The last lecture with Basum was a very important one to me for many reasons. Knowing what this lecture was on going into it and a great idea on the subject matter of the Iraqi people I had little to look forward to in terms of his appearance and responses. What I did have more interest in looking forward to was the responses and reactions of the students during and after watching and listening to the Iraqi Basum speak. I came into class this way because I, more than I’m sure ninety-nine percent of the class if not all of the class have actually lived with, communicated, fought, laughed and overall experienced the country of Iraq and the Iraqi people.

I have spent over two years in and around Iraq living, working, helping and fighting with the various people and groups that reside in Iraq. Haven’t said that it was quite obvious what Basum’s appearance was going to be and even the most normal American outfit or the most unusual Iraqi outfit wouldn’t have surprised me either. Seeing Basum was like seeing a list of Iraqi people I have either helped, fought or lived with. So with that being said his appearance was of no surprise or question to me, but I do think it was good that my classmates were able to see him

The responses of course were questionable for me because Iraq is a country ruled by fear and survival and although many of the Iraqi people share the same thoughts and perspectives, many of them also have very different opinions on world matters, especially that in relating to the United States. His answers though such as his responses to the 9/11 attacks were right on the money with typical reactions of many of the Iraqis I had conversations with while living there. Also what really interested me was his response to the needs of the people in Iraq such as electricity. These same needs were many of the same necessities and resources that I fought to protect and help provide to the people while I was there. So it was no surprise to me that electricity was such a big issue to them and it was good that my other classmates heard that to help them better understand the type of poverty and the level of poor and technology that parts of Iraq and it’s people are living in. In similar fashion this sort of information is important to the farther development of the minds of the United States on what they believe Iraq is like and what the reasons were in the past and more importantly what the reason are now for what we are doing there and why we are there.

When looking at nepotism there are many different ways to look at it, some good and some bad. When you are friends with someone in a position of power and influence some could look at it as you’re just a person who made the right friends growing up and put yourself in the right social circle. Some people could also look at it as luck that you became friends with someone unknowingly of the fact that someday they would and could be in a position of power and influence and therefore allowing you to have a nice thing such as a job. When looking at it this way we could go back to earlier in the semester when Sam and the class were talking about determinism and free will. This whole luck part to benefiting from nepotism could be something you were born into. It could be a predetermined social circle that you were bound to hang out with and grow up in. And therefore this same social circle could come from families who all are well established in positions of power and influence. Or determinism could farther allow you to benefit from nepotism by simply being born into a successful and powerful family business. Then after a while you could become the one who is exercising nepotism for your family friends and thus the chain reaction occurs. When I look at nepotism I think about how a person could benefit from it and then I think about how determinism could go hand in hand with nepotism. A lot of the behavior and actions surrounding nepotism would simply stem from a lot of determined factors, factors that the person was born into. Also when looking at the free will perspective we could go back to the aspect that if someone knowingly placed themselves in a social circle or even married into one or a family that they could benefit from by nepotism.

Where I think nepotism could really become a problem is when the friend or family member hires the individual for that very reason over someone else for the family and friend connection and only for the connection. Yes, maybe the hired friend would work together better with his friend who did the hiring or the family member as well would have the whole bloodline thing to establish trust between the two newly bonded co-workers, but there is one simple, possible and obvious problem with this. What if the friend or family member hired over the other guy or girl is not as qualified as the other individual or not as skilled or even not as punctual? This is where it becomes unfair and just straight up bad business on the hiring side of the job.

In class we were asked to put ourselves in the shoes of middle easterners in Iraq. The class then continued the discussion of various aspects and perspectives of what happened in Iraq and to the Iraqi people in relation to them and the rest of the world. It was interesting for me to hear these perspectives and outcomes of what happened summarized and said back to me and made me remember of the horrible and not so horrible things that had happened between the United States and Iraq as well as other countries in the world. With all this being said when asked the question, Did putting yourself in the shoes of the Middle Easterners change your views on the War in Iraq? my answer is still no.

In class we were asked to put ourselves in the shoes of middle easterners in Iraq. The class then continued the discussion of various aspects and perspectives of what happened in Iraq and to the Iraqi people in relation to them and the rest of the world. It was interesting for me to hear these perspectives and outcomes of what happened summarized and said back to me and made me remember of the horrible and not so horrible things that had happened between the United States and Iraq as well as other countries in the world. With all this being said when asked the question, “Did putting yourself in the shoes of the Middle Easterners change your views on the War in Iraq?” my answer is still no.

Unlike I’m sure most of my classmates and most of the people that go to Penn State I actually have had first hand experiences and perspectives with the country, what is going on there, the people, the problems, the outcomes and everything else in between. I served four years in the United States Marine Corps and two of those years were with a combat unit in Iraq where I can’t say exactly where I was at in Iraq, but can say though that I saw a vast amount of the country and lived in various Iraqi cities. Through my time there and experiences I learned about the culture, the people and the countries history further verified though first hand accounts from the actual people, not some news media source that most people in the United States are prone to watching. Through interaction with the Iraqi people it brought me much closer to what it is like to be an Iraqi and again this is from actually learning from and having experiences in dealing with them and watching them and not just from what we might think it is like to be an Iraqi in the middle east that we would get from hearing people speak and watching the news in the comfort of our homes.

