en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/757058 Comments by caligirl8 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/how-am-i-not-a-racist__trashed/#IDComment69800768 I agree with the fact that mostly everyone will be considered a racist sometime in their lives. Whether it is jokingly or serious, it is going to happen regardless if you are racist or not. Everyone in the United States already has an advantage over most of the countries in the world. We are one of the wealthiest countries in the world and have so many resources that are easily accessible to us. It is very easy for a citizen of the United States to brag about how lucky and fortunate we are but that gives us the bad reputation that we hate having. It is reasonable to accept that we are better off than other countries; we just don’t need to be so blunt about it. Thu, 22 Apr 2010 19:17:14 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/how-am-i-not-a-racist__trashed/#IDComment69800768 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/300000-whats-it-mean-to-us__trashed/#IDComment69798880 I definitely liked Tuesday’s class because even though we all know what happened in Haiti, it is always good to see a different point of view about the situation like Ian did. He allowed me to look at the situation in a different way than I was doing before. It was really eye-opening to see all of the photos and to see how terrible the situation really is down there. I also agree that the best way to help with the situation is to physically send people down to Haiti to help out. Yes, sending money is always going to help the cause, but I feel like if we physically help, hands-on, then the relief would get there quicker than just sending money. Thu, 22 Apr 2010 19:01:49 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/300000-whats-it-mean-to-us__trashed/#IDComment69798880 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/were-being-educated-for-stupidity-and-conformity-really__trashed/#IDComment69789678 At first after watching the video, I was not really sure what to think about it. It is obviously a completely different view on our education system but I can actually completely understand where he was coming from and what he was trying to portray about our education system. The one thing that bothered me though is that it is not easy to become a teacher. They have to go through a lot of school and training in order to pass on their knowledge to students. I did agree with his point about how we train people to be obedient and conformist and how we do what we are told and stay passive. I think it is also true that people are “filtered out” for their obedience because they do not do what they are told. It is so true that we complete assignments and tasks no matter how stupid they are because that is what we are told to do and that is how we will be eligible to move on to the next level. I remember throughout elementary school, middle school, and even some parts of high school where we were told to complete what seemed to me as unnecessary tasks. We would use to have to do coloring and pointless group projects which at the time just seemed completely useless, but I guess I would not be where I am today if I did not do what I was told and complete these assignments. I would always hate having to do the “busy work” but the students who did not complete it, were the ones whose grade suffered. I think that he makes a great point in saying that this is essentially “selection for obedience” because they ones who never did what they were told were the ones who would get in the most trouble or get sent to the principal’s office. I can see somewhat of a correlation between those who did not do what they were told and those who did because the ones who did not were often the ones who got punished. I feel like no matter what job or occupation you will have, you will have at least one person with whom you will have to listen to and do exactly what they tell you to do. If you do not complete the task you are given, you are going to have to suffer the consequences. I also believe that is it more evident to see the obedience and conformity at the elite universities like he said because these students are pretty much the best of the best. It is always good to see the views of others and I’m sure some people won’t agree with what he has to say, but I think it is a pretty accurate description of our education system. Thu, 22 Apr 2010 18:03:45 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/were-being-educated-for-stupidity-and-conformity-really__trashed/#IDComment69789678 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/women__trashed/#IDComment68401493 I definitely thought the play was very interesting coming from a different point of view that you wouldn’t expect. I also thought the discussion about women in class was interesting as well. I definitely agreed with what Laurie had to say about all of the girls on campus here wearing less and less to class. Honestly, it is not appealing. If your ass and boobs are hanging out, it is just disgusting and are already setting a reputation for yourself just by the way you dress. Walking around campus all the time, I see many outfits that girls should not be wearing. Do you look in the mirror before you leave your place? Fri, 16 Apr 2010 17:35:14 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/women__trashed/#IDComment68401493 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/want-to-learn-chinese__trashed/#IDComment68400833 I think that learning any language other than English is always a good idea. The world is becoming very diverse and more and more people are migrating to the United States. There are many people who speak Chinese and Spanish and even learning a little bit of the language is very beneficial. In the job world today, most employers are going to hire those employees who are bilingual. My high school offered Mandarin, Spanish, Latin, German, and Japanese. We were required to take a minimum of 2 years if we decided to take an