I agree that there is a double standard that presents itself in almost every class we have. I am beginning to believe that some black people in this think this class in made for and all about them; as though it’s a hear the problems ‘my’ people have had to deal with, but I would wager to say some don’t really even know why they get so angry/offended or whatever else you want to call being close-minded. I don’t think those particular people understand how embarrassing they are to others who look like them. It’s really sad. Tuesday’s class upset me the most when the black team posted things that, 1) had nothing to do with them (some read the question as though it was about them when it was about “whites”) it’s really not all about black people; 2) compared to the white team, most of the black team responses were immature, derogatory, and self-depreciating because either they were attacking each other, or they deluded themselves into thinking pointless answers are actually amusing, it’s pretty sad, and 3) I bet you these comments have already “offended” those groups as though they don’t know the truth. Not to say the white team was perfect either, but at least the ratio of dumb to intelligent answers weighed more toward the on point answers. Though I do believe ‘political correctness’ was being dished out in heavy doses; say what you mean, mean what you say, if you did, bravo!
The reason I am practically venting on this topic is that it is a valid point, and I do believe if there were less distractions in class we would actually get somewhere. It’s not every day you have 600+ people in a shared space getting a chance to say what they truly feel/know/don’t know, and getting various responses. The comment about loud black women was offensive in the sense that the language used to describe them was not necessary. Just saying they are loud would have been enough if that is what that person believes, but derogatory words did nothing but add unnecessary insult. And so my response to the question of rudeness is that everyone needs to knock it off, it really does not matter who said it and what the reaction was, just have respect enough for your classmates to check the rudeness. If you feel you cannot, for the life of you, without being rude, don’t say anything then. But I really doubt that this is the case as I do believe if someone you truly respected (e.g. your church pastor, you mom and/or dad, your interviewer for a job/internship, your boss, etc.) walked in your language/interactions with your peers would change as well, immediately. It’s a question about respect. Where there is none, rudeness festers.

I like how this topic was brought up. I actually used to watch the bachelor/bachelorette, until after about the 4th season it began to bore me to no end. I noted how all the bachelors all looked the same and how the bachelorettes all looked the same and so were the men and women that were fighting for their attention. I noticed that minorities were always either absent or extremely underrepresented. This is not to say that there needs to be a lot of minorities for sake of appeasing the people, rather than in selections to even make the show, which I am sure some apply, they just never make the cut. Some of the contestants that actually appear on the show are shocking after they tell you all they are really about and I cannot help but think that out of the thousands of applicants "that one" made it?
The few minorities that make it tend to get cut in the first or second round, and you can tell the bachelor/bachelorette is uncomfortable. The discussions are usually very professional and never personal. In my family, whenever one minority made it in, we would bet each other how long s/he would stay on that show. The bets became redundant because we knew a minority would never make it past the second day. Another point of interest was that the bachelor and bachelorette have always been white themselves, as if there are no other singles in the United States of the Americas other than white people. It’s ridiculous and, I believe, on purpose. Disney Channel is more true to the demographic than some of these “more mature” channels that are in one mild way or another, rather racist. Note I did not say they are hateful racist; they are just that, racist. An interesting point someone made earlier is maybe the selections are restricted by the selections/preferences set forth by the bachelor and bachelorette ahead of time. In which case do we still call it selective racism or personal preference? It’s definitely something to think about.
Although I do not believe that things will change drastically any time soon, I do believe in minute progress even for it is better than none at all; although even that is not as great as immediately righting a wrong. There are white channels and black channels, and I think it is all rather ridiculous really; the discrimination goes both ways. Mix them! So at least the growing generations can see images of the diversified world in which we live. Times are always changing whether we choose to accept it or not, and so the best we can hope for is that we adapt adequately enough to make it as painless as possible.

I like how this topic was brought up. I actually used to watch the bachelor/bachelorette, until after about the 4th season it began to bore me to no end. I noted how all the bachelors all looked the same and how the bachelorettes all looked the same and so were the men and women that were fighting for their attention. I noticed that minorities were always either absent or extremely underrepresented. This is not to say that there needs to be a lot of minorities for sake of appeasing the people, rather than in selections to even make the show, which I am sure some apply, they just never make the cut. Some of the contestants that actually appear on the show are shocking after they tell you all they are really about and I cannot help but think that out of the thousands of applicants "that one" made it?
The few minorities that make it tend to get cut in the first or second round, and you can tell the bachelor/bachelorette is uncomfortable. The discussions are usually very professional and never personal. In my family, whenever one minority made it in, we would bet each other how long s/he would stay on that show. The bets became redundant because we knew a minority would never make it past the second day. Another point of interest was that the bachelor and bachelorette have always been white themselves, as if there are no other singles in the United States of the Americas other than white people. It’s ridiculous and, I believe, on purpose. Disney Channel is more true to the demographic than some of these “more mature” channels that are in one mild way or another, rather racist. Note I did not say they are hateful racist; they are just that, racist. An interesting point someone made earlier is maybe the selections are restricted by the selections/preferences set forth by the bachelor and bachelorette ahead of time. In which case do we still call it selective racism or personal preference? It’s definitely something to think about.
Although I do not believe that things will change drastically any time soon, I do believe in minute progress even for it is better than none at all; although even that is not as great as immediately righting a wrong. There are white channels and black channels, and I think it is all rather ridiculous really; the discrimination goes both ways. Mix them! So at least the growing generations can see images of the diversified world in which we live. Times are always changing whether we choose to accept it or not, and so the best we can hope for is that we adapt adequately enough to make it as painless as possible.

