arieakm

arieakm

27p

25 comments posted · 1 followers · following 0

13 years ago @ Race Relations Project - Christian Invaders - t... · 0 replies · +1 points

Here is the last part:
Another thing I like about Sam trying to make us understand was him putting it into perspective about what we would do if we were the young Arab/Muslim students looking at the foreign news about the American soldiers. People always talk about how we need to be over there because “they bombed us, so we need to bomb them”. I saw 9/11 first hand and to think that destruction on that scale has been happening for the last 9 years in their country also puts things in perspective. So it is important for everyone to try and understand why these things are happening. I need to say that I do not agree, but I understand.

13 years ago @ Race Relations Project - Christian Invaders - t... · 0 replies · +1 points

Here is the second part:
He wasn’t saying that Christians are really invaders; he was saying that this is the way that Muslims (not all) probably see us as Americans (and most American’s who are Christians) as invaders coming into their land trying to take over, just as we see them as Muslims trying to “infiltrate” the united states and take over. He was trying to get us to see it from a different perspective, yet of course Christians just immediately took the defensive. We as Christians really need to try and look past our hang-ups sometimes and have an open mind. That does not mean that the people and things that try to get us to have an open mind are trying to lure us away from the Lord. I fully support the troops over in Iraq and Afghanistan, but we need to understand those who are our enemies otherwise we will all be forever at war. We will forever be divided and unable to see past our ethnocentricities.

13 years ago @ Race Relations Project - Christian Invaders - t... · 0 replies · +1 points

Here is the first part:__After this lecture I heard a lot of people talking about how angry they were at Sam for coming at the Christians. This was funny to me because it is a prime example of what he talked about way back in the beginning of class. See, when we are listening to something that we want to hear, and that we agree with then we have an open mind and listen. However when it is something we want nothing to do with then the part of our brain that really allows us to listen and process thoughts shuts down or gets cloudy. I myself am a Christian and I had a few doubts about going to the lecture. He had said in the class before that he would really be “going in” on the Christians and that was the last thing I wanted to hear. But I was surprised in class when the lecture was less about Christians and more about seeing the war from a different perspective. Nothing of what Sam said was surprising to me, because I had educated myself before I had even taken this class, but I was pleased of how he presented the lecture.

13 years ago @ Race Relations Project - Women · 0 replies · +1 points

Fourth and last:
And just to have a word on the idea of if women dress for men or if women dress for other women… I would say both. If you are going out with a group of your friends, then yes, you will dress a certain way because your friend is dressed a certain way and you want to look better than her (or him). But if you are going out and you know that you will see a guy there that you like, and who maybe likes you, then of course you are going to spruce yourself up for him because he will see you. It is a messy situation, but I do agree that women, no matter where they are from should support one another.

13 years ago @ Race Relations Project - Women · 0 replies · +1 points

Third:
Women are different across cultures and across color (in minor ways). When it comes to the rights that all women should have then even that gets a bit blurry. We as American females may think that genital mutilation is an atrocious monstrous deed that is ruining a female. But in the cultures where it is done some (not all) of those women feel that it is a right of theirs and they want to do it. Same thing with the Middle-Eastern women who wear the hijab. We see it at oppression, yet they see at as freedom from societal pressures of beauty and as a chance for them to be themselves and express their beauty through their confidence.

13 years ago @ Race Relations Project - Women · 0 replies · +1 points

Second:
that lead us to be that way?
Now I won’t sit here and judge and say that I am a woman who never gets affected by the stress of trying to adhere to the oppressive societal norms that are placed upon women, forcing them to look a certain way, but I do agree with Laurie that something needs to change in order for us to feel comfortable with ourselves. I agree with the girl in the video to which I am responding to a certain extent, when she says that all women are portrayed differently in the media, but if you notice, these women almost always portray a certain stereotype. There is the smart girl, the fat girl, the slut, the girl-next-door, or what have you. Perhaps they are not being scrutinized because of the size of their breasts but they are certainly being put into another box with is another form of societal oppression. Also, she mentioned that we are all women and we are all the same because that link to being the female sex binds us all together. I only partially agree.

