It is kind of ridiculous. It is South Park. They have made fun of everything and everyone. Let’s look at this from the American angle. We can do whatever we want and a small group of terrorists should stop us from living and having our freedom of speech. If everyone got angry at South Park then it would have been cancelled forever ago. Yes you are not supposed to make fun of Mohammad. But are you allowed to make fun of the pope? Are you allowed to make fun of Moses? No but people do anyway. South Park had an episode last season where they made of the Japanese because the Japanese thought the whales and dolphins were responsible for the bombings in world war two. How can you take someone seriously when they make a joke about sea creatures bombing Japan? And you do not see the Japanese people up in arms because of this. They are not threatening America with war. In my mind South Park is way too influential. Everyone makes fun of Michael Bay now because of South Park. Everyone makes fun of red-headed people because of South Park. South Park may take everything else lightly but too many people take South Park serious. It might not even be on purpose. People are brainwashed by South Park and they do not even know it. South Park should be blamed for affecting citizens through the media just as much if not more than other media such as fox news or c-span for all I care. One person said they would be offended if they made fun of Jesus instead of Mohammad. South Park makes fun of Jesus at least once a season if not more. Do not make comments like that when you have nothing to back it up. Let’s not forget. The joke was that Mohammad was in a bear suit, but do you know who was actually in the bear suit? Santa Claus! Yes Santa Claus. I guess it’s not offensive to have Santa Claus pretending to be Mohammad. I am a South Park fan but other fans are also taking this a little too lightly. It goes back to Sam saying you need to understand. You do not have to agree with these radical Muslims but just try to see it from their side and why they are so offended and why they are making threats. And for the record I am for freedom and speech and I do not agree with South Park taking down the episode from their website. It is entertainment it is television. These radical Muslims will not be satisfied with America ever anyway so how about we do whatever we want and just live life.

If you want to talk about propaganda just look at this trailer. He “turned up the heat” and had his fun. I never agree with Sam that often but I think people are getting a little too mad at him. Sam was showing us the extreme opposites so we can all find our own middle ground where we believe. It has nothing to do with religion from America’s side, but just by coincidence the people invading Iraq are Christians and that is what the Iraqis see. Yes I would definitely grab my guns if someone invaded Iraq, but blowing myself up is something completely different. I think that is the biggest reasons Americans can’t understand what is going on over there. Also, the pictures Sam showed in class were kind of bull. He showed us a bunch of barren pictures saying they were after the war and then showed happy people saying this was before the war. I could go into Philly, take a few pictures in a really nice area, then drive 15 minutes to a really rundown area and take a couple more pictures. That is propaganda at its finest. I am not saying do not listen to Sam at all; just do not follow what he says blindly. Take everything he says with a grain of salt. I read someone being angry about our politicians using religion as an excuse. They’re politicians. They will find any excuse possible to do whatever they want, why are you acting surprised now. And do not use Sarah Palin anymore. I do not like Sarah Palin but she is such an easy target. Find someone else. Something that is good to read are people comparing what Sam said to their lives. Reading about stuff their parents and grandparents have done and using what you have learned before and what Sam told us is really good to see. I just read someone who said “It's crazy how America makes us look so innocent.” Well duh. Did you expect Bush to come out and say, “Hey are goal of killing Iraqis and stealing their oil is on the right track.”
Sam also wants to show these things like not eating chocolate and not eating factory farm meat. It is impossible to reject everything in American society. You will be living in a box if you bought nothing made by slaves and you would be starving if you did not eat anything from factory farms. I think it is pretty funny that Sam wanted us to know he is one of the 100 most dangerous professors. First off, being on that list sounds like a joke to me. Secondly, who has that kind of time to make a list of dangerous professors? Give me a break.

