After hearing Basum respond so directly to the ratio of 29:1, I felt somewhat upset and disappointed that he didn’t have a larger response. Personally, if I were faced with such a question I would have a larger response because I would be upset and angry that the lives of others in my country are so undervalued. Further, I would be even more distressed if someone else from my country were to respond so frankly. I appreciate the fact that Basum looked at the situation from the point of view of the Americans. By stating that he understands that at times, civilian’s lives must be sacrificed in order to prevent even more lives to be killed, he shows that he is a person of knowledge and understanding.
The majority of people that I know would feel angrier than Basum towards the 29:1 ratio. Because of the undervalued lives of others, those who are in the “same boat” as them would feel more upset about such a policy. The reason why this may be so is attributed to the fact that those 29 people may include oneself as one of the number. This is distressing to know and hard to understand because it means that anyone and everyone can be a victim, and if they are, there lives may be sacrificed in vain. The fact of the matter is that the 29:1 ratio does not necessarily mean that by sacrificing the lives of 29 people, that one villain would be caught. It means that if the villain is in a vicinity in which there are anywhere from 1 to 29 innocent people around, the Americans are able to attack with weapons and with force and possibly kill those 29 people with their actions regardless, as long as there is a possibility of killing or capturing that one villain. This in itself is hard to understand as a civilian however, as someone who is not in the military and not directly involved with the military, the ratio seems absurd and ridiculous. However, to be more open minded about the policy, I believe I can understand the reasoning behind the ratio. Because a villain may kill millions of lives, such as the case of September 11th, sometimes it is necessary to sacrifice the lives of other innocents.
Despite the upsetting factor of 29 innocent lives possibly being killed, capturing one extremely harmful and evil person would be beneficial to the country and the world as a whole. Further, the villain would be prevented from harming others in the future. The bottom point is that sometimes lives must be sacrificed in order to save more. Keeping this in mind, it might be easier to accept the fact that innocents will have to be sacrificed at times.

The rich get richer while the poor get poorer often seems to be the case, especially in terms of the dramatic differences between social classes both in the United States and abroad. It is undeniable that within every nation, there exist various groups of people belonging to different classes, varying from the elites and the poor. Nepotism essentially is the rich helping the rich. It is a form of preferential treatment, essentially “looking after one’s own” or bias that either results in or influences the hiring of relatives or friends for jobs. Although nepotism is not limited to only these purposes, work is perhaps the most popular way in which favoritism is practiced.
I cannot say that I have never reaped the benefits of nepotism, just as it is equally hard to say that I have never benefitted from affirmative action. The reality of the matter is that the majority of us have indeed benefitted from one or the other, or both. Last summer, when I was searching for and internship, my parents gave my resume to one of their friends. About two weeks later, I received an official acceptance into their summer internship program. Although I was qualified for the internship, there were also many others who qualified as well. In the end, I received the position because my parents were friends with people in management. It is indisputable that I did not have to work nearly as hard securing the position compared to others in the program, yet there are also several negative aspects to being rewarded by nepotism. For one, your co-workers look upon you differently. I found this to be the case as they slowly found out I had received the job because of personal relations. Second, you are judged and assumed as not having the necessary merit for the job. This itself poses as a threat for duration of the work experience because you will find that the surrounding employees will be more hesitant to work with you. Also, benefitting from nepotism often means that when you do enter the workforce, you will assume that you possess the necessary requirements and merit for the jobs that you acquire when in reality you may very well not possess the qualities as needed. Further, if nepotism is exposed, other workers will feel that they are working for a company that is biased and unprofessional. The additions of these negative aspects of nepotism go towards discouraging people to take advantage of its possibility.
While receiving something such as a job, internship or anything really as the direct result of nepotism, we should keep in mind that we will ultimately be judged for it and therefore most times, working hard and with passion will eventually help you to reach your goal. If you achieve goals based on personal merit, you will see that it is much more rewarding personally and respectable socially.

From the lecture on Native Americans, I have learned that although we live in a country where we attempt to portray the highest standards of morality, freedom and justice, we have indeed been very unjust in the past. Although we live on “red land”, the land, which we have acquired from the Native Americans, nearly all of the Native American people have been sent to live on reserves. What this teaches our generation, the ones before and after ours, is that we are a country that happens to act very hypocritically. While we assume the power and right to help other countries or peoples who come across similar situations that the Native Americans have endured with us, the Americans, we have disregarded their rights as human beings.

