After class on Tuesday my stance on illegal immigration stands in the same position it was exactly since last summer. Of course I'm all for border patrol and definitely not letting every single illegal person into this country, but at the same time these people help shape our culture. I work at a restaurant in the Margate, New Jersey during the summer time. While this is an well respected Italian restaurant with top notch white staff throughout, their heart to the entire business the kitchen, is made up of 50 illegal Mexican employees that clean all the plates and keep the restaurant flowing. It's hard to find good help with people that will do the dirty work for cheap but these people take the bull by the horn and day in and day out work their tails off for a measly six dollars an hour. These people provide for their families and often work 2 or 3 jobs just to keep food on the table. I valet parked for the place and work side by side with one of them. It killed me when this dude was straight up telling me how he work 10-3 at a breakfast place and 6-11 with me. The guy never complained for a minute and I respected him more than anyone I've ever worked with before. Yeah he couldn't speak English that well, but to find someone that is so dedicated to their work is impressive in my eyes. And it's not like all of the illegal immigrants are enjoying not being American citizens. My co-worker was consistently applying for American citizenship and time after time he was denied. He got to see his wife once every year who was found here illegally and now can only visit the states through Ellis Island where he has to take 3 buses to even get to her. Ironically to me, he is almost a part of the American Dream, he just wants the same freedom that us Americans take for granted. He wants it, he can taste it but day after day he is reminded of the struggles of not receiving even a drivers license. Sam stressed the fact were all pretty much illegal immigrants that have earned citizenship and it was astounding to see the amount of hands that were raised when he asked the class who could trace their way into America through either illegally coming here or their ancestors making a ridiculous maneuver in order to get them there. I really think Sam opened the eyes of a lot of students in this lecture and it will result in us as people being more aware and realize that America is the way it is because of the work of illegal immigrants starting from centuries ago.

It sucks that we live in this type of World that benefits from nepotism more than hard work. Its plain out not fair that there can be two candidates for a job in the work force and the less smart of the two gets the job squarely because his dad roomed with the boss sophomore year of college. I truly believe that at all costs nepotism should be abolished from the world we live in today, but sadly it will never happen that way. With all that being said, if there was an opportunity for me, myself, to benefit from nepotism than you know I’m taking that opening. I would never blame someone for benefiting from nepotism; I blame the upper officials for letting it occur. In the end, the business that committed the act is the one that loses. You are missing out on the more qualified person on the market just because you owe a personal favor to a friend. I have heard of many occasions’ people handing their family business down to less qualified family members who run it into the ground.
Nepotism does not only occur in the business world either. Growing up as Jewish athlete in my mainly catholic area I saw politics play a huge role in my life. I was always one of the better athletes out of all my friends (I play club baseball here at school where we’re #2 in the nation and start every game) but often found myself not making the travel teams of basketball and baseball for the nepotism reason. They would always refer to me as that kid that was good for a Jewish kid instead of just a kid that was good compared to the rest of the competition around me. I finally broke out of all of it when I got to the middle school level and made every team I ever tried out for. That’s the thing with people that lose out because of someone benefiting from nepotism, they will find another way in. There are many people out there in this world that are looking for young, smart qualified workers to take over their business one day and not leave it in the hands of someone that is absolutely in no way qualified for the job at hand. So here’s my conclusion to the stated question above…would I actively try to not benefit from nepotism if the situation presented itself? Hell no. As I stated before, the ones benefiting from it are not the problem, the ones that commit it are the problem and it should be eliminated from all work places and seen as a crime to not have the obvious more qualified person be hired.

Everyday when I turn on the television to watch whatever show I am tuning in on that given time, I see commercials of a foreign country being depicted by a group of starving and skinny African children with a noticeable White guy asking for your money. As much as I don’t like these commercials because they make you feel bad about the life you lead, they are effective and definitely have resulted with guilt tripping a few people into reaching for their credit cards. Without these ads the people of America would be naïve to the issues that these children face and it would only be the environmentally stable people that would notice the problems that go on. I do think it sends the wrong message to Americans making them believe that people outside of the country don’t live normal lives. Although most of them need a lot more money than they have for their families, the kids are still kids; they run around and joke with everyone. So for THAT reason I believe that the ad campaign that they run is not accurate and should be abolished but that’s not who we are as people.

