I think this is a really interesting question. I would have to say I’m probably looking forward to when white people are a minority along with other races, for a few reasons. I think when this does happen it will be a tremendous factor in the fight against racism. As Sam continually points out in class, racism and extremism exist in all races, just as much with minorities as with white people, but white people are looked at differently, and deservedly so. Although it exists pretty proportionately in all races, white racism is by far the most dangerous, and I believe this is in large part due to the fact that white people are the majority and have the power that comes along with being the majority. Also, of course, because white supremacy has been practiced and accepted for the past few hundred years, in the world as a whole and in particular in the United States. The fact that white skinned people separated themselves throughout history as superior and have used their majority power to suppress minorities is not a simple thing to overturn, because it has become ingrained in our culture and of course in corporate America as well. The people who have benefited the most obviously aren’t in a hurry to change anything, the status quo has treated them very well, regardless of how they got their wealth and power. I see in the future, when white people are a majority along with other races, there will be a gradual blending of more races obtaining wealth and power positions, simply because with each passing generation these positions will need to be filled and will eventually move towards representing the population and the particular racial characteristics of the population as a whole proportionally. Obviously not immediately, because of family tradition and what we are used to, but I think that will be increasingly diminished with each passing generation. On top of that, there would be much less racial ignorance when white people are more balanced with people of color. Today it seems very common for white people to grow barely knowing or being exposed to any people of color, or from any other culture, and I think that is what makes white racism much more dangerous than racism among minorities, because of the complete ignorance almost always attached with extremism and racism, and with the reinforcement of always being around a population with majority white people, that majority power can be used for extremism and racist purposes, or to spread their delusional ideas and hate. A good example that I feel demonstrates that this is the reality we live in would be the video Sam showed of the black man that proposed to exterminate white people, and no one really cared, but imagine if it was a white man proposing to exterminate any other minority race, it would be horrifying, especially since white majorities have come to this conclusion at many points in history. Whites will be much better off after a few generations of not being majority.

I think the biggest reason women sacrifice their comfort more than men is because of the culture they live in. In college towns like State College this is definitely true and can be seen everywhere. Almost all girls do it and it’s just expected for the most part. Also I think generally women put a lot more thought into their appearances than guys, and women’s clothing is a lot more complicated than guys clothing. Guys don’t completely disregard their appearance, but sneakers, jeans and a polo or t shirt is just as fashionable as a girl wearing heels and a dress, but probably a lot more comfortable. I think the culture comes from the media more than anything, that’s the styles you see everywhere so naturally it’s duplicated in real life. Also I think it’s important to realize that women have a lot more to show off in terms of their bodies. Heels and certain dresses can make girls look great, and I think all girls want guys to think they look great. There’s only so much clothing can do to accentuate a guys’ body, but girls can use clothes to show off anything they want. I think culture is the biggest thing though, because if you look at other cultures, especially underdeveloped cultures, they might barely wear any clothes, or emphasize completely different things, like neck rings or body piercings. I think it’s also important to realize that a lot of girls in the culture we live in are going to sacrifice their comfort to look good for whatever reason, because it makes them feel good or gives them a better chance to bring someone home, so naturally most girls are going to do the same because they would feel out of place if they just dressed for comfort and other girls were more dressed up. I don’t know if I agree with this, and I know girls that never really go all out when they go out but still get plenty of attention and are dressed pretty comfortably, even comparable to guys. So when girls think they have too I don’t really agree with that, I feel like most girls like to embrace the culture actually, why else would they put so much time and thought and money into it? It comes naturally when they’ve always been around it, and they like to embrace it while they can. They look good and they like looking good, but I do feel like it is unfair to girls who really are against it, because they aren’t really left with a choice sometimes.

