en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/764452 Comments by theglory https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/south-park-off-the-hook__trashed/#IDComment69963425 I’ve watched South Park for years and Trey Parker and Matt Stone love to cross the line. This has attributed to the show’s successful ten year run on cable television. People love to tune in and see who they will target next. There’ not one group of people who isn’t made fun of. It doesn’t matter your religion, sexuality, age, race, nationality, or sex. They make fun of everyone. Are they disrespectful, yea at times, but they bring in the ratings and had made the network and creators very rich. I don’t think that this episode will stop the creators from continuing to push the envelope in future episodes. Fri, 23 Apr 2010 18:21:55 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/south-park-off-the-hook__trashed/#IDComment69963425 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/south-park-off-the-hook__trashed/#IDComment69962601 I am a South Park fan, but I did not see the new episode. South Park is a show that likes to push the envelope and isn’t scared to cross the political correctness line a lot of times. I think that’s the reason a lot of people watch it, myself included. It’s a show where their not afraid to talk about taboo topics, and that makes it interesting. I realize Muhammad puns probably outraged a lot of people. When you think about it though, they don’t target the same people all the time. When the molestation incidents were being reported in the Catholic church, they were mocked to no end. Scientologists, Jewish People, Christians, Atheists, Muslims, and almost every other religion, nationality, skin color, sex, and age group gets made fun of. A lot of times they put people in check by making fun of the stereotypes that are out there. They also like to make fun of pop culture figures like Paris Hilton, Tiger Woods, and Kanye West. Kanye West is known to have a big ego and is very conceited. So they aired an episode that just made fun of him. His reaction was priceless. Kanye said something along the lines of you know it wasn’t easy to watch but it put me in check because that’s not how I want to be perceived. So in a way, South Parks forcefulness identifies some truth about the wrongness of how we perceive things. Another episode that aired last season was about a shortage of Internet. They wrote it like the internet was water and a basic necessity making fun of how much we are dependent on the internet in our everyday lives. It made me realize that. A couple of weeks ago they aired an episode about the obsession with facebook and how it overtakes people’s lives. It was funny because some truth behind it. In the end, it’s the television programmer’s decision to air or not to air a specific program. I think because of the show’s history and normal plot lines, they are able to get away with more than broadcast. The programmer is smart enough to know when to air or not air a program. I think that if they though the last episode was too bad then they wouldn’t of aired it. Believe me, no cable station wants to take the financial risk of being sued. The first amendment is huge with South park. I mean they truly are the epitome of freedom of speech because of the controversial topics they talk about. Some of these topics are religion, sexuality, politics, and sicknesses. I know this is really cliché to say, but it’s true. People can always change the channel. Fri, 23 Apr 2010 18:14:42 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/south-park-off-the-hook__trashed/#IDComment69962601 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/300000-whats-it-mean-to-us__trashed/#IDComment69959354 I think most people felt terrible about this awful tragedy. I mean people picture themselves in that situation and see them losing their families. People feel compassion for the victims and want to help. However, I think we (United States citizens) would be more affected if we were more emotionally attached like if the earthquake happened in America. Not that we don’t feel any emotion for the people of Haiti, but we would be more effected if the earthquake happened on our own soil. I think back to September 11 or Hurricane Katrina and how that affected us more and how we reacted compared to the earthquake in Haiti. As bad as a tragedy as both these events were, they did bring us so much closer together as a nation. Fri, 23 Apr 2010 17:47:21 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/300000-whats-it-mean-to-us__trashed/#IDComment69959354 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/what-about-the-men__trashed/#IDComment68423574 Men and women do face completely different ways to conform. Common stereotypes for men include showing no emotion, not partaking in any “feminine activity”, and being the person who brings home the bacon. Even at school, I knew a guy who broke up with his girlfriend because he was stuck in the shadows behind her. She was really involved on campus and he was too, but not nearly as much. The stereotype way of conforming to society definitely played a role in their break up. I think it was stupid, but it just goes to show you how hard people try to conform to the suggested norm. Fri, 16 Apr 2010 20:31:13 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/what-about-the-men__trashed/#IDComment68423574 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/what-about-the-men__trashed/#IDComment68423004 I couldn’t of said it better myself. You honestly hit the nail on the head. It’s hard to see the ways of conformity of the opposite sex because every sex sees a different perspective. We do all play apart in establishing the norm and how everyone should act. This limits individuality, creativity and independence. The people who choose not to conform get a lot of slack and it’s unfair. Not every