Nepotism is a touchy subject in my opinion. It’s one of those ideas where you don’t like to see other people benefit from it, but if the opportunity presents itself for you to benefit from it, are you really going to say no and not allow it? Personally I’m not really sure how I will handle that sort of situation, as I’m pretty sure I’m going to have to face it sometime in the next few years. Some see nepotism as inherently evil, but at the same time, we’re taught to network and build relationships in college to potentially assist us in the future.
In the search for a job right out of college, it’s a dog eat dog world. It’s not about what you know; it’s about whom you know. I’ll be honest; if I have an opportunity to get a job that otherwise would not be attainable because of nepotism, then more likely than not I will accept it. I’m a person who likes to earn what he gets and work for it, so I’m a little uneasy about admitting that I would allow nepotism to happen for my benefit, but in today’s job market, beggars can not be choosers and I’m going to do what I have to do to be employed.
I think even if you were a very strong willed person, it would be hard to say no to nepotism. In reality, as good of a person you are, when it comes to making money there’s just too much to lose from not taking a job. Saying no because you know it’s not fair sounds good on paper and on tv, but when it comes down to making the actual decision and carrying out the decision, nobody would be able to carry out that good deed. I am fully aware that nepotism is wrong; it is unfair and people deserving of positions are virtually screwed out of jobs that should be rightfully theirs. I just think that you have to be a very strong person to resist temptation. As strong as I believe myself to be, I know that there is no way I could resist the opportunity to obtain a position by simply knowing someone in an authority position.
In conclusion, I don’t believe for one second, any person that says that they would not allow themselves to benefit from nepotism. I am a religious person, as well as a person who tries to do the right thing. That being said, I am fairly confident that I would not be able to resist the opportunity to gain employment or other opportunities through nepotism if the opportunity presents itself. I don’t think I am a bad person; just a person trying to get ahead in life.

Don’t Drink the Water, by Dave Matthews Band is one of my favorite songs, and one of the bands most popular songs. Dave often opts to open up some of his concerts with the song, as it’s opening lyrics, “Come Out, Come Out…” encourage positive crowd reactions and participation. I have heard this song dozens and dozens of times. I always knew that it had something to do with “Indians” because of the music video that Dave and the Band made for it, however I did not fully realize the meaning behind it and often sang along with the lyrics without realizing what I was saying.
I did some research and found out that Dave got the idea to write the song at the Grand Canyon. He was inspired when the people around him were looking at the great cliffs and rock in wonder and awe; he though it was amazing how people could look at them without realizing what had truly occurred in the past there. Apparently there was one particular massacre in which the Native Americans were forced off of a cliff to plummet to their death. Dave used this story among others to make a song that I have now grown to love and appreciate much more. The message is incredible.
The first thing I noticed after really listening to the words and reading the lyrics is that the song is sung from the point of view of the Americans who were kicking the Natives off of the land. In the first verse the evil character that is the American is developed. He is shown to be incredibly greedy, impatient and misinformed. Its funny to me that lyrics like “there’s no place here, what were you expecting, no room for both, just room for me” are uttered, because the Native Americans didn’t even see the land as their own; they were merely watching over it.
As the song progresses, similar lines of impatience and utter greed are sung that play into Dave’s overall message very well. Basically the character does not take the natives seriously in any way. The line, “What’s this you say, you feel a right to remain, then stay, and I will bury you” shows just how ignorant and greedy these people were.
The final lines warning people to “don’t drink the water, there’s blood in the water.” Are symbolic of Dave’s motive to right the song; don’t go to places without knowing what the history is. In this case, the history of the Grand Canyon and the Native Americans in general is one filled with tragedy and blood shed. I close this piece with the words of my man Dave Matthews, “Don’t drink the water, there’s blood in the water.”

Electing a black president is a huge stepping stone in our history. It helps to fortify what America stands for: freedom. This gives many minorities courage to take a leap of faith and try something that they may have not thought possible before. Not too long ago blacks were fighting for the right to sit on a bus. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream is coming true today and is still improving. Minorities are becoming more are more powerful in America. And now we have a black president running the country. This is a huge step forward for the race movement. Many never thought this day would come and are very excited about it while others think that this is the end of the world, but this is America, we have no set type of person, we are a blend of many cultures and ethnicity's, and that is what makes this country so special. Equal opportunity and freedom to do what we desire are the cornerstones of our society. If this country did not truly believe these principles, then why would there be such an influx of those trying to come to this country for a better life? Obviously we are a place where it does not matter what color your skin is, if you want to be successful, you can be, you just need to work hard for it. Barack Obama is an example of this concept. Growing up not having much to becoming the first black president of the United States is pretty successful in my opinion. But there are people who think that he is the worst thing to happen to America, but they also bring in his race into account when it should be left at the door. People may not agree with things he does and they blame it on his race. If there was a black republican candidate, I’m sure that many of those people would have very different opinions on the topic. Obviously racism is still and most likely always going to be somewhat of an issue, this is a great achievement for a minority race. Now I am not saying that I am an avid Obama supporter, but purely from a racial standpoint, this is a monumental part in history for blacks and in fact all races. We may have a Spanish-American president next, or an Asian-American president. Hopefully Barack Obama’s presidency shows other that anything is possible and that one day it will be commonplace for minorities to be in positions of power. This is just the beginning of a new era of equality and race movements here in America, and there is no telling what the future might hold for us.

