en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/2398630 Comments by zyyellow http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/04/10/voices-from-the-classroom-144/#IDComment341745800 Blog 13 Well okay. To begin with, I think if I was in such a situation, I would have said something to support the Islamic women because clearly that she should have the same right as anyone else. I feel bad for her and I think it should not be the time to keep silent. Yep even I clearly knew that those people in the video are actors, my heart was still somehow so sad for the woman. And later when I saw those two young girls and the middle age man stood out to support the Muslim woman, I was indeed moved. It is just the thing that truly makes you think. Trying to stand out of my shoes and fit into the shoes of somebody else. What if I were the Muslim women and till the end nobody stand out to help me, what would I feel? Definitely bad and extremely sad, and I just could not find a word to describe it. What if I were the shopkeeper who insulted the women and “won” in the end, would my heart be any better? Or would I just feel pathetic about myself? I just do not know and I do not even want to think about it. I think some people stayed silent because they were somehow agreed with the shopkeeper, for instance, the man who pointed a finger to the reporter and said, ”You are not American”. And most people who stayed quiet because they were somehow indifferent about some issue, which is the saddest thing. Do people just get used to such things or do they just do want to get into trouble. I do not know. But what I know is that it is just not right and I believe most people in the video knew that too but they just…. I do not know, it is just sad. And for those who became angry and somehow supported the woman but later leave, I believe that in their heart they support the justice in our society anyway. They might have left for various reasons. I think the majority of them would just have thought that it was not their store, and they might be caring the Muslim woman less to some degree. Or they thought that they had their lives and lives really shape people. They might be just tired. In the end, for those who stood out and insisted, in my mind I truly admire them. Although I believe it was the right thing to do, it was also a hard thing to do practically. It is just hard for most majority people to stand out and say, “Hey, I want to see your manager”. Anyway, this video really knocks my heart heavily. Wed, 18 Apr 2012 10:53:46 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/04/10/voices-from-the-classroom-144/#IDComment341745800 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/04/12/voices-from-the-classroom-147/#IDComment337912764 Blog 12 Over the choices among my mother, wife and my kid, I picked my lover, though all three of them would be my very beloved person. It would be a very cruel and hard decision to rule out my mum since I love her, respect her and care about her so much. I have never told my mum that I love her although I think she knows that and I have felt guilty for not doing enough for her for a long long time. If it is possible, I would scarify myself in exchange of saving her, seriously. It is just hard, hard and very hard. But if I have to be rational, she is apparently the oldest among them three. If it was her to make the choice, I believe she would have chosen to scarify herself too. And apparently she would not let me save her if she knew my wife and my kid were about to die. Anyway it is just hard. I believe I would feel terribly guilty for at least a very long period, but I have no choice. When it comes to my child, it would also be terribly difficult for me. I want to have a kid for a long time though I am still at my early 20’s, I want to be a father and take good care of my kid so much. Thus I think I can understand the mental state I would be under at that hard time. But as the girl said in the class, I would be able to have another child with my wife if I chose to save my wife. This might first sounds silly but it is seriously. I understand that the next kid we have can not totally replace the kid I lost and it would never been possible, but it is the hard choice that I have to make, under the assumption that my wife is the truth love of my life. I would be loving her so much and I do not think there is anything any emotion in the world that could have replaced this very special emotion. If I lose a kid, the emotion I put into my next kid would be somehow similar. But if I lose my wife, I do think the emotion I put into another women would ever be able to be comparable, under the assumption that I would have married or be in a relation with another women later. It would just be totally different and irreplaceable. Overall it is really difficult choice for me that I even do not want to dig into it. But if I have to make a choice as a man under such an emergency, I believe saving my wife would be my response. Fri, 13 Apr 2012 04:07:41 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/04/12/voices-from-the-classroom-147/#IDComment337912764 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/29/voices-from-the-classroom-137/#IDComment330908156 Blog 11 I think it is just human nature to choose someone who looks like you or sounds like you. Yes, the election result is pretty clear that white people are more likely to win than black people, but I do not think objectively there are too much to blame, and if there is something to blame, it would be our system. Since most people just subconsciously pick someone they are “supposed” to pick, and Penn State is just predominately white, so it is just what it is. After all, for it is a good college, Penn State would be relatively less racist than the average level in United States as far as I am concerned. I think many of the similar scenes are happening all around United States, the opportunity to get a job, the chance to win an election, the odds to be more “successful” are inclined to embrace White instead of the minorities. In my opinion, this is of course unfair but rational since American is predominately white. And if United States is predominately black, black people are just going to win more votes and elections naturally. Current situation is absolutely not correct or righteous or whatever somebody names it, but it is not that incorrect as many people may have thought, and I see many positively things are just happening and will happen in this country. Compared to even a decade before, what minorities have earned are