Being that my grandmother is actually of the Lemba clan, I find the comments posted thus far quite interesting and somewhat misguided. Before Newton had the law of gravity, gravity still was; he just made an equation for it. This is the same for the Lemba people. This is the era of scientific proof where a sizable number of people will not believe anything unless science says it is so. We are run by our doubts. Note the article said the people were excited, not shocked and taken aback. This clan has believed in their roots and culture despite the skepticism of the world. In fact, they believed it so much such that some scientists' curiosity was peaked and they went on a 20year research session. They have never doubted for a moment of their heritage and I know of this first hand, so no reasonable person can argue with me, the excitement was an "I told you so and I've been telling you so for the longest time!" kind of excitement. Keep in mind when statements are made (which I don't believe really occurred in this place) by someone whose first language is not English, read the article as a whole. Ask any Zimbabwean born and raised in Zimbabwe and he/she will tell you that English is never the first language we learn--but wait! Here's one telling you right now!
I also think people need to keep in mind that people rarely ever isolate themselves so much that they do not travel places. It’s like we have this ludicrous idea that no one was moving anywhere except the few expeditions noted in history. History only covers but a handful of people. Imagine people 1,000 years from now making comments about those of us who will never be noted in history past a few generations, being surprised we did some of the things we did or moved around the world the way we do. In fact, I’ll say, compare the way the youth of the ‘60s dressed to how we dress now. It has only been 50years and our generation can’t believe our parents used to dress that way, it’s shocking! But that was their culture of that time. So if seven guys decided they wanted to move further down the continent of Africa, as far as they did, what makes it so shocking? If you can have PSU students (your own friends perhaps) that can wake up one day and decide to drive down to California just because State College is too cold, why to the seven men have to have excessively special reasons to move further south. Putting people in small boxes that make it easier for you personally to not have to imagine great ideas is a very dangerous thing because then when someone comes along that knows more about what you pretend to understand, it won’t look very good for you. I’d rather people ask questions because they do not know, than make comments and pretend to know.

I understand your confusion. I, if someone where to look at me, would consider me black. I do take relative offense to this as it clumps me together with every other “black” person in the world as if we all have the same grandma and grandpa. What I would suggest for you then as this is eggshell-land you understand it is impossible to walk through without crushing something underfoot. What you need to understand then is where the offense comes from and this varies from person to person. The question that I would then pose to you is “Do you have the time to listen?” There is something disarming about an individual who exhibits a genuine interest in learning as it places value on the individual with the culture you admittedly to do not quite understand.
The N-word seems to come with condition. Personally I do not use it despite the “free ticket” I have to say it just because my complexion matches that of an African-American because I do believe it carries a heavy weight with it. Despite the saying “sticks and stones may break my bones…” words to cut, and unlike sticks and stones, they can get into the very heart of a man. This is not to scare you into never inquiring on the subject of how to “correctly” address someone, rather it is to illustrate to you how deep this stuff runs. Understand the circles in which you reside or find yourself and you will not have many problems. I could hate all white people or whatever you identify yourself as because you colonized my country and made my people suffer and we had to bleed for our freedom, but what good would that do. I prefer, instead to immerse myself in the American/Australian/European culture to better understand how each group thinks, and why it thinks the way it does. But I don’t stop there I ask questions. A quick assessment of the individuals in your environment will keep you from asking the wrong people certain question or wording questions some kind of way. It’s all in trial and error, the more you try the better you get the more you learn. So keep at it. Don’t give up. Ask questions. Understand that just as United State citizens are different from Australian citizens are different from the British, Irish, Scottish and Germans, my skin complexion does not mean I automatically belong to a particular group.