After reading “M’s Story”, one of the concluding lines distinctly stuck out in my mind. “Do not say I deserve a second chance because I write well. If I am given a second chance it is because I have proven myself worthy of standing in that line.” While some might call a statement like this quite typical of someone behind bars, I believe that there is more than just a bit of sincerity to it. M confessed to his crime, proclaimed that he was cowardly and selfish, as well as admitted to not feeling remorse at the time of his trial and conviction. Many would say that a person like M is deserving of all he has gotten and more, and they are right, however what many people fail to realize is that there is such thing as rehabilitation. It is rehabilitation that our juvenile justice system should be built upon, and it is rehabilitation that can help better the lives of kids like M who made mistakes early in life but wish to move past them.
Before I go any further, I want to make it clear that I am not suggesting the opportunity of parole for every juvenile murderer in the United States; that is an outlandish idea that can only hurt our society. What I am suggesting is that we give greater rehabilitative opportunity to those who were found guilty of crimes as juveniles and show legitimate signs of remorse. There are a few reasons why I suggest this course of action. Not to sound cliché’, but I am a man who believes in second chances. I also am a man who believes that a second chance must be earned. Anyone who consciously takes a life deserves to be behind bars, but what I wish to question is, for how long? After time served, if inmates like M show remorse, go through specialized programs and undergo psychological testing, why not give them the opportunity to become contributing members of society?
By keeping youth offenders who are remorseful locked up, we are not only turning our back to those who may deserve a second chance, but quite frankly, we are wasting a good deal of money. On average, it costs about thirty thousand dollars a year to house an inmate in a maximum-security prison. With our economy in its current state, could these dollars not be put to better use elsewhere? Why not release these inmates that are deemed capable of functioning in society and cut down on unnecessary spending.
In conclusion, I know my aforementioned suggestion may sound quite cold in regards to victims and their families. As M said, “You should always think about the victims first.” However I stand by my belief, that everyone deserves a second chance if they earn it. Maybe that’s just the Catholic in me talking, or I’m just being plain naïve. But wherever it roots from, I don’t think it would hurt.

Due to the fact that I don’t know exactly how people around the world are living, I’ll just go off assumptions and previous knowledge so bear with me. The first thought that pops into my mind when I read over this question is how much more involved we are with online social networking and technology in general. As Americans we are always looking to advance ourselves individually with the newest gadget, internet fad, or technology. It’s this very reason why we have the saying “500 channels and nothing to watch”. However it has evolved into “2000 facebook friends and no one to talk to”. Today we spend more time on facebook staring (or creepin) at our “friends” pages than we actually do with our friends in person. We have been given all these new opportunities and advancements through technology only to turn around and use it to turn our brains into mush. Meanwhile across the pond people are finding more enjoyment from actually having interactive face to face meetings in social settings for the simple reason that it is just more enjoyable and that’s where moments, memories, and personable interactions are made. Facebook was originally made to be connected with people who you have met at college, but since then it has taken on a reverse process. Clicking through pictures of people we becoming friends with people on facebook with no intentions of ever meeting/seeing that person again. It is completely time wasting in a way that we took one thing that could help us and turned it into something that is further dumbing down America.
Another thing that comes across my mind is the influence the media has on our population as opposed to the media’s influence on people in different countries. We rely too heavily on the media which leaves us completely vulnerable to biased opinions, false information, and misleading information. The problem here is the term “you live and you learn” doesn’t apply here. Regardless of how many times we have been proven to be duped by the media we continue you rely just as heavily on it because that’s the most convenient means of getting our daily information regardless if we know it could be false. In other countries however, the same could be said about the media over there as well but people in different countries are more inclined to figure out the truth for themselves if it applies or appeals to them. They don’t let a virtual speaker dictate what they believe or think. If they were fooled by an unreliable source they would make it a point not to be tricked in the same situation again. Go outside and do your research, don’t let people feed you bogus information.

