en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/3083414 Comments by zpa5003 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/30/week-8-%e2%80%93-lesson-14-affirmative-action/#IDComment170504671 I too have been a beneficiary of nepotism. My current internship is because my mom knew someone. I hear it more often than anything else, “its not what you know, its who you know.” Now, I have been on the good end of nepotism. I couldn’t imagine how frustrating it is to be on the other end. To be more qualified than someone for a job – one that a worked extremely hard for – and someone else less qualified got it over me because the parents knew someone. I am sure it is very demoralizing and it is a major flaw in the way our society works. Thu, 7 Jul 2011 02:47:34 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/30/week-8-%e2%80%93-lesson-14-affirmative-action/#IDComment170504671 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/30/week-8-%e2%80%93-lesson-14-affirmative-action/#IDComment170503658 This was a very interesting lecture. I was wondering when we were going to get to affirmative action. I have always between skeptical about affirmative action. I have always seen it as a very hypocritical concept. If you think about it in a fundamental sense, it is hypocritical. The idea that two equal students applying for the same spot at a university depend on the universities need to meet a certain minority quota is in itself discrimination. Nonetheless, I understand its purpose: to promote equal opportunity for minorities. Dr. Richards definitely opened up a new perspective for me on affirmative action. I didn’t realize white woman were considered a minority and, further, a benefit of affirmative action. In light of this, the statistics that he presents provide a shocking realization. White woman are the greatest beneficiaries of affirmative action. So these women go to college, get good jobs, and typically marry white men. Dr. Richards directly connects these benefits for white woman with white men. Therefore, it infers the affirmative action has done more for white people than it has for people of color. This blows my mind. Furthermore, most affirmative action beneficiaries are from the middle class. From this alone, I see affirmative action as a failed attempt to promote equal opportunity for minorities. When it comes to equal opportunity, the most important factor is education. Today, our education system is failing. The Oprah clip of students from an inner city school and a suburban school switching schools for the day highlights this issue. The quality of our educational systems is drastically different between urban and suburban public schools. People that attend public urban schools are already predisposed to less opportunity because inner city public schools have less funding, less resources and thus worse schools, supplies, and teachers. I went to a public school in Lower Merion Township – a very wealthy township outside Philadelphia. We had an incredible amount of stuff. Not only did we have computer labs, each student was given their own laptop to use for their school work. Graduating high school was a given. College was a given. This is not the situation for most public inner-city schools. The graduation rate is significantly lower. The disparity of resources between urban and suburban inner city schools is the main reason for these differences. I have thought long and hard about this situation. How do you solve this disparity? Well, people in rich areas pay more taxes that go to their school systems. In the city, there are more people (and thus more taxes) but also more schools. In additional, suburban schools receive less federal money while city schools are granted more. But still, all this money is distributed over many more schools. How do we solve this? How do arrange it so that all public schools are given an equal amount of resources? Thu, 7 Jul 2011 02:42:51 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/30/week-8-%e2%80%93-lesson-14-affirmative-action/#IDComment170503658 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-13-immigration/#IDComment169320705 People, like myself, do seem to forget about the history of the United States. We are a country of immigrants. It has been this way since day one. At one point or another, our ancestors migrated here for the same reasons that people continue to migrate here. Where as one hundred years ago most immigrants were from Europe, today most immigrants are from Mexico or Asia. I agree with you, people come to this country to chase the American dream. They want a better life for their families. I also thought it was very interesting to see the figures on how second and third generation immigrants learn English. Sun, 3 Jul 2011 16:09:13 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-13-immigration/#IDComment169320705 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-13-immigration/#IDComment169319513 I have always been hard line anti-immigration. My reason for this is because I saw immigration as something that takes jobs away from Americans. Further, I believed that immigrants (both legal and illegal) cost the United States government billions of dollars each year. I understand that people came to America to give themselves a chance for a better life for themselves and their kids. I also understand that there are jobs in the United States that Americans won’t do. For example, many won’t work on farms or in restaurant kitchens. This is mostly due to the fact that it is hard work for little pay. I actually