After watching the videos about the U.S. soldiers acting that way towards the Iraqi citizens, I was shocked and appalled. I have never been a supporter of the war in Iraq regardless of what justifications we had for it and while this video added fuel to the fire, it was still surprising to see. In one video, U. S. soldiers were filmed “punishing” an Iraqi who was stealing wood to support himself and his family. They shot his car several times then ran over it repeatedly with their tank. The sickest part of the whole thing is not that they did this; it’s the fact that they saw it as something funny and justified. They considered it to be a suitable justice for a desperate crime even giving each other high fives like it was something that deserved praise. This video ultimately pissed me off, but it was the next video that really got me riled up. The video is short and only lasts a few seconds, but it shows a humvee of American Soldiers deliberately running an Iraqi driver off the road. The only sound I remember hearing in the video was the genuine laughter of American Soldiers. I couldn’t believe it. For one, the lack of remorse/guilt and the blatant disregard for other human beings was just disturbing. These people, our people, are sent over to this foreign country to protect and defend us. I cannot understand why or how they could justify the acts seen in the videos as doing either of the two things listed above. They are representations of America, therefore they are representations us. When they commit these acts of cruelty, they are showing Iraqis that we are just as bad as the Taliban/Al Quaeda claims that we are. This might be a bit extreme, but every act like this paints Americans as terrorists. How are we any better than the people we’re fighting if we victimize the innocent citizens of that society? Seems like our version of 9/11. It’s like they’re putting everyone of that culture into this “enemy” box and acting on that ideal. I just don’t understand that. It’s kind of like what Sam was trying to get us to see in the lecture on Tuesday. It’s not a question of should we sympathize with terrorists or even just Iraqis, it’s more a question of patriotism. How far should we go for our country? What constitutes as too far? And I think most importantly, is blindly supporting the actions of our country (Government, military, etc.) patriotism or stupidity? I might just be thinking to deeply about this stuff, but that’s kind of where my head was at after the videos. I’m 100% proud to be an American and all that (see my enthusiasm, but I’m not an idiot. I’m all for defending ourselves, but tormenting the people caught in the middle is where I draw my line of patriotism.

If I was sexual assault victim, what would I need to speak out? That’s a pretty tough question to answer especially since I haven’t been an actual victim of that crime. It’s even tougher to put myself in a victim’s shoes because it kind of feels wrong to pretend to know what they’d want or need to be able to talk about something as traumatic as sexual assault. With that said I’m going to use somewhat of an analogy to answer this question in the best way I think possible.
First off I think that it’s fair to draw a parallel between a victim of abuse and a person who’s loved one died recently. Everyone pities them, feels bad, and says things like “I’m sorry”, but none of those things I feel are really helpful at all. Most people don’t know what to say to someone in both of the mentioned circumstances and instead of admitting to that fact and saying nothing at all, they say something as miniscule and insensitive as “I’m sorry”.(What are you sorry for? I’ve always wondered why people apologize for tragedies they played no part in) As a person who’s had someone very dear to me die, I remember just wanting everyone to stop apologizing and looking at me like I was terminally ill and they had no cure. On the rare occasions when I missed the person so much that I needed to talk to someone about it, they’d say “I understand” and suddenly I just didn’t feel like talking anymore. That brings me to the first thing I think I’d need as a victim to speak up. I would need for people to realize that they don’t, can’t, and will never “understand” what I as a victim am feeling or felt unless they’ve been in the same situation. To continue with the analogy, grief and victim etiquette should call for everyone to listen to me without feeling pity or apologizing for something they had no hand in. Don’t apologize for me being a victim or for that person dying, just acknowledge that it happened and be there for me.
I think that most of the time victims don’t speak up because of fear. They might be afraid of judgment by their family, peers, and society or afraid that nothing good will come from telling their story. That is why I think I would want to know that I had support. I would want people out there listening, being aware of the problem, and doing something to prevent it from happening. On a personal level I would want reassurance from the people I was closest to. Just a circle of support that when I doubt myself or want to give up, they would tell me I’m doing the right thing by speaking out and not to quit because I have something to look forward to. I would also need hope. Hope for justice, closure, and finally peace of mind because I know there’s a possibility that speaking out might have saved someone from a situation similar to my own. The last thing I’d need was to know that I am not alone. There are people out there who do “understand” my situation and can relate. Knowing that I am not the only person who went through that and that I am one of many survivors would be even more motivation to speak up.

