en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/2435990 Comments by wobdag30 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/07/4827/#IDComment141029528 I find myself agreeing with the majority of people when it comes to eliminating government subsidies that are given to big oil companies. It is one of the few statements that Obama has made that I agree with. Although I do agree with his statement made during that state of the union address, cutting money given to oil companies would only be a rain drop in a large ocean when you consider what needs to be done to reform government subsidies. The entire system is messed up. If government funding is to be cut for oil companies, it also needs to be cut in other segments of the energy segment across the board. The lobbying industry has made it a huge business of buying votes to insure specific company’s best interests are put into law. The government gives even large subsidies on a percentage basis to ethanol producers. Why should we make our food into a source to power our cars when there are a huge amount of people starving worldwide? I have struggled with these questions and feel that I am currently a citizen without a voice in a system that is controlled by two parties of corrupt law makers. Our government is currently over 14 trillion dollars in debt and currently spending over a trillion dollars a year more than it takes in. If any corporation was behaving this way, it would go bankrupt and its leaders would be in jail. To quote Bernie Madoff from his jail cell, he said,”The United States government is the largest Ponzi scheme in the history of human civilization. We need to cut funding given to oil companies, but it should not stop there. The solution should be not allowing the government to subsidize any industry. Why should the government be allowed to give money away that the currently do not have? About one quarter of our tax dollars go to paying of the interest of the debt that our government has recently taken on. This is not an effective use of my tax dollars. Intelligent people do not want to see their money spent this way, and for the most part, intelligent people do not work for the government because they can make more money in the private sector. Intelligent people can find ways to make sure that the government can get as little of their tax money as possible. This results in less money being collected than should be because people are dissasatified with what their tax dollars are funding. I will pay all my taxes in full without any questionable accounting practices if I feel my money is going to a good cause. I currently don’t and will go to great lengths to fight the United States government to keep as much money out of their hands as possible. Fri, 8 Apr 2011 16:04:09 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/07/4827/#IDComment141029528 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/24/would-you-date-someone-like-me-119-blog/#IDComment137529836 I do not think that white guys are hesitant to date black girls. I am a white guy and have made many attempts to talk to black girls that I meet, but they always seem very uninterested. It makes sense that a black girl would have trouble dating a white guy if she has given her male black friends a hard time about dating white girls. That being said, I can think of some reasons a white guy might be hesitant to date a black girl. The first one would be fear of the unknown. I grew up in a diverse community, but a lot of white people I have met at Penn State grew up in all white areas. I can see them being hesitant in dating a black girl because they are more comfortable dating white girls because it is more comfortable for them to be in social situations that are familiar to their upbringing. Another reason I can think of for a white guy being reluctant to date black women is our perception of their fiery tempers. The media always shows black women yelling at their guy and that is something no guy wants to deal with. These crazy outbursts make for entertaining reality TV, but do not do well for society’s perception of black women. I would rather have someone yell at me if they are pissed, then to bottle it up and take it out on me later for something else small. This is what white girls do. Personally, I find the assertiveness of black women attractive. I think they are much more independent then white women. This makes it less likely for them to do some weird stalker things if you were to end a relationship with them. This is something that I see a lot of quiet, passive white do. The one reason I would be hesitant to date a black woman would be the relationship with her family. I have never experienced racism from black people my own age, but I have with the older generations. If I get in a serious relationship with someone, I would not want their parents hating me behind my back because I am white. This is a very insignificant reason and would not even be an issue until a relationship is in its mature stages. Now that I have figured out why black women are hesitant to date white men, I plan on being more persistent in my pursuit. I can see no real negatives to dating a black woman for a white guy like me. Fri, 25 Mar 2011 17:20:10 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/24/would-you-date-someone-like-me-119-blog/#IDComment137529836 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/15/what-is-your-view-and-experience-with-white-privilege-119-blog/#IDComment135709985 I have several experiences with white privilege mainly because I grew up in a predominately white area. I ran into a similar situation than