men could be a six feet tall and 200 pounds and not show any emotion. The same goes with female norms and stereotypes. Hopefully in the near future, conforming will eventually mean just being yourself. Fri, 16 Apr 2010 20:25:51 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/what-about-the-men__trashed/#IDComment68423004 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/what-about-the-men__trashed/#IDComment68422153 Men definitely have to confirm to society. As a man, I have witnessed first hand situations where you need to conform. You have to be able drink, not show much emotion, be built, tall and thin just to name a few. I mean I look at myself and see ways that I can physically and emotionally approve. Should I, no but I do so any way because it’s part of conforming to society. There’s certain activities I won’t tell anyone that I do because it’s not the most “macho”. I am a straight man, but I don’t want people to know that I tan in the winter or watch VH1 reality television shows. That wouldn’t be conforming. Honestly, as I sit here and type this I realize it really isn’t that big of a deal, so I should just be honest with everyone. The ideal man stigma is something a lot of guys go for, and to go against that would be detrimental to their social life. I think men are competitive in other ways than women. I mean men want to look better than every other guy, but in a different way. Men want to be the most muscular, in shape guy out there; where as girls want to wear the hottest outfit at the party and the nicest shoes. Guys also competitive when it comes to drinking and playing sports. The media tells us that the varsity jocks are all thin, muscular and popular. I mean I think in every television show and movie about high school these stereotypes are there. Then, because we all watch these from the media, men believe that they have to have the best body and be the star athlete to conform to society. Men blacklist any activities that are kind of feminine. Tanning, shopping, and even dancing are some of these activities. God forbid I read a book, have a glass a tea and watch Grey’s Anatomy. It does not mean you’re gay if you do these activities. So what if you were, are they not going to talk to you? If that’s the case, then they weren’t your friends in the first place. I think that heterosexual men and the idea of conforming to the macho men stereotype makes it very hard for gay men to come out. I guess it just comes to a point where you don’t care anymore, but it has to be difficult trying to conform to society as a gay man. This macho persona is has to change soon. There should not be any example that everybody should try to be like. This stereotype limits creativity and independence. Our world needs a new idea of perfection and it should be individuality. Fri, 16 Apr 2010 20:18:46 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/what-about-the-men__trashed/#IDComment68422153 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/i-really-want-to-know-also__trashed/#IDComment66889733 My opinions have changed on some things, but not everything. I feel like Sam does better job of making us aware more so than changing our opinions. If that means by making us aware, people change their opinions, then that’s great. Some people are made aware of issues, but don’t take action. He seems to talk a lot in circles too so I don’t know exactly how he wants us to change the way we think. Yesterday, we talked about sweatshops and a lot of our clothes coming from them. Sam said that it was wrong to purchase clothes from Walmart because slaves made them, which I understand. I then thought of the one woman in one of the videos we watched where she was so poor, she didn’t have a car, walked 10 miles to work, and basically lived on a minimum wage salary at Burger King that was supposed to support her whole entire family. How can that woman afford anything else except a $5 t-shirt from Walmart? How can you guilt a woman who is in absolute poverty into buying clothes that aren’t cheap? She barely survives on her income, so she can’t afford nice clothes that aren’t made from slaves. Honestly, I don’t know what she is supposed to do. We talked about poverty in the United States and we talked about slave operations. Does she really have a choice? Within the class, I recently have been turned out for some reason. Whether it be the weather or because the same issues are being brought up and up, I just haven’t been really into the lecture. In the beginning I thought the class was great. I looked forward to going to it, but since spring break I haven’t been looking forward to going to it. When do pay attention, I find myself just being lost because he begins talking about something and then goes on some type of rant which makes me forget about what we were talking about in the first place. If you notice, it’s not just me in the lecture class who I think feels this way. You can tell by the dwindling attendence, the amount of talking during his lecture, and the amount of people who walk out on class. I do feel that these actions are rude, but at the same time it’s because people go to class and don’t want to be there. By making attendance such a big portion of our grade, a lot of people go to lecture just to get the points. I think that at this point in our life, were old enough to make our own decisions about coming to class and if that means not doing well on the examine because of not going to lectures, than we did it to ourselves. Fri, 9 Apr 2010 22:47:46 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/i-really-want-to-know-also__trashed/#IDComment66889733 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/what-if-we-got-rid-of-welfare__trashed/#IDComment65690959 Although welfare helps tons of people out, there are still people out there who abuse it, giving welfare a bad name. I’ll admit it sometimes I wonder what would happen if