obvious and significant. Although minorities are still more naturally disadvantaged, things have been improved a lot than before. Most importantly, minorities should be more confident and more active, that is the most important way to win the position in a white society. Also, as the date shows, there are less white and more minorities in United States now than ever before and this ratio will just keep going while nobody can stop it. So presumably, things will just be increasingly more fair or just than what they are right now, and I personally would be very positively on this issue. Furthermore, there are a lot of evidences showing that activeness of minorities are changing the framework of our society. The most obvious one that I would say is that the president of United States is non-white, and it is the first time during America’s history. Obama is surely an active person and a good speaker, and he does achieve something. The society is just going to be more just and fair and people would just become more tolerate to each other since we can see these things are going on everyday and everywhere throughout the country. So let’s just admit the unfairness, try to improve the system, and see what will be going on in the future. Tue, 3 Apr 2012 17:51:54 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/29/voices-from-the-classroom-137/#IDComment330908156 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/22/voices-from-the-classroom-131/#IDComment327052644 Blog 10 This question is actually quite interesting and important. What one has been taught at early age is actually very critical for one’s future reaction to racial stuff as well as the general development during his/her life course. However I think it is too often neglected by many people, including general publics and many experts. So if we can promote positive teaching during people’s early life stage, in my opinion the result can be pretty significant and change the current dynamics in the society. As far as I am concerned, the last thing people should have done is to evade and intentionally ignore the racial issue, although many people may have different ideas about it, I think the evasion will only result in a negative aspect. It is just like taking an exam. If you got a bad grade in your first test during the semester and you choose to intentionally ignore it. “Whatever, it is a stupid class” you may say. I think it will be pretty naturally that you are not going to do well in your 2nd and later exams because you do not even darer to face it, and you would be just not interested in studying for this subject and so on. However if you try to face it bravely and recognize your “disadvantages”, the result may turn out to be positive than you usually would have thought. You would word harder to improve your grade and enrich your knowledge. In many case, you would be satisfied at the end of the semester. So back to the racial stuff, if you are one of the minorities and taught to feel repulsive of talking about races, you might actually develop a natural mental state of lowing yourself and being sensitive when you grow up because you can not even face the issue. However on the other hand, if you are taught to be active and brave regarding to these and those stuff, I bet you would be more likely to discuss and work hard in the field of your disadvantages and improve you situation, at least to a certain degree. Overall, my point is that evasion would just have made things worse and it should not be promoted although it very often is. So the positive way of dealing with racial stuff would naturally be face it bravely and fight for the fairness and justice, it would be particularly effective if one would begin doing it at the early stage of his/her life. There are actually a lot of things that one can do and if you really want it, you can easily come up with your own critical and creative ideas so I would not bother talking about it here. Anyway, just try to be positive and active and I believe one would get what he/she deserves. Thu, 29 Mar 2012 11:48:01 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/22/voices-from-the-classroom-131/#IDComment327052644 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/18/benefits-of-being-bilingual/#IDComment320967881 Blog 9 I will say that bilingualism and/or multilingualism is a trend that nobody could stop and it would be a pretty positive trend as far as I am concerned. From the national data we can see that there are one fifth Americans today speak at least one other language than English and it is expected to increase with an increasing rate. Besides, one important point that I want to mention is that I think the same or similar things are happening not just in United States but globally. And compared to take a confrontation attitude, I think it would be smarter to accommodate this very trend. Talking about bilingualism, the first word that jump into my mind is “diversity”. There is no doubt that each language stands for certain values that lie in certain cultures. When one is speaking in a language, it is interesting to see the underlying values that he expresses through his tone. When tens of millions people are speaking different languages, then we are more exposed in a world with great diversity and complexity. Though this may lead to misunderstandings, prejudice and arguments many of the time, it is also the source of creativity, enrichment and a lot. Without the history of diversity, it is hard to imagine that United States would have become such a creative country today. Through the interaction with other cultures, I would also say it will be a great opportunity to may ourselves see the world more compressively other than living in out tiny little world. There are so much things outside that we do not know, and it is just always interesting to do something that seems out of your league. At the same time, it would also be interesting to observe how we digest the diversity since most of us are currently living in a narrow word that are built for us by ourselves and the people around us. When we go to youtube or facebook or twitter or whatever, it is always not hard to observe some ignorant words and actions. We can see all kinds of words that consist of prejudice and discriminations, which is not good in a common sense. It is actually kind of sad for me everytime I come across something sharp. It is just not supposed to be so, according to my perspective. So I think it would be time for us to do something. It is time for us to embrace and help fix and enrich our diverse world instead