the one Sam talked about in class with his college painting business. The summer after my freshmen year at Penn State I ran a painting company through Tuition Painters. I went around to local houses and got jobs and by talking to local people. All of my clients were white and all of my painters were white. They gave us access to their houses when they were not home. Looking back, I am confident that they would not have given us the jobs and the access to their house if we were minorities. Another time that I received white privilege was when I was hired for my internship. Every single person that worked in the office was white. My white skin was definitely a factor in me being hired. I am pretty sure that if I had been a minority with the same exact skill set, I would not have been hired. This job set me up to get a full time job during a time when most people are having trouble finding work. My white privilege has definitely been a large factor to my current and future financial stability. I have also got away with breaking the law because of my white skin. In high school, I started hanging out with the stoner crowd at my high school. I would frequently have a bag of pot in my pocket. In 11th grade, a cop stopped me and a friend because we matched the description of 2 kids who were doing graffiti. He immediately noticed that we were high and searched us. He found my baggie and questioned me for a while. The cop then called my parents and dumped the baggie out in a stream. The cop was white and I am pretty sure that the cop would have charged me if I was a minority. Situations like this are the reason that even though white people use drugs to the same proportion as minority, much more minorities are arrested for drug crimes. I have had many situations in my life where white privilege has benefited me. I can’t think of any times in my life where having white skin has negatively affected me. I am sure my white skin has helped me on many occasions that I am not aware of. Fri, 18 Mar 2011 00:07:08 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/15/what-is-your-view-and-experience-with-white-privilege-119-blog/#IDComment135709985 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/06/are-whites-racially-oppressed/#IDComment134680888 I see the sentiments that are expressed in this article by my white peers and more so in my parent’s generation. I shared many of these views before I saw the economic stats that Sam showed us in class. It is easy for white people to feel like they are in the minority by simply watching a couple of hours of television. African Americans dominate the media. I am watching college basketball right now and every commercial during the break has an African American as the main character. The white people that are normally portrayed in the commercials as being goofy and dumb, while the African American is the voice of reason. African Americans also dominate popular music and the culture that stems from it has changed the way white youths behave. Without looking at economic figures, an outsider who was observing American culture would assume that African Americans are the dominant ethnic groups. When the economic numbers are reviewed, it is clear that white people are still on top of the food chain, but most people do not educate themselves in these matters. This is why the belief that white people are becoming a minority is so prevalent today. I think the back lash that people believe has resulted from affirmative action is an increase in white people’s perception of racism in society today. People take specific instances of a white person being negatively affected by affirmative action and start to believe that they are the race that is being oppressed. Before these assumptions are made, society as a whole needs to be analyzed. When this is done, it is obvious that white people get many more benefits from the color of their skin then injustices they suffer do to it. I would much rather have music and pop culture dominated by African American culture than I would the corporate world. White people currently dominate corporate America and this is what determines a person’s quality of life. I understand where the feelings expressed in this article come from, but I think that these beliefs are not merited in actual facts. Sun, 13 Mar 2011 20:34:28 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/06/are-whites-racially-oppressed/#IDComment134680888 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/23/what-is-your-opinion-of-affirmative-action-and-has-the-lecture-had-an-effect-on-you-119-blog/#IDComment130454104 I strongly agree with the post of ejc5179. The controlled studies that Sam showed us in class where a resume with a black sounding name on it was selected for an interview less often than the resume with a white sounding name made me rethink a lot of me opinions on affirmative action. I know black people who got into college with lower grades than a white student, and this experience soured me against affirmative action. After seeing the studies that had been done on hiring, I now see that these types of things are necessary. A year ago, I worked an eight month internship at a fortune 500 company’s corporate headquarters that had been in business since around 1850. I estimated that of the roughly five hundred employees that worked there, less than two percent were black. The only black people that worked there had either had simple paper pushing office jobs, liking billing, or janitorial jobs. At the time, I rationalized this as people hire others that are similar to them to promote a team oriented environment. Since I