Happy Valley just doesn’t seem “happy” anymore. Our good name is tarnished. Our leaders betrayed our trust. The honorable, honest, and moral culture that we’ve associated ourselves with since our arrival has been ripped from our palms and burned in front of us. I’m angry, confused, disgusted, embarrassed and hurt all at once. When this scandal broke, Penn State became a “bad” place. Even though our culture, the We Are culture, had no direct ties to this scandal we were dragged through the mud with the sick, self-centered, money-hungry, image-conscious, scumbags that were in the WRONG. I remember reading tweets, statuses, and texts messages from people who knew nothing about what had actually happened, what the FACTS were, and why it had nothing to do with the whole of Penn State and yet these miscreants criticized and labeled everyone here as the “bad guys”. The fact that this scandal has people thinking that Penn State students are just as bad as the culprits just isn’t fair. To be frank it pisses me off. The actions of a few do NOT determine the character of us all. Basically generalizing everyone based on what someone else did is what I have a problem with. With that said I want to make it known that in light of recent events, I have no problem admitting that I don’t feel any malice towards any person who might have a negative opinion of Penn State students now. By recent events I mean the riots and damaging of property. I get that we’re all angry and we want to do something with that anger. Penn State is forever changed because a disgusting waste of life was allowed by the HYPOCRITICAL people we called “leaders” to continue hurting innocent children who had already been broken by unfortunate circumstances that they could not control. We’re kind of broken by that fact and the easiest emotion to express is anger. And while it’s okay for us to feel so pissed off that we want to punch something, acting out like a toddler being refused a cookie is not the way to go. Rioting, ripping signs from the cement, and flipping over vans just because we’re mad didn’t help the situation. If anything, it made it worst for us. So while a negative view of Psu as a whole sprouted in minds of millions of non-penn-staters when the scandal broke, the riots went on to reinforce or more so PROVE to those people that we are the enemies of morality. To the rest of the world we were rioting the firing of someone who enabled a child molester to continue assaulting children. To them we were rioting because we were more concerned with a successful football game than we were with their coach’s lack of action in protecting children. So while I don’t agree with the public’s negative opinion of PSU as a whole, I do agree that the riots were a bad choice. Because of the riots, people see us as violent, destructive, and immoral. That is not who I am and it’s certainly not who WE ARE.

I don’t think we should call it “taking advantage”. That phrasing makes it seem like they’re doing something wrong. Immigrants are simply realizing their potential, striving for more, and doing things that ultimately help them reach goals that we as Americans probably don’t even think about. With that said I think it is ridiculous that people really believe that immigrants are doing some sort of injustice by welcoming opportunities that we turned down or don’t even dream of. It’s just another example of selfishness and this whole obsessively psychotic possession syndrome (Yes, I just made that up) that has us thinking that we own everything even opportunities. Another thing I have a problem with is this whole idea that our laziness is the cause of all our problems. Immigrants jump at opportunities we’re too lazy to take? Ummm no, it’s not laziness per say. The culprit is probably the most obvious thing to the enlightened (Also known as me and anyone else that sees that this country is shit in a shiny dress). Our educational system, people, that’s what it all comes down to.
Let me be frank. The American educational system is crap. Our school system is a government monopoly. There is no competition between the schools or even incentive to compete when you have one single owner. No school is striving to be better than another because there is no reason to do so and there is no reward when you do. In foreign countries, the government also funds the schools but instead of the money being attached to the school itself, it is linked to the kids. Parents in other countries send their kids to the schools with the best educational outcomes. Those schools have the most students because of that parental demand mentioned above. Because they have the most kids enrolled, that school gets funding. The school that can’t attract students goes out of business because students equal funding in foreign countries. This is why I think foreign education is more successful than ours. There is pressure and incentive for the schools to teach better because in order to remain in business you HAVE to offer what parents want for their kids’ education. Their schools are constantly competing with each other to stay in business by improving every aspect of educational practices. So while it’s inaccurate to say we’re lazy, it’s right on the money to say we’re lazy because our schools didn’t teach us that continually striving for “better” is the best way to be the best. We were taught that there is an endpoint for success and once we get there we’re done.
Now most people are probably shaking their head at this, bashing public schools, and saying that they are the reason everyone is so stupid here. That’s not true though. Even if you went to school in the suburbs or a private school in Beverly Hills and had the best SAT score in the nation, you’re still an idiot compared to our international competition. Immigrants aren’t smarter than Americans. I’m just saying that they perform better because their schools are better and there is more of an emphasis on education compared to the U.S.
With all that said when immigrants jump at opportunities here in the United States, I feel absolutely no sort of malice. If anything I admire them, maybe even envy them. The importance of education is engraved in their heads. An idea of limitless potential exists. The drive and determination to take any opportunities that will keep them moving upward no matter how hard they must work exists for them. We don’t have that here. We get a C and we’re content with it. We get a promotion and we stop reaching for another one. We get offered a chance to do something that will be rewarding but is going to take a lot of work to complete and we turn it down in a heartbeat. To be angry at immigrants for taking opportunities that our small, bounded, and gagged minds aren’t even conscious of is just proof of our stupidity.

