many differences like in class Sam showed us who the riches person in the world is, and it was a Mexican guy. Look at our president; our president is the first black president ever in the history of the United States. That is the start of ending this reign of racism and hatred on people of different skin. But if racism comes to an end what will be next? You already see people hating on gay people, and now many gay people are coming out and being proud of it. From what I see, I see a movement of hatred from different races to people of different sexual orientation. People have already hated on gay people but now that there are more and more gay people coming out I think the hatred might increase. The whole thing with race is that some races are just put into terrible situations where they can almost not get out of, like people living in projects are majority black and Hispanic. Also the rich are not doing anything to help the situation by doing this like gentrification and making poor people live in even poorer conditions. This whole issue of race has been an ongoing issue since the times of slavery you cant change something that’s been going on for centuries over night its impossible. In class Sam mentioned that there are really only a few who hate and those who hate have the biggest mouths, now if everyone else who didn’t hate said something or tried to make a change something would happen but everyone is so apathetic and just go with the flow. There need to be more people conscientious about trying to make a difference and trying to change this reign of racism. If there are no efforts of trying to help the human race then we wont get anywhere now and in the future. Times are definitely changing, and I think for the better. If we continue to encourage one another and forget about the color of each others skin race wont be as big of an issue or an issue at all. Our president is black, that’s already one step forward to end this reign of racism. Fri, 4 Feb 2011 22:07:48 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/03/do-you-think-race-can-stop-being-an-issue-in-the-future-119-blog/#IDComment126001842 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/27/what-the-most-beautiful-race-means-to-you-119-blog/#IDComment124418259 Race definitely affects who you hang out with. You see so many different sub groups with in different races. You rarely see other races hanging out with each other or if there are different races hanging out with other races it’s usually in a group of one type of race and one other guy from a different race. Even in class you see people kind of segregate into their respective races. If you go to the hub you can see that this is very prevalent, meaning the entire thing about races only hanging out with their own race. For me its like that, I go to a church with predominately Asians and mostly Koreans. I have friends who are black, white, etc, but the majority of the people I hang out with are Korean, which I think is sad for my own life. I would say I always got along with people of different races like black people and white people but I never really hung out with mostly black people or mostly white people. Dating is also on a whole different level. There are so many different aspects that fall into the whole term dating. From a Koreans perspective and being a Korean boy, there are a lot of rules in terms of dating. First off I feel like Korean dudes have a very hard time dating other people outside of their ethnic group. You rarely see a Korean dude with a white girl but you see Asian girls with white guys or black guys. Another thing that plays into a Korean guy dating other races are their parents. Its really about how traditional your parents are and even your grandparents. Its almost like when you grow up you are brain washed as a Korean male to date other Korean girls and none other. When I was growing up I knew I was going to end up marring a Korean girl whether I liked it or not. My oldest sister is dating a white guy and my dad has come to peace with that but if I brought home a white girl it would be the end of my world. Regardless I do like Korean women and I will probably end up dating a Korean girl but who knows if I were brought up differently would I be dating or thinking about dating other girls? Maybe? The way I see things though race definitely has an enormous role in the people you hang out with and the people you will end up dating. Its sad to see that other races don’t mix and mingle with each other and if there wasn’t that enormous racial barrier things would be much different in this world today. I hope our generation can work hard to break down that barrier so we can see different racial groups hanging out and churches that are predominately one race like Asian, white, or black. Fri, 28 Jan 2011 21:59:22 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/27/what-the-most-beautiful-race-means-to-you-119-blog/#IDComment124418259 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/18/what-do-you-think-blog-2/#IDComment122854750 This exercise was very intriguing it got me thinking about many different things that are going on in this world today and more specifically the United States. I was actually one of the people that Dr. Richards chose to go up to the front and be split and categorized amongst the many people he chose. While I was up there it was pretty funny seeing where certain people went and how the two girls split them up into different groups. Of course me having very Asian characteristics although some people mistaken me for being Mexican I was categorized as an “Asian” and put in a group that consisted mainly of Asian people or people with Asian characteristics. I guarantee if they were also required to guess what ethnic group we belonged to they would’ve had no idea and would’ve guessed “Chinese” which is something I get a lot of times. This exercise kind of opened my eyes to seeing the truth about Americans today including myself, we really have no idea what ethnic groups people belong to and we have no way of separating them in our heads. Most of the time if you think a person is Arab he might be Indian or vice versa. Same with Asians if you think a person is Chinese, well they might be, but the person might actually be Japanese, Korean, or Vietnamese. I realized none of us are really educated on the different ethnic groups that make up the population of Penn State and the population of the United States. It should be our goal as people to start knowing where people come from instead of assuming that they come from China, Africa, or the Mid East, we should start knowing and learning different lands, specific countries, and providences. But in all honesty I thought I could’ve done a better job in splitting up the ethnic groups compared to those two girls with 4.0s. 4.0s mean nothing haha doesn’t matter how book smart you are you have to know from the physical features where these people come from. This exercise definitely made me more aware of the problems we have in the United States, that everyone from certain places just “look the same” when they actually don’t. I think we should have more exercises like these where the students in the class have to separate people into different ethnic groups maybe the next time they do they’ll be more accurate compared to the first time. This exercise was provocative but I believe that it could only be done in this class and I am glad we’re given this freedom to cross boundaries that usually aren’t crossed. Hopefully people including myself start to become more aware of the different ethnic groups there are in this country and in the world and instead of assuming where people come from they actually know where they come from. Fri, 21 Jan 2011 21:51:34 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/18/what-do-you-think-blog-2/#IDComment122854750 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/10/last-name-%e2%80%9cl%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%93-intense-debate/#IDComment121367623 Soc 119 Fri, 14 Jan 2011 21:14:44 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/10/last-name-%e2%80%9cl%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%93-intense-debate/#IDComment121367623