alternate language. I would definitely encourage the learning of alternate languages. Fri, 16 Apr 2010 17:29:31 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/want-to-learn-chinese__trashed/#IDComment68400833 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/christian-invaders-the-turnaround__trashed/#IDComment68399740 I definitely thought yesterdays lecture was one of a kind. This lecture and the points that Sam was throwing out there was completely necessary for everyone to hear. I am glad that Soc 119 is such a large class because more people need to be informed of these issues. I definitely liked how Sam made us look at different perspectives and he allowed us to think outside of the box and get a grasp on different views. I was really able to see the aspects of religion and war from another point of view. Sam isn’t trying to bash Christians and say they are horrible people. He is allowing us to see the view of the Muslims and Arabs because as a society, we view them as evil and violent terrorists. He is showing us how Arabs and Muslims perceive the war because of how they perceive Christians and the mass number of Christians in the world. I thought it was really interesting when Sam showed the pictures of the US soldiers that were carrying weapons and bibles while the Muslims are carrying rocket launchers and the Koran. Almost every United States soldier is Christian and like Bush said, they are all on a crusade. I was really happy when Sam yelled at people for disrespecting the troops at the beginning of class at well. Even if you disagree or are against war, you should be able to show respect for your soldiers because they are putting their lives on the line for everyone. They are fighting for the safety and protection of our country and knowing people who have served in Iraq, they all agree that being in Iraq and fighting is absolutely necessary. The United States Military is doing everything they possibly can and by some of the pictures Sam showed us in class, some of the civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan agree that the “USA is Good”. For all of the people that are saying the war is unnecessary, think again. War is inevitable and it needs to happen in order for things to be the way they need to be. Yes, the war is mostly about oil, but the terrorist attack on September 11 also triggered war. The video that we watched in class about the “jihad” was very intense and felt a sense of fear and also a sense of anger. I just could not believe it and it really put some things into prospective for me. I definitely felt afraid of what would happen or what could happen if this really did occur. It is just scary to think that so many people have so much hatred for other people. It makes me angry to realize that there is so much hatred in the world and people don’t realize what they are really fighting for. Fri, 16 Apr 2010 17:20:30 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/christian-invaders-the-turnaround__trashed/#IDComment68399740 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/a-simple-first-step-solution__trashed/#IDComment66883246 I can understand where you are coming from by saying that we should stop buying clothes to try to end slavery but in all reality, I definitely think people would have a hard time with that. Everyone likes to buy their new shoes and new outfits and to “have the new” everything. Another issue is that not all of the slavery in the world is included in producing clothes. What about all the females who are forced to work as prostitutes and all the others that are working on plantations? It is really hard to determine what would be the best step to end slavery. Fri, 9 Apr 2010 22:03:07 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/a-simple-first-step-solution__trashed/#IDComment66883246 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/i-really-want-to-know-also__trashed/#IDComment66881663 I was always skeptical about taking this class because I hate when teachers only express one sided views. I still feel like Sam is somewhat one sided but there are times when he does throw in views from the other side. A lot of the things he says are completely outrageous and would never expect to hear from anyone but he does make you think. I feel like a lot of the material is common sense but he allows for us to think about questions and statements that not many people have heard before. Sometimes I hate sitting in his class because I disagree with most of his views, but besides that I have definitely thought about things a lot more. Fri, 9 Apr 2010 21:55:26 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/i-really-want-to-know-also__trashed/#IDComment66881663 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/this-is-totally-off-the-hook__trashed/#IDComment66880838 I always knew there were strange and absurd things in the world, but this definitely throws those over the top. I cannot honestly believe that today there are video games in which girls are depicted as getting raped and that raping a girl is one of the objectives the game. What kind of sick fuck would create a game like this? I just don’t understand how these games were let onto the market in the first place. Obviously a good amount of people know about them too since they are being purchased and casted online. What is the world coming to? There have been a lot of studies to suggest that numerous amounts of violent video games like the war games and fighting games actually led to violent and aggressive behavior. As the war and fighting games are not very realistic because kids are not going to be walking around with real guns shooting people, the game about rape is actually relevant to real life because unfortunately, rape occurs very often. This may sound like a dumb assumption but for the people playing the games, is this going to lead to more aggression towards women? Or is it going to lead to men taking advantage of women more commonly because the objective of the video game is to grope and rape a woman. I really would