So, in essence I already have been in the shoes of a middle easterner during the Iraq War years ago before this discussion in class. And due to this I have already known my views on the Iraq War better then most and they still have not changed. My views stem from actually being there and living with the people during a time of much hardship, a time of war. I was glad though to attend the discussion given by Sam and hope that it changed some of the viewpoints of the students and got them thinking and questioning certain things for the better. We can’t forget about the certain and more prominent events of our world’s past.

In class we were asked to put ourselves in the shoes of middle easterners in Iraq. The class then continued the discussion of various aspects and perspectives of what happened in Iraq and to the Iraqi people in relation to them and the rest of the world. It was interesting for me to hear these perspectives and outcomes of what happened summarized and said back to me and made me remember of the horrible and not so horrible things that had happened between the United States and Iraq as well as other countries in the world. With all this being said when asked the question, Did putting yourself in the shoes of the Middle Easterners change your views on the War in Iraq? my answer is still no.

In class we were asked to put ourselves in the shoes of middle easterners in Iraq. The class then continued the discussion of various aspects and perspectives of what happened in Iraq and to the Iraqi people in relation to them and the rest of the world. It was interesting for me to hear these perspectives and outcomes of what happened summarized and said back to me and made me remember of the horrible and not so horrible things that had happened between the United States and Iraq as well as other countries in the world. With all this being said when asked the question, “Did putting yourself in the shoes of the Middle Easterners change your views on the War in Iraq?” my answer is still no.

Unlike I’m sure most of my classmates and most of the people that go to Penn State I actually have had first hand experiences and perspectives with the country, what is going on there, the people, the problems, the outcomes and everything else in between. I served four years in the United States Marine Corps and two of those years were with a combat unit in Iraq where I can’t say exactly where I was at in Iraq, but can say though that I saw a vast amount of the country and lived in various Iraqi cities. Through my time there and experiences I learned about the culture, the people and the countries history further verified though first hand accounts from the actual people, not some news media source that most people in the United States are prone to watching. Through interaction with the Iraqi people it brought me much closer to what it is like to be an Iraqi and again this is from actually learning from and having experiences in dealing with them and watching them and not just from what we might think it is like to be an Iraqi in the middle east that we would get from hearing people speak and watching the news in the comfort of our homes.

So, in essence I already have been in the shoes of a middle easterner during the Iraq War years ago before this discussion in class. And due to this I have already known my views on the Iraq War better then most and they still have not changed. My views stem from actually being there and living with the people during a time of much hardship, a time of war. I was glad though to attend the discussion given by Sam and hope that it changed some of the viewpoints of the students and got them thinking and questioning certain things for the better. We can’t forget about the certain and more prominent events of our world’s past.

The first time I was really around two or more people speaking a different language that I couldn’t understand was when I went into the military. Within my first year into the military I found myself on a tour to Iraq for seven to eight months. Immediately upon getting there I was dealing with and surrounded by men and women who spoke Arabic. At first I was uncomfortable with this, but then I immediately wasn’t for several reasons. First, I was already expecting to having to deal with a language that I didn’t understand since I would be in a foreign country. I also knew that the Arabic people probably were aware that the American military coming into their country would not be able to speak their language. The other reason I started to feel more comfortable is because nearly every other American person with me from the United States didn’t understand the language either. It wasn’t like hearing or learning the Spanish language common to the United States, Arabic is a much harder language to hear and understand. On top of that, knowing this, the military had provided us with paid Arabic interpreters who can speak both their language and the Arabic language. This helped much with this language barrier. But, never the less this was my job and mission to be in a foreign speaking country for most of the year and possibly for time and time again. Knowing this, I took it upon myself to learn at most some basic Arabic words or what I like to call, “the survival level.” It wasn’t easy at first, but I started to practice and use basic Arabic words every day. This helped with my job in the military in a foreign country very much. The Iraqi people could see that I was making and effort and became friendlier towards me and gave me more support. Doing this also made the interpreters job a lot easier knowing that I knew a little bit of Arabic and they did not now have to translate things to me as much. This also gave me more confidence and raised my comfort in the whole situation there. I felt and became more and more a part of the their culture through their language and customs. When relating and thinking about this with any other job in the United States it make me think that any job, no matter what it entails, it is good to know a different language for the job and especially one that may be in common usage at or around your workplace. Lets be real here, if your hiring boss is Spanish and you speak Spanish, you have a lot better chance at getting the job.