of attacking or trying to destroy it. And certain concrete actions should be promoted. When we see that many of the time the source of “concrete actions” is actually diversity itself, it should be fairly interesting. Wed, 21 Mar 2012 07:51:38 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/18/benefits-of-being-bilingual/#IDComment320967881 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/15/voices-from-the-classroom-122/#IDComment318032831 Blog 8 We are living in a world where countless news and information come to us from everywhere every day. And it may be clear that most of these perceivable info for us are transported through the media, in other words, most of our perceptions rely on the media of “our world”. And it is claimed principle for most media to stand objectively and we somehow believe that in our subconscious because it is from the world that we live in. Yet ironically it often turns out to be not true, and the news that we received are somehow distorted during most of the time. So what can we do to solve this problem, at least to some degree? It was said in the class that “sociology is entirely empathy” and if it is true, then we should step out of our shoes and step into others’ shoes to see what is going on in “our world” and beyond our world. To do so we may firstly maintain an attitude of “objectively suspicious”, that is, we should not simply believe in the words that we hear because they are from someone we know or someone we trust or even because these words are coming from our world, a so-called democratic and free world, which in fact it is not. Then we should start considering other probabilities. Are there many other truths that beyond the truth we believe in? Presumably most of time the answer will be “yes”. And what are the underlying sources and forces of these answers? The guesses may scramble your brain and they are doing so for my brain now. Just leave that alone now…….. To find some practical solutions for the problem it might be wise to try comparing the news from our world and the news from other worlds that we generally ignore. For instance, what are the differences for a report of the presidential election of Taiwan, or the Republic of China, among the CNNS, European media, Taiwanese media and the media from the People’s Republic of China? It is presumably that most of them will share some similarities but in the same time also have various types of differences, slightly and significantly. So which one is the ultimate truth? The answer may be none. I mean, some of them may be relatively more correct but they will not be absolutely correct at all, because they are all in their shoes most of the time for whatever reasons and of course it will be the typical case. I do not think it is necessarily to judge this is good or bad, right or wrong, but it might be good for us to think about all of these anyway, and we shall learn a lot from ourselves and the vast amount of truth these lie in and out of our little world. Sat, 17 Mar 2012 03:14:47 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/15/voices-from-the-classroom-122/#IDComment318032831 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/15/voices-from-the-classroom-122/#IDComment318031017 We are living in a world where countless news and information come to us from everywhere every day. And it may be clear that most of these perceivable info for us are transported through the media, in other words, most of our perceptions rely on the media of “our world”. And it is claimed principle for most media to stand objectively and we somehow believe that in our subconscious because it is from the world that we live in. Yet ironically it often turns out to be not true, and the news that we received are somehow distorted during most of the time. So what can we do to solve this problem, at least to some degree? It was said in the class that “sociology is entirely empathy” and if it is true, then we should step out of our shoes and step into others’ shoes to see what is going on in “our world” and beyond our world. To do so we may firstly maintain an attitude of “objectively suspicious”, that is, we should not simply believe in the words that we hear because they are from someone we know or someone we trust or even because these words are coming from our world, a so-called democratic and free world, which in fact it is not. Then we should start considering other probabilities. Are there many other truths that beyond the truth we believe in? Presumably most of time the answer will be “yes”. And what are the underlying sources and forces of these answers? The guesses may scramble your brain and they are doing so for my brain now. Just leave that alone now……. To find some practical solutions for the problem it might be wise to try comparing the news from our world and the news from other worlds that we generally ignore. For instance, what are the differences for a report of the presidential election of Taiwan, or the Republic of China, among the CNNS, European media, Taiwanese media and the media from the People’s Republic of China? It is presumably that most of them will share some similarities but in the same time also have various types of differences, slightly and significantly. So which one is the ultimate truth? The answer may be none. I mean, some of them may be relatively more correct but they will not be absolutely correct at all, because they are all in their shoes most of the time for whatever reasons and of course it will be the typical case. I do not think it is necessarily to judge this is good or bad, right or wrong, but it might be good for us to think about all of these anyway, and we shall learn a lot from ourselves and the vast amount of truth these lie in and out of our little world. Sat, 17 Mar 2012 03:11:20 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/03/15/voices-from-the-classroom-122/#IDComment318031017 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/02/23/voices-from-the-classroom-113/#IDComment305255493 Blog 7 I think there is no denying that the racial situation has already been improved a lot compared to like 50 years or maybe like 30 ago. But there is also no denying that racial discrimination is still a serious and significant obstacle in current society that we have to overcome. Or maybe we do not have to and we become racist like we always are. However, if we choose to do it, we should do it right and there are actually a lot of things that we can do. To begin I will say that the first thing we can do and we should do is to acknowledge the fact that