I think that what I learned today was... Well... nothing at all actually. Because this is the same old crap that he has been telling us the entire time. Honestly I'm so bored of the class that I'm damn near amazed at this point that this class isn't being taught in a different way or in smaller classes, I mean honestly the whole room is full of ipods, newspapers, and laptops because everybody is bored. thats the bottom line, ever person in that room is bored as hell. Today was supposed to "blow our minds" (just like it was supposed to blow our minds during every single other lecture he has had). You know what I basically heard today? Well at this point in time the (FILL IN THE BLANK) race, was destroyed and ran out by the americans and the whites, and now, everybody is in ruins because were all bad and we suck and its all our fault and were probably going to burn in hell. I have some news for Sam. My best two friends from home, literally the two guys that I would be able to tell anything and talk about life to at home, are over in Iraq. They are over there doing their job and KEEPING THE PEACE. They even explained to me that the Iraqi people have told them that if they were to up and leave, it would be a shit show. Jesus. Sometime I really feel like Sam is just talking out of his ass because he likes to hear his own voice. He's not a bad guy, It's just the way he expresses his feelings makes me wanna go crazy. I hate how Sam points the finger at us as a country, and it REALLY rubs me the wrong way whenever he points the finger at our soldiers (and even though he says he supports the soldiers, but the way he presents his material obviously shows elsewise.) It's not our fault as a nation, and its not the soldiers faults by any means. It is the fucking governments fault and there is nothing we can do about it. Nothing.Take Woodstock of 1969 for example. We as Americans can do anything that we want to try and show the government that we should not be at war over there, and it still isn't going to make a damn difference. If your an American and you think for one second that the government gives two shits about what you think, then you are very wrong. Sam is wasting his time pointing the finger at us college students, not only about the war, but about everything else that we talk about in this class. Its not something we can make a difference in, it's not going to change, and that's that. Period.

In all honest i could not agree more with what this guy has to say about the lectures and what they stand for in ever class this semester. I think that the first problem does fall on us as a group. Whether it is white people listening to things about blacks, or indians listening to things about asians, there is going to be disagreement in everybodys mind one way or another. Nobody ever agrees on something completely when ever it comes to race, that is for sure. Simply put, people are stubborn and no matter how much sense what somebody is saying to us makes, it will not make one bit of a difference in your mind because you already are convinced that you know everything that you know. A good example of this is for anybody who has had a long talk with one of their grandparents about race, or other cultures, or anything related to the subject. Most grandparents are extremely ignorant to the facts of today's racial issues, but they still manage to voice their opinion, and keep being stubborn about the subject.

On the other hand, I think that one of the reasons none of us are learning things is because Sam seems to have the same lesson for all of us for every one of the races we have learned about. It seems like every freaking time we go over in something in class it is.
Step 1- white guy is trying to be the best
step 2- other race comes in to try and be free
step 3- white guy screws that race over
step 4- white guy makes sure that race cannot get beyond them
step 5- repeat

And quite frankly, I'm tired of hearing about it. Even if that IS THE WAY IT ACTUALLY HAPPENS the way he is putting it doesn't make a damn difference to me.

Take this Bob Marley quote for example:
Until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned, everywhere is war and until there are no longer first-class and second-class citizens of any nation, until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes. And until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race, there is war. And until that day, the dream of lasting peace, world citizenship, rule of international morality, will remain but a fleeting illusion to be pursued, but never attained... now everywhere is war.”

What he is saying, is that people will not be happy and stop fighting between races until we are all on an even playing field. But even when we are on an even playing field, somebody is going to want to pull ahead. (and I'm sure Sam will find a way to make that person the white guy).

As usual, I think that people are completely over reacting to this entire situation and it really probably has a lot less to do with race and all that bull shit that we think. I mean honestly, The kids are like 5 years old, which last time I checked I don't remember jack crap from when I was that young, and also they are simply following todays media and what they see most.

Now although it may not be right, It is pretty obvious that all of the people in todays commercials, billboards, and news are usually white. Given they try to mix it up by adding in someone who is black, asian, indian, etc etc. But in the end, the majority of what kids see is white so that is what they find to be what is popular.

To add to the whole popular thing. If these girls were to go to school, and see that the cool doll was the white one (whether that is wrong or not), they would want to go out and buy the white doll as well. Not because they think that it is cooler to be white, or that whites are prettier, but just because everyone else is doing it. In reality, if everybody else is jumping off a bridge, YOU are going to do it too!

