I really think that everyone needs to take shows such as South Park, Family Guy, etc. need to take the episodes with a grain of salt. They have to realize that the sole purpose of these types shows are to shock and entertain through insulting all types of religions, cultures, races, etc. If you have ever watched South Park then you would know that they leave nobody out and insult as many different types of people as possible. I don't think that any one group should take so much offense to something on a stupid cartoon especially enough to make actual physical threats to the creators of the show. Based on freedom of speech we are able to say or write whatever we want and this is bound to offend some people however i feel that the reason for this show is simply to entertain and not truly hurt or degrade anyone. South Park is making fun of nearly every stereotype you can imagine and it seems that most people find it funny even if they are making fun of you. As a Christian I could take great offense to them using Jesus in their episodes, however, i know that its just a show and i still find it funny. And if you really are offended then i would suggest just not watching the show, it would never negatively affect your life if you just don't pay attention to it. I feel that any groups getting mad and speaking out about South Park will only feed them more and make them push the envelope further, i mean thats really all their trying to do, shock people. There have been a lot people who have spoken out about the show, such as red heads making youtube videos about being upset about them making fun of 'gingers', but in the end it just backfires because they end up using the videos as new material for the show anyway, so the best way to 'get back' at South Park if you really wanted to would just be to stop watching the show. As far as the most recent issues with the show using Muhammad its pretty surprising to me just how angry this is making people. Its obvious that some Muslims will be offended, just as many Christians or Jewish people would be offended when the show makes fun of their beliefs, however the physical threats are pretty serious especially saying that they will end up like the one playwright who was murdered for misrepresenting Muhammad. Those are pretty serious threats and I think its really not that big of a deal to want to issue such types of threats i mean its not like the show is singling out Muslims or anything like that its just one episode.

I think there is a fine line however i wouldn't necessarily consider that to be racism as long as you are able to distinguish a few things. If you feel that you are able to make a bigger difference in the world than someone who is in a developing country you have to realize that this is based solely on the fact that you were born in a country in which you automatically have way more opportunities than any other country in the world. If you know that your ability to do more is based on the luck of your situation and you know its not because you are a better or more fit person based on your race than i would not consider this racism.

I thought this letter was a really eye opening piece to read because i have never really thought about those in prison being compassionate and loving. Also for a man who never graduated high school this is a very deep and intelligent letter written a lot better than i ever could. I never thought that someone who was capable of murder could completely change while being in prison. The fact that so much compassion could take place in a prison is really surprising to me. The way he talked about how bad it feels to not be able to go out and help people in need after some kind of disaster was also really powerful and i can't imagine how it must feel to want so bad to be able to go out and help and knowing you'll never be able to.

This is a great example of how a certain religious or national leader can misrepresent an entire nation or faith. The way that someone such as Osama Bin Laden is able to represent an entire religious group to those of us who don't understand or know anything about Islam is not only wrong but dangerous. I can't imagine how this woman's husband must feel seeing bin Laden saying such things and then having American's like us think that that's how the entire religion works. Also I agree with the statement that no matter what religion you are or what god you worship, it's really all the same and our goals are truly exactly the same, live a good life and earn your way to heaven or whatever your religion might believe about life after death.

I feel like this is basically an extension of Thursday's lecture and that it takes one to remove themselves from their own situation and view things from the other perspective. I must admit that I always thought of suicide bombers as "crazy people" and it never occurred to me that they might actually be doing that for a reason that meant a lot to them not just to kill innocent people. Obviously I'm not saying that suicide bombing is a good thing to do but if I was put in the same situation in which someone I loved was murdered then I would definitely want to exact some sort of revenge.