Congratulations you just successfully showed how ignorance is bliss.

What makes this land “our land”? There is a pretty simple answer to this question for most people. We live here therefore it’s our land. The more complicated answer is that it’s not technically our land. We just think it is. I’m not really guilty of this way of thinking because I don’t recall ever saying that this is “my land”. I might say this is my country, but that’s pretty much the closest I’ve come to claiming this place. Now because the dominant part of society has made sure that the original owners of “our land” never (NEVER) get brought up, no one seems to acknowledge the fact that this isn’t our land. American Indians were present in the U.S. way before Europeans decided to pop over and stay forever. They had homes here, families, weddings, funerals, and lives in this country. It wouldn’t surprise me if they considered this their land when it was just them there. I wouldn’t be mad at them if they told me this was their land right at this minute. Everyone else would probably be pissed about a declaration like that but that’s just the ignorance of decades of sweeping the fact that Europeans came in and stole the land under the American Indians feet under the rug. I think that a lot of people in this country and this class forget that fact or just don’t know the truth. I mean look at the holidays we celebrate. Thanksgiving is the day the pilgrims came in, gave smallpox infested blankets to the Indians, and ate with them while they slowly died of the disease. How kind! For some twisted reason we sit down every November in celebration of this because we’ve been taught that the sweet little Pilgrims came to America and bonded with the Indians. They became friends and had a nice family dinner together. (I’m not bashing Thanksgiving by the way. I love the concept of the holiday: stuffing your face with your family. ) I just think we need to stop bullshitting ourselves into thinking that our historical events were all sugar and sunshine. Columbus Day is a whole other story. I mean I could go on and on (and on) about that guy and his “journey”, but I won’t. Instead I’ll bring it back to the present time and talk about Mexicans immigrating to the U.S. What’s the big deal with that? They’re only doing what most of our ancestors did. They’re coming to the U.S. to have a better life for themselves and for their kids. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. If you find something wrong with that then I guess when the Europeans decided to drop by the Americas, the Indians should of told them to fuck off and go back home. See my point yet? For all those people whose only argument against them coming here is that this is our land, it isn’t our land. The U.S. doesn’t have a stamp on it saying “property of the U.S.” does it? No, so it’s not yours, mine, ours, or anyone else’s. You can own a pair of scissors not a piece of dirt that’s designated with an invisible line. If all ownership of land entitles is showing up to some new place, wiping out all the people who live there originally, and then declaring “Hey, this is The United States” then okay this is our land. If not, then eureka! Just like Columbus you stumbled upon something that only a few exclusive individuals know about: this isn’t our land!