In reality I think that sometimes we need to take a look at how we are freaking out about things and tone ourselves down a bit. After this post I am beggining to think that the problem falls in the hands of those who always have to open their mouth and say this person is wrong and that person is wrong. Its a waster of time to say "Hey look the baby picked the white one, it must be because we live in such a horrible world. Oh well". Instead maybe people should just let the kids play with the dolls and shut the hell up. Its a doll. In a few years when these kids get older and experience REAL friends in the REAL world they are going to recognize who they are and put themselves into a stereotype that they would most likely fit. Not that they have to, or that every child will, but its evident that most of them do in the long run.

So what It comes down to is the fact that people are being too hard on society today as a whole. For once in our lives maybe we should stop talking about how the black child picks the white baby doll, and start focusing on something that really makes a difference in this world like creating peace between nations or doing more cancer research. I mean ya I guess it reflects our society or whatever but still, its freaking children picking out baby dolls... Yippee..

I completely agree with the fact that Sam has somewhat been ignoring talk about asians in our RACE relations class. Given, he has mentioned it several times within conversation, but it seems that we have not actually had an entire lesson on it nor do we every spend an entire class period on it.
I noticed that in the video, the kid asks if most people can even tell or explain the difference between asians. The simple answer I have for this, is no. If you were to line up a whole bunch of asian people. All asian races... Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, etc. etc.. I could never even tell you which one was from where. Now, I do not think this is some thing that asian people should find offensive, because for the most part this is no different than my inability to tell the difference between someone who is "Black"or "Brown", or if I do not know the difference in what part of Africa or West India they come from. On the flip side, this is the same as a black or Asian person not knowing the difference between if I am Italian or Polish. Right?
I do think that Sam should find a way to fit this into the class however (unless he is just saving it for the end and we don't know it). I for one think that Asian people deserve to have their heritage taught about just as everyone else does. Also, as a student I would like to learn about it as well. After all, I might happen to learn how to tell the difference between someone who is Japanese and someone who is Korean ya know?
I have never known anybody who is Asian now that I think about it. I have a friend named Kaleb, who is part Vietnamese, but he lives with his mom who is white, and has never met his father. As far as Kaleb is concerned (and me for that matter) he is pretty much just another white guy. Asifde from Kaleb, I truly do not know anybody who is fully Asian. During the summer session I was here for football, and when I was living in Wolf Halls one of my friends was assigned to room with a Korean kid named Batsue (I think that is how you spell it... We called him BooBoo lol)... However, Batsue was a very nice kid, and smart as hell too. In all honest, I guess you can say that Boo Boo is everything I expected him to be. He was smart and simple, didn't watch TV, and had never played a sport in his life. I once watched him eat Spaghetti with chop sticks, and on more than one occasion we offered him a drink and he denied it quickly, without hesitation. Come to think of it, after thinking about this I guess I really did get to know an Asian person pretty well. Boo Boo, as I will always know him as, was not only a cool guy but a great experience for me too. He really let me see the other side of things.
So when I truly think about this, I guess it shows quite a life lesson. Just when you think that you are completely ignorant to something, or someone, or a culture. You soon realize that you do know about it, you just didn't realize how much you were learning whenever you had those experiences with them.

This is insane... I truly cannot believe this story when I read it. It makes you wonder if the people on the school board who chose to cancel the prom actually worry about their careers? If I were this girl, I would be suing somebody out the ass for this kind of embarresment. Honeslty, it is the twenty first century and it is time for people to realize that this stuff is out there. No reason to hide it any more or for people to be so against it. I'm not gonna lie, I get pretty pissed off when I see a gay or lesbian couple all over each other somewhere in public. I get that public displays of effection is a good way to show people that you are comfortable with yourselves, but in all honesty i think it goes a bit too far sometimes. I haven't even seen a straight couple all over each other in public since like middle school (thats when it was cool, remember?). I personally agree with the statement that love has no boundaries. Its been proven that people are born gay and that there is no way to change that. So we as a culture need to learn to accept people for who they are, especially when something like this comes up. I was even a little freaked out when Sam admitted to wanting a guy hookup after his wife passes, but hey, he's an open guy and that what he's down with... so fuck it?... I think the worste part of this article is the fact that it is happening to 2 high school girls. I get that there is discrimination against gays and lesbians etc everywhere everyday, and it still isn't right, but this is probably going to scar this girl for the rest of her life. Not probably, I would say it deffenitaly is. I knew a gay kid in highschool, and the weirdest part about it is that he didn't come out of the closet until senior year. I wasn't exactly friends with him, but i knew him and he was a nice kid, so there was no reason for me to be mean to him, ya know? But it was weird how after people found out he was gay, they reacted weird to him. Most people just avoided him, there was no serious stuff going on just minor but obvious little things. I myself can even admit that if I saw him in public or around my friends I too tried to walk in the other direction before he'd see me. I would never be rude to him in public, but it was just better to avoid the situation at the time, or I'd be the one getting shit. I know I jsut ranted about random stuff dealing with gays but that is my outlook on this entire situation with this poor highschool girl.