Although the land, which we live on, is Native American property, we, the Americans, know very little information about their people. Perhaps one of the most upsetting aspects about this situation is the fact that the American people are so ignorant, myself included about the exact history of our past. We believe what we are told, yet we know that the land we live in, “our land”, is very much in fact “their land”. Instead of trying to understand the Native American people, we justify our actions in the past as being righteous and correct while we know that such actions would not be tolerated today if it were to happen upon us. What is even more upsetting, however, is how the Native American people is perhaps one if not the most poor people out of the entire United States population. Just exactly how have the American people managed to steal the land of another people and keep them at the lowest level of the social ladder? What Sam said in class was devastating to hear because up to perhaps now, I have always believed in the justifications of United States and our government. Yet the way in which we have and are treating the Native Americans, created much distress because I no longer had the confidence to believe in the righteousness of America. So we took the Native American land because we wanted it, and yet we show no appreciation, hence they remain at the bottom of the social and economic ladder. Exactly how and why has it not changed? Through class, I believe it is because we do not allow the Native Americans to develop in education and we do not help them transition into the American culture, causing a constant barrier to be upheld. The number of crimes done to Native Americans was also a shocking statistic to see. Although not unexpected, it was still difficult to not disregard the fact that the biggest offender were us, the Americans.

When it comes to men dressing down and women dressing up, it all comes to confidence. Women tend to feel more confident when they wear more attractive or appealing clothing, which tends to be things that are preferred by men. Whereas the image of confidence in men is more marked by their personality and charismatic appeal. What I mean by this is that even when men dress down, if they have a certain appeal and certain charisma or even a certain look or style they can attract just as much attention. When a guy dresses down when he goes out, he seems like he has an "I don't really care to impress anyone" appeal. That ideal will cause more girls to be attracted to him whereas a girl who dresses down may seem more as someone who doesn't care enough to dress up and someone who isnt interested in conversation with others. Similarly guys tend to find girls who are interested in them more attractive whereas girls tend to find guys who are more stand off-ish as more attractive.
Other times when girls dress up, they tend to have the idea that they are competing with other girls. Not necessarily for attention from guys, but just as a confidence booster and as same sex competition. Also, sometimes when girls dress up they tend to wish to gain the acceptance of other girls, in other terms trying to fit in with others. When girls see other girls dressing up to go out they feel like they should do the same in order to become accepted and in order to gain the attention that the other girls get. When guys dress down and other guys see those guys getting attention from girls or girls trying to get attention from them, other guys will also start to dress down, trying to gain similar attention from the opposite sex, females. This cycle causes more and more girls and guys to become like those before them. Girls will dress up more in order to belong with other girls and guys will dress down more in order to fit in with other guys. Sometimes a girl who does not dress up will appear to be someone who is not interested and even possibly too good to be associated with the other girls who dress up. Ultimately, this vicious cycle causes more people to fall into this endless cycle. All of these factors added together cause people to continue this image of girls dressing up and guys dressing down. It will only stop when people learn to step outside of what is determined as social norms and start thinking about personal comfort and image first.

I don’t believe that there are necessarily direct messages which we teach each generation about darker skin being inferior to lighter skin. However, I do think that one message that we reflect through our actions and seem to pick up along the path towards adulthood is that being a part of the more rare, or superior group is better. Although some people believe that lighter skin is better, there are also others who believe darker skin to be better. The grass is always seemingly better on the other side. For example, in Asia, lighter skin is seen as being more beautiful than darker skin. For this reason, the cosmetics and beauty market as well as actors and media persons all try to revolve around the image of being pale or white. The majority of beauty products within Asia claim to contain bleaching agents to make the skin paler. Further, brands, which choose to not have bleaching agents, sell poorly within the marketplace. This ultimately forces companies to comply with what the public there wants, which are products that can make people paler. On the other hand, here in America, being darker is seen as being more beautiful. I remember in having friends who spent all their allowance at the tanning salons since being in middle school. Yet that has not changed even now that I am in college. I still have several friends who will visit tanning salons at least twice a month prior to the days of better weather in the springtime. Here, many people believe being tanner is being more beautiful. It represents an image of being healthy and is symbolic with a glowing skin. At drugstores and most other places, tanning lotions are often sold. These products allow consumers to apply a tan to their skin without having to sit in the sun. These products have been proven to be popular as they have only increased in number since first being put on the market. I have also heard that being tan is seen as being wealthy enough to be able to afford vacations. Although this sounded somewhat absurd to me at first, I realized that this is the mentality that people in Asia hold as well. There, being pale skinned is seen as being able to afford not working and staying at home or indoors at malls or other recreational areas. Perhaps also because of the dramatic weather differences from the East and West, we hold opposite views on what is beautiful. In America, the majority of the population works indoors and therefore has more chances of being pale while the majority of work in Asia revolves around manual labor involving being outdoors leading to darker skin. It seems that when it comes to skin color, being the minority is the more appealing choice to most.