I guess I’ve never really thought about the part that my race plays in how I view the world. It just isn’t one of those things that ever crossed my mind. Well anyway, when I first checked out the question posed in this video I made the decision not to do my blog response on it. The main reason was because I didn’t have an immediate answer like I usually have when I respond to these bizarre little videos. The question baffled me. I saw no need to respond to something that I didn’t feel like I had a concise response to (I do this in discussion too, I don’t talk unless I know what I want to say). Basically, I changed my mind after figuring out that my lack of a response was my answer to this question. I mean all this to say that basically my race probably has a impact on my view of world, but I just didn’t see it until I read this question. On with it…
I’ve always had a lot of friends of different cultures and when it came to befriending them, race never played a part. I always blame my family for my sort of disregard of race. I guess I kind of don’t view the world through the racial lenses because I don’t really fit into any one category. I have a half white, half black mother and a Mexican, Black, and Sri Lanka father. With all that said, I’m used to seeing a lot of different races and cultures together under one roof. I’ve never really been very conscious of the differences between us all because they’re my family and I just don’t think about that stuff when I’m with them. Because I’m multi-racial, my world view is kind of fixed so that I can sort of see the world the way all of the races that are a part of me see it. I look at the world based on that, so I kind of don’t see what the big deal is with one race hating another. Each person in my family has pretty interesting beliefs and I’m sure someone in the family doesn’t get it or understand it, but we all seem to make it work just fine. I’m not saying we don’t have disagreements that will probably never get solved, because we do. I’m just saying that the differences aren’t played up so much that we can’t be around each other or talk to each other without being offensive. Why can’t everybody else do that?
I remember when I was about 7 years old and my grandpa took me to the movies with him. I think we went to see Matilda. Anyway, I remember this white couple in the popcorn line behind us. I was holding my grandpa’s hand and accidentally hit the woman. She smiled at me, called me cute, and then asked my grandpa if I was adopted. He told the woman I was his biological granddaughter and that his wife, my grandmother, was black. The woman looked shocked and asked him something like “isn’t he worried that I’ll be confused?” . That’s pretty much as far back as my memory goes detail wise, but I’m pretty sure he told the woman no. That was probably the first moment when the lenses for the minority part of my race were forced onto my head. I’ve been wearing them ever since, not because I want to, but because I kind of have to.

As completely irrational as this might sound and to be perfectly frank, I wouldn’t care if my child turned out to be gay. As long as they were happy within themselves and accepting of who they are, I would be happy for them. Just because I’m straight doesn’t mean that my children “have” to be straight and that I’d freak out if they weren’t. It’s just not that big a deal to me. My parents always say that as long as I’m happy and healthy, they don’t care about anything else. I guess that’s why I’m so nonchalant about this whole sexuality thing. Acceptance of differences was taught to me at a very young age and has existed in my home since I can remember. I’ve been surrounded by very interesting, eccentric family members all my life and society as whole would probably see them as “strange”. My parents and both sets of my grandparents are blends of different racial/cultural groups, something that was and still is considered pretty taboo (like being gay is in our society now).While a lot of other people might feel some sort of way about their racial differences, they don’t affect how I see them or the way I feel about them at all. I have a gay uncle that I love unconditionally because of who, not what he is. His sexuality does not factor into that love or disrupt it in anyway. It is purely irrelevant to me and my entire family for that matter. Why should we ostracize him, treat him differently, or not accept him because his sexuality isn’t the “norm”? That just doesn’t make sense to me.
Getting back to my imaginary child, I just don’t see why their sexuality should matter to me. It’s not something that I think should be a big deal especially if it’s someone you love. If they get picked on in school or at any time in their lives I’ll be there to defend them (violently or verbally depending on the risk of arrest. Just kidding). Yes, there are struggles and challenges that go along with being gay, but there are also struggles and challenges that go along with being anything other than white. Over time people have come to accept other races (not saying that we don’t still have racism and its followers because we do) and I hope that the same will be true of other sexualities. To not accept and stop loving my child because their sexuality is different from my own would be like refusing to accept my own sister because her favorite color isn’t pink. To be even more trivial, it would be like refusing to accept my best friend because he watches Glee. Yeah, I hate the show with a fiery passion, but that has NOTHING to do with our friendship.
To wrap this up, I guess what I’m trying to say is that sexuality, color, religion, race, and all the other crap that we spend so much time trying decipher which is better and which is right shouldn’t be put on these pedestals to be poked and prodded. We’re all simply people. Some might be gay and some might be straight, but at the end of the day we’re all just humans. The more time we spend realizing our similarities rather than deciphering our differences, the better off this world will be.