America loves a success story so when we see someone who is struggling our natural instincts are to save him or her and do everything we can do to make their lives better. If it means making a few kids situations look a little worse off to turn a profit, then good for them, they are being successful the American way. Being apart of the Penn State community we all know how to raise money successfully through THON. One of the main ways we raise our money is through canning where I and probably anyone else that has ever canned before can attest to using this type of propaganda to get a few extra bucks. I’ve yelled things like “imagine if you’re child in the back had something wrong with them, wouldn’t you want people driving by to donate to a kid trying to raise money for him?” Is it wrong? Probably. But does it work? You bet it does. Penn State doesn’t get to almost 10 million dollars in less than 6 months by taking the easy way out. Sometimes you have to exploit something and show the most extreme of the situation to get those that have the minimal to not get to that full extreme. It’s a marketing campaign that is used by almost every company in the world in and outside the United States. Exploitation is a very bad thing in this world but it can be positive if used in the right way. I think that showing the extreme in Africa hopefully will one day be solved.

Growing up in center city in Philadelphia you witness a lot of things that most people would never even think could come about in the world that we live in today. Obvious side effect from growing up in the city is the art of becoming a humongous cheese steak fan. I knew everything about cheese steak places in the city. Pat’s, Geno’s, Jims, D’Alessandro’s, whatever you heard of, I’ve been there. It becomes much of a pride thing when you go to these places. They hate tourists, after every Eagles, Flyers, Sixers, or Phillies game you will see these places clashed with Philly people and whoever the opponent was during the game. Being a tourist site in the city means experiencing very different types of people coming to purchase your signature item. If you do not follow the prototypical wiz-wit, wiz-wit out, American- wit, well you get the point, you are very much looked down upon in the establishment. So Pat put up a sign teaching outsiders how to order while Geno’s flat out put up a sign saying “THIS IS AMERICA, WHEN ORDERING, SPEAK ENGLISH.”

This obviously sparked a national debate trying to say that they treated the situation like segregation, they are low-life human beings, and to never go there for chesse steaks again, pretty much the whole nine yards. I never really saw a problem with it, probably being that I’m a huge Pat’s fan and wanted Geno’s to get all the negative publicity it could get. But it got taken very far at a point, after facing ridicule from the whole city, (9th and passayunk where it is located has grown into a major Spanish speaking area because of the recent immigration path) Joseph Vento, Geno’s owner defended his words and stuck by them for some time. He claimed that he was stating he wasn’t trying to not serve customers that couldn’t speak English, in fact he said he would guide them, but the sign was just there to help speed up the process in food ordering at his restaurant. I for one, think there’s really no problem with the sign as long as the underlying meaning is what he has responded with to keep the city off of his back. He did eventually take down the sign but to this day you can still go there and read signs such as “If you can read this thank a teacher, you can read this in English, thank a marine.” Geno’s represents Philly as being a cold, tough, hard nose town that doesn’t take crap from anybody. The head tourists of Philadelphia thought that this might shine a bad light on the tourism of the city but it only fueled the competition battle as Tony Lukes and Pat’s both denounced the words of Vento saying that they welcome everyone of all ages, sizes, and nationality.

Interracial dating is a very interesting thing. Although many people do it today more than ever, it is still looked down upon by society. Growing up in a very mixed area I probably more than most people have experienced first hand watching two people of different races walking down the street holding hands. You see a lot of people turning their heads, you see a lot of whispers and you even see some people confronted by the opposite race, whether that’d be black or white and whether it’d be to congratulate them on being color blind or ridicule them for being different. The reason I know this is because I experienced this. As the white male I am, I dated a black girl for an extended period of time during my 10th grade year. She was very light skinned which I think may have had an impact on how much ridicule I received, which was minimal, but the looks were prevalent. We eventually ended because we were just two very different people and the pressure of her family finally gave in. Her father was always questioning my intentions in the relationship and I just didn’t want to be apart of it. Ever since then I’ve stuck to only white women but that doesn’t mean that I’d never switch back over. I am definitely an advocate for interracials and I think everyone should start to accept it because it’s only going to grow as the years go.
My intermediate family was very supportive of mine but my grandparents were always a little baffled, but that’s expected because they grew up in a very different time period that was a lot less forgiving and understanding. My friends definitely ragged on me a little bit but only in a joking way as best bros do with each other. Whenever I brought her around with us she was always the main attraction and everybody loved her. It doesn’t matter the color of a person because when you love someone, are attracted to him or her, and enjoy spending time with that person, then race or religion shouldn’t play a factor in whether you should date them or not. As Sam has said in class before and its something that I completely agree with, he claimed that the world eventually will all be the same color because everyone will be able to trace some sort of ethnic color in their blood line. Even some of the racists that exist in the world could be black and not even know it because their families may have mixed at some point. I know I wont be around the day that comes but I would love to see what people would be able to disgrace against each other when they all look the same. There will always be hate in the world.