This may be negative but I do not think anyone in our lifetime can ever win what this girl is saying. Personally I just do not care. So have I won? People said Sam is past it. So has he won? Even if you think you have one and you are past it, the people around you are not past. The fact that Sam talks and people are offended proves that no one has won. The only way anyone could win is if they could walk in the classroom and could say the LLbean stuff and no one in the classroom would be offended. I do not think someone “winning” is not just about racism. So many people are offended by so many little stupid things that it makes it even harder for anyone to actually “win”. I am a big fan of student “ilovesoc” saying “If it were up to me, I think it would be ideal for everyone to be in the Humanitarian stage. That way people do not see color, they just see people.” Give me a break. Of course that would be ideal but I do not think Sam is challenging us to turn America into Candyland. He wants us to adjust. The fact that some people think like that blows my mind. You can only change yourself and that is where you can decide for yourself whether you won or not. But of course no one wants to admit they lost. No one will admit to be racist and need improvement. So not only are you lying to your friends and society about how you feel, but you are also lying to yourself. That may sound gay (and do not be offended by that) but it is what it is. To get back to the LLBean, why did we only talk about black people dressing like white people. What about all the suburban white kids who dress like black guys? I think more white people try to dress like black people than the other way around. It is stupid things like this I am talking about that people should not get offended by. How about people dress however they want. White people can wear oversized shirts and black people can wear polos and khakis and why not, let Asians wear their hats backwards for all I care. After reading a few more posts, a lot of you need to not take what Sam says so literally. I think most Sam’s jokes goes over some peoples’ heads because you are so worried about every single little thing in class to be a mind blowing experience. Yes Sam wants to “rock” his lecture but do not take everything he says so literally. And when Sam said black people would not be by the lake because they can’t swim

First off, I am not one to protest. I may be seen as a lazy person but I believe that protesting on the streets does absolutely nothing. Best case scenario you create awareness to a situation but protesting on the street is not going to completely change someone’s mind. To me it is a waste of time. People are saying they are embarrassed to be put in the same republican stereotype as these protestors but how do democrats feel. Haven’t democrats been protesting against Bush for the past 8 years. This is not something new, it has just flipped sides. So do not act surprised. I do support freedom of speech. I am a journalism and I do not want to be censored in my job. Overall, as a Penn State student, what are these protestors doing to you? Nothing. When protestors come up to Penn State, like the anti abortion people holding up signs of dead fetuses and swastikas; what do you do? Do you stand on the side and yell at people? Or do you just keep walking and ignore all the people because you have class? Protestors are just an excuse for news people to support their side of an argument without actually saying which side they are on. Do not act shocked, do not act embarrassed. I think this is getting so much outrage because of how quickly Obama’s approval is going down. Oh wait, all these people protesting are the people who did not vote for Obama anyway. And race should not even be brought into this discussion. Is Obama being treated like shit because he is black? No. He is being treated like this because every president has protestors. The media just uses the black card so they have another angle to a meaningless story. And for those Democrats who legal action to be taken, give me a break. You want to bitch and complain now after you ragged on republicans for 8 years? Last time I checked this was America.
The only thing I disagree with is using the “Tea party” for this whole protest to make them seem more patriotic. Give me a break.
To Drewbob59, there is plenty of things wrong with Obama’s health care plan. You can support your side but do not try to push down your democratic beliefs on us via the race relations blog. You can support your opinion on the topic but lets not get into a whole debate about all of Obama’s “visions for America”
To wrap up my rant, everyone can protest anyway or anywhere they want. I just will not care. And if you are going to argue with people protesting on the street than you are just wasting your breath.

First, here is my opinion on what it means to be white- having to tip toe around every other colored person’s feelings. I was a server for 5 years and black people are not bad tippers, assholes are bad tippers.
There are so many people’s comments I want to reply to I just decided to post my own again. I saw that someone said talking in front of 700 people only affects white people, I agree and disagree with that statement. For the most part white people are afraid of being judged (personally I could not give a shit) but I think black also have to worry about being viewed as an “angry” black person who still blames white people for all their problems. From reading the comments I think a lot of white people need to realize that some black people do have the same restrictions white have when it comes to freedom of speech, black people just have different consequences.
The rudeness does go both ways, yes white people did not scratch the surface when the texted and when colored people texted it was much deeper; but what would of happened if white people texted what it meant to be colored. I think that would have been interesting. White people may be seen as ignorant to the race but would you rather us not? Next class I will walk in and yell “I am white! I am naturally better off than anyone else in this room!” Does that sound fair? It is a double edged sword for white people.
Also, many of the comments on the texts are only offensive because of the context of race. If someone says I can’t dance it does not matter but once a colored person says all white people can’t dance it is offensive? And how many times have you (male or female, black or white) been called loud and obnoxious? But once we talk about all black women it turns into a hate fest. If I took every insult I heard personally I would be a depressed, angry, lonely person. I think everyone needs to get some tougher skin when it comes to stereotypes and just be able to say, “who cares”.
Another theory, one white person posted, “in my opinion I think it is due to the treatment of colored people in the past” My ancestors were discriminated for being Irish, but the point is I am not discriminated still. I think white people forget that some white people are still racist. It is a sad truth but maybe a black student in class dealt with racism in a very personal way when he was younger? I don’t know, I’m white and I’m just shooting ideas.
One last thing people should recognize, we are all in a very good college in the northeast, a degree from Penn State says a lot more than your skin color in my books.