Out of all of the "Getting Life" stories I have read, this was perhaps the best written. It was also interesting to read that M hopes his reader will not give him sympathy merely because he is a good writer. Learning about the transition from his boyhood to adulthood and the rites of passage that he missed and gained through prison was also different in comparison to other stories. M tells his story in a matter-of-factly type of way, allowing the reader to have feelings based on their own opinions rather than to be swayed by the writer’s intention. Although he admits that he is reluctant like almost all other inmates to tell his story and account of “why” he has been served to justice by serving a prison sentence, he ultimately discloses some information due to the high amount of curiosity that readers have towards his situation. His account, though short, is a detailed one. He reveals to the reader his emotions in detail without trying to deny any sorts of wrongs that he was doing at the time. He admits to his shortcomings and writes further about his thought process throughout the committing of the murder. He believes that he acted wrongly and unjust at the time. And without saying that he is a changed man, the audience is persuaded to believe that he is through the way the writing helps develop his character. M further captures the attention of his audience by having his story reflect the possible ultimatum of many other restless teens. He touches on many important subjects without actually focusing his story on them. Among these topics is the importance of guiding the misguided back onto the path of righteousness, which the reader most likely senses, from M. While it is true that nearly all the stories written by prison inmates from “Getting Life” claim to not want any forms of sympathy, M emphasizes this idea the best and the most clearly. His straightforwardness is reflected through his writing and the reader can readily see that he wants compassion from the reader in terms of when they can believe that he is a changed man. By also giving his readers insight to what he later thought about his actions, it can easily be seen that M most definitely regrets his decisions at the time of the crime but accepts the punishments, which he believes, are just. Throughout the story, an image of progression is painted. He re-emphasizes on his development as a boy to an inmate to a man in both the introduction and conclusion of his piece. By doing so, he allows the reader to see a glimpse of what other stories like his do without being as eloquent, and that is the idea that at the time he was naive and gullible enough to aid evil and its wrong doings.

From living in America, more often than not we think about where to go shopping for our next edition to our wardrobe or where to eat dinner; yet in other places around the world, there are people who are wondering when they will be able to afford one piece of decent clothing or where their next meal will come from and when. This dramatic difference between the standard of living within our country and those of other countries, more specifically third world countries, is too frequently ignored, disregarded, or just gone by unnoticed. The majority of other countries around the world are stricken with poverty and misfortune while we have slowly risen to become the land of prosperity and obesity. Why is it that while the children of other countries are dying from malnutrition and starvation, our children are coming to face problems from obesity and over-eating? This is just one issue that we as society must address.
Many of us in America are often shocked to find out, if we ever do, that slavery still exists in the world. Yet slavery is not something that has every stopped despite the views of history that many Americans hold towards the end of slavery decades ago. In fact, as the end of slavery is only a relatively new phase of American history, it is too naïve for us to believe that other countries much poorer than ours has also put slavery behind them. Countries that are combating against poverty face more dramatic issues than we can imagine such as slavery, even child slavery, as well as underpaid and overworked employees. Still, people of other countries are facing government or political oppression.
From visiting many poorer towns and suburbs of China, I have come to realize that I am extremely fortunate to be an American. The basic amenities that we have everyday such as clean water, heating, air conditioning, electricity, and hot water are taken for granted constantly. While in those suburban towns, I saw that it was a privilege for many to be able to take perhaps one bath a week. I found myself realizing that it is because of the majority of Americans lack of concern and knowledge towards the privileges that we delve in that makes many people of other countries wield a hatred or dislike towards us.
What makes America beautiful is the concept of democracy and freedom, the free will idea that is shared by all who are here and those who come to see for themselves these ideals. Yet too often, we are not utilizing these privileges to the full extent that we should be leading to the disappointment that people of other countries less fortunate than us have towards Americans; and that is completely understandable.