Diversity definitely plays a huge roll in the Penn State lifestyle. I’ve never been anywhere else in the world where at any given moment when walking around outside and see so many different type of people. There’s short people, tall people, black, white, asian, middle eastern, and the list go on and on and on. I definitely was more prepared for the diversity because I went to a very diverse high school. My school was made up of three different townships, Conshohocken, Plymouth and Whitemarsh, all three coming from very different homes. Conshy is more an upcoming area but still predominantly black in most areas, Plymouth is a very catholic area and Whitemarsh is a very Jewish area. Most people would think that mixing us all together would cause problems, but that’s not the case at all. We all blend together and make a perfect chemical blend as each group of friend usually consists of a few from each area. Living like this has definitely made for a much better transition to becoming a Penn State student. I feel like people who are from the southern region and haven’t been introduced to all these different races of people could truly have a culture shock when they show up on campus. So from a personal point of view I honestly believe that diversity is one of the things that really led me to choosing this school. I was getting offers from smaller schools for a football scholarship and I knew I didn’t want to be a part of 2500 similar looking students. That’s not who I was and that not what I am all about.
I love having 40,000 different types of people around me; it makes me feel like each student on campus has something special about himself or herself, which is an awesome thing to think about. I feel like large universities around the country are all moving towards a diversity shift. In fact, almost every college now has demographics they are forced to fill in order to function fully and get state funded money. I think diversity also helps prepare everyone at Penn State for the outside world. No one knows who they will work for or what nationality their employer will be. Coming from a school like BYU where everyone is Mormon and alike could really stunt the growth of these kids socially. They come from a place where everyone thinks the same way and have the same beliefs. I know coming where I do, that everyone’s different, and that a good thing. I respect other people’s beliefs even if I don’t feel that way. This is America and it’s all about treating everyone the same way.

When I see the position that freed slaves are put in after they are finally freed, it definitely puts my life in real prospective. Living in a fraternity house of over 55 brothers that more than most have more money and are spoiled more than I am, I often get caught up and believe everything that I don’t have any advantages in life. When I take a step back and see that compared to the rest of the world, I go to penn state university, and I get food and drinks everyday and can enjoy some of the pleasures of life, I definitely am very privileged. The people that come out of slavery are almost thrown to the wolves when they are freed. They are used to listening to other people make their decisions for them and they are almost in a worst position when they are finally free. They don’t have any money to obtain food, a place to live, or even know where to go.
I feel guilty because these people would kill to be in my position and yet here I am complaining about money so I can compete with my friend who just got the newest bat on the team. I complain about luxuries when they can’t even get necessities. When you live in America and have the advantages to be a free man your entire life, you truly do not understand how lucky you are against everyone else in the world. The amount of people that I associate myself with in this world mostly live like me or even better, its hard to imagine someone that doesn’t have enough money to put food on the table every night even when they work their ass off, and those are the people that I feel bad for. The fact that freed slaves have been busting their asses for no money just shows that they have nothing they can write their name too. When slavery was abolished it took black people over 100 years to get adjusted into today’s society. That just shows that people that are freed from slavery today pretty much have no chance to make an impact on society in their lifetime. And that’s an absolute terrible thing for a person to go through. The one thing my parents told me throughout childhood and teenage years that got me geared and ready to take on the world was that you can do anything in life if you put your mind to it. These slaves are stunted from day 1 in their development age and are never told that they can do something with themselves. After going through life with almost no options and all of the sudden that privilege is just given to you…where do you even start?