recently read an article about our Mexicans run the restaurant industry in America. If I was in there position, I would do the same thing. But from where I stand now (as an American facing graduation and a staggering unemployment rate and a national debt crisis), I see immigration as a problem. As you can see, the extent of my view on immigration is not well founded. I did not realize how dependent business was on our immigration policies. I thought it was very interesting how Dr. Richards asked the class who was pro-free market economy (capitalism). He responded by saying that if you are, than you should be pro-immigration. If you are anti-immigration, than you should support a more socialist economic system. This connected some dots for me. Businesses look to increase profits and cut expenses. This is fundamental to conducting business. It makes sense for businesses to look for the cheapest labor available – and that is usually from immigrants who are just looking to make ends meet. This is also way businesses are out-sourcing labor (which is a whole different story). I felt that the example about pear farmers in California only reinforced this idea. Part of me says that we should continue our free-market capitalist ways because it works. Another part of me says that we should maybe adopt some socialist principles to curb immigration and provide a better market for the common people in this country. The United States has one of the most (if not the most) drastic wealth gaps in this world and it keeps getting larger. Everyone has heard the phrase “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.” This holds true in our society. Maybe it is time to adopt some sort of economic change to help spread wealth across the country to a greater percent of the population. This lecture aroused some serious dilemmas thought our country faces. It definitely changed how I view immigration and how it prospers in this country. The most shocking point uncovered in this lecture is without a doubt the connection between business and immigration policy. Sun, 3 Jul 2011 16:02:07 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-13-immigration/#IDComment169319513 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt/#IDComment167773851 I feel the same way about living and learning about other cultures but I have a problem. I am afraid of change. I am not scared of other races and cultures. I am simply satisfied with my culture and where I live. Since college, I have changed quite a bit. I have been forced to venture out of my comfort zone. I feel this has made me a better and more intelligent person. In fact, I am starting to learn Japanese. I hope to travel to Japan one day because I am fascinated with their culture and love sushi. Wed, 29 Jun 2011 02:23:00 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt/#IDComment167773851 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt/#IDComment167771868 The beginning of the class lecture was very interesting. It was enlightening to see the percent of people who want to live in more diverse communities and people who want to live with many immigrants. These figures have multiple implications. It didn’t surprise me to see that a higher percent of democrats want to live in more diverse communities than republicans. We do have certain prejudices against members of political parties. For example, the idea that republicans are anti-immigration and democrats are more liberal in that respect. These prejudices seem to hold somewhat true here. It was further interesting to see the difference between high school graduates (46%) and college graduates (62%). What happens in college that makes people more comfortable living in diverse communities? I think the answer to this question is simply further education. College students further their understanding of the world by attending college. Classes such as the class we are currently taking open our eyes to what the world is really like and help us break down the false beliefs that were engrained into us from childhood. I believe college gets us to think for ourselves and base our beliefs off what we KNOW and our experiences. It is hard to say that people are around others of different races in college, especially after seeing figures on the distribution of race at Penn State University Park in a previous class. The figures on people who prefer to live in a community “made up mainly of people of their same racial ancestry” are even more interesting. For white people, 23% said they would prefer to. About 9% of black people and 21% of Hispanic people said they would prefer to as well. I am a little confused here and am not sure if I completely understand these figures. These figures tell me that a small population of white, black, and Hispanic people would prefer to live with and around people of similar racial ancestry. I would think otherwise. I thought people of all racial groups were uneasy about being surrounded by people of different racial groups? I remember this topic came up when we were talking about the diversity (or lack thereof) at Penn State. Penn State puts many minorities in Pennypacker hall because it is ultimately more comfortable for them to be around people of the same race. These two ideas seem contradictory (which is why I believe I may be misinterpreting the data from this part of the lecture). Nonetheless, I found this information to be very eye opening. These figures really surprised me, especially those about living in a community with immigrants and the hypocrisy that is present. I enjoyed this