One thing is the luck of the draw. You cannot really compare penn state statistics because up here they do not care, they are just trying to fulfill their quota, in my opinion. You see guys get in fights on the street but my dad comes up for one weekend and gets a ticket for over 200 dollars, he did deserve it though. But how does he get picked out when there is all the college students. Anyways, more luck is showing up to court and the officer cannot make it to the hearing. I have heard plenty of people get off easy when the cop can’t make it. We talk about there not being racism but that is only in our generation. Many cops are old enough to be our parents. I am not excusing their racism but I could guarantee we would all have a different view on race if we grew up 30 years ago. I think we will wait another 30 years to see those numbers go down. When it comes to the money side, I do not think it is specifically about the money but the connections. In the end it has to do with money because people with money have connections to other people with money and/or power. This leads to the vicious circle we call life as we know it. I went to a private school, a lot of my friends parents are attorneys, or businessmen. So if my friends or even me get in some sort of trouble, I have connections that could help me or my friends in court. For someone who grew up with less money obviously do not have the same connections that I have. That will lead to more prosecutions and also less lenient sentences. I know it is not fair but it is the truth and for now, us college students are unable to do anything. Our only hope is after we graduate college and we become the people power. And these positions of power are not just for the privileged white people, but the positions are for the privileged educated people. We are all privileged to go to a school like Penn State and what we do when we reach these positions of power will decide how racism is in our country.

Well I am disappointed in the discussion on Tuesday because there was so much to talk about and Sam only hit the tip. Yea we ran out of time but I thought he was going to hit a lot more. When it comes to me, I am pretty conservative. I do not care what gay or lesbian couples do as long as it is not around me. If gay couples want to adopt than why not. It would be better than living in an orphanage I could guess. And those children will probably grow up as better people who are more accepting of other people’s sexuality, and maybe also race and religion. There are too many factors to really think about. Maybe the parents raise the kid to trust no one and only look out for themselves. Basically any factor that could happen with a gay or lesbian couple could also be a problem with a straight couple. The one thing that worries me is a gay couple forcing their feelings with the children. Certain feelings should come to a child naturally, I mean my parents never even gave me the sex talk so I can’t really say anything but a kid should not think about unless he asks his parents, or it gets to that obvious point.
I also want to state something I said in my discussion group. A lot of the things Sam says do seem pretty obvious to most of us, maybe even to the point of common sense, but that is because we are all college educated students. I’m sure most of the posts on this blog are “I can’t believe people are still against gay marriage.” There are still a lot of people who live with blinders on. And politics do not want to pass gay marriage because they do not want to lose all of those donators and voters. I am sure most politicians do not even care, like me. There is only one thing I do not trust, and this is just me being me. Let’s say I have a wife and a kid and I live in a neighborhood and my neighbors are gay. I really do not care about them being gay but if they are talking to my kid and telling him how being gay is great, than that is where I cross the line. It may sound bad but I do not care. Like I said before, it should be natural and obvious, would you want any of your straight neighbors explaining sex to your own kids? I do not think so. So to answer the girl’s question. Go ahead gays, you can do whatever you want.

After reading a couple of the posts from other people, I am kind of shocked to hear what people have to say. If everything Sam said “stirred things inside of you” than I think that is pretty immature of a lot of people. I felt like most of Tuesday and some of Thursday was just common sense. I know Sam is going by the majority of people and fitting that mold but it got pretty repetitive. I am not trying to sound above everyone in the class but I felt that my parents have already taught me that kind of stuff. Yes I know life is not fair and a lot of people are stuck where they start but it is not that way for everyone. My father did not go to college because he had to work to put his brother and sister through college. The only reason my father started his own business was when his boss died and he got his bosses piece of construction equipment. So how come he makes more than both his brother and his sister now? My mother was one of seven with a single alcoholic mother. So how come she is making more than all of her sister? My parents taught me not to get stuck in any mold. I know my parents are only two people and many people are not as lucky but where do you draw the line between luck and hard work? This may sound evil from me but when it comes to being “king of the mountain” I do not care about equal opportunity. Call me smart. Call me smart. Call me determined but for me to make money and to be happy, I will do whatever I have to do. I have always been taught to work as hard as I can so it does not matter who had the fair start, because I can say I worked my hardest anyway. And this may sound bad but when it came to people “deserving” to be in the class; Sam said most of us did not deserve to be in the class, but he never flat out said whether or not he deserved to be a professor. Like I said, I completely understand the lecture and I know life is not fair, but I personally feel that he wanted to give people excuses more than he wanted encourage people to break the mold. We talked about it in my discussion class and most of the other people agreed with me or just did not speak out. And that is why I was shocked to see so many comments about people’s eyes being opened. Last thing. If you watch the show LOST than you will realize the freedom vs. determinism fits pretty well.