there was no welfare. I think, would it motivate more people to work? Then, I stop and realize that there are people out there who truly need it. For example, I’m thinking back to the class video where the woman was very poor and worked at Burger King. That woman needed welfare to survive. She lived in a trailer, with no car, no boyfriend or husband for second income, and needed to support two kids. I give her a lot of credit that she works at Burger King for minimum wage and has to walk 10 miles to work. If that isn’t someone who deserves welfare, then I don’t know who should. She is trying to make ends meet, but she is unable to. Welfare has some negative stereotypes around it. A lot of people just assume that people on welfare don’t work and that the person sits on the couch all day and just collects money in the mail. Although this may be true for some people, the majority of people on welfare are in desperate need of it. I’ve worked retail and seen both ends of this. There was a woman who had three kids and her husband left her. She did not have a college education but still worked hard. The money she earned was not enough to support her family. The opposite situation is when I worked a town pharmacy and some welfare plans require a customer to only pay $1 for their prescription. This woman came in on her cell phone obnoxiously and had a co-pay of $1. I knew she was on welfare because of her medical plan. She did not have the $1. I wouldn’t give her the drugs. She was so irate and stormed out of the store. When I see what kind of car she gets into, my mouth dropped. She was on welfare and was diving a HUMMER. If that isn’t a huge slap in the face to everyone who supports federal welfare programs, then I don’t what is. Honestly, how can someone on welfare who can’t afford $1 prescription drive a hummer? It shows the many flaws in the system. Some stricter regulations of keeping eyes on people on welfare are needed. This way, the people who abuse it can be stopped, and the people who need it can potentially more funding. I think if welfare was to just completely go away, the social classes will drift even farther a part. There are people who can’t find jobs, so probably end up homeless. Sat, 3 Apr 2010 07:36:41 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/what-if-we-got-rid-of-welfare__trashed/#IDComment65690959 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/what-if-we-got-rid-of-welfare__trashed/#IDComment65693712 Although welfare helps tons of people out, there are still people out there who abuse it, giving welfare a bad name. I’ll admit it sometimes I wonder what would happen if there was no welfare. I think, would it motivate more people to work? Then, I stop and realize that there are people out there who truly need it. For example, I’m thinking back to the class video where the woman was very poor and worked at Burger King. That woman needed welfare to survive. She lived in a trailer, with no car, no boyfriend or husband for second income, and needed to support two kids. I give her a lot of credit that she works at Burger King for minimum wage and has to walk 10 miles to work. If that isn’t someone who deserves welfare, then I don’t know who should. She is trying to make ends meet, but she is unable to. Welfare has some negative stereotypes around it. A lot of people just assume that people on welfare don’t work and that the person sits on the couch all day and just collects money in the mail. Although this may be true for some people, the majority of people on welfare are in desperate need of it. I’ve worked retail and seen both ends of this. There was a woman who had three kids and her husband left her. She did not have a college education but still worked hard. The money she earned was not enough to support her family. The opposite situation is when I worked a town pharmacy and some welfare plans require a customer to only pay $1 for their prescription. This woman came in on her cell phone obnoxiously and had a co-pay of $1. I knew she was on welfare because of her medical plan. She did not have the $1. I wouldn’t give her the drugs. She was so irate and stormed out of the store. When I see what kind of car she gets into, my mouth dropped. She was on welfare and was diving a HUMMER. If that isn’t a huge slap in the face to everyone who supports federal welfare programs, then I don’t what is. Honestly, how can someone on welfare who can’t afford $1 prescription drive a hummer? It shows the many flaws in the system. Some stricter regulations of keeping eyes on people on welfare are needed. This way, the people who abuse it can be stopped, and the people who need it can potentially more funding. I think if welfare was to just completely go away, the social classes will drift even farther a part. There are people who can’t find jobs, so probably end up homeless. Sat, 3 Apr 2010 03:36:41 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/what-if-we-got-rid-of-welfare__trashed/#IDComment65693712 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/what-if-we-got-rid-of-welfare__trashed/#IDComment65693432 Wow, your first hand experiences really expose the negative sides of welfare and the need to regulate it. I worked at a local pharmacy in my time and I could tell on their receipts their medical plans and which ones was welfare. I had a similar situation where this woman who drives a hummer, is on welfare didn’t have the $1 she needed to pay for her drugs. She yelled at me and walked out because I wouldn’t give them to her. It infuriates me that she drives this 50,000 dollar car and doesn’t have $1. Is all her money paying going towards a payment of a hummer or paying for it’s gas. Either way this situation is wrong and she needed to be exposed. Sat, 3 Apr 2010 03:35:25 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/what-if-we-got-rid-of-welfare__trashed/#IDComment65693432 