introduction to multiculturalism. Wed, 29 Jun 2011 02:14:32 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/26/week-7-%e2%80%93-lesson-12-multiculturalism-lgbt/#IDComment167771868 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/22/week-6-%e2%80%93-lesson-10-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-people-of-color-stages-1-4/#IDComment165627781 I remember seeing that video of that black vs. white doll questionnaire in high school. I remember being disturbed then. But I never really grasped the significance of that video until seeing it in this lecture. It is shocking. It is more shocking to take notice at how early these kids begin to think that black or brown skin is "disgusting." Kids to absorb everything which is the reason that these issues are an on-going cycle that begin at a very young age. I too never realized how easy culture and ideas could be put into kids minds. Thu, 23 Jun 2011 01:15:31 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/22/week-6-%e2%80%93-lesson-10-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-people-of-color-stages-1-4/#IDComment165627781 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/22/week-6-%e2%80%93-lesson-10-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-people-of-color-stages-1-4/#IDComment165624819 In part 1 of this lecture, Dr. Richards asked the white members of the class to imagine discovering at a very young age that you are a part of the “them” culture. So I did. At first, I tried to think about it from a non-white perspective. I had trouble putting myself in those shoes. Nothing really came to me. Then I tried something a little different. I am white and I imagined being very young again. I imagined a world where whites were in the minority; where white people were associated with crime and violence, ugliness, and other terrible prejudices. I imagined my parents telling me that most people out there that don’t have white skin see us differently. At this young age, I came to the conclusion that white was ugly and disgusting. Now the emotions were fluttering in. A feeling of uneasiness, alienation, and fear swept over me. Why was I able to understand these feelings entering this hypothetical situation being white and not black or brown? Maybe it’s because I have some experience being in the racial minority. I experienced similar feelings when I visited China a few years back. I just thought this was interesting and I wanted to share this experience. Moving on. One statistic that really shocked me was lack of diversity that makes up the undergraduate students at University Park. In 2008, 83.2% or 31,599 of all UP students were white. I never realized this. Of course I was aware that most students at UP were white. You would easily realize that just walking around campus. But 83.2% is a shocking statistic. Dr. Richards proceeds to ask if we think UP is too white or not white enough. My response would be that it definitely lacks diversity. But then he compares the proportion of race compared to the population of races in Pennsylvania. They are very similar proportions. From this perspective, I would say that PSU UP is relatively diverse. Would you agree? I remember when I applied to college. On my application I had to mark my race. I would be interested to see how many applications PSU gets from people of the various races and judge that number against the proportion of students based on race at UP. I thought that Dr. Richards did a good job of answering the students question towards the end of lecture 1. He described in great detail and depth the reason PSU places more minorities in Pennypacker halls versus other dorms in East. It makes complete sense and it is out of the interest of the student. But if I was a minority placed in a minority dorm, I think that I would feel offended and maybe somewhat secluded or alienated. It’s an interesting situation. Does anyone think that there is a better way for PSU housing to overcome these issues? Thu, 23 Jun 2011 01:03:56 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/22/week-6-%e2%80%93-lesson-10-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-people-of-color-stages-1-4/#IDComment165624819 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-3-4/#IDComment164434383 This discussion of feeling guilt for past racism that we as individuals had nothing to do with I thought that this was the most interesting part of the lecture. I find myself acting the same way sometimes but I never really thought of it as being patronizing. I must say it was never my intention to be patronizing but I simply felt guilty and I guess it was my way of just saying sorry for my ancestors racist believes and that I just want you to know that I don’t hold those beliefs so here, let me get the door for you… Mon, 20 Jun 2011 01:27:06 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-3-4/#IDComment164434383 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-3-4/#IDComment164433059 A playful game of ‘Dance Around the Swastika’? Are you kidding me? These young innocent blond haired, blue eyed white girls are dancing and singing songs about white supremacy that they are just kids. They are being exploited by white supremacist groups around the country to preach their beliefs. It’s a shame. Now, it’s hard to blame them for their beliefs because it is obviously a reflection of their parents’ beliefs and the way they were raised. But the clips from their interview just made me more and more angry. By the end, I wasn’t feeling as much anger towards the parents as I was towards the girls. These