like to know what the person who created this video game was thinking. Did they really find it necessary to have the objective of the game to rape a woman? Why is the Japanese government allowing for these types of things to be out in their market? This whole situation just does not make sense to me. There are already enough issues in the world and women are still fighting for their rights so I definitely think this game is not going to help anybody out. The reporter could not even show us some of the graphics from the game because of how degrading and vulgar they were. This game is pretty much showing that if a female messes with you or does something you do not like, it is ok for you to rape and grope her in public. It was ironic as well because some of the locations to where the female was standing were sketchy as hell. I feel like the creator of this game knows a little too much about what places are good for a female to get raped and groped. I honestly think that there is an increasing amount of sexual assaults or harassments in Japan because of what is out on their market today. I really think their government needs to figure out how to regulate the things that are getting put out on their market. Fri, 9 Apr 2010 21:50:05 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/this-is-totally-off-the-hook__trashed/#IDComment66880838 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/nothing-about-the-census-is-easy__trashed/#IDComment65616820 The video was definitely interesting but unfortunately, people get offended by anything so easily. The people who create the census are trying to make it so it satisfies everyone but as we all know, that can never be possible. The people who create the census put a lot of time and research into it so they can try to make it as accurate for people as possible. There are so many different people with so many different backgrounds. The way that some people identify themselves as probably will not be on the census because they cannot have a description for everyone. Fri, 2 Apr 2010 21:07:41 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/nothing-about-the-census-is-easy__trashed/#IDComment65616820 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/is-quality-the-question__trashed/#IDComment65608396 I definitely don’t think that affirmative action is going to lower the quality of wherever the person is getting aided from affirmative action. Like we discussed in class, affirmative action is helping to create a more equal chance for people. Whether someone is receiving affirmative action or not, it is still necessary for everyone to complete the same requirements needed for a career. For example, someone who is receiving affirmative action and someone who isn’t both have to attend and pass medical school and receive their doctorate degree in order to become a doctor. In regards to nepotism, I did not agree with what Sam had to say. I definitely think that nepotism isn’t necessarily fair but isn’t necessarily unfair for those who want to follow into the footsteps of a family member or someone who is close to the person. I sure there are people that completely disagree with nepotism but it is something that no matter what will always be around. I believe that even though nepotism exists in most fields, there are some fields where it doesn’t exist. I have been enlisted in the military for a few months now and have had no family members who have had prior service which makes me believe that nepotism does not exist in this field. As long as you can fulfill the requirements, which are completely the same for everyone, you will be able to join which ever branch regardless if your father or mother or grandfather, etc. served in prior years. I believe that nepotism is not evident in the military because it is a traditional system for those people who want to serve their country regardless of their position in society. On the other hand, if you father owns a family business and he hires you as an assistant manager or other position at the business, there is no reason why this would be considered unfair. If you want to work in a family business and you have that advantage to, I believe there is nothing wrong with that. We learn in our lives to learn to make connections and references because that is going to help us in the future and if everyone is told to do that, everyone has been given a fair chance to create references for the future. The one definite way to secure jobs is to be able to create these references so you can have some guidance. For example, when you fill out applications for part-time jobs, they even ask for references. Almost everyone will fill out a part-time job application at least once in their life and will have at least 3 references whom they can turn to for advice in the career field. Fri, 2 Apr 2010 20:31:45 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/is-quality-the-question__trashed/#IDComment65608396 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/those-damn-dolls__trashed/#IDComment65264455 I definitely thought this video was one that needed to be shown to the class and it was disturbing to watch the reaction of the children. After being told the description of the experiment, I did not expect the children to react the way they did. It is kind of disgusting to think that most of the children automatically choose the white doll because that is what society has taught them to do. I wonder what their parents’ reactions would have been if they watched their child pick the white doll. I wonder what they would say to their child after watching this happen. Thu, 1 Apr 2010 18:56:00 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/those-damn-dolls__trashed/#IDComment65264455 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-are-all-of-you-thinking-about-asians__trashed/#IDComment64221095 I definitely thought this was a good question because it seems like majority of the time Sam is talking about black people. Honestly, I don’t even think I would be able to distinguish an Asian American