discrimination is still everywhere. Just do not say that we are now a fair and equal society because we are not. There are many people who like to try to cover the issues. Like, “Well I do like you because you are black but I am not racist.” How ridiculous is that. Like what do you mean? Just acknowledge it just do not hid it. I will say that he media plays a powerful role in conveying messages to the public. Racial prejudice exists in the media if, for instance, the reporters always reveal the cultural or ethnic background of a group of loitering youth when they are persons of color, but not otherwise. So if we can do something to increase their staff’s awareness about the implications of the prejudiced way in which they cover the news, it would be absolutely a good news. Then there are still a lot of options. For instance, in school we can sponsor panel discussions, awareness activities, and cultural events to help prevent racism. We can also award small seed grants to teachers or instructors to help them carry out projects that will promote cultural understanding and inclusiveness. Plus, it is also good to lobby the school board to make changes or additions to the curriculum. Many tools are available to educators and schools who wish to include this kind of material. We should teach our children that we should learn mutual respect to each other because racism usually starts in childhood. We do not have a “discrimination” idea when we are very little but children can have stereotypical views about minorities by the time they're 12/13/14 years old or so. Also, with concerns rising over school violence, teaching tolerance in schools has taken on a new urgency. We should encouraging local school district to include diversity education in its curriculum can help nip racism in the bud, alleviating future problems in your community. In a word, just let’s face the issue and do something about it. And I think there will be greater and greater improvement in the future, although it may take a long time. Thu, 1 Mar 2012 08:08:48 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/02/23/voices-from-the-classroom-113/#IDComment305255493 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/02/17/asian-stereotypes-and-the-world-of-sports/#IDComment299165862 Linsanity is undoubtedly a hot topic in these days. Some people say that it is just because he is an Asian that we pay so much attention to him, while so many black people are doing the same thing many of the time but just no one care and that is unfair. As far as I am concerned, that is not true overall. There is no denying that Linsanity does has some elements about race, however that is not the whole story, and Jeremy Lin succeeds mostly due to his personal character with some other factors such as race and mass media. First of all, Jeremy Lin is not the only Asian player in the league now (with Haddadi in grizzlies and Yi in Mavericks), but he is the only one that receives so much attention. Why? I think it is simply because he is really playing well. Just look at him, he scored the most during 1st seven starts in the whole history of the league, which is self-explanatory. Yes there are so many talented black and white players in the league, but do they play so well as Lin recently, probably not. And those playing really well lastingly also receive praises and attention, for example, King James and Black mamba, etc. Yes Lin did stand out for Asian in basketball, which is not a traditional Asian sport. And consequently Linsanity, Linmania, whatever it is, appears. But why was he able to stand out? We can see Lin practices really hard and he seizes the chance when it occurs. Plus, we can see he always keeps a low profile even though he is now the hump of the wave. All of these are very important elements towards his success. And we can see there are the characters that we traditionally embrace. It is just like American dream. Isn't it? How is that doing with race? It is mostly related to a person’s good characters. Also, we can see the role that the mass media play recently. Lin is on the paper, Lin is on the TV, Lin is on the internet, Lin is everywhere. Imagine the same thing happen 50 years ago, how come Lin will gain so much attention? Of course he will not. Is that related to race? You can argue that it might be because media can write more stories to “reflect” the importance of his race. But even that is the case, this effect would be limited, and the biggest part of his success is because he kept fighting when he is an underdog, when he is nobody. And Lin is of course somebody now, that is why the media portray him so heavily. Overall, Lin is good because he is good, not because he is an Asian. Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:12:30 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/02/17/asian-stereotypes-and-the-world-of-sports/#IDComment299165862 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/02/15/voices-from-the-classroom-107/#IDComment294472012 According to the scientific data that we have gathered, our universe is presumably stated with the big bang. And to understand how this works we have to understand how our planets and stars die, because the best guess we can make so far is that the life of our universe is actually kind of “circular”. When a small star dies, it will first expand and then shrink. Let’s take our sun as the example (yes sun is actually pretty small). After several billion years later, our sun will sort of burn up and its size will increase dramatically in a short time, although its mass would basically stay the same (its density goes down). At this stage, the sun is called a “RED GIANT”, which is essentially hundreds of times huger than it is right now. Later, many elements of our sun would spread out into our universe and left out a very dense small star called the “WHITE DWARF”. Remember, many elements have already spread out into anywhere of our universe. Things will be different when a huge star dies. First it will experience the similar process as those small stars and planets. It will also expand itself dramatically and kind of explode. But afterwards, since it is a huge star and it has great mass, the elements of it will spread into a shorter distance than sun does. Consequently, this forms the thing called “NEBULAE”. In such a nebulae, all kinds of elements will float in some certain spaces, and after a very long period of complicated process that we do not quite understand now, these elements would amazingly come to each other again and form new stars and planets. This is how our