We think people from other countries are so much different from us simply because of common sense. Common sense tells us that people who grew up and lived in a different land with different laws, culture, location, and beliefs will be fundamentally different from us. At first glance I myself believe that to the fullest. However when you take a step back to actually think about it, it makes sense that believing we are so different from other people in different countries does not actually make sense at all. Everyone likes to laugh or be entertained, it does not matter where you come from, odds are you are not a human robot and you like to let loose and have a good time. Whether being from India or Canada does not make a difference from the fact that you like to laugh. However, different styles and things satisfy their means of entertainment. That is where the misconception and misleading ideas of being different has come from. Using humor as an example, people in Britain enjoy dry, sarcastic humor (the office or death at a funeral) as opposed to people in Mexico who enjoy the more up front, in your face kind of humor. Yes they do like different types of humor, but they both still enjoy humor as a means of entertainment. However it does not just stop at humor. All groups of people generally enjoy the same thing (ie dancing, singing, competing, and learning) but different variations of those things (salsa to ballroom dancing). Different things appeal to different groups but all in all we enjoy the same thing. Now whether we all liking different kinds of the same thing make us so much different is in everyone’s own personal opinion but to me it’s all in the same. Another good example is sports/competing. It doesn’t matter what country you are from, people compete wherever you go but the only difference is in what way people are competing. In England and in most European and Asian countries, soccer is the most favorable means of competition to them. In America it is chopped into many different sports, baseball, hockey, football, basketball, and more are what interest people and makes them want to compete. Now just because in America you play hockey and I play baseball, does that make us fundamentally different? No. Same goes for people in Europe who play soccer as opposed to people in Canada who play lacrosse. We all like to compete but the only difference is in what way we do it and that can depend on many different things that do not have anything to do with who we are as people. Different things appeal to different people.

I thought the question in this video definitely stimulated some thoughts I had on discrimination and “rednecks” alike. However I was a little spectacle about what she was really trying to ask. When she says, “If everyone looks down on rednecks who is left for them to look down on” I have to note the fact that discrimination doesn’t work like that. She is looking at discrimination as if it were a simple food chain. However just because the majority of racial groups look down at a particular group (in this case rednecks) doesn’t mean that single group (rednecks) aren’t discriminating right back at everyone else.
There are many different places where discriminate stems from, whether it be fear, confusion, or hatred doesn’t give justification to discriminate. With that said I think in this particular situation, one simple old saying explains where this demeaning perspective is rooted and that is “People fear what they don’t understand and what they can’t conquer”-Andrew Smith. To me, this quote really puts in perspective how rednecks view all people different than themselves. They were raised around the same kind of setting with the same kind of people, principals, attitudes, and most importantly lack of diversity.
I don’t mean to discriminate when I say if you were raised the way a “redneck” was (being outdoors-e with a generally simplistic outlook on life that doesn’t promote acceptance of others) it’s not hard to understand why these people would be unwilling to be accepting of others who are different from them. At the same time I think it depends on whom you identify as “redneck”. To me when I hear the term “redneck” I immediately think of cheap beer, a rusty pick-up truck with a confederate flag flying over top, extreme right wing views of all social aspects, and of course flannel. I know that last one is a little more specific but it’s the combination of the three that comes to mind when I hear “redneck”. I bring this up because I have plenty of friends who consider themselves red neck and to be honest I think it’s the most loosely grouped people of all the stereotypical groups. Being a redneck could mean so many different things. If you like to fish and be outside doing outside activities as opposed to being inside reading or surfing the web than you could be considered a red neck. If you openly hate Jews, blacks, and gays, you could be considered redneck. I’m using two extreme examples just to illustrate the fact that people think different things when they hear the word “redneck”
Its hard to determine why rednecks hate who they hate or determine why other groups hate them because they are so hard to group together.

There are many different places where discriminate stems from, whether it be fear, confusion, or hatred doesn’t give justification to discriminate. With that said I think in this particular situation, one simple old saying explains where this demeaning perspective is rooted and that is “People fear what they don’t understand and what they can’t conquer”-Andrew Smith. To me, this quote really puts in perspective how rednecks view all people different than themselves. They were raised around the same kind of setting with the same kind of people, principals, attitudes, and most importantly lack of diversity.
I don’t mean to discriminate when I say if you were raised the way a “redneck” was (being outdoors-e with a generally simplistic outlook on life that doesn’t promote acceptance of others) it’s not hard to understand why these people would be unwilling to be accepting of others who are different from them. At the same time I think it depends on whom you identify as “redneck”. To me when I hear the term “redneck” I immediately think of cheap beer, a rusty pick-up truck with a confederate flag flying over top, extreme right wing views of all social aspects, and of course flannel. I know that last one is a little more specific but it’s the combination of the three that comes to mind when I hear “redneck”. I bring this up because I have plenty of friends who consider themselves red neck and to be honest I think it’s the most loosely grouped people of all the stereotypical groups. Being a redneck could mean so many different things. If you like to fish and be outside doing outside activities as opposed to being inside reading or surfing the web than you could be considered a red neck. If you openly hate Jews, blacks, and gays, you could be considered redneck. I’m using two extreme examples just to illustrate the fact that people think different things when they hear the word “redneck”
Its hard to determine why rednecks hate who they hate or determine why other groups hate them because they are so hard to group together.

I thought the question in this video definitely stimulated some thoughts I had on discrimination and rednecks alike. However I was a little spectacle about what she was really trying to ask. When she says, If everyone looks down on rednecks who is left for them to look down on I have to note the fact that discrimination doesnt work like that. She is looking at discrimination as if it were a simple food chain. However just because the majority of racial groups look down at a particular group (in this case rednecks) doesnt mean that single group (rednecks) arent discriminating right back at everyone else.

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