Red vs. Blue, Conservative vs. Liberal, it sounds more like the semi-finals of a boxing match than a democratic nation deciding on which would be the best route to better the nation as a whole. Democracy is defined as “government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system1”. So my question then would be where are the people?
Sure they attend these townhall meetings for a more personal debate environment, but very little seems to be accomplished as these meetings as minds have already been made up before they ever arrive. There is definitely something about telling someone he/she needs help and how they should fix it that rubs most people the wrong way. No one wants to be told what to do rather they want to tell you what should be done. But what baffles me is when clearly the people have no clue how to fix the problem and yet attack the very government they have elected to work for them for coming up with the solutions to problems placed at their dinner tables. Or maybe people just generally love to complain, or it could be as simple as “the more we talk, the more democratic we are.” Sometimes there is more power in thoughtful silence when one is quick to think and slow to speak than loud unguided madness and unnecessary defensiveness.
The Obama administration is doing the job they were elected to do and I get the sense that some people have yet to realize the election is over. I do believe in a people’s right to question their government, but let these questions have some sort of reasoning or at least logical order to back them up. There is nothing more dangerous that a child in an adult body reeking havoc in adult business. Conservatives need to listen more and hear less, whilst Liberals need to be more open minded to what they consider “closed minded” and less critical of those that do not think they way they do. Both sides are, to one degree or another, guilty of short-sightedness and judgment. Yes, conservatives are the obvious scapegoat, but then again for a scapegoat to exist a judge has to be in place and this is where closed-minded liberals come bearing bondage in freedom packaging.
Based on the past elections, it seems emotion governed the population as well as the candidates more than common sense. Everyone, myself included, would always prefer someone who agreed with us, but then again how would we grow and expand if there was never anyone come with opposing ideas that make us evaluate why we believe what we believe. The United States needs as self-check moment to figure out what it really needs and it needs to let the people it has elected to govern do the job they were elected to do by those that chose them and accommodate those that do not necessarily think as they do.
1Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2010.

“The Messiah Complex.” I have to say I have thought about it, I have noticed it, I just did not know what to call it. I personally do not frequent theaters and so in the rare occasion I am motivated to watch a movie while it is still on the silver screen it has to be something spectacular in my mind. “Avatar” sad to say just did not do it for me. The advertisement about it just failed to bring me out of my home-body shell and watch it; cool 3-D glasses or not. Considering my sentiments seemed to be countering those of my counterparts, I inquired as to what made this movie so special. I have a really good nose and can smell a bad movie before it has a chance to come out in its full unpleasant glory.
And so, back to my inquiries; I asked what made this movie such a “must see” when everything in me said you will only be wasting your money. I heard all kinds of explanations from it cost monetary figures I can’t wrap my mind around to how advanced the technology was that made that 3-D characters move almost life like to it is in 3-D and I will feel as though I were there. Nothing, absolutely nothing could make me budge; I just wasn’t sold.
It was then at this point I decided to look within myself and figure out what turned me off about this movie. It was then I realized it was because I already knew where this movie was going and how it ended before I ever left my comfy room to go watch in the cinema. It had the makings of a cross between George of the Jungle and Planet of the Apes. The hero was decided before the movie began, the only question then was what he would have to go through to get there; either he would already be brilliant with all the equipment he needed making computers out of tree bark, or he would be an ignorant but passionate adventure seeker looking for his path in life and all the native would realize the prophecy of a “savior” was to come through this man, or my least favorite: he would learn what took a native years to train and understand in less than a fortnight; translation: 5 movie minutes, and all this just when all hope is lost. Yup, of this I was certain. The hero decided = movie over before it ever began. Personally I think it is an utter insult to our intelligence making a movie so base, that cost so much money and yet severely lacking in mystery without anything mildly thought provoking.
Our writer makes a good point. Hollywood, catch up with the times and keep up with the people, or did you forget we all bleed the same color blood