solar system was born. And after billions of years later, our stars die again, which will give birth to new stars again and again… My question is, what is the thing beyond the universe? Because according to the data that we have collected, the shape of our known universe is basically an ellipse. So I am just wondering what is beyond this ellipse. Is our universe “endless” or it is surrounded by something that we cannot understand now due to the limitation of our current technology and our IQ? I am just curious. However, what I said above is based on the assumption that our theory is true. If it actually turns out to be wrong, then what I said is just a bunch of fancy bullshit… Learn all of these in Luhman’s ASTRO 5 class by the way. Take that class and you will learn a lot, he is the man…. Fri, 17 Feb 2012 03:38:54 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/02/15/voices-from-the-classroom-107/#IDComment294472012 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/02/02/voices-from-the-classroom-96/#IDComment286051139 Soc 119 Blog 4 I personally do not feel against interracial date, adoption and marriage, etc. I think it is totally the freedom for people to do so or not do so. However, that is just what I think ideally. Practically, the situation would be different with no doubt cuz we are all shaped by countless invisible strings in our society and I think there will hardly be anyone that can be excluded. Sometimes it is just not the feel will of anyone of us, sometime it just has been strongly influenced or even determined by out families, media, religions, etc. There are so many such strings that even a guy who consider himself very liberal may not escape from it either. Also it is worthy to point out that people generally have different levels of response towards different levels of interracial activities. For instance, I think it is commonly accepted that interracial date is somehow tolerable, at least to some degree. But when it comes to something more serious, things just become different. A traditional white mother may allow her daughter to hang out with a black guy, but if it comes to marriage, I guess the story will then be totally different. I do not think it is anybody’s bad to think and act in a way like this. It is just somehow natural that we just can not leap out of the trap of these strings, that is, we should basically stick to some conventional stuff that will not be changed in a short time, although it may be unfair to some people. But it is just how it works. In addition, the topic of interracial adoption and actually have a interracial baby yourself is also a good example to illustrate this phenomenon. Adopting a baby that does not belong to your ethnic group may be an easier thing, even though it is also generally objected by many people and groups. However, when things go further away, specifically, having your own child that is not the “same” as you, would definitely be a very tough thing to do, at least for me it is. Again, it is just how it is. Nobody should be blamed for it, although it sometimes just seems to be a shame that our so-called “free country” is actually free. In fact, it has never been free, in this sense. Nowadays stuffs related to interracial activities have undoubtedly been improved but it is far away from enough. Think about the strings that stop us from doing whatever, we can clearly understand the circumstance that we are under. But it is good to admit it anyway so that we can find a way to improve it and finally change it. I feel optimistic towards it although it may take such a long time that we can hardly imagine. Tue, 7 Feb 2012 08:50:55 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/02/02/voices-from-the-classroom-96/#IDComment286051139 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/01/31/voices-from-the-classroom-93/#IDComment281565677 I will say that it is the freedom for everyone to choose which language they would like to speak or learn, and there should be no judgment against non-English speakers, although in reality there is and there will be. I think I personally can not represent the opinions that people have and the choices that people make, so I am just gonna talk about it from my perspective. As far as I am concerned, Spanish should be learned on an interest base. If you think that interests you or you think that will help your career in the future or whatever, so you decide to learn it to accommodate Spanish speakers, it is perfectly ok. And I personally think acquiring several languages is absolutely a cool thing to do. But if you are not interested in learning it, of course you should not do so. It is never necessary for anyone to learn Spanish, for whatever reason. People may hold various opinions about whether English is the dominant language is United States or is there ever a dominant language in America, but I think the simple fact is that English is the dominant one simply because that there are way more English speakers in this country and immigrants are just keeping learning English. So there is never a deal for us to Spanish or whatever, just be yourself is ok. It is weird though, for people to say that Spanish speakers are taking away the jobs from American. The simple fact is that they are just doing the jobs that American are not willing to do. For those undocumented immigrants, they are paying taxes and do not receive benefits and welfares. It will be unfair to judge them from this perspective. Yep I kind of agree that it is human nature to close the door after they come in, and it is also natural that people just resist the changes in the things that they are used to. But that is it. There is no reason for anyone of us to judge Spanish speakers and other immigrant because they are actually helping American. And as Sam said in class, Obama sent more undocumented immigrants home in the previous 4 years that Bush did in 8 years. This is simple. They are helping our Economy and when it is necessary, we sent them back home. It is actually so unfair for them to live here. So I do not think we should complain about it anymore. Overall, I will say just let things keep moving and see how it goes, cuz this is just the historical trend. No single one is gonna stop it even if we want to do so. So just let it goes. Everything is eventually gonna be ok. Thu, 2 Feb 2012 07:51:11 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/01/31/voices-from-the-classroom-93/#IDComment281565677 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/01/24/voices-from-the-classroom-91/#IDComment274683488 How do we go