feelings of mine intrigued me. I didn’t really understand why I shifted from blaming the parents to the kids themselves. Maybe it was because I heard such crazy things coming from their mouths. The one girl stated that she didn’t believe there were even six million Jews during the onset of WWII. I just wanted to bang my head against the wall. Maybe I am just being ignorant, but don’t people question things? Don’t these girls read books and do research and consider sources that go beyond their parents and whoever is home-schooling them? It really does bother me that there are people out there that can hold such deep strong feelings of hate without really ever understanding why that hate exists in the first place. The girls hate black people just because they aren’t white? Really? Like I said, I am probably just being ignorant but this class has showed me a lot of video clips that have evoked such strong feelings of disgust. In addition to this video, the video about the ‘Christian Warriors’ was insane. These people are brainwashed and I feel sorry for them. At the same time, it is hard not to feel angry. People truly believe these crazy things and pass these beliefs on to their children. And the cycle keeps repeating itself. How do you go about stopping this cycle? I guess education, like the class we are taking now. I never considered myself a racist of any sort. Nonetheless, I am aware of people’s color and the common prejudice against certain races. For example, I get nervous when I am the only white person on the subway. I think that any minute, I could be mugged. But since taking this class, I have learned many things that I think that hinder my ability to overcome this way of political correctness that I adhere to so tentatively. It will be something that I think about and reflect upon throughout the course. If there is one thing I will take away from this class, it is that there are a lot of crazy people out there. Mon, 20 Jun 2011 01:21:45 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-9-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-3-4/#IDComment164433059 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-1-2/#IDComment162982115 I don’t think anything is wrong with the terms “majority” and “minority.” Blacks are a minority as far as the total population of the U.S. Whites are the overall majority but are considered minorities in certain areas of the country. I think the problem is the connotations that come with these terms and the need to specify that someone does not fall into the majority, whether it be that they are black, brown, or tattooed. You pointed this out and I agree. Why do people see the need to specify when someone is not in the majority for a particular attribute? It is a very interesting concept. Wed, 15 Jun 2011 21:50:19 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-1-2/#IDComment162982115 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-1-2/#IDComment162978504 I took me a couple of minutes to catch on to the beginning of the lecture. I didn’t understand at first his whole gay vs. straight or right-handed vs. left-handed talk. But now I do. It was a way of understanding ‘The Tale of the White Fish’. I am white. I agree with Dr. Richards point: if you are in the majority, you don’t understand the impact of whatever you are in the majority for. My experienced which made me conscious of my whiteness occurred overseas. A couple summers ago, I visited Beijing, China with my family. It was quite the culture shock. But most shocking was that we really were the only white people around. We would go days without seeing another white person. It was a very new and interesting feeling – to be in the racial minority. Where ever we went, people would stare at us. I felt uncomfortable my whole time there. A week later, we went to Hong Kong. One day we were on the beach. A group of Chinese tourists from a rural part on the mainland were standing about 10 feet away from us taking pictures. We had a friend with us that could speak Chinese and asked them why they were taking pictures. They said they have never seen white people before. My whole experience in China was my awakening to being white. Once I got back to the states, I started to reflect on all my experiences and being white. Further, my experiences in China allowed me to see how non-whites see whites. Yes, the Chinese there thought we were stupid ignorant people. They tried to treat us like that and take advantage of us. Fortunately enough, we were with a couple that had been living there for three years and knew how to do things there. I think most people are aware of being white today. The “us” and “them” is made pretty clear in our culture. I also think most people choose to avoid racial issues. Some feel guilty for past treatment of nonwhites and others don’t want to say or do the wrong thing and be labeled as a racist. I feel that I am in this stage. I am aware but choose to avoid racial issues. I understand that being white gives me a leg up on nonwhites. I am a political science major and I remember I had a part of class that was devoted to political correctness. Political correctness was taught to me and I thought it was great. It was a way to avoid creating racial issues. Now that I am half way through this Race and Ethnic relations class I can’t help but laugh. Wed, 15 Jun 2011 21:33:05 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/07/week-5-%e2%80%93-lesson-8-stages-of-racial-identity-%e2%80%93-white-people-stages-1-2/#IDComment162978504 