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/what-if-we-got-rid-of-welfare__trashed/#IDComment65692119 I completely agree about welfare being an interesting topic in society. I feel like it’s such a case by case basis to be able to judge who needs how much money. There are so many people who need it. These people can have a big family, be handicapped, and honestly work for little pay. A lot of people find loop holds in the system and take advantage of it. I think that because of this reason, welfare should be more strictly regulated. I feel like the costs of hiring people to work for State welfare programs is practical and necessary to save money that the government gives out to people who don’t deserve it. Sat, 3 Apr 2010 03:30:38 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/what-if-we-got-rid-of-welfare__trashed/#IDComment65692119 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/those-damn-dolls__trashed/#IDComment64277870 I completely agree with what you just said. I think this video was shocking to a lot of us and made us realize the issues that define beauty. The media is so influential in making the public realize what is beautiful. I don’t know how or who allowed the media became so powerful and influential into most people’s thinking. Everywhere you go on television has white people. There are few exceptions. The advertisements about what’s beautiful and the way to achieve a perfect life and beauty all have white people involved. White showcased as perfection and other races are being underrepresented. Something needs to be done. Sat, 27 Mar 2010 01:05:21 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/those-damn-dolls__trashed/#IDComment64277870 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/those-damn-dolls__trashed/#IDComment64277364 I found this video in class to be disturbing. Even though I am a white male, it saddens me to know that young black children were picking the white doll as the beautiful doll. It was a reality check for most people in the class that reminded us that there are race problems out in the world and that their prevalent. At such a young age, these black children thought that white was beautiful and that black was ugly. I don’t know how much these young children understood the issues behind this. At that young age, do they think that their black skin is ugly? Do they even recognize different skin colors? Probably not, but their answers make me wonder how they got to believe what they believe. Firstly, the media seems to big a humongous influence in the way we see what’s cool and beautiful. Most television shows are catered to white audiences. The main characters are white and there’s very little minority representation. Even when there is minority representation, I still feel that the network forces it on to. It seems like a television show has a black character or gay character or any other minority character to appease the people from filing complaints. It’s almost like the network is like we have a black character, so it’s not like anyone can file any complaints. When you know the reason for a character is not sincere, it’s aggravating. The minority character is always usually based off some sort of stereotype at one point or another during the show. Television shows even poke fun at the stereotypes, so this may be why minority children don’t see themselves as beautiful. I think minority representation in children’s television shows is even worse. Like sam said in class, even characters like Dora the Explorer may be dark, but have white features. Look back at the popular teen sensations of the past. Miley Cyrus or Hannah Montana, Hillary Duff, and even the Olsen twins (in the 1990’s )all were white. These girls are huge role models to a lot of girls out in the world. Little girls try to act like them, buy there products, wear their clothes they would wear and buy dolls of them (all of which would be white). When the media tells us that this is beauty and the fan base is there, children will think that. All the coverage about beauty goes to this white girls and black girls are taught to think that white must be prettier and better than black. I think something should be done to get more minorities represented in television, especially children’s programs. Minority children should be taught that everyone is equally beautiful no matter the color of their skin. Sat, 27 Mar 2010 00:59:39 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/those-damn-dolls__trashed/#IDComment64277364 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-are-all-of-you-thinking-about-asians__trashed/#IDComment64275993 I honestly have a hard time distinguishing Asian Americans and Asians. Not only that, I have hard time figuring out if a person is Chinese or Japanese. Personally, I feel there are a lot of people out there that can’t distinguish Asians. I think I’m not educated enough about the cultures and how distinguish them. Although I take full responsibility for my fault, I don’t think society helps the cause. I think most of the focus on race goes to try to distinguish African Americans, Blacks and Whites. Unfortunately, Asian people seem to get unfair treatment even when it comes to talking about race. Sat, 27 Mar 2010 00:44:15 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-are-all-of-you-thinking-about-asians__trashed/#IDComment64275993 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/does-this-rudeness-thing-cut-both-ways__trashed/#IDComment63080449 I completely agree with the fact that white people would be labeled racist if they said controversial comments about black people more so than black people being labeled racist by saying controversial comments to white people There obviously is a double standard between white people and black people that needs to be addressed. I think there is a very sensitive history between these two groups of people. A lot of white people are intimidated about