from an Asian. I feel like a lot of people would have difficulty doing so. One thing that I feel can help distinguish between them is the language but even then I still get confused because some people speak one language at home and English at school. But, if I saw an Asian walking around Penn State, I would not be able to differentiate between Asian and Asian American. Fri, 26 Mar 2010 17:09:13 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-are-all-of-you-thinking-about-asians__trashed/#IDComment64221095 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/if-men-could-menstruate__trashed/#IDComment64219874 About the free tampons thing, that would never be the case. Very little is free in this country and of all things, tampons would definitely not be free. When Sam was talking about if men had menstrual cycles, I totally agreed with what he had to say. I found it really funny because men would definitely be talking about it all the time and would talk about the “size of their tampons” and whose menstrual cycle is the best. It definitely is a man’s world we are living in and the menstrual cycle would not be a big deal if the roles were reversed. Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:58:13 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/if-men-could-menstruate__trashed/#IDComment64219874 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/in-her-own-words__trashed/#IDComment64217979 I have found the past two lectures where Sam has mentioned this issue to be quite interesting. At first I found it a little strange as to why he was bringing up this point, but then I realized where he was going with this. I will admit, some of the things he mentioned were fucked up but he does that on purpose. I do think he took it a little too far on some of the comments and we still could have gotten the point without the extra commentary. I understand the fact that he is just trying to provoke our thoughts because that is what needs to happen in order for race relations to improve. I also found Laurie’s video and comments interesting as well. As everyone saw during class, some people were appalled by what Sam was saying and even some people left the room. I definitely think this should not be the reaction towards this subject. I am not saying that this is an easy subject for women to talk about. I definitely think it is completely gross but if we all think it is disgusting then we should all be able to talk about it to an extent. Women should not be afraid to talk about their cycles with other people. I think women should be able to realize just how much stronger they are because of how they need to deal with this cycle every 28 days. It can definitely be a pain in the ass but it is one of the things that make women who they are. I can easily why men don’t want to learn about menstrual cycles because it doesn’t happen to them and they don’t need to deal with it. Also, I don’t think it’s a big deal if they ever learn about it, but men should be able to listen to a woman talk about it if she really feels the need to. It is a way of life and if a woman wants to talk about it with another man, she shouldn’t hesitate. I am pretty sure guys accept the fact that’s it is a life cycle and know women have to deal with it. I also think they appreciate it because it is what allows for reproduction to occur. Personally, I just deal with the fact that this is a way of life and you have to accept that this happens every month. I’m not going to go to the extreme of yelling to someone, “Hold the door it’s my time of the month”, like Sam said but if a female decided to do that, no one should have a problem with that. I definitely think it was a good idea for Sam to bring up this issue during class. Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:48:54 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/in-her-own-words__trashed/#IDComment64217979 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-happens-to-multiracial-people__trashed/#IDComment63002061 Sam just divides the class the easiest way possible because we would be in that class for days if he divided everything into other racial groups besides white, black, or brown. I think your friend just needs to pick what he wants to be identified as. Like Sam said in one of the first lectures of the class, your race is whatever you want it to be. No one has to tell you what side to pick if you are multiracial. You can associate with any side you want whether it being white or brown. It is totally up to you. Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:55:01 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-happens-to-multiracial-people__trashed/#IDComment63002061 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-to-do-about-white-guilt__trashed/#IDComment63001101 I understand what Sam is saying about “white guilt” but I do not think it is our responsibility to feel that way. I understand that we should be ashamed of our past, but it is hard for me to accept that fact that we should take the blame for other people. Everyone is responsible for their own actions and we should be able to live our lives without being blamed for other people’s actions. We cannot change the past and I think if we have this “white guilt”, we are just dwelling on what happened in the past. The one thing that I get angry about in class is when Sam always talks about the Native Americans and their land. He always says we are living on red land and we should be ashamed of ourselves, but honestly what can we do about that? I do not know what he expects us to do because it is not like we can tear down everything and give them their land back. It is not my fault that this takeover happened and I should not have to feel bad about it happening. I can understand feeling bad if this happened during my time, but I am not going to feel guilty about the past. So many things have changed and I think what we need to do now is to just prevent repeating our past and work on increasing race relations in the future. I completely agree with the