This is the third "Pennsylvania Lifers" entry that I am responding too. It is the shortest, yet it is equally inspirational as the other two I have read. The entries all of one thing in common, they are first accounts of prisoners who have come to grasp with the reality of having to serve life and how they are still finding hope when there is virtually none. The sort of inspiration that each of these entries serves to offer is the idea that life is worth living and we should all treasure each day, moment while living with dignity. While each of these inmates believes that they were served what they deserved, they are equally deserving of more than what they are being given. Are these really the criminals of our society? We are all being held responsible for the wrongs we have done whether by family, friends, or society. For one moment of not being able to find the distinction between right and wrong, we can be punished by having to serve the consequence with the rest of the years of our lives. Yet for those who learn to find the distinction between right and wrong, regardless, they have to still pay the consequences by serving the full sentence.
It is hard to imagine someone being completely cut off from the rest of the world they were once a part of. It is even harder to imagine that a lot of the times, even the majority of their families choose to not be associated with these “criminals.” It is upsetting to think that the prisoners are unable to be a part of a support system yet we have to keep in mind the people that they have hurt. While I do not believe that the victims of these prisoners are all believers of the life sentence, it is the sentence that is chosen because of societal pressures. For example, if we had someone we loved taken away from us by force, the most obvious feeling we would have is hatred and we would seek revenge or justice. Yet over time we may come to feel that by forcing another person to lose their life as compensation for the person’s life that was taken away from us, we do not ultimately find satisfaction. We are all human, and it is more often than not that seeing the pain of another person does not being happiness to us. Yet the reality is that even if we were the victims and we did not persecute the criminal responsible, our society will to prove to the rest of us that justice is still being served, no matter how fair or how obscure the system is.

While terms such as "twinkie" or "oreo" have become more widespread than other terms which refer to people of a certain ethnicity acting like the stereotypes of another, they are not as commonly used as perhaps expected. I have to disagree with the last statement of people not ever saying "why is that black person so asian" just because I have a lot of black friends who are indeed very "asianized". They know a lot about asian culture and history and customs and they enjoy being a part of asian groups. Similarly, I have just as many friends who are asian but act white or black and act white. The terms twinkie and oreo have become more popular because it is sometimes just easier for a person to describe using these words rather than having to say, well no, that person isnt actually white, they are asian or black. The worries of being politically correct play a huge role in this aspect since often when we are trying to become more descriptive in our conversations, race plays a large role. After all, it IS describing what we look like. Going about a description and saying well that person had big eyes, or large nostrils, it is still difficult for another to imagine. But if you were describing someone and you said short/tall, asian/white (for example), girl/boy, the image would be a lot more complete and accurate than otherwise.

It is often due to these restrictions that terms such as twinkie and oreo have been used. Because as users we tend to believe that these terms are understood to be adjectives and not meant to be derogatory in any way towards an entire group but rather to serve as a clearer picture for those who we are speaking too. While this may not be accurate for everyone, it is certainly just as difficult to say that these terms are used specifically to hurt an entire ethnicity. I believe that people within our generation and the ones before and after ours, have become more open to the idea of talking out loud about race. We know our boundaries and we are trying to step across those boundaries to make a world in which worrying about being politically correct is not at the top of our lists. The state of mind that people are in when they use such terms can simply be contributed to be a state of ease; we don’t expect people to misunderstand. We expect them to understand that these terms are just ways for us to describe an individual to another person. And further, on a more logical point of view, another reason for why terms such as oreo or twinkie have yet to be spread among us for example, a black person who acts asian, is, what can you think of that’s black on the outside and yellow on the inside? Pretty difficult to answer especially since the majority, if not all, of these terms seem to be food-related!

While I am personally not a fan of beauty pageants, I do not believe they have a dramatic negative impact on the contestants, yet that is directed more towards late teen or adult pageants. As for child beauty pageants, that on the other hand, I believe has a direct impact in stunting the psychological growth of the children. Why? Because for one, these children are subjected to the wishes and whims of their parents, agents, and fans. They are technically forced into living up to a single image of beauty and that is the one that society has allowed to become most acceptable and most beautiful. Many of these children may develop ideas that promote only this one image of beauty and carry on into adulthood with these same thoughts in mind. Eventually, they might choose to inflict these same beliefs onto their children, contributing to a vicious cycle of one image of beauty.
Now if these pageants were more suited to help these children develop an image of beauty through talents more than just singing and dancing (which the majority of these contestants do), these children might actually gain a better understanding of the term beauty. Beauty doesn't sum up to be just the physical appearance of Barbie and because our media, society and people have been long time supporters and promoters of that image, children are being affected. Further, these children are only being exposed to one image of what they believe the world wants to see, and it’s not a truthful one. They do not receive well-rounded exposure to other factors of society such as the promotion of education, worldly knowledge, or just general understanding of life beyond a competition of physical looks.
Another way that we can see society and the media’s large impact on people is how the age of these contestants are constantly getting younger and younger. Now, virtually anyone can be a participant. Child beauty pageants have a variety of contestants who range in age, some younger than one year of age. Are we so intrigued by this image of beauty that we feel the need to impose it on our children before they even come to the age of learning how to speak? Is physical beauty so important that it comes before everything else? While beauty pageants can often serve as good experience for contestants to build confidence and public speaking skills, we need to put limits on what should be allowed (such as an age limit) and promote a new image of beauty, one that isn’t based solely on physical attributes.