First off it is a movie. OK? I know there are a lot of hidden things but the truth is these are not hidden. Do not just think to yourself “Hm I never thought of it that way.” Because you did know. And when it comes to Sam stating the obvious, if you have not seen the writing on the wall before this, than you do not belong in college. For the majority, white people control everything in America, do not act surprised. Of course movies are going to have a white guy as the good guy. Have you ever seen a black James Bond? NO. It is not because Hollywood is racist but since a white guy originally made Bond, James Bond will remain white. I’m not saying I am all knowing or anything but people need to stop tip toeing around this stuff and just face reality. And you can call me a pessimist but I am not, I am a realist. We talk about affirmative action and “how is there still racism now?” Well we may have grown up in a different time, but our parents (the generation that is running the world right now) grew up in a racist time. Do not act like racism is not around and do not act shocked when racism pops out in a situation. Is this writer being crucified for stating the obvious or making an observation about reality? If you really took Avatar to heart than you are a moron. I love going to the movies but I do not base my life around them. Like that kid who tried to blow up mail boxes after seeing Fight Club. Give me a break. It was an intense movie and a bunch of stupid kids who never were in a fight before got into fights. Have you ever been in a real fight? Getting punched in the face hurts, really bad. Those people influenced my Fight Club needed a punch in the head. I know I am ranting but it annoys the crap out of me when people turn a molehill into a mountain. I know Sam is trying to make us open our eyes but none of us are blind. And to go back to Sam’s comment about fully understanding white people through a black person and what not. I think that’s what makes movies like Slumdog Millionaire so good. White people see a movie where they cannot picture themselves as the main character and that puts a whole different twist on the movie itself. I do not know if anything I just said made any sense but I hope we start getting into the serious stuff so we do not need to talk about BS article like this one.

First off, I just think it is funny that the whole banana-monkey insult is still being used. You would think that racists would have thought of some new insults. I find it interesting because I have been to Europe and for the most part of what I have seen and heard, Americans are inferior to Europeans. From personal experiences, Europeans think they are more socially well rounded because they can name our president and we cannot name theirs but I think this video shows that everyone in the world still needs social improvement. America is not innocent when it comes to racism. I have heard plenty of racist comments from my days vacationing in Wyoming to even hanging out with my uncles. But it seems so farfetched for the home crowd to treat one of their own players like shit. I am not going to say that I am innocent of never making a black joke but I certainly have never said anything racist about my Philadelphia Eagle players like Brian Dawkins and Donovan McNabb. When it comes to the ref telling the players that they need to play on, it is a pretty sticky situation. I do not think that all the refs are racist and just do not care but they are really just trying to do their job. Their job is to keep the games going, so can you really blame them when they say “play on” it is their job and since most refs I am guessing are white, they probably do not know how to handle a situation when it comes to race. It is pretty admirable to see these guys keep playing after receiving so much ridicule. Sure it is easy to shake an insult off but when an entire stadium is chanting insults when you would hope that those same people would be cheering you on and supporting you. Something I wondered was when they showed the nazi flags. It made me wonder if the people in the stadium are using the flags to get into the players’ heads or do some people in Germany still believe some of those things still. It is also good to see that ESPN did a piece on this whole problem. Just because racism and sports are much more closely related in Europe does not mean it is not a problem in America. Just while I was writing this blog, Stephen Colbert had a piece where a man is attempting to create a new basketball league where only athletes with two white parents would be allowed to participate. Yes it was Stephen Colbert and he was completely ridiculing the man but it does show that America still has plenty of people in the country that still feel this kind of hate.