other posts and their discussions on what we learn in school. We learn the basics about slavery, but not the relations with other groups or anything among the sort. We learn about the Native Americans and the pilgrims and the feast of Thanksgiving. I also agree that most of the history textbooks are written by white men which one can argue that the books are somewhat biased. I think if history textbooks were written from a point of view of someone of color, then the history we learned in elementary school and middle school would be extremely different. It makes you wonder why schools have not changed their approach to teaching about history because from what I remember, the courses were always from “one side”. Looking back at it now, it seems like the courses were trying to portray slavery as something that was not very bad when in all reality, it was a terrible time for anyone not of the white race. It seems like they were trying to make white people look like they were not really guilty but we all know that that’s not the case. I wonder what race relations would be like today if we were taught the actual history instead of a somewhat biased history. Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:47:14 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/what-to-do-about-white-guilt__trashed/#IDComment63001101 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/does-this-rudeness-thing-cut-both-ways__trashed/#IDComment62998315 I definitely think this is a very interesting point that he has brought up. I have actually noticed the different reactions in the class when a question is directed towards white people answering or when it’s directed towards color people. It is interesting to read what other people write on the board because in all honesty, half of those things would not be said out loud. Since it’s anonymous, people feel like they are not going to get punished for saying what they really feel. It makes me wonder why people cannot say out loud how they really feel since they are writing these remarks. Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:22:18 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/does-this-rudeness-thing-cut-both-ways__trashed/#IDComment62998315 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/are-whites-the-only-people-willing-to-humiliate-themselves__trashed/#IDComment59780016 I have never been a fan of the Bachelor or Bachelorette but I have seen the show before and have realized that it is predominately white. I have never really thought about why that is but it seems to occur season after season. I do agree with the other students that mentioned the other dating shows like “A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila” and the “Flavor of Love” which casts people who are predominately non-white. It could partially be because these shows are on MTV and VH1 and are casted to a younger audience whereas ABC is typically a slightly older audience. In regards to the video question, I don’t think white people are the only ones who like to humiliate themselves because personally, I think the Tila Tequila show and Flavor of Love are a lot worse at exploiting people. I would definitely feel degraded and humiliated if I did some of the things some of the contestants on those shows do. But like mikehrom said, are the people on the Tila Tequila shows and Flavor of Love shows not typically white because Tila Tequila and Flavor Flav aren’t white? If the bachelor or bachelorette was not of white race, would there be more diversity within the TV show? I guess the only way we are going to find out is if there is a non-white bachelor or bachelorette. Unfortunately though, season after season is still predominately white and it makes you wonder if we will ever find out since the pattern has not visibly changed. The pattern is not only evident in dating shows but also older and even newer shows. As you look back through television’s history, there were many television shows that were predominately white and predominately black. For instance, the Brady Bunch. The Brady Bunch is centered around a white family living in a predominately white community. On the other hand, The Jeffersons is centered around a black family living in a predominately black community. Today, one example is the George Lopez Show which is centered around Hispanics and their lifestyle. With that being said, there are definitely shows today that are very diverse and do not focus on only one race. A lot of the game shows include hosts that are not white and neither are a lot of the contestants. I have been to the Price is Right and been in the audience and there are all types of people there. Not only white people are called to “come on down”. Another good example is the television phenomena, Wayne Brady. He is pretty much conquering the television world, hosting numerous shows per year. A lot of the contestants on his shows are also not white. Television does have it moments where its predominately one race, but I think its definitely incorporating the races together. Thu, 4 Mar 2010 19:43:31 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/are-whites-the-only-people-willing-to-humiliate-themselves__trashed/#IDComment59780016 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/a-long-long-way-indeed__trashed/#IDComment59770287 This is definitely a very interesting question that I have never thought about either. I think if the slave owners turned on the TV today, they would definitely be surprised at how far we have come with race relations. Like one of the other students mentioned, MTV and the music business is vastly influenced by black people. Almost all of the top artists and award nominees are black people. It is even evident in sports just how many top performers are black. I feel like the slave owners would even be surprised with Jackie Robinson and his influence on not only baseball, but also race relations. Thu, 4 Mar 2010 18:19:16 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/a-long-long-way-indeed__trashed/#IDComment59770287