I definitely agree with a lot of the things we talk about are common sense. I do not know if it is because I have been cultured throughout my life or just had really great parents who have taught me a lot growing up. I did appreciate the LGBT class. As a member of that community, I was looking forward to that lecture. I had heard from a friend that Sam said he would be with a man if his wife died. After knowing that, I was excited to see how Sam was going to teach the class on LGBT issues. I knew he was very accepting of that community and may even consider himself a part of it. I thought the way he educated everyone was appropriate and he made a lot of good points that needed to be expressed to such a huge lecture room. I know the race relations class has a great greek representation and the greek community tends to not understand the LGBT community. I was satisfied with the points Sam made during that lecture.

To be honest, as a woman I know I should feel offended by this game, but I was not. I am not offended because the game does not directly affect me. My life will be no different if this game exists or if it is banned. However, I do not think we should have the game on shelves. I think it gives people bad ideas. It puts terrible thoughts in their heads. Most of all, it sends the message that human violation is okay. It is establishing a precedence that we do not have to respect each other as humans. What we see in the media, music, in movies, and on television shows definitely has an impact on our daily lives. The mind is a powerful thing. We are constantly observing and absorbing information. Human beings are easily influenced by the things around us. In my own personal experience, for the longest time I thought being gay was wrong and sinful. This was when I was attending a Catholic school. When I was put into a public school, my views started to change. I no longer thought this way about the LGBT community and today I even identify as bisexual. Another example of influence is when I spend more time watching violent and vulgar television shows, such as The Sopranos, I start swearing more. I do not do it intentionally but I know it comes from hearing so much vulgar language from the characters on The Sopranos. This is because when you hear something over and over you start to think it is an appropriate way to talk. We adapt to what we are being exposed to. I think it is the same thing with this video game. The more people play it and think it is okay to rape women, the more they are going to brush off how serious of an issue it actually is. They are going to start to consider it not such a violent crime and not such an incredible violation of women. Rape is never something that should be turned into a game or sport and that is what this game is suggesting. It is saying the violation of a woman is acceptable and even a competition. As far as the suggestion that maybe this game was created as a virtual outlet to prevent urges of rapists, i disagree completely. Going along with my previous argument, I do not think exposing rape in a video game will help them. I only think it will make it worse for them. This video game will always be on their minds. They will not be able to stop thinking about rape until they can actually physically fulfill these urges.

This was an interesting comment. I think the reason we always focus on black versus white because that is the most controversial topic. Asians would probably get more attention if they were being mistreated. Honestly, most people do not feel bad for Asians because we generally look at them as smart. We do not feel bad for Asians. If anything, we envy Asians because they are usually the kids in class who sit in the front, correctly answer questions, ask through provoking questions, and spend weekends in the library. Obviously I am not talking about every single Asian, but I can't remember the last time I was at the library and I did not see a well represented population of Asians. But I do think that is why we never talk about Asians as being a minority. They typically are not looked at in a sympathetic manner, but in an envious manner.

Men are not educated about menstrual cycles because they do not need to know about them. Men and women are different for a reason. We experience different things physically, that does not mean we need to share those feelings. Women can talk about their periods with other women. I do not know why a woman would even WANT to talk to a man about her period. Men will never experience a period so they should not have to be exposed to the details of one. As a woman, I obviously have a monthly period and I am even grossed out by it. It is a painful time of the month that men should not have to be apart of. And if men got periods, tampons would never be free. Men and women both need protection during sex and condoms are still for sale. I don't understand why tampons would ever be free just because men had periods.

My reaction during class on Tuesday was not because I am ashamed of being a woman. I love being a woman, I would not want to change that for anything. Also, I am thankful every single time I get my period. And, I completely agree that the ability to give birth truly is a miracle and I am not disputing that one bit. However, I think there is a time and place to talk about such issues. The problem with the subject of a menstrual cycle is that it is gender specific. Men know nothing about periods, nor should they have to. I would never expect a guy to understand why I feel the way I do for a couple days each month. Only females are physically able to experience a period. Men should not have to sit in a classroom of 700 or more students and hear about how a woman bleeds once a month. I thought it was an inappropriate time and place to bring up such a topic. If it was a class of only women and there was a woman professor bringing up this topic I do not think there would have been any controversy what so ever. The reason people were getting upset is because having a period is a very personal thing for a woman. It is our right of passage into womanhood. For some women, that experience in their life was extremely embarrassing. It happens to all women at different times and depending on the other women in their lives, going through having your first period could be really scary. I thought it was really insensitive of Sam to bring that topic up in front of an entire lecture hall. I also thought it was completely ridiculous that there were actually girls raising their hand when he asked who was "bleeding." Maybe I am uptight or something, but I could not believe some girls were so open about that part of their personal hygiene. For me personally, I could never admit to an entire 100 Thomas lecture hall that it was "that time of the month." Another thing that really confused me about this Tuesday's class was why we were even on that subject. We are in a Race Relations class and I am having a hard time relating a menstrual cycle to racial issues. The only way I can almost kind of make a connection is political correctness. In this blog post she said "bleeding" probably was not the best word choice Sam could have picked. I guess that can relate to race when trying to be politically correct when talking about different types of ethnic groups. Even that is a stretch though.