relate best to other white people, I assumed that this is the rational my managers used. The question I now ask myself is, “If the management is white and they all use this rationalization to only hire other white people, how is a black person going to break into this company in a skill position?” The answer that I can come up with is that there is no chance of this happening. This makes affirmative action necessary to get blacks jobs in office environments like the one I worked in. In the past, I only looked at specific instances where a white person was negatively affected by affirmative action. I now see that it is necessary for affirmative action to push black people into positions of corporate power. In this case, the latent prejudice that existed in the management was their desire to build teams in the office. If there are no black people in the office, then by this logic, it does not make sense to hire any. Seeing these studies and knowing that most of America will not see them makes me worried about the future of racial relationships in our country. Until last Tuesday, I did not see myself as a person that had any prejudice. I know realize how easy it is to rationalize that latent prejudice and will make a strong effort in the future to recognize scenarios in which it occurs. Fri, 25 Feb 2011 00:06:12 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/23/what-is-your-opinion-of-affirmative-action-and-has-the-lecture-had-an-effect-on-you-119-blog/#IDComment130454104 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/16/how-does-white-privilege-affect-our-age-group-119-blog/#IDComment128652802 The advantages that I have as a white person are reverberations of racial inequalities that happened in past generations. It is necessary for extreme action to be taken in order to correct these injustices, such as affirmative action hires. It just doesn’t sit well with me that “white privilege” is used a defining factor when white people of my generation are successful. We have to be more qualified to get into good universities and to get hired for quality jobs. I may have been born into a good situation, but that is the only major privilege of being white that I have experience, huge as it may be. I would be more privileged if I were born a minority in the same financial situation. Thu, 17 Feb 2011 20:53:43 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/16/how-does-white-privilege-affect-our-age-group-119-blog/#IDComment128652802 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/16/how-does-white-privilege-affect-our-age-group-119-blog/#IDComment128652753 I know a couple African Americans who were accepted to PSU with lower SAT and GPAs then white students who did not make the cut. I have an uncle who is a Chief Operations Officer at a large pharmaceutical company, who has flat out told me that a white person has to be a lot more qualified than a Latino or an African American person applying for the same position to get hired. This is because large corporations are required to satisfy diversity requirements in order to avoid lawsuits and bad press. It is my belief that you should be hired for a job not because of race, but because of ability. I have no problem with an African American dominated NBA and NFL. African Americans are better at those sports than white people. It is a ludicrous idea to suggest that more white people should be hired to play pro sports so that the diversity in the league represents that of the population. Why is it OK to do this in a corporate environment? Thu, 17 Feb 2011 20:53:25 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/16/how-does-white-privilege-affect-our-age-group-119-blog/#IDComment128652753 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/16/how-does-white-privilege-affect-our-age-group-119-blog/#IDComment128652714 Since I am white, I am going to analyze “white privilege” from my personal and biased perspective. The main advantage that white people have, when analyzed as an entire group, is wealth. Myself and many other of my white peers were born into money, had strong educations, stable families, and not a lot of worries growing up. I also know a few minorities that were raised in the exact same area as me, with parents who had as just as much or more money than mine. From my own personal experiences, the wealthy minorities that I know actually had an advantage over white people from the same financial class. Thu, 17 Feb 2011 20:53:09 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/16/how-does-white-privilege-affect-our-age-group-119-blog/#IDComment128652714 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/08/why-dont-we-see-wealthfare/#IDComment127136928 I agree with the quote that Sam provide ONLY because I consider the United States government the largest and most corrupt corporation. Why else would it make sense to spend hundreds of millions of dollars campaigning in order to win a political position that only pays six figures at best? The Californian Republican Gubernatorial candidate spent $180 million dollars out of pocket and lost. These vast sums of money being spent show us that there is much more to gain financially from these offices. When you look at political issues, the only main difference between Democrats and Republicans is where and how the ridiculous amounts of tax money should be spent. The scary thing is that the government does not have to behave with the same financial discipline as a privately owned corporation. If a private corporation consistently operates in the red, they go out of business (unless they receive a government bailout which defeats innovation