Ok... Things like this are starting to get rediculous... And if you don't agree with me please feel free to comment on my post because I truly wonder how people feel about what I have to say sometimes, because it is usually the opposite of what most people are saying. (Not being a douche, I really am interested in what people have to say).

First off, I would like to say that I am somewhat surprised that the bachelor and bachelorette having primarily white contestants is quite surprising, seeing that it is indeed aired on a HUGE television network, and this is 2010. I guess this is the type of thing you don't notice when your just another white guy, ya dig?

I believe that although these two shows may only be taking in mostly white contestants, we have to also consider other shows that are aired on television (just like somebody talked about in another comment). I looked up some of the statistics from shows like "for the love of Ray J" and "I love New York", and heres what I got:

For the love of Ray J only has 3 contestants that appear to be completely white, the other 11 appear to be of color, most of them black.

To my surprise, the cast of I Love New York had 8 white males, with the other 12 being of color. This legitimately surprised me, but it does still prove some good points.

We have to consider also that these are dating shows. If you were to ask me my preference in women, I wouuld say that I was most interested in white women. Following that would probably be Hispanic women, then Asians, Indians, Native Americans, and lastly Black women. It's not that I have anything against black women, it is just that I, as a white male, do not find them to attractive to the fullest extent (personal preference right?)... And even at one of those "Sex in the dark" Parties they have where everyone talks sexuality without knowing who's talking, the black girls even admitted to not being very attracted to white men. So we must remember that Although there aren't many people of color on those two shows, that doesn't quite make it racist. I'm sure if the leading contestant was black, the tables would quickly be turned.

I think at this point, we need to realize that we are sometimes too quick to point the finger at people and say that you are this, or they are that. Even recently in my discussion group, one girl of a certain race, pointed to another girl of a different race, and referred to her as not caring. The tone of voice was enough to let the people in the group know that there was anger in her voice. I gotta admit, sometimes as a white guy, I feel attacked with the "Race" card....

In my whole opinion I feel like I have split feelings on this subject. One side of me wants to think that I should have nothing to do with this, because I do not even think my ancestry goes back far enough to have taken advantage of Native American land, and even if it had, that was my ancestors and not me. On the other hand I feel that we must still consider the fact that no matter if our ancestors had taken part in this or not, we cannot just let an entire race in our country wither to peices.

I feel that at times in class Sam chooses to point the finger a bit too much. Sometimes it seems as if he wants to say that it is OUR fault these people are living like this and OUR fault that we do not recognize it. People need to realize (and make a difference to the fact) that whether you have heard about this through the media or another source, or you have not heard of it at all, it still isn't fully our fault. It is not as if we are at fault because we didn't go out and go beyond ourselves to start some sort of relief and support group for these people. Now, if the act of helping out Native American tribes was as popular as say, supporting cancer research, I'm sure many more people would support it because they would actually know about it.

Now although all of us are not at fault, when we are informed we must understand that we should consider even making the smallest attempt at making a change. For example, did the kid who posted this video that was 'so worried" about letting this hit home with him, even look into helping out these tribes? Did he go on Google and research support groups for these tribes, or ways to help them out? I'm going to guess no, so in essence, he is just as 'wrong" as the rest of us.

We must realize however, that there is still a group of people out there that are starving, full of addiction, and depressed. These people need help, and so far the government has done nothing to help them. However, If I might ask one question. Why haven't these people tried to leave there reservations (Ok I'm aware that its YOUR land and you rightfully own it, but that shit isn't working out to well for you right now). In the past century African Americans have been able to move their way up in society's food chain, and there is no reason that Native Americans can't do the same thing.

I do think that we should have some iniciative to help these people, and lend them a hand. However, at some point don't they need to take this upon themselves?