forward to recognize the victims and do something positive for them? First of all, I will say it is definitely a hard question to answer. I personally do not know anyone who is a sexual abuse victims and I think of course I do not know. Who the hell will say that out? This is just one among the most extremely difficult thing to speak out. “Normal” victims would just try to hide their feelings, memories and whatsoever as far as I am concerned. However, we know that sexual abuse is not a rare thing in our society and hiding this issue would totally do no good for everyone. I am not saying that victims have to stand out and tell everyone their stories, which will be ridiculous. I am just saying that we should seriously face and explore this issue because it might help countless victims and potential victims. Regarding to JoePa, I would agree that it is the current system that should take most of the responsibility. I am not saying that anyone who has made mistakes would have any kind of excuses or anything like that. But I think it is true that if we try to improve our system, even just a little bit, a lot of potential victims will benefit from it greatly. And actually I think this incident could be an important turning point that hidden things are exposed to the publics, which will certainly raise our awareness of it. There are thousands of people like Sandusky in our society and this incident just brings the things from the backstage to the front. The idea that we shall not hide it anymore shall be promoted that we can kind of “normalize” it so that more people could do more things to help those in need moving forward. My last point is that our media should do more positive things regarding to sexual abuse and I think it will be significantly important because that is where most people receive info from every day. Yes it is true that everyone needs money and maybe most of us are greedy of wealth. But this is about conscience. Yep maybe it will be hard to define what is moral and what is not, but try doing something we can do and should do to help those who suffer from it is the very moral thing that fits into our society. And I think everyone should definitely do it, regardless of the amount of work that you have done but nevertheless more is better. So how could our media escape? Just do something more positive and it will save a lot of people that we know or do not know. Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:57:19 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/01/24/voices-from-the-classroom-91/#IDComment274683488 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/01/20/questions-from-class/#IDComment270123674 American dream is literally such a cool idea that if you work hard, dream big and push forward, you are gonna succeed eventually. This sounds especially attractive to hundreds of thousands of immigrants who came to United States for various reasons. They may flee to United States due to political prosecutions. They may come here to accompany their children. They may come here because they fall in love with someone. But most frequently, people come here because they can earn more and/or enjoy a better life style. In their home countries, they may suffer from great societal inequality, word hard all the times but are poorly paid and/or do not receive the advantages of a welfare system. All of these reasons make the American dream such a beautiful word. But does the American dream embrace them as they embrace the American dream? Does what they expect come to truth? The answer may be yes for some people, and among them we can come up with so many big names. However, for the majority of them, as far as I am concerned, this fancy dream usually does not come true, entirely or partially. The first obstacle that they have to face is obviously language barriers. Many people come to United States in their 30s or 40s, which is apparently an “inappropriate” age to learn a new language. We see a lot of Mexicans who are not able to speak even some simple English all the time. However, as stated in class, the 2nd and/or 3rd generations of them usually speak good and fluent English and assimilate better, and their careers are presumably become more successful. In this sense, the 1st generation scarify their interests to earn a better future for their offspring, which fits into the social exchange theory. And it will not be us to judge whether all of these deserves or not. Anyway, that is their choice. As stated above, for the 2nd and/or 3rd generation they tend to fit into the melting pot more successfully, nevertheless, they usually still do not get rid of obstacles entirely. They still somehow face countless prejudices and discrimination throughout their lives. We still hear “Chinaman”, “Mexcrement”, “Brown niggers” sometimes in daily life. Probably as Sam says, it is human nature for us to reject exotic “invaders” rather to embrace them. And maybe that is just life, that just how everything works for our society. But for hundreds of thousands of immigrants, all of these make their American dream incomplete. So is it American dream realizable? Or it is really a dream for the non-citizens? I will say it depends on which angle you are gonna look into the essence. Probably everything is a process and it is not right or wrong. But anyway, what we see from here today is that, American dream is fading away... Sat, 21 Jan 2012 03:00:32 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2012/01/20/questions-from-class/#IDComment270123674 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/16/the-kill-team-tragedy-in-the-middle-east-001-blog/#IDComment143781917 Blog #13 First of all, it is no doubt that what happened in the article is a sin, and I do feel terribly sorry about this thing, may the Afghanistan civilian rest in peace. As far as I am concerned, the troops’ job was to save the people instead of killing them. But the cruel fact tells us, it did happen, in a horrible way. I start wondering what made the troops do such a horrible thing, and my guess is the sociological force of dehumanization in Afghanistan. To begin, as Judy Muller mentions, the inhibitions against murdering one’s fellow human beings are generally so strong that the victims must also be stripped of their human status if they are to be subjected to systematic killing. Insofar as they are dehumanized, the usual principles of morality no longer apply to them. In this case, the human status of the innocent civilian might probably had been stripped away in these two soldiers’ minds. Furthermore, why these two