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/02/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality/#IDComment160799050 You addressed several interesting topics and made some good points. We as Americans pride ourselves on living in a country where everyone has equal opportunity. This is false. In this country, white people for the most part have better starting points than other races in this country. Sure, there are rich people that aren’t white but for the most part, whites hold the great majority of wealth in this country. Discrimination and racism still exist today and will exist for many years to come. The government has tried to combat racism with education and programs like affirmative action and workplace diversity. In reality, this does very little. People in this country are still held back because they are black or brown. Thu, 9 Jun 2011 00:45:03 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/02/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality/#IDComment160799050 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/02/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality/#IDComment160797546 I completely agree with Prof. Richards lecture on the roots of race and ethnic equality. He provided many scenarios and examples that helped describe why some groups control majority over the world’s resources over other groups. I remember a professor of mine touching on this subject several semesters ago. On the other hand, the discussion about how dominant groups keep their power was new to me. I found this subject to be very eye opening. Do the wealthy and powerful really manipulate the way the common folk think? This is the determinist thought. On the other hand, the freedom perspective proposes that the dominant groups maintain power because they are the fittest and have the strongest voice. I never really thought about this before. I always believed that American society consisted of an elite group (made up of mostly old money) that – through inheritance, top of the line education, etc. – maintained an elite status. People of this “elite” status groom their kids from day one and send them to Ivy League schools like Harvard or Yale. They then go on to become corporate executives or politicians. Then they have kids…and the cycle continues. Look at all the United States Presidents. Most, if not all, come from old money families. I believe President Obama is one of the first presidents to not go to an Ivy League school and come from family with old money. By the way, by ‘old money’ I mean families that made fortunes early in this countries development and has been passed down through family lineage to the present time. Anyway, I can see the determinist train of thought. I don’t know what to think though – whether an elite manipulates the way we think in order to maintain control over resources or not – and it is troubling to think about. In my last blog comment, I wrote a little bit about the book Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. This lecture pertains to that book a lot more than the past lecture. To reiterate what Prof. Richards was lecturing about, people can break the restraints that they face because of their race but it takes luck. That is exactly what Gladwell was talking about. All these wildly successful people like Bill Gates or Warren Buffet made it to fame and fortune because they got very very lucky along the way. This relates to the “invisible” strings that are attached to us. We are free but we aren’t. There are many outside forces that we are not conscious about that help formulate our decisions. These invisible strings vary between people, race, ethnicity, etc. This is a very interesting concept that Prof. Richards introduces and I feel fortunate to have been able to listen to this lecture. Thu, 9 Jun 2011 00:38:01 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/06/02/week-4-lesson-6-race-and-ethnic-inequality/#IDComment160797546 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality/#IDComment159764832 It is a shame that public schools receive funding based on their progress. Schools progress is measured by how the students perform on standardized tests administered by the state which are then compared to the other schools in the state and around the country. If your school on average does bad compared to the other states than you receive less funding that those that performed better. This is why the rich schools stay rich and the poor schools stay poor. I think this system is ridiculous. If anything, the poor schools should get additional funding to improve the school and motivate the students to do better. Mon, 6 Jun 2011 00:22:10 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality/#IDComment159764832 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality/#IDComment159762796 I thought it was very interesting how Prof. Richards described how little different we are from each other as a human race. We are 99.99% the same. Only 0.01% is different which is reflected by our exterior appearance. I remember this from the first lecture but I never really understood it until now. Prof. Richards really pounded this point home for me. Humans are extremely similar as far as human genome. Genetic-based inequality is obviously false based on this data. We as human beings are significantly more the same than different. The Psycho-Cognitive explanation bases inequality off of people’s decision-making. In other words, people by their own free will make decisions in their head that determine who they are and what they do. This is fundamentally true. Sure