More often than not, race plays a huge role in how we define criminality and how we “see” criminals in general. Race subconsciously provides a “face” to accompany the definition. This “face” I feel was created in the media and is reinforced everyday by the media. Now, it’s not my intention to “bash” the media or anyone involved in that particular business (I’m a journalism major myself), but the way minorities are portrayed in any type of media-related medium is pretty crappy.
Every single day we are bombarded with messages in videos, movies, radio, flyers, the news, basically anything and everything we see and hear. A lot of these messages go unnoticed, but a larger number of them are absorbed by us and stored in our memory. As a journalism major and also just as a regular person with a desire to know what’s happening in the world, I watch the news every night and I see a trend. The trend isn’t blatantly obvious, but it’s still there. Every broadcast I’ve ever watched has featured some story about a Black, Latino/Hispanic, Asian, or any other race than white, criminal. It’s the same with newspapers. There is no way that seeing that or hearing that every time I turn on the news or read the paper, has not affected me. I know it has, but only in ways that I feel are the least harmful. For example because of those experiences, whenever I turn on the TV I expect to see some minority accused of a crime. That’s not harmful because I’m not stereotyping or associating race with crime. I’m guessing that because I’m a minority, I don’t associate any race as a whole with crime. Being a criminal isn’t a “black or Latino” thing in my mind. It’s a desperate, immoral, unethical person of any race’s thing. While it’s easy for me to disregard what I hope is an intentional message on the part of the media, it’s not as easy for others.
If you’re white, you’re most likely going to associate blacks or Latinos with crime. That might be a pretty big generalization, but most people I’ve talked to have confirmed my fear. The crimes of people who fall into those race categories have been presented to the public for years so it’s no wonder that that association is made. Most white people probably don’t even realize that that association exists in their mind, but how could you? A lot of people (not just whites) don’t realize how influenced we are by what we see and hear. I feel like if you’re a part of the group that’s being associated with something negative, you’re more likely to disregard it whereas if you’re not a part of that group, you’re more likely to accept it. I and a friend of mine, a white girl from suburban Philadelphia, went to a party last year. I was maybe one of two minorities there (but both of us were mixed race). A few hours after we arrived, a group of black guys came to the party. They were tall, built, and dressed in the typical “urban” style, and had been invited. Upon seeing them, my friend started grabbing my arm and telling me we had to leave ASAP. I asked her why and she said she felt “unsafe” because they were there. It took every bit of my self-control not to smack the shit out of her. They weren’t doing anything .They didn’t come in with guns asking everyone to give up their wallets, so why would she feel “unsafe”? After calming myself down, I told her I’d walk her to her dorm and then I was coming back. She obliged and as we were walking toward the door, she bumped into one of the black guys. Instead of apologizing like most people with manners, she grabbed my arm and pulled me outside like she was saving us from the apocalypse. I asked for an explanation and she said she was scared that he was going to “do” something. Then she told me I shouldn’t go back because black guys harass mixed girls and something could happen. Needless to say, we aren’t friends anymore.
I wrote all this to say that, race is a big part of how we define crime. My ex-friend associated black males with crime and danger and acted ignorantly and rudely because of it. Just because that’s what you’re used to seeing on TV doesn’t mean that every black person or any other minority person is going to be a criminal. If that’s the game we’re playing then I guess I’ll start associating serial killers/rapists with white men (Ted Bundy, Gacy, Ed Gein, Jeffery Dhamer, the list goes on and on.) . I’d never do that though because I know that the actions of one person belong solely to that person despite their race.

First off I’d like to say that after watching a couple of the videos about the entrepreneurs in Haiti, I am kind of eager to get to work on our group projects. All of the entrepreneurs had very interesting and unique businesses and back stories that made me want to get involved and help them all (even though we have to pick one ). I was impressed with all their stories, but also kind of saddened. They each have these amazing skills that they’re using to help others, but they barely have enough supplies to even work with. That just upset me a little bit because I feel like we have so much here in America, a lot more than we need or even want, but we don’t do anything good with it. We don’t “give” just to give anymore and I’m not only talking about Americans. It just seems like the whole world has gotten caught up in this “only give to receive” mentality and it’s just really frustrating to know that I live in a place where that mentality is so strong that people don’t even notice it. That mentality comes second nature to all of us it seems. Those feelings of frustration and sadness as well as how inspiring these people’s stories are, are probably the biggest reason that I’m ready to get going on this project. I want to help them help themselves so they can get enough resources to start rebuilding their lives and the lives of others. With that said, I am torn between two entrepreneurs that I’d like to partner with. They are: Figaro Louis and Yvrose Noncent. Yvrose’s designs are so detailed and truly beautiful. I was completely impressed by the hand painted shirt shown in the video. I don’t know of anyone that paints a design by hand on each individual clothing item and without even having a mannequin. Figaro also has no electric appliances and makes all her pastries from scratch. (My grandmother is the only person I have ever known that makes deserts from scratch and that is no easy task.) To make these pastries day in and day out without any sort of help from machines is absolutely incredible. What both Figaro and Yvrose does takes true skill. So amazing. I feel like all of these people have the skills and talent to have successful businesses, they just need some help turning those skills into a better way to make a living. They need a way to obtain more supplies and resources for reasonable prices, better ways to transport materials and the finished products, more employees and a place to build their business and a strategy to get the word out about their businesses so that they are sure to succeed.