and the evolution of business). The government has the power to simply print more money if it gets into a bad financial situation. If a company in unethical in their business practices, the buying power of the people will most likely, put them out of business. Government officials get four years in office to pass enough legislation that financially sets them up for life. When you consider the power that a high ranking government official has, it is no surprise that the most corrupt people in American society run for political office. What scares me as I slowly become more politically aware is that I cannot find a candidate that I feel confident in leading my country. I made my decisions on the last two elections based on which candidate that I thought would steal the least amount of money for themselves and the groups of people who financed their campaign. My opinion is that there should be smaller government in an effort to empower the American people again. The American dream, that you can rise up from poor to rich, is not commonly shared by people of my generation. One cause of this is that the government has too much control on private industry through taxes and regulation. What motivation do I have to work harder when promotion is punished by higher taxes? This also comes down to “wealthfare” being an evil creation that prevents the USA from competing in the most productive way in today’s global economy. Subsidizing business only pushes the USA to focus on forms of business that we are not good at on a global scale and prevents our country from creating the next major technology that will improve the world standard of living. Thu, 10 Feb 2011 15:58:26 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/08/why-dont-we-see-wealthfare/#IDComment127136928 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/03/inequality-in-home-ownership-119-blog/#IDComment125967666 I think race is one of the determining factors in the likelihood of an individual owning a home in America. It is obvious when we look at the statistics that White and Asian families are much more likely to own a home then African Americans and Latinos. In my opinion, the huge difference in these numbers is caused by the way each ethnic group came to the United States and also when their waves of immigration occurred. White people came here to start a new life and get away from oppression and famine that was taking place in Europe. The main goal of White immigrants in the 19th and 20th century was to provide their future generations with a better life. The strove for a better life for their children and for the most part, every generation was a little better off financially than the last. Latinos are now the large ethnic group that is immigrating to the United States. They are in the same financial position that Irish were in during the early 1900s. They also bring the same work ethic and intentions in coming to America. They want a better future for their family. I think over the next one hundred years, Latinos and Whites will be in the same financial position and have the same home ownership statistics. Latinos may overtake Whites as the best financial set race because White people are getting lazy. Asians are in the same boat as Latinos but place a larger emphasis on education and many of them came here already possessing advanced degrees. This has accelerated their rise in wealth in the United States. I think the reason for coming to America is a separating factor between African Americans and the other three racial groups. A large amount of African Americans can trace their ancestry back to slavery. The first generations that were in the United States were here against their will. If you force people to be in a situation like this, it can act as a demotivation factor. This caused the first generations of African Americans to resent the “American Dream”, and not embrace it like the other three groups that immigrated to the United States in search of it. They did not have that initial boost that other groups had to sacrifice for the future. I think that this is the reason that their culture does not put as much value on home ownership as the three other groups. Fri, 4 Feb 2011 18:53:58 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/02/03/inequality-in-home-ownership-119-blog/#IDComment125967666 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/27/why-do-we-need-to-be-politically-correct-119-blog/#IDComment124386423 I do not want to have to constantly watch what I say, but society dictates that I do. If there is no hate or bigotry behind a statement, no negative consequence should be put on the person that made the statement. If we opened up to each other and let each other know what statements are offensive, there would never be a question of can or can I not say something. Fri, 28 Jan 2011 18:52:40 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/27/why-do-we-need-to-be-politically-correct-119-blog/#IDComment124386423 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/27/why-do-we-need-to-be-politically-correct-119-blog/#IDComment124386364 I am a white male and I intend to go into business and work at a large corporation. Because of all the scrutiny placed on political correctness in the workplace, it is extremely important for me to protect myself. I make a constant effort to never refer to any ones race, weight, sexual orientation, gender, or religion. Even though I do not hold any prejudices, I am constantly making sure I do not say anything that could be misconstrued as a politically incorrect statement. Having to constantly filter causes a strain on relationships