there are other factors that contribute to why people end up the way they do. Some people have advantages that others don’t have. Let’s consider someone like me. I grew up in a wealthy neighborhood with a good school system and a lot of friends with successful parents. I was able to go through my lower level schooling in (what I didn’t realize nor appreciate until college) a somewhat utopia. Good neighborhood, good schools, and very little worry. I was able to fully concentrate on my school work and if I struggled, my parents could afford a private tutor. College was a given for me. On the other hand, you have someone that grew up poor in a rough neighborhood in Northeast Philadelphia. Whereas school was my number one priority and worry, this person has many more things to worry about. Life probably isn’t as easy as it was for me. Philadelphia isn’t known for its public schooling system, the family probably can’t afford a private school or a tutor for that matter, and most likely he/she is more worried about helping support their family than concentrating on school work and going to college. This definitely relates to the social-structural explanation that is provided next. Prof. Richards mentions that people like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet were so successful based on their decision-making. I agree. I read a book called Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell. Gladwell attempts to explain why people become successful. It says that it is beyond their personal decision-making – that it is luck. That a certain sequence of events takes place throughout their lives that create the perfect niche for them to succeed. At various points in their lives, they had to make decisions that would lead them in one direction or another. For example, Bill Gates was able to learn a lot about computers when he was young because he happened to be a part of the school that was fortunate enough to get a computer (at that time computers were about the size of a schoolroom). He was lucky to have this opportunity which led him onto the path that allowed him to start Microsoft. My point it, people’s decision-making is fundamental to who and what they become but luck does have a role as well. Mon, 6 Jun 2011 00:15:15 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-5-social-inequality/#IDComment159762796 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment158388316 If I saw a person from another country, a country that was going to invade my country in the near future, would I great that person like the Iraqi’s greeted the American student who took the photos from this lesson? Absolutely not. I would probably shoot a nasty look to that person and try my best to make them feel uncomfortable and possibly be confrontational. I don’t know. I just know that I would not be running up to them and asking to take a picture with them as a gift to their family back home. I found this story to be very interesting. I can’t quite grasp how those Iraqi’s felt or what they thought. They knew that the United States was going to invade, that bombs were going to be dropped, and civilians were going to die. It baffles me. Sure, many Iraqi’s hated Saddam Hussein and saw the United States as the country’s only hope to get rid of him. Nonetheless, if I was an Iraqi civilian and knew that I or any of my family or friends was going to be collateral damage to as a result of the effort to rid Saddam, I would choose to continue living under his oppressive rule. This topic in the lesson really opened my mind to a new perspective in which to consider the Iraqi civilians and the war. I couldn’t help but laugh during the video when the screen exploded with “jihad.” I didn’t think the video itself was scary but it did evoke feelings of hate and disgust towards the terrorists responsible for those attacks. I know there are people out there that want to kill Muslims and Muslims that want to kill people of the West. That is frightening. It would be very frightening if someone came up to me and told me that they would kill me if they could, especially if I was in the Middle East. I can understand to some extent this feeling of murderous rage. I remember how I felt after 9/11 and after I saw the Nick Berg beheading online. I felt that murderous rage. After I cooled off and really thought about it, I realized murdering in response to murder is not the way. Revenge is a never ending cycle and that’s what is going to happen between Muslims and non-Muslims as long as these atrocities are happening to both peoples. Further, when you put yourself in a Muslims shoes, you are able to see where such extreme, violent views come from. I wouldn’t want a foreign country having influence over my country similar to the United States influences many countries around the world. I felt that that was a good exercise in class. Thu, 2 Jun 2011 02:16:10 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment158388316 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment158097394 I remember when I saw Bush's speech when he called U.S. military action after 9/11 as a "religious crusade." I was young but I knew that that was a little crazy. One of the many ways Bush messed up. If I were a Muslim in the Middle East - or anywhere in the world for that matter - I would not respond too kindly to something like that. The video where the American troops destroy the car is very sad. I am not justifying that act but I do understand why that happens. They are angry and frustrated. Imagine having your friend die right next to you in combat. Wouldn’t