I feel like the type of aid that is the best aid is any type that has the potential to have a positive effect on someone else’s life. I wanted to answer this question especially after last week’s discussion group where our group discussed which entrepreneur we would like to help. Everyone in my group was very strongly against just sending money, and argued that it wasn’t creative or artistic enough. I thought that was pretty selfish, because I don’t think that has anything to do with anything. The best type of aid is aid that would actually make a difference, and help the people you are aiding become self-sufficient, and if that happens to be financial assistance for start-up money for an ambitious entrepreneur with a fantastic idea, I think it’s pretty ridiculous to be against it because it’s not colorful or artistic enough. I wasn’t able to articulate my point very well at the time, I was exhausted and pretty out of it, but I think it goes along with this question. If people know what they want and know what they need, then I think the best way to aid them is to give them what they are asking for, no matter how boring it is. Most of the entrepreneurs we have been exposed to seem to have great ideas and great skills and abilities to deliver what they want to deliver, but they lack the resources to get their ideas off the ground. The best kind of aid in these situations seems to be to find a way to deliver them the resources needed to get their ideas off the ground, deliver them with resources for expanded their businesses, possibly to other countries, or deliver them with money they could use to acquire the necessary resources. My favorite entrepreneur was Noel, who had a fantastic idea and product, plus the technically trained employees to build and install them, but had no way to get the needed funds to acquire the raw materials. It would be an insult to think that he cares what some college students think he could do to improve his business model, he has no interest in that because he already knows what he’s doing, and already has potential customers lined up. On top of that, his customers would be all rich Haitians, which means once he gets his operation running, not only would it be completely self-sustaining, provide a fantastic product and provide dozens of jobs, but it would also be taking money directly from the richest Haitians and putting it directly back into the Haitian economy. Noel understands this perfectly, and I was disappointed my group wanted nothing to do with this, because we have so many more resources available to help him with start-up costs here then he does there, and I really hope another group recognizes this.

In response to your question whether we think sexual orientation or gender is a choice, I think absolutely not. First of all gender is definitely not a choice, you are either born a male or a female, end of story. Sexual orientation is a little more complicated, but I feel pretty strongly that there is absolutely no choice involved when it comes to what you really are. I think it is a choice when people choose to hide their sexual orientations, but I think at the core you are what you are, ingrained in your DNA somewhere. My first argument is probably the most obvious, I’m a straight guy and I could never make a decision to be gay. My whole life I haven’t gotten butterflies in my stomach from a guy, but have millions of times from girls, this is a simple argument but I think it’s the most compelling. If the best looking guy in the world was walking down the street as I drove past it would never make me turn my neck like if a good looking girl was walking by, simple. You might argue that this is because of how I was cultured or raised and only think that it’s not a choice because it was chose for me or because it was an obvious choice when I was young, but I definitely don’t believe that either. The main reason is because I have a very close relative who grew up in basically the exact same culture and environment as me, but who happens to be gay, and I don’t feel like that’s a rarity at all. I don’t know any studies or facts about this next statement, perhaps Dr. Sam does, but in my experience gay people seem to be dispersed pretty randomly. It doesn’t seem like gay people appear more in gay friendly environments, maybe more flamboyant kids, but not more people genuinely attracted to men. However, my argument is in the context of the advanced world and my limited knowledge. One aspect of this argument that I would be interested to know is how it translates to the undeveloped world. However, I do know that there are plenty of mentions of homosexuality in ancient texts and scriptures, which I feel supports my argument that it doesn’t matter what culture you are born into, if you are born gay or straight then that’s what you are at your core, for your entire life.

I heard a lot about this class for the past couple years, and had a friend that took it and liked it a lot, so I was looking forward to taking it. Besides the World in Conversation meetings I wasn’t really sure what to expect, I participated in one of the meetings last year for another class and thought it was pretty cool. So far I like the class, you’ve introduced yourself pretty thoroughly and I have a lot of respect for people who can think as openly as you and I think it’s awesome. I wasn’t sure if we were going to be doing any learning, but after the first few classes I really hope to know some more interesting facts about race relations, like how 50% of black people think they are part Cherokee, but only 10% really are, I think stuff like that is super interesting. I definitely want to learn some more crazy stuff like that before the class is over. I’m reading a few of these posts and a lot are asking things like how is sociology not considered racist when all they do is analyze races and analyze data on races, and to me that sounds like they’re saying everyone should just ignore races and then there would be no racism, but to me that just sounds crazy. To me that’s like saying if everyone ignored rain no one would get wet, it’s ignoring reality. I would like to know how many people really think like this, that’s the main thing I would like to understand before this class is over, how do most other people view race, and why. I’m white and went to a pretty small high school just outside Southwest Philadelphia with different races, probably close to a majority black, and I definitely have different opinions of different races, but I don’t think I’m racist. I think Filipino people are awesome, because in my experience they are and I have no reason to think otherwise, and to be completely honest in my experience white people are by far the worst type of people, is that still racist because I’m white? It seems like a lot of people on here seem to be so disgusted by racism that they think it’s racist just to talk about race, and I don’t understand where they’re coming from. I hope that after this class I do understand where they’re coming from, for the most part.