I think the labels "white" and "black" are very ambiguous. I feel like it is a self identity and the only person who can reach a decision on that identity is the person in question. If you are half black and half white, you probably would not answer a question from Sam that is directed to white people. I think when he asks those questions he is referring to the people who are not from multiracial families. I think race and ethnicity is very important to people and they are the only ones who can address these internal issues. I believe it is easier to come to conclusions and learn about yourself as a person through discussions with people of different races and ethnicities. But ultimately it is up to the individual person to determine their identity. It is not fair for other people to identify someone who comes from a multiracial background because they do not know their internal thoughts and emotions towards their family history.

I do think it goes both ways. I think a person is a person. It does not matter if you are a white person or if you are black person. We all have the ability to offend each other. We all need to be more aware of each other's feelings and the way we say things. Sam says in class how "nothing is offensive." He said something about we all have different levels of tolerance with what offends us. I do agree with that but I do not agree that "nothing is offensive." There are appropriate ways to say things to each other. We do have to be careful in our culturally diverse world as to not hurt each other's feelings. Certain cultures have specific customs that we need to try to learn about and be aware of when in the presence of these specific cultures. It is very easy to say the wrong thing and when that happens, I feel it is necessary to apologize and try to understand why it was offensive.

I do not think a white person should feel guilty unless that individual person has done something they should feel sorry for. I do not think it is appropriate for me, as an individual, to feel responsible about the Native American current state. Granted it was my grandparents' grandparents' grandparents' grandparents, or maybe even more than that, but I did not have control over what they chose to do when they immigrated to the United States. If it was me personally who stole something from a Native American, yes, I should feel guilty. But I did not do anything wrong. My parents pay for the home that they live in. I currently pay for the apartment I live in. I did not get any of these things for free and I should feel proud, if anything for the things I have. I have earned every single thing in my life and I think it is ridiculous that people try to say we should feel guilty for what has happened in the past. Yes, it is a sad thing. But to be honest, you have to think about it in the way of survival of the fittest. I do not know if this sounds arrogant or rude, but the white people came over with more technology and they were able to conquer the new world. They had the resources and power to achieve the things they set out to. I am not saying I think it was right of them to intrude on another culture and country. I do not applaud their achievements in any way. It was a terrible thing to steal and kill for material possessions. But at the same time, I was not the person who did any of this, therefore I do no believe I should be blamed or tried to feel guilt. In my life I have always had a job to pay for the things I need and want. It is not fair to try and put the responsibility on those of us who have worked hard to make a life for ourselves. The only things I feel bad about are when I offend someone, which I try not to do. I do believe everyone was created equal and I do not discriminate by any means. If I happen to offend someone, it is simply because I did not understand what was going on. In these situations I try to gain knowledge so my ignorance does not offend another person or group. If everyone operated and treated each other in this way I think we would all get along a lot easier and there would not be so much discussion about racism. However, until we live in a world that people treat each other fairly, we do need to keep exploring these issues.

I understand that people only know what they grow up around. I also understand how you can get into a cycle of bad habits and not know when or how to stop it. It's hard when a life of crime and violence is all you know. After you get out of jail, it is almost impossible to have a good job. It just becomes so much easier to start stealing again, or start selling drugs again. To come out on top after being in jail for a certain amount of time is a difficult task to overcome. However, there are some people who are capable of doing that. Some people who get out of jail and start an honest life. In the HBO original series, Entourage, the main character, Vince, had a cousin, Dom, who got out of jail and started a new life. Vince gave him a job and Dom got serious with his life. He maintained a decent job, got married, and had a baby.

I think it is an interesting comment about the correlation between financial status and quality of a lawyer. The statistic probably does stem from this fact. If you can afford an experienced, persuasive lawyer to represent you, most likely your chances of getting off in the court system are incredibly high. When you have decent representation, you will be much more successful in getting an easier punishment. You will probably show up to court in a nice suit and say all the proper things. Your lawyer will have trained you to say what the judge and jury want to hear. People who do not have much money will not have had this type of preparation and probably will not get the same treatment. So it is interesting to think about if everyone had an equally experienced lawyer how much those statistics would change? Would the black convicts still get harsher punishments?