I am very happy this issue has been brought up especially considering there is another World Cup coming up this summer. It makes me wonder if there was strategy in locating the World Cup this year in South Africa (the farthest south you can go in sub-Saharan Africa). Soccer should be a bonding game considering it is so international and loved by many. It should remain a player’s game and each player should be respected for his or her own talent not the color of your skin. There is power in mob mentality. People tend to get more aggressive when surrounded by supporters. But then there is power in FIFA to do some serious crowd control. Harsher punishments need to be passed and security needs to be tightened. Nazi flags or any banner of hatred should not be permitted through the gate, regulate the fans. Certain chants should not be allowed or anything resembling a hate crime/abuse in anyway shape or form.
I love how the United States stepped in and covered this issue. Europe has long had serious issues with racism in general that are allowed to go unchecked, and then they are dumfounded by the behavior in the stands. Was it less atrocious when one individual was doing it to someone else? I do not believe so. Hate has one face, and so there is no excuse. Protect the players, chasten the coaches. FIFA do your job or what use are you? It’s like an enabling parent that has a delinquent child that is always getting arrested and yet they tell you s/he is a good boy/girl. No s/he’s not, that child needs correction because something is just not being done.
I also think individual nations need to pay attention and correct their own people’s behavior. So far there are no consequences to delinquent behavior like this. Silence says “I agree.” I admire those soccer players that are stepping up and speaking up and out about the racism they are experiencing and imploring all others who see the wrong in it all to act and rectify the situation so soccer becomes a fun sport that billions enjoy. Fear of what is happening outside should not sip its way inside the stadium. Mob mentalities like this need to be addressed. People caught on camera need to be disciplined which will require more than just a slap on the wrist. Players that become demi-gods feeding off of another’s torment that has nothing to do with the game need to be dismissed there should be no space for such as these.
If fear stemming from immigration was the true issue I would say learn more about the people you fear for odds are you know nothing at all about why you are afraid, you just are because so-and-so can make a good argument. But being that there aren’t even that many black Europeans in Europe, where is all this coming from?

It pays to learn a bit more about others culture. This goes for both the boy and the hostess. Because there are so many cultures in the world it is impossible to know absolutely everyone so the safest option is to learn the ones of the country you are in. I am quite certain the boy could just have held out until he got off the flight especially considering how on edge fliers are as of late with all the bomb threats and “suspects” in airlines. The hostess although relatively embarrassed by her decision made a call based on what she felt was a security issue but where do you draw the line between founded and unfounded fears. Will she do this then to anyone she regards as strange or different? But being that her job requires that she be in contact with people of various nationalities and backgrounds the least she can do is educate herself during her spare time.
I am trying to imagine myself in that situation as a passenger and what I would have thought. Being that I myself am not aware of “teffilin” I would have paid attention what he was doing. I do not believe I would have alerted any attendants of it because you have to control your own fears and potential hysteria or you, as the hostess was, become the nuisance. Now everyone was delayed in getting where they needed to go because someone was praying and the air hostess freaked out.
I see the next step to all this craziness being religion being banned from public places because people do not take the time of day to actually process effectively what they are looking at. Emotions should be controlled by a person not the person be controlled by the emotions, because that is when the dumbest decisions are usually made because all ability to think logically goes out the window. People need to control their fears! Not everyone different from you is out to get you! Imagine how on edge this world will be if everyone reacted in this way where a whole plane had to land for a prayer. Really, though?
I also see Christians in some twisted illogical way being blamed for this. Although Muslims are the rebel group of the day Christians are the fall back scapegoats when everyone other than a Muslim is a target. It is amazing how change can be affected by a handful of people and yet most people do not think they can make a difference to right a wrong. Leave the Muslims watch the terrorists. Stop scapegoating the Christians and direct your comments to those that offend you. This grouping of people unjustly needs to end while we all some semblance of sense left in us. This is how dictators and opportunists rise.

Whether or not Muslim women should or should not wear clothing that covers their faces should not be up for debate like this. What purposes other than to ebb fear is the reason behind not allowing these women to dress as they please. If a teenager can where short-short skirts with high heels and make up, why on earth you anyone call a woman who decides to cover herself going against the ethics of a nations. It is utterly ridiculous. The motives for this need to be checked because it’s not as a though this is the first time France has had women who veil themselves.
If any law is to be made it should be one that permits women to choose how they dress, allowing them an equal to opportunity to accept or reject the wearing of the hijab or any other religiously inclined article of clothing. France, historically, has always been inclined against religion and more toward what they call “enlightenment” as was even obvious with the French Revolution. I do understand to some degree, when in Rome do as the Romans do, but that should be in maintaining the traditions and cultures of a land (showing respect to the ways of the country that has taken you in). Because in the same breath, some immigrants try to then recreate a country that has always been or has been for hundreds of years into what they want it to be when they could find just what where they left. As an immigrant has some respect for those that take you in because when you first found out about that nation it was as it is so unless your life is endangered leave well alone. But those nations that do take in immigrants need to at least cater to some variant of their needs as they are a part of you now and it would be very selfish to ask someone to forget who they are for you own perverse lust for superiority.
The law should not pass, it is not ethical. I’m surprised it even came up. But then again the answer is always in between two extremes: let the women choose, and the let the law protect that choice fervently. Don’t fine someone $1000 dollars because they don’t want you to see their faces; what of masquerades that are so fancied by the west as a part of culture or embracing history. Think of it as a year round masquerade that means more to someone than having fun for a night but a personal decision. The women have agreed to unveil themselves for identification is security is the issues but regulations as to how these women are to be treated as they are “identified” should be set to avoid human rights violations by the law that has a way to isolating people