soldiers would have considered so? I guess that it is because they themselves had also been dehumanized by the invisible force in the warfare though I do not exactly know what had been happening during the Afghanistan war. The only thing I can be sure is that it must be cruel, indifferent and stressful. And It is not extreme hard to imagine that people could have become kind of insane under such circumstances. People might be affected at different levels but I think most of them must be feeling depressed and upset, at least to some degree. And it is the sociological force that pushes these essentially kind guys into the abyss of dehumanization. Finally, I think it is the time to consider what we should do to prevent such a tragedy from happening again and again, although it must be very hard. Anyway, healing the troops psychologically and sociologically should be very important because it is the only substantial way to cure them and to cure thousands of innocent civilians. Something might have rooted in the poor soldiers minds during the cruel wars, and it is the responsibility of all of us to give them a hand. Mon, 18 Apr 2011 03:10:23 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/16/the-kill-team-tragedy-in-the-middle-east-001-blog/#IDComment143781917 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/09/the-fricking-frackers-own-my-arse/#IDComment141809002 Blog #12 After reading the article, I have made guesses as follows: First of all, since well-connected and multi-billion dollar industries represented by groups such as CEF, the ANGA, and NGVA were the first to see this bill and know its details before it was available to the general public, they would not actually write the whole thing out. Instead, they would have written it in the way they preferred and have cheated the public. Second, reasonably there must be some sort of bargain negotiated between President Obama and Pickens in their mid-August 2008 meetings before he became President. And the candidate Obama might have promised to support drilling in those pre-election meetings. Third, the $4,800 Pickens that gave to two the bill's sponsors, Rep. John Sullivan (R-Oklohoma), and Rep. John Larson (D-Oklahoma), did have some influence on their decision to propose this bill. Similarly, the $10,000 Pickens gave to two swing states' Democratic Parties in the 2008 Presidential election, Colorado and New Mexico might have affected things in the same way. Moreover, since both of these states also sit on huge potential beds of gas, these reps or their staff may probably have been meeting with gas lobbyists frequently. On the contrary, there is no much time has been given to citizens with concerns. Also, it is worth to wonder how much influence the $327,400 campaign cash doled out in the 2010 election from the hand of Big Oil have on these four representatives. In addition, how about the $11,000 from Aubrey McClendon and how about the $37,000 that the corporation he is CEO of, Chesapeake Energy, doled out to the bill's four co-sponsors? It is very possible that this money did carry with some clout that is worth to suspect. In a word, as Sam says, from a perspective, the current American election is a system which makes briberies legitimate. However, nothing is perfect and there won’t be a system which is perfectly fair. American election system does promote democracy to some degree, if not all. And what we can do and what we should do is to make it more democratic instead of denying it. Mon, 11 Apr 2011 04:30:18 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/09/the-fricking-frackers-own-my-arse/#IDComment141809002 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/03/women-and-war/#IDComment140046475 Blog #11 First of all, I’d say that it is one of the most serene yet powerful speeches I’ve ever seen. This woman undoubtedly has demonstrated how one’s fate could be affected by wars and how women could contribute to the ultimate peace in a vivid way. And I think I have to admit that what women do in a war has usually been underestimated and they deserve more respects and appreciation, at least from my perspective. Traditionally, most of the soldiers are men because men are physically stronger and mentally tougher. Also, reasonably in the history of wars, most of the heroes are men and most of the legends are depicted in a masculine way. Men are respected and admired in a war because they fight bravely in the front-line. However, after watching this video, I feel like I suddenly realize that women can also bear not less burdens than men in a war and indeed they also deserve something more. Insisting going to the school every day, playing piano, violin and cello under gunfire, cooking, washing, wandering on the bare feet for hope… All of these fragmentary pictures are so touching and sad in a war. Yet they do not give up and let go. These women have supported the neglecting weights in a neglecting way by their mute yet determined power. They are not the maid of Orleans, but they are also the heroes. The pains they suffer from “inside” may probably exceed the pains those soldiers suffer from “outside”, yet people may always just do not perceive it. Or we just ignore it even if we do. Why? “cuz they are just women, they do not contribute lives and bloods to the final triumph, etc…” However what this video tells us is that %75 of casualties in a war consists of women and children. They do give lives, in the way we do not pay attention to. Not to say soldiers are not respectful and heroical, but we just do not balance the relation in a proper way. In a word, women are also heroes in a war, and they may be the hope to stop wars from breaking out again and again. Tue, 5 Apr 2011 01:54:24 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/04/03/women-and-war/#IDComment140046475 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/27/family/#IDComment137984463 Blog 10 Although we try to act rationally during most of our lives, I believe that humans are perceptual substantially. Say in the last minute of one’s life, he/she will eventually unfix his/her mask no matter how strong he/she was. And since we are essentially perceptual, family becomes the very refuge for most of us, so for a lifer. And as far as I am concerned, family does not necessarily mean to be blood-tied, but is based on the commitment and love that we give to each other. How can one spend several decades in the prison without getting mad or desperate? I could even not imagine that such things happen on me. I mean, it is really tough. Maybe your relatives and friends