My opinion on illegal immigration has not changed much after hearing the lecture about it on Tuesday. I have worked with and I also know many people who have worked illegal immigrants. I was already aware that the majority of them are extremely hard workers, much harder workers than your average American, like Sam said, and anybody who has seen them in action will tell you the same. I also already knew that many American industries are dependent on their labor to sustain themselves. If you go to any golf course, especially those in the south, or any kind of outdoor manual labor or construction job, the majority of workers are Mexican immigrants. It can seem sort of overwhelming when you see it, but they do a good job at what they do, and somebody has to do these sorts of jobs after all. So, I always saw illegal immigration as kind of a necessity. However, Sam brought a lot of things up in class I never thought about before. For instance I never realized exactly how dependent some industries were on the labor of these immigrants. The fact that some of them cannot even function with out their help surprised me. After hearing the lecture I see that they really are a necessity, just like people immigrating here has always been a necessity if the country is to be successful.

I also never thought of my ancestors as illegal immigrants. But the way Sam put it made me realize that we all are illegal technically speaking. This part of the lecture made me come to terms with the importance of these "illegal" immigrants even more. If we were all technically illegal to begin with, then we're all really in the same boat as the people from Mexico and the lower Americas who are migrating here today. When our ancestors moved here they were poor people just looking for a place where they could live a better life, and that is all the people who are immigrating here today are trying to do. So technically anyone who says that they have something against these people is speaking hypocritically because they're no different from our ancestors. If one is against all of these people coming here looking for a better life than they're against all that this country has been built upon.

The only thing I did not like that was said in lecture was that most of the immigrants who come here just want to come here for a short time to make money and then return to their country. This seems more like a crime to me. I understand that they're only trying to help their families, but it just seems wrong to me. Overall, I agree with Sam that undocumented immigration is a very complex issue that there is no real answer to. I can see why it is easy for people who are not as informed to see it as a bad thing. However when presented with the facts it is also easy to see why it is necessary for the country to function. It's just one of those issues that people will never truly accept but isn't going to go away.

This week's lecture was probably my favorite of all we have had this semester. It really made me put things about the war into perspective. At the beginning of class, when Sam put us into the hypothetical situation of having the Chinese invade the United States in order to take our coal, I was one of the many who answered that they would rebel against the Chinese invaders. It didn't take me long to decide because the situation he described was pretty terrible and the thought of it didn't settle well with me at all. At that point in the lecture I didn't realize how realistic this "made up" situation really was.

After the main part of the lecture I was pretty blown away. I never had tried to view the War in Iraq from any other perspective than my own: Sam's technique in the lecture was very effective. Previously I had thought very differently about the rebels in Iraq and what the ideas behind there were behind terrorism. I simply saw rebels as former supporters of Saddam and people who liked the way things we before the United States interfered, basically American haters. Terrorists I assumed were just taliban supporters. I never actually realized that the way they view us is so similar to the way we view them. After same showed us the videos that many people in Iraq have seen, and being a hypothetical Iraqi, I actually began to see where they were coming from. If I were put in the same situation, as we were at the beginning of lecture, I can't say that I wouldn't do the same thing. I can't say I would either, but I could see why they are angry. As for terrorism, and terrorists, I don't exactly feel the same way.

I see performing acts of terrorism abroad to be a completely different situation than the War in Iraq. While the rebels in Iraq are really defending themselves and their country, terrorist are just reaping havoc for no real reason. Terrorists kill many people innocent people who have no particular reason to be killed. They are just doing deeds for their made up cause, while rebels in Iraq are just responding the way any tested patriotic person may. In conclusion, my views on terrorism haven't really changed much. I still feel that it is evil and completely unnecessary. I do however feel more sympathy for the people of Iraq. I can't say that I agree with or condone their actions, but after this lecture I think i understand.

I didn't have too much experience with this when I was younger having grown up in the northeastern corner of Pennsylvania. It's not exactly the most diverse place; there are a reasonable amount of minorities around but its nothing comparable to a city like New York. Not until I was a teenager, and began having my own experiences in different places, did I ever really come across this type of situation. Since I have been being put in these types of these situations, no, I have never really felt uncomfortable. I don't really understand why some people see this as such an awkward scenario. In a case where two people were speaking in a foreign language and began pointing at me, chatting and laughing together, then perhaps I might feel a little bit uncomfortable. However, this has never happened to me, and I hope it never does.

While watching the different questions before writing this blog, a friend who was sitting next to me just blurted out how uncomfortable this type of this makes him feel, which made me want to blog for this question. It really got me thinking about why these experiences make people feel the way that they do. I came to a few possible conclusions. I think a great deal of it is psychological, the concept is called the spotlight phenomenon or something like that. What it means is people think that others pay attention to them, and every little detail about them, a lot more so than they think. In essence, they feel sort of paranoid. With two people speaking your own language you know they aren't making any comments about you. Also, in general, I think that not being able to understand others around them makes people feel uncomfortable.