with others. An example of time that I did not filter myself was during an internship I had two summers ago. There was an African American intern who worked in a different part of the office. At the beginning of my internship, I asked him if he would like to join me and the other people in my department who played basketball after work. I did so because he was tall and athletic looking. It had nothing to do with race. He told me that he did not play basketball in an angry tone and treated me like he did not like me from that point on. That experience caused me to be on my toes and politically correct to the point of being boring. Fri, 28 Jan 2011 18:52:15 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/27/why-do-we-need-to-be-politically-correct-119-blog/#IDComment124386364 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/27/why-do-we-need-to-be-politically-correct-119-blog/#IDComment124386302 This question can be looked at two different ways. You can look at how things should be in a perfect world and you can look at how things are. In a perfect world, it shouldn’t matter what I call someone else as long as there is not any malice behind my words. In some situations, the most distinguishing physical characteristic that someone has is there race. For example, if a African American or Asian person is the only member of that race in a group of people, it is often easiest to describe them to others by their race first. In this scenario, it feels awkward to describe them as Black or Asian even though this would be quickest way for others to realize who you are talking about. It should not be necessary to have to phrase your sentences carefully when talking about certain topics to avoid a social miscue or potential legal action; but unfortunately in the United States, it is a necessity. Fri, 28 Jan 2011 18:51:50 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/27/why-do-we-need-to-be-politically-correct-119-blog/#IDComment124386302 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/18/what-characteristics-would-you-give-your-race-blog-2/#IDComment122792447 My family is Polish and we always celebrate with traditional Polish food when we get together. Some characteristic that I attribute strongly to my Polish ancestry would be my stubbornness, determination, and always being hot. I have found that I have trouble taking advice or direction from others and this is also true for my family members as well. Determination also goes along with our stubbornness. We won’t take advice on how to do something but we will get it done. I attribute always being hot to tracing my ancestry to Nordic climates. Fri, 21 Jan 2011 15:53:46 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/18/what-characteristics-would-you-give-your-race-blog-2/#IDComment122792447 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/18/what-characteristics-would-you-give-your-race-blog-2/#IDComment122792385 I grew up in an upper middle class suburb of Philadelphia. I had a very ethnically diverse group of friends growing up. I was one of two white kids on my high school basketball team, which was made up and coached by all African Americans. This essential led to me having two different groups of friends. These groups were my white preppy friends and my African American friends that I played basketball with. I definitely acted differently when I was hanging out with each different group. I had to be a lot more on my twos when I hung out with my black friends because they were a lot quicker to make fun of me for doing stereotypical “white” things. I would even find myself talking with a more in a different tone when I was around them. I would speak in a more urban tone without even realizing that that I was doing it. If I spoke that way around my white friends they would make fun of me and if I was two over the top with my black friends, they would mock me as well. I became knowledgeable in two different cultures, but I always considered myself to be white. Fri, 21 Jan 2011 15:53:18 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/18/what-characteristics-would-you-give-your-race-blog-2/#IDComment122792385 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/18/what-characteristics-would-you-give-your-race-blog-2/#IDComment122792298 This is a tough question and I have been giving it a lot of thought lately because of the discussions that we have had lately in class. I consider myself to be part of the white race. I have blond hair and blue eyes and many people tell me that I look Swedish. Both my parents consider themselves to be of Polish decent with some Ukraine blood mixed in as well. My mom also tells me that my grandfather looked a little bit Mongolian as well. I have the same nose as him, which is one of the reason I believe that I have some Mongolian ancestry as well. After hearing that a DNA test can tell me of my ancestry, I intend on having one done so that I can determine once and for all where my family can be traced too. I consider myself to be white and to be Polish and next I will discuss the characteristics that go along with both categories. Fri, 21 Jan 2011 15:52:49 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/18/what-characteristics-would-you-give-your-race-blog-2/#IDComment122792298 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/10/last-name-%e2%80%9cg%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%93-intense-debate/#IDComment122131400 SOC119 Tue, 18 Jan 2011 19:28:16 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/01/10/last-name-%e2%80%9cg%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%93-intense-debate/#IDComment122131400