will keep communicate with you during the beginning years, but anyway it is the truth that everyone has his/her busy and stressful life. As the lifer says in the article,” Over time I went from getting 5-8 pieces of mail a week to 5-8 pieces a month. As time goes by and people get older, their responsibilities increase. So the time they once had to sit down and write you a 3-5 page letter turned into a thinking of you card whenever they do just that; think of you.” They eventually have to face the darkness on their own during most of their lives, which is really a pity. However the lucky thing is that they may be able to build up another family relationship with those who were strangers before, as the lifer in this article. This guy is lucky because he has found his home there. Family can be anybody who love you and who you love, but not necessarily be your parents or bros or cousins. In the passage, he states,” After being in prison for a certain amount of time, other inmates or even staff members kind of fill in for family. Anytime a person comes to a place and is shown a side of kindness, guidance, or maybe even love that they never experienced before, I believe they kind of adopt that person as somewhat of a family member.” I kind of get relief after reading this sincerely. Maybe it is true that one could understand what life and family means only after getting in horrible trouble. And this love and support shall rise him/her up, to the place deep in his/her heart where he/she has never been to. Mon, 28 Mar 2011 00:31:13 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/27/family/#IDComment137984463 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/20/frost-bitten/#IDComment136326143 It is such a beautiful and sad poem that I also feel heart-broken for the author and for many other lifers like him/her. Life is never easy, but when there seems to be no hope in your life anymore, it will be the real destruction and catastrophe to your soul. Many times I always wonder, is it life sentence way too cruel? I mean, many guys they do deserve a second chance which can change their lives again but somehow they are not able to gain it. Every good man can make huge mistakes, but it does not mean that they cannot contribute to the society anymore. Instead, those lifers in the prison may be able save many people if they are not there. But that is just the fact, they cannot come out anymore. I still remember the class on the other day. When Sam asked how many people would kill a guy if he raped your girl friend, sister or mother, so many people just raised their hands, including me. We are just common humans and sometimes emotions can really drive us to do crazy things. But are we bad guys? Can’t we contribute to make our world better? At least I do not think so. I still remember the story that the guy from state college had killed the rapist. That was just a huge pity. And honestly I feel so sorry when every time I think about this. This guy needs love, this guy needs hope and this guy needs a second chance but that is just not possible. Sam also mentioned that many people had found the way of their lives only after they got into the prison for life. But is that really good for them? Don’t they deserve more? I doubt that. It is indeed a strong argument that our society needs the life sentence or death penalty to maintain the social contract. And it is not the issue about whether it is fair, but whether it is necessary. I do not deny that. As Sam says, no one is totally responsible for a thing, but our society has to force us to be responsible for it. I just feel sad and sorry for those lifers, and I wish god bless you all. Mon, 21 Mar 2011 00:27:12 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/20/frost-bitten/#IDComment136326143 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/15/lgbt-families-theres-a-lot-of-fear-out-there/#IDComment135270953 This video is definitely impressive and Zach Wahls has vividly provided a noticeable perspective about how gay couples will affect the function of a “family”. Zach says it “has zero effect” on himself and his argument seems to be persuasive. But I could not totally agree with him because as somebody mentions, Zach is an outlier and he could not represent most of people like him. I think what Zach talk about “family” is absolutely right because I can feel the same thing from another place. Blood does not really make a family. “Family” is the commitment we make to people who we can totally trust. “Family” is the love that binds everyone in this group. And “family” means a home, a shelter and a refuge. As for me, I grew up in a family without the sense of safety. Although things become better year after year, something is just hard to change again. Until today, what I usually say is “go back to the house” rather than “go home”. I share the blood with my family, but it does not make me feel it a real family. However, Zach’s family undoubtedly gives him love and support, which is the most important thing. Therefore, I think he is absolutely right about the family. Nevertheless, it is just my own perspective and things can be totally different from another point of view. And I think sociology should be “comprehensive”. Nonetheless, the thing is, it is not the problem of the concept of love and family but the problem of the effect that gay couples make to the family. Zach may be happy and satisfied because he is an outlier, but how about the thing in the whole society? We are not living alone but with 600 million people. A gay couple may be able to give love to their adopted children. But can they give their children many other important things? I doubt that. Overall, we live in a conservative society. What people might think about these children inside their subconscious? We may tell ourselves they are just normal people like us, but deep inside our mind can you make the commitment? I myself cannot. And what these children might think about themselves? In daily life they can just act like everyone else. But when they are alone, what is the true rooted thought and subconscious they stir again and again? I think it can be devastating. Or we can think from an extreme opposite example: One day, a heterosexual couple is tied on a big cross. And people everywhere just keep shouting, “Kill the damn heterosexuals”. The girl asks the boy, “When did all of these begin?” The boy answer, “From the time that LGBT thing…” Wed, 16 Mar 2011 08:40:49 +0000 http://www.worldinconversation.org/2011/03/15/lgbt-families-theres-a-lot-of-fear-out-there/#IDComment135270953