13 years ago @ Race Relations Project - Women · 0 replies · +1 points

Here is the first part:
It is interesting to me that when women as a collective whole, like in a classroom for instance feel like they are under pressure, or one of them is being put on the spot, or we are talking about a touchy subject, they are quick to come to the others defense and comfort them and say “don’t worry, just be yourself, we are all beautiful.” I also found it interesting that no one was able to answer Laurie’s question, which was its fine that we all should be comfortable, but what are the contributing factors that lead us to be that way?

13 years ago @ Race Relations Project - The White Minorities · 0 replies · 0 points

This is an interesting article overall but I have to ask the same question that Sam asked: why is this even being reported on at all? I understand that perhaps non-Hispanic white Americans may feel a certain way about this but it is important to remember that news stores, statistics and even life is subjective. It is something that shifts every day. I remember back in 2008 when a report came out that said by the year 2010 the population of fish that contribute to the food market will be so depleted we will essentially not be able to eat fish anymore. Has that happened? No. Has anyone heard anything about that since? No. perhaps I could be wrong. Perhaps these statistics could be true. However I do not really see a solution to that problem being found right away. I also remember that perhaps 5 years ago a study came out saying that the next generation of children in the united states would be of a mixed race whether that be Asian/black, white/Hispanic, Asian/ Hispanic or any other combination. Like I said, new and statistics are subjective and constantly change. However I do believe there is some truth to this and it may mean that by the year 2050 we will all be living in a very different America. I took the time out to watch the full documentary about Prussian blue, that “white-supremacist” singing duo who put a message of white power into their music. It was really their mother who wanted them to sing about white nationalism and preserving the Aryan race and eventually those girls got tired of it and stopped focusing their music on that. But every time the director of the documentary would get them alone and they would be able to express their real feelings, their mother would find out and make them feel guilty, instilling in them that they were supposed to be white nationalists and going against that meant being race traitors. They were essentially brain washed. Now, I am not saying that if white-people suddenly become the minority in this country they will all become white nationalists, no, but I do agree with Sam in that they may begin to feel a certain way about being that minority and it will not bode well for the relationship that has already come so far (well, better than in the recent past) between whites and black and brown people. I am sure, also, that even though minorities will now be the majority they will find some way to still other those who do not fit into the idea of what this new majority should be. It is like a never ending cycle.

14 years ago @ Race Relations Project - Those Dolls Say Alot A... · 0 replies · +1 points

here is the last part:Another thing that I think plays a large part in this is our own culture. Like the division between light skinned and dark skinned people. Every culture projects onto its children what is beautiful and right, but in the video, what is particularly disturbing is that those children had no problem choosing the white doll as beautiful. However when it was time for them to choose which one looked like them they realized that the “ugly” doll was like them. We must evaluate what we are projecting onto our children. Being conscious about these “things that just are” is the first step to changing this.

14 years ago @ Race Relations Project - Those Dolls Say Alot A... · 0 replies · +1 points

Here is the second part:They always put the black Barbie and Ken dolls (named Chrissie and Gregory?) in kente- cloth or things that were not flashy, or they never came with enough accessories. This has a large impact on children. I was talking to my friend and she said that she only had white dolls when she was growing up. For me I had more black dolls than white dolls. I had almost no Asian dolls and the only Native American doll I had was Pocahontas! Someone in class mentioned Disney. They just had a movie where they had their first black princess, but notice that her hair is not long and straight and she lives in New Orleans, has broad hips and big lips. Is that to make her more relatable to the black and brown children out there? I don’t know but I just find that interesting. But then again race does play a large part in Disney movies, even if subtly (anyone remember the Hyenas in Lion king? They had stereotypical Mexican accents.)