It is important to talk about before my time in the military briefly followed by my time in the military and after the military to help you understand my thoughts and feelings on interracial relationships. Before the military I didn’t think too much about the interracial relationships because it simply wasn’t around me and I can’t recall seeing any interracial couples at all. This may be in part due to the fact that there weren’t too many black people around me to being with. It wasn’t until I got into the military that I met my first interracial friend. After talking with him a few times I learned that he was interracial and had a black father and a white mother. This didn’t bother me at all and after thinking about it even more critically I realized that even if I saw other interracial couples walking around it wouldn’t bother me at all. I also quickly learned from my interracial friend that he remembers as a child always thinking that he is different. He claimed even without realizing the issue of race he knew he was different because his parents were both different colors. “My mom was pale to me and my dad was dark,” he would say. He claimed he would then look at other peoples parents and see that they are the same color, but his parents were different colors therefore he was different. When he came to realization about his race he said growing up that whenever he went out, whether it be to the mall, grocery store or even an amusement park that he would at least catch a few people giving his parents or even him dirty looks or overhear them talking about his “mud color.”
My friend also talked about how people would always ask him which race he should choose. In other words whether he is embracing or trying to be his black side or whether he is embracing or trying to be his white side. He would say people would judge him on this based on the way he dressed or the music he listened to or even the food he sometimes ate. He claimed he would fight these stereotypes though by simply stating that he is just being himself and is interracial and that is that. He doesn’t need to pick a side and he simply is who he is. This sort of talk from my friend made me inspire to be as racially conscious and simple as he is. He has embraced his racial and ethnic roots and the fact that his parents are both black and white and learned to hope that some people will change their negative thoughts eventually about interracial couples. I have embraced this thought process as well.

I have never felt really any guilt of being a certain race until just recently in this class when Sam has continuously talked about white privilege. As I was growing up I was in a mostly white community and the black people that were in my community were just as well off and as economically equal as I was. It mostly seemed that they were just as privileged as I was. My parents never really expressed to me or even emphasize to me how we may be white privileged as Sam calls it so I never really thought about it too much growing up. In fact, one of my closer friends growing up in a mostly white area was black and the idea of race and whites being more privileged never came up between us. Later, I joined the military where I then experienced an even more equal level of privilege in race. There is no race or ethnicity more privileged then the other in the military and the better and worse treatment of individuals simply comes from who is a higher rank then the other person and who is in the higher position of authority. So again I wasn’t really introduced to anything similar to what I considered to be a white privilege over many of the other races. I mean, I had an idea that white people may have it better in certain aspects of jobs and social relations in present day due experiences and information I gathered from the media and others, but never to the extent I thought it would be until attending this class and learning about white privilege.

So after learning about this aspect of our society and coming to this realization I do find myself feeling a little bit of guilt for being white privileged. This guilt though is not prominent or even the slightest bit significant enough to make me change in anyway. I was born this way and am who I am and although only feeling a little guilt I would not want to be the one who would flaunt my white privilege in front of others. It’s hard to even want to look at it that way, but I guess in some ways you have to. I do feel though that another race or ethnicity would not want you to feel sympathetic to them in anyway for that simply would bring up the that fact that you may feel that you are more privileged then they are therefore making you come off as thinking you are better then them or even a racist. So although feeling a little bit a guilt it is much easier to just accept things how they are right now and do you best to help eliminate this white privilege that has been engraved into our society.

Since it was so long ago I wouldn’t say what I feel now is guilt and when looking at current minorities today it is hard to think about the disadvantages of the freed slaves in current society. Racism is still very real today and it still does take place in job places and elsewhere across the world, but not to the extent in which it did a few decades ago and certainly not to the extent it did pre and post civil war.
I would feel more guilt if I was directly responsible for or in support of slavery around that time when it was still prominent in the United States. In fact, even if I was white around this time and had nothing to do with or associated with slavery I would feel a lot of guilt. I would most definitely feel obligated to show the freed slaves around the time that not all white people are like their former owners whether they were treated nicely or not. I would also not want them to think that all white people think that the ownership of slaves, whether the slaves were treated fair or not was okay to do. I could even feel myself if knowing that my ancestors were the ones that owned slaves and knowing that a black friend of mine knew this information much guilt and embarrassment. I wouldn’t want them, whether I knew it or not, to associate me with someone who took part in slavery back then.
It is hard to feel significant guilt when looking at the disadvantages freed slaves had nowadays because of the time difference of now and then, but there is something there when being reminded it happened. Knowing that it happened and the disadvantages the freed slaves had it brings a sadness to my heart, but also feelings of comfort to see how far the ancestors of the freed slaves have come and a lot of those disadvantages that are in the past are now advantages of the present and are no more prominent in present day society.
With that being said I do feel that some people still feel some extreme guilt, but most people, especially those of the younger age groups don’t necessarily feel guilt, but are more just sorry that it happened and would hope to make every effort they can to prevent similar issues such as slavery and ethnic disadvantages from ever happening again. We owe it to the societies of the past, present and future to try our best to make advantages equal across the board. Slavery is something not to be forgotten and it should have a special place in the history of the mistakes by the people of the United States.