offending black people, so most of the time they keep their comments to themselves instead of discussing them out loud. Sam discussed this in class when he talked about the race relations project and how white people were not as dominate in the conversation as black people. Sat, 20 Mar 2010 01:18:22 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/does-this-rudeness-thing-cut-both-ways__trashed/#IDComment63080449 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/does-this-rudeness-thing-cut-both-ways__trashed/#IDComment63079433 I also am not a fan of the texting in class. People are just extremely rude and don’t take the blog seriously enough. In a class of 700 people, chances are you are going to find some obnoxious people who I also noticed this in our class. If anything else, I guess it truly exposes the ignorance of people. There obviously is a double standard between white people and black people. I think a lot of it has to do with intimidation factors. White people are a lot more scared to offend black people because of the history. Hopefully, we will live in a world where everybody is equal and can be honest with each other. Sat, 20 Mar 2010 01:09:01 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/does-this-rudeness-thing-cut-both-ways__trashed/#IDComment63079433 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/does-this-rudeness-thing-cut-both-ways__trashed/#IDComment63077978 PART 3: The minority will always win because people feel more compassion towards minority people. Often times in this class it is black people versus white people. It seems to always come back to this point. It’s very frustrating. Intentionally, or unintentionally it always seems to come back to this topic. Not that this point gives anybody the excuse to say derogatory words on the message boards. I just hope that if we continue to use the message boards, people will take the message board seriously. Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:56:03 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/does-this-rudeness-thing-cut-both-ways__trashed/#IDComment63077978 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/does-this-rudeness-thing-cut-both-ways__trashed/#IDComment63077874 PART 2: The majority of the class is white, so a lot of white people are scared to offend black people more so than black people offending white people. Historically, black people have been discriminated against and many white people understand what they have been through. The media always covers white people offending black people more so than white people offending black people. In class, we discussed the incident at Walmart where a white person talked on the PA and told all black people to leave the store. What if a black person went on the PA and told all the white people to leave. I think people would be confused and just find it funny. I don’t think the media would even cover that situation. The minority people were offended in the situation instead of the majority, so the media covered this. Let’s face it though, even if the topic was something different than black people and white people the minority will always be favored. For example, if it was men vs. women, mean comments at men would not get the reaction that mean comments against women would get. So I think this topic is not necessarily a white vs. black people topic. It is a majority vs. minority topic. Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:55:17 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/does-this-rudeness-thing-cut-both-ways__trashed/#IDComment63077874 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/does-this-rudeness-thing-cut-both-ways__trashed/#IDComment63077700 THIS IS PART 1 of my blog (wouldn't let me post whole 450 word comment)I also noticed this in our class. Firstly, the whole texting message board is not taken seriously by a lot of people. Personally, I don’t like the message board and think that we should go back to the way before and just ask people in the class. Most of the students don’t take the blog seriously and are looking for shock value and try to get a rise out of people. The anonymous characteristic of the message board allows people to post very mean things without any negative consequences. Not that I want people to do mean or harmful things to the people who post the mean comments, I just think that they should be confronted. Although it may not seem this way, I feel the majority of the class is not the obnoxious people who posts the mean, derogatory comments. Most people in the class are good people who wouldn’t post mean comments. This same group of people wouldn’t post in general because they are too scared to because of intimidation factors. Sat, 20 Mar 2010 00:53:42 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/does-this-rudeness-thing-cut-both-ways__trashed/#IDComment63077700 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/are-whites-the-only-people-willing-to-humiliate-themselves__trashed/#IDComment60555524 I don’t think that ABC is racist, as a whole, but the parent Disney Company is owned by all white men who pick programs to maximize the size of the audience to advertisers. Advertisers are looking for a specific demographic for their products. Whether it is by age, race, or sex, the target audience is what the network is going for. The more specific the audience is, the more the advertiser is willing to pay. Maybe the advertisers are looking to target white women between the ages of 18- 55 during the Bachelor? ABC may think that the majority of white women date white men so they may pick a good looking white man and sexy white women that the viewers can relate to so more white women (who the advertiser is targeting) will watch the program. Tue, 9 Mar 2010 02:20:02 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/are-whites-the-only-people-willing-to-humiliate-themselves__trashed/#IDComment60555524