I thought this lecture was really intense and it was the first time that I actually tried to think about the other side and actually understood what it might be like to be a college student in Iraq and how they must feel about the war. I must say that I never really considered how we must look in the eye's of those that we are fighting against. When Sam showed the Jihad video I gotta say that really made me feel pissed off towards the extremist Muslims, but it was really interesting to think of what a young Iraqi would feel if that video was switched around and it was video's of us bombing their innocent civilians. It is really hard to remove yourself from your situation and view the world in a neutral position and I feel that as a sociologist Sam is obviously really good at that and I feel like a lot of us have a hard time doing that. Through reading a lot of the comments above it seems like people aren't really getting the point of the lecture. Sam isn't saying that this war IS a "Christian Invasion" he's saying that to Muslim's he can understand why they would think that. As a Christian I realize that its really not a Christian invasion or holy war but I can really understand why someone could think that if they had only a limited view of what we're really all about, kind of how we don't really know anything about the Muslims. I also thought that the example of the Chinese taking control of our coal industry and occupying our state was really powerful and really made me think of how they must feel with us taking their oil and wanting to fight back. There's no doubt that I would be fighting back against the Chinese if they were occupying my land and so it makes it a lot easier to see why the Iraqi's would want to do that to us. Even if this war is not about oil, which it really seems like it is, with most of our major leaders talking about holy wars and oil how could they not think that. Its become more clear to me that the Iraqi youth and us really aren't that different, however, when all we know about each other is our radical leaders then that makes it impossible for us to coexist and accept each other. I think that if more people were able to remove themselves from their situation and look at the war from the other perspective than we would have a lot less misunderstanding and hate in this world. One of the best pieces of advice I've received about this topic would be that people are people are people. Meaning that no matter what race, country, religion, ethnicity, etc we are all just people.

Wow. The fact that anyone no matter what culture could create this type of game and others allow it to be produced and distributed to the public is really disturbing to me. Sexual assault and violence towards women really pisses me off in any form and the fact that there is a video game where the object is to torture and rape young women has to be one of the most offensive things I've ever heard of. I'm reading a lot that rape and other such things are really common in Japan and it is part of the culture but I really don't believe that it could be that socially acceptable especially among women, nor do I feel that they have the right to distribute this game across the world in cultures that for the most part frown upon violence towards women. Many people are making comparison to other American "shoot em up" games like Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto, but I think these rape games are taking it way across the line. Even before the time of video games young kids have been playing "army" or "cops and robbers" in which they will pretend to shoot each other and etc. and I feel that shooting video games are an extension of that fantasy. Sure some sick people have a hard time distinguishing real and fantasy but I feel like for the most part these types of games have been around since the dawn of video games and don't really have a negative impact on society. However, when it comes to games in which the goal is to rape girls that's just feeding the ever growing amount of sick individuals who fantasize about these types of things and it is definitely teaching young kids that it is okay to treat women with sexual and physical violence. I'm pretty sure most kids realize that it is not acceptable to shoot anyone but it may be less clear cut that it is morally and fundamentally wrong to ever disrespect a woman in such a way. I think that the Japanese government really needs to own up to this issue and shut down the making of these types of games because even if it is acceptable there, there is no way of keeping off the internet and making it available to kids all over the world. It is just too dangerous to allow impressionable young minds that this type of behavior could ever be acceptable. The fact that the government refuses to even acknowledge that this is going on is really disturbing and it makes me question how far things will be allowed to go. I never would have imagined that something as harmless as video games could really end up being not so harmless and there needs to be a line drawn between entertainment and sick and twisted sexual pleasure. This is just plain wrong period.

I think that no matter how they make the census its going to offend someone unless they just make it completely a write in section, however that would just be way to hard to get any good information from. As for the term negro being used, that is a very tough situation as that older African Americans who still use that term would be offended for it to not be on there, and younger African Americans are offended that it is, so whats the right thing to do? I think that some people being offended is inevitable but good things coming out of taking a census definitely overshadow a little confusion.

I find this topic to be pretty interesting and I am curious to see how this country will change, if it all, when whites do actually become the minority racial group. Also, many people seem to think there will be some type of power struggle or that whites are afraid of other groups "taking over" but I really don't think its going to make that big of a difference. The people with money will continue to hold the power in this country just as they do now, white or black or brown. Also, it will be interesting to see if the media will accurately reflect this change in numbers by further representing black and brown people over white people, as other races are currently underrepresented.

I definitely would not be able to distinguish an Asian American versus a native born Asian. However, I do think that after talking to someone I can tell if they were originally from America or not. When I think of Asians I have to admit I have always kind of thought about the stereotypical smart, friendly, typical Asians and I've never really been around enough Asians to tell the different cultures apart, such as Korean, Chinese, Japanese, etc. I'm not sure why Asians are always being left out in the race discussion but I think maybe its because most of the time Asians are pretty non controversial.