I actually 100% believe that people that live in poverty and have a ridiculous amount of children (example 22 like the women in the movie) don’t deserve any sympathy from myself or anyone else in the world. They did this to themselves. Knowing you probably don’t have enough money to support even one child and then having multiple and complain that you don’t have enough food to put on the table every night? You did this to yourself. One or two children can be a mistake, but to keep on making that same mistake is an absolute joke when you cannot afford to give that child the privileges that any one should enjoy is actually a crime. I was brought into this world when my parents were both at the age of 30 years, already had a steady income and had a home to bring me up in. They thought long and hard and made sure they were ready before they brought another human being in this world. It’s cruel and selfish for anyone to bring their children into this world before they are ready to give them an enjoyable lifestyle. I will forever love my parents for doing this and giving me a chance to succeed in the world.
I believe what china does is terrible with their one child policy in which only one kid is allowed per married couple, but this should apply to people of poverty level. It would really make the world a better place and rich people wouldn’t need to be taxed in order to feed these unneeded people in the world. They need to make the world stricter that people that don’t have money won’t be able to make this many kids. It should literally be against the law. I know I sound very conservative in my views right now but I am just saying this for the betterment of these kids that are unfairly being brought into this world to fail at life. It’s just not fair and these parents should invest in maybe sending these unnecessary babies into adoption.
It is very irresponsible as parents and very childish. They are in poverty and adding to their family is not going to help make that void of money any smaller. It’s only going to increase the debt that the family is probably already in and make the economy as a whole fail. It’s making the schools less nice and making education on the students harder when good teachers end up refusing to work in those kind of conditions.

As a person increases their education, they believe that success is not all about hard work. I believe this to be true because many colleagues will see fellow students in college, who they knowingly outperform in the classroom, come out with better jobs then them. I as one, completely agree with this statement. I’m only a sophomore and already I am starting to see signs of that statement in truth when it comes to internships. For example, both my friend and I applied for an Ernst & Young accounting assistant position. My GPA is higher; I am more active student in the university and from the way we both talked about the interview, mine went much better. Yet, one of his family friends was on the board that hired the interns and what do you know? Three weeks later he received a phone call that he had received the top intern position that gets to work with the CPA of the company and I’m working under him. I am definitely not saying that its ALL about who you know and not what you do, I’m just saying that it definitely doesn’t hurt to have someone in your corner looking out for you and giving your resume a little boost if you know what I mean. Even in getting into colleges straight out of high school you see kids going to universities that you know they have no business in even applying to.

There are also differences in the way that this statement applies. Some people are just not given the opportunities as others. As we saw in class, there are many people even in our own country that don’t receive the resources that allow them to become successful, no matter how hard they work. When they showed the difference between a math class from the inner city vs. the suburbs, it showed that the inner city kids, even though they received great grades at their school, couldn’t even understand the calculus (same grade level they were in) that was put on the board. Its terrible that these kids are almost not even given a chance to succeed in life by going to these types of schools, which exist much more that we would have ever even imagined. Think about how much of a culture shift it was for the inner city kids to see this, now imagine what a poor kid from a tribe in Africa would think about even the not up to standard inner city school. It blows your mind to think about it in that sense. I do believe when put in the right situation, hard work is necessary to get to the top and be successful, but you have to be put in the situation that allows you to get there.

First and foremost, Lupe Fiasco’s recent single “Words I Never Said” is a very powerful song that dives deep into the world’s issues today. He starts off the song with calling out the war on terror and its legitimacy. Then proceeds to dig into Obama and the state of America socially and academically. Lupe is obviously not happy with what’s going in the world today but I agree with whoever got interviewed for this question that the strongest line of this song is “I think that all the silence is worse than all the violence.” It can be interpreted in many ways but I believe, based on the way the rest of this song goes, that it claims that being silent on racism is worse than war. For example, he’d rather people figure it out with war like Israel and the Arabs in the Middle East, vs. having people being silent about the subject like a bunch of black people and white people not even acknowledging each other to avoid the subject. And as much as I love Lupe, I do not agree with this idea. What is going on in the Middle East is terrible and not something that should ever be thought of. I know that the message I depicted from his words are maybe not true but its definitely something to think about, especially considering that Lupe himself is a black Muslim, so he knows both sides of the struggle when it comes to racism. I do believe that isolation, which occurs most often than not, is a very bad thing and should be ridden of. But silence is much better than losing lives, there is nobody disagreeing with that, except Lupe. Lupe is a great artist and is different from everyone else because he dives into his lyrics and make them controversial. He thrives off of this and just becomes deeper and deeper with every song he makes.

Another example of when Lupe goes crazy on a track about his religion he came out with a song “Muhammad Walks,” a response to Kanye’s “Jesus Walks.” He tries to defend Muslim rights and explain that they aren’t the people that bomb places. He says how they don’t pray to Osama or Sadaam but they idle their leader, Muhammad. His most powerful line in the song is "They got us thinking that muslims like to make bombs but real muslims believe in paradise and resisting Shaitan" I believe lines like that should make him hate violence worse silence, because it gives his people a bad name when he claims that they are all good human beings.