you be angry? I am not in the military, but I know I would be angry. It’s terrible to see those videos of our troops committing such terrible acts but we really can’t judge them because most of us don’t know what they have been through. Wed, 1 Jun 2011 06:18:15 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment158097394 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment158094891 If I saw a person from another country, a country that was going to invade my country in the near future, would I great that person like the Iraqi’s greeted the American student who took the photos from this lesson? Absolutely not. I would probably shoot a nasty look to that person and try my best to make them feel uncomfortable and possibly be confrontational. I don’t know. I just know that I would not be running up to them and asking to take a picture with them as a gift to their family back home. I found this story to be very interesting. I can’t quite grasp how those Iraqi’s felt or what they thought. They knew that the United States was going to invade, that bombs were going to be dropped, and civilians were going to die. It baffles me. Sure, many Iraqi’s hated Saddam Hussein and saw the United States as the country’s only hope to get rid of him. Nonetheless, if I was an Iraqi civilian and knew that I or any of my family or friends was going to be collateral damage to as a result of the effort to rid Saddam, I would choose to continue living under his oppressive rule. This topic in the lesson really opened my mind to a new perspective in which to consider the Iraqi civilians and the war. I couldn’t help but laugh during the video when the screen exploded with “jihad.” I didn’t think the video itself was scary but it did evoke feelings of hate and disgust towards the terrorists responsible for those attacks. I know there are people out there that want to kill Muslims and Muslims that want to kill people of the West. That is frightening. It would be very frightening if someone came up to me and told me that they would kill me if they could, especially if I was in the Middle East. I can understand to some extent this feeling of murderous rage. I remember how I felt after 9/11 and after I saw the Nick Berg beheading online. I felt that murderous rage. After I cooled off and really thought about it, I realized murdering in response to murder is not the way. Revenge is a never ending cycle and that’s what is going to happen between Muslims and non-Muslims as long as these atrocities are happening to both peoples. Further, when you put yourself in a Muslims shoes, you are able to see where such extreme, violent views come from. I wouldn’t want a foreign country having influence over my country similar to the United States influences many countries around the world. I felt that that was a good exercise in class. Wed, 1 Jun 2011 06:03:28 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment158094891 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment158094427 If I saw a person from another country, a country that was going to invade my country in the near future, would I great that person like the Iraqi’s greeted the American student who took the photos from this lesson? Absolutely not. I would probably shoot a nasty look to that person and try my best to make them feel uncomfortable and possibly be confrontational. I don’t know. I just know that I would not be running up to them and asking to take a picture with them as a gift to their family back home. I found this story to be very interesting. I can’t quite grasp how those Iraqi’s felt or what they thought. They knew that the United States was going to invade, that bombs were going to be dropped, and civilians were going to die. It baffles me. Sure, many Iraqi’s hated Saddam Hussein and saw the United States as the country’s only hope to get rid of him. Nonetheless, if I was an Iraqi civilian and knew that I or any of my family or friends was going to be collateral damage to as a result of the effort to rid Saddam, I would choose to continue living under his oppressive rule. This topic in the lesson really opened my mind to a new perspective in which to consider the Iraqi civilians and the war. I couldn’t help but laugh during the video when the screen exploded with “jihad.” I didn’t think the video itself was scary but it did evoke feelings of hate and disgust towards the terrorists responsible for those attacks. I know there are people out there that want to kill Muslims and Muslims that want to kill people of the West. That is frightening. It would be very frightening if someone came up to me and told me that they would kill me if they could, especially if I was in the Middle East. I can understand to some extent this feeling of murderous rage. I remember how I felt after 9/11 and after I saw the Nick Berg beheading online. I felt that murderous rage. After I cooled off and really thought about it, I realized murdering in response to murder is not the way. Revenge is a never ending cycle and that’s what is going to happen between Muslims and non-Muslims as long as these atrocities are happening to both peoples. Further, when you put yourself in a Muslims shoes, you are able to see where such extreme, violent views come from. I wouldn’t want a foreign country having influence over my country similar to the United States influences many countries around the world. I felt that that was a good exercise in class. Wed, 1 Jun 2011 06:00:45 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/05/25/week-3-lesson-4-ethnocentrism/#IDComment158094427