I agree completely with what "jaredletorocks" said. The funny thing about this is that, i am not from "the hood", I am from a middle class suburb just outside of Pittsburgh. Which I must say, makes it quite interesting that we both have the same outlook on this situation. Now when I say I am from "middle class", I am saying that my neighborhood itself is not underprivileged, or a bad area, but just average. That being said, my high school is considerably lower class (yes, we have metal detectors lol).

Now what Senator Andre Bauer said is absolutely ridiculous in the fact that he is a politician, and a professional. He, as well as any professional for that matter, needs to understand that there are lines that should not be crossed when speaking in public and he crossed that like by 100 miles. On top of that, i completely agree with Sam's comment that no matter who a person is, how they are living, or what race they are, they are NEVER to be referred to as "animals". In all honesty, this man is lucky that he has a job right now.

Now for the part that everyone is going to get mad about....

Just as Jaredletorocks stated, welfare is "for people going through a rough time and in need", and is especially for those who are trying to help feed their families. The point is that I personally believe that more people are abusing the welfare system than using it for good use. Day in and day out there are people in America who are too lazy to get off their ass, so they choose to claim disability, or actually go to the extent of having MORE children in order to get MORE money. Now lets consider the fact that the extra money they are going to receive for that child, is just going to get spent on something that they personally want themselves.. And what does this leave us?.... HUNGRY CHILDREN...

As in Jaredletorock's post, he even mentioned that his uncle is spending his welfare money on a new Cadillac Escalade... So this means that the money we pay in taxes is simply getting blown away like lottery money... "Thanks for the Cadillac, America!"

For anyone who is an avid rap listener (I'm guessing most people reading this), you have probably heard a song by Bone Thugs n' Harmony called "First of the Month". This song is reffering to the day of the month that welfare checks are recieved, the 1st. The very first verse of the song is:
"Hey my nigga we havin' a wonderful day and I won't fuck with me. Why?
'Cause it's the 1st of the month and now we smokin', chokin', rollin' blunts
And sippin' on 40 ounces thuggin' come come we got the blessed rum"

There you have it. Put into lyrics this song is perfectly representing the abuse of welfare in America. Does this verse, or song for that matter, mention eating food, buying the kids clothes, or paying for necessities? No. It talks about getting high, getting drunk, and having a good time with the money that you didn't even earn yourself.

Yes, the welfare system in America is great for those who truly need it and put it to good use, for food and accessories for them and their family. But when the system gets abused, some people truly do start to act like... "Animals".

In addition, I know that in Avatar he apparently doesn't "take them over", but more the less saves them, but you all get what I mean...

As well as many others on here, I have no yet seen the movie Avatar, but heard many great things about it. Given, I think one of the reasons everyone loved it so much is because of it's incredible special effects and the fact that it plays in 3D as well. I have no interest in science fiction movies, so chances are I'll probably never go to see it anyhow.

However, I think it is right to say that Brooks sounds ridiculous in this article. Trying to point the finger at today's movie directors, it is evident that he is stretching things out way too far to get his point across. Yes, the movie does have the idea that the white guy comes in and all of a sudden, he's the freakin man. Yes, this is obvious in plenty of other movies (Dances with wolves). But come on, thats because its a storyline that people enjoy following and it always results very well. Saying that these movie directors are all getting this idea of a "White Messiah" is no different than saying that 90's movies make high school parties look epic, or all bloody horror films are the same. Obviously they're going to be similair, thats what is popular right now, but this guy needs to seriously relax...

Maybe I have this standpoint because I am a white american, and I would view it differently if I were another race, but I just feel that the finger is being pointed for no reason. I think one reason this plot can be so successful for movies, is because it has happened plenty of times in history. For example, explorer Hernan Cortes in 1519 came to discover the Aztecs, and SURPRISE, 2 years later, he completely conquered them. This was done very easily for him, because when the Spanish landed on this foreign land, the Aztecs were not sure what to think of them. They were confused because the men were white, taller, had different colored hair, and also had horses with them (which are native to spain). I guess what I'm trying to say is, this is stuff that has really happened in the past, and it makes one hell of a movie because its interesting. I'm sure if someone came out with a movie about a rich white community, that suddenly had its eyes opened by a poor black man, it would work out just as well.

The fact of the matter is that Hollywood isn't looking to create a "White Messiah", the thought of that is moronic. Hollywood, wants to make money, and the whole "white guy takes over the natives" plot, is whats selling right now.

I think Brooks sounds like a jackass and should research something worth writing about.