I don't get uncomfortable just because I really don't put that much thought into it, and just go about my business. Actually, I usually find it pretty interesting hearing people speaking in their different languages, if it is Spanish I'll even try to understand what the two are saying or try to join in. Anyway, I understand that people who speak different languages talk just as much as anyone who speaks English, just because I cant understand them doesn't mean I am being insulted. Another reason I don't get uncomfortable is because I know that the world doesn't revolve around me and the people speaking probably have a lot more important things to talk about than the shoes I'm wearing or how my hair may look. Now, in a case where two people were speaking in a foreign language to each other and began pointing at me, chatting and laughing together, then perhaps I might feel a little bit more uncomfortable. However, this has never happened to me, and I hope it never does. All in all, I think many people make a lot bigger deal out of this kind of thing than they really should, it shouldn't be a big deal at all.

How do I feel about the way people live in America compared to other places throughout the world? This is not an easy question to answer. First off, I definitely feel compassion for the extremely poor people in different countries throughout the world. It is easy to see that some of them have it much worse than any one of us could even imagine. At the same time though, I feel worse that the people in most of these countries did not have much of a chance from the start. Here in America, in "the land of opportunity" we grow up being told that we have equal opportunity at happiness and success as everyone else. We all now know of course that technically we do not because of discrimination, but we definitely do have A chance to achieve success and happiness. We certainly have a better shot than people from certain places in Africa, or Haiti for instance. The people in these countries drew the short straw.

However, I am not saying that i feel guilt for living the way I do in America while people in other countries cannot do the same. I wish that they could do the same and I do feel sorry for them, but I don't feel guilt, because I'm simply playing the cards I was dealt, I am not the reason the world is the way that is.

Now, I want to touch on something same said in class about 97 percent of Americans being better off than... This is definitely true, but some people have it pretty damn bad in the U.S.. Having grown up in Northeastern Pennsylvania, I have seen some things. There are Tammys (from the video in class) all over the place throughout my county. Even worse is that I am sure that I know of some that are worse. My one buddy used to clean out recently condemned or abandoned houses, all of which belonged to extremely impoverished people. Judging by some of the pictures he has showed me and stories he has told me, some Americans have it pretty awful. Between maggot filled refrigerators, holes in walls, and feces covered floors, I think some of these people might have been better off elsewhere, maybe. I'm sure some people in cities have it even worse. In closing, it doesn't feel good to think how much better off we have it, but not all of us are as well off as we, as Americans, are made out to be.

When I was growing up, as a white kid, the idea of white privilege never came to mind. I guess I never really noticed just because of growing up in a primarily white community. My first time I was introduced to it was probably watching Dave Chappelle's stand up or television show, where he always bashes white people for the opportunities they have. However, I never really grasped what it was until I took this class. It surprises me that i never noticed the numerous instances of white privilege I undoubtedly witnessed as I grew up.

Looking back on it, there were times from my childhood where I received it and saw others be turned down or harmed because of it. I remember one summer during high school when I applied for a job. My neighbor Manny, who is Puerto Rican, applied for the same job, and there were multiple positions available. In the end, I was hired, and my friend Manny was not. It didn't strike me then that being white had anything to do with it, but now I see things differently. I recall another time from high school. In this situation, there was a white girl who was always giving two black girls trouble. It wasn't your typical high school bullying, it was more hating because of race. The white girl was caught several times in the act but never recieved more than a flick on the wrist. The black girls after a while retaliated, physically, and the next day were in the small school designated for "bad kids". Because she was white she was let off and the two black women got the full blast. There were many instances similar to this and they always ended with the non-white offended being more harshly punished. I always assumed it was because they had done worse things but now I'm not so sure.

Overall, I think white privilege is very real, and much more prevalent than most of us realize. However, I feel there is a black privilege out there as well. By black privilege i mean what Sam was talking about with guilt in lecture the other day. It isn't even close to being as wide spread as the other, but it is out there. White privilege is definitely wrong, and a serious problem, but I don't see a way past it until subconscious prejudices are non-existent, which will be an extremely long time.

There are not very many people from my hometown who continue on to college from high school. Most of them end up going to some sort of trade school in something like welding, and others jump straight into the work force doing some type of construction or masonry. I was part of the bunch that decided to go on to college instead. I would have to say that I got here, to where I am today, through a combination of both determinism and free choice.

Neither my mother nor my father was a college graduate. However, my mother went to and graduated from nursing school, and my father did take courses for a few semesters at a university, but he decided it wasn't for him. Actually, not one of my aunts, uncles, or grandparents was college graduates either. So how did I end up here? I guess my prepping began when I was very young. My grandfather, a die-hard Penn State fan, was always pushing different kinds of Penn State gear on me, whether it was posters, clothes, or making me watch football games. Along with my grandfather’s push, the rest of my family was always pushing me to be my best, whether it be at school or in sports. Then as I grew older the questions began. What are you going to do when you graduate? What do you want to be when you grow up? Do you want to go to college?

This was where my free choice came into play. As I approached my senior year I had many options on the table. I already had a full-time job offer from my uncle to work for his contracting company. Being in the top 5 percent of my high school graduating class, I had many different colleges to choose from, and this is what my parents pushed of course. My grandmother even tried to convince me to stay home just so she wouldn't miss me so much, and she was actually serious. So, I guess you could say I was being pulled in very different directions. However, it didn't take me long to make my choice to attend college. After all, you only live once, and there's no use in selling oneself short. So I made my choice of which of my determined life-paths to take.

After this week in class my perspective on the free-choice/ determinism debate has been morphed quite significantly. I used to think that life was all about the choices that we made, but after the points Sam made in this weeks lectures I see things differently. Determinism definitely plays in more into how our lives turn out than I would have thought.

When I think of the confederate flag, a lot of different ideas come to my mind. Some people use the flag to express their southern pride, while other people display the flag to show they support racism and the concept of slavery. These to examples I think are much more prevalent in the southern states than they are in the northern states because the people were brought up among those ideas and in that type of culture. For this reason, I believe that it is appropriate for these people to display the flag, although I don't necessarily agree with what they support. In the north, on the other hand, I think there are other motives behind flaunting the confederate flag.

I live in the northern half of the country. To be specific, I live in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The town I live in, it's called Honesdale, is a very rural type of environment. In other words, hunting, fishing, trucks, boots, farming and all of that stuff are a big part of a lot of peoples lives. So, it's safe to say there are plenty of "rednecks" in Honesdale. When I was in high school, or even now when I am at home for break, its not an unusual sight at all to see the confederate flag spanning across the back windshield of a huge truck, see one waving on someone's front porch, or see it displayed on a cap or t-shirt. However, knowing most of these people, I can say, for the majority of them, they have absolutely no connection to the south at all. I doubt many of them have even been there. Also, I don't think very many of them are racists. Some are intolerant of other races because they have never had any exposure to them, but they are not racist by any means. So, if not these causes, what are all of these people supporting by waving this flag?

As I said, the "redneck" kind of culture is very popular in my town. By popular, I mean a good fifty percent of the population. I think the people who are displaying the flag where I'm from see it as showing pride in THEIR culture; they see it as supporting their kind of lifestyle. It might sound odd, but i don't think the people really think of it as being supportive of the South or slavery at all. So, I guess you could say we, meaning the people of Honesdale, have adopted the confederate flag as our own, with its own meaning. Basically, to me it says, "I'm "redneck", and I am proud". As corny as it sounds, I believe that's the meaning of the flag anymore my part of the state.

Although it is common knowledge that Islam is a religion that is taken very seriously, this whole controversy over the South Park episode is pretty ridiculous. I am an avid watcher of South Park, and I did see the episode mentioned in the video which "poked fun" at Muhammad. I find the controversy to be blown out of proportion. There are many reasons I feel this way. First of all, the episode wasn't putting down the Islam religion in any way; they had Muhammad in a bear costume, but it isn't like they had characters shouting out racist remarks about Muslims, or saying the religion is stupid. The second reason is that one would have a hard time coming across an episode of South Park (particularly from the last few seasons) in which some sort of race, celebrity, or other public figure is not exploited. There are episodes about blacks, rednecks, Mexicans and all other kinds of races. For instance, I saw an episode last night where stereotypes of Mexicans and Persians were both demonstrated. However, you do not see every other person that is poked fun at sending threats to the South Park writers. Being "made fun" of on South Park is a status symbol; most people would be honored. In a show where it is okay for Oprah to have a talking downstairs, for Ben Affleck’s parents to have asses for faces, and to make Al Gore, President Obama, and others look like complete idiots, I feel it's reasonable to poke a little fun at Muhammad. I understand that making fun of a religion isn't the same as a celebrity, but they never really put down the religion. I am catholic, and in countless South Park episodes Jesus is ridiculed, in fact, in one episode they said he sucked because he did not have any powers, and it doesn’t offend me. I don't think there should be a difference between the two.

Also, this was not the first episode where Muhammad was included in the plot. There was another where he was to appear in an episode of Family Guy, so the people of South Park began burying their heads in the sand as to avoid seeing his face, and avoid being bombed by Muslims. I don't recall there was as much controversy about that episode. In conclusion, I believe the controversy over this episode was a bit overboard.

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