I think that everyone who is a citizen of our country deserves health care. So my answer would in part be yes. However, illegal immigrants who do not pay taxes which would fund health care, do not deserve to be protected by health care that is funded by taxpayers. If we let illegal immigrants do this (get free health care without paying taxes) it would be an absolute drain on our economy. In reality, this does happen though. Immigrants get over the border every day, and they end up in the United States. Then, they get sick, and they need health care. It’s a cycle that drains on the economy.

I think that hard work can be enough. No matter how little you have, you can always savor whatever that is and work your ass off to get more. Being a college student, I’ve learned how to live pretty cheaply. It’s not hard to not have a lot of money, and especially if you have no money to spend, I don’t think it’s impossible to get by. There are so many ways in the world to make a quick buck. Maybe the opportunities don’t pose themselves for certain people, and for others, they’re more prevalent. But still, I think that there is always a way to make a dollar or two – doing odd jobs, among other things.

I think that South Park is a great show in terms of entertainment. It definitely pushes some people’s buttons on several occasions. Maybe not even just on several occasions – probably every single episode. The show is pretty much based on and was founded upon mockery of people and laughing at people, including celebrities’ misfortunes and fortunes.
To address the video post, I guess it’s pretty interesting that a Muslim group actually is angry with South Park at this point, because in the past South Park has mocked radical Muslim groups as being upset about them showing Mohammed. Now, it’s actually happened. Pretty ironic I think.
I’m not Muslim, I’m Christian, so I guess I don’t see the whole significance around showing Mohammed, nor do I even know if Muslim groups are actually against Mohammed being showed. In my eyes, it could just be all made up by South Park as another thing that they could work with, but I really don’t know.
I honestly don’t think that anyone should be offended by South Park’s mockery, for a few reasons. First of all, South Park picks on almost everyone. They don’t really discriminate, and when they make fun of people, I think it’s mostly as a joke. I mean, they even had a few episodes about our President, Barack Obama when he became the President. Secondly, I think that the whole mockery of anyone in South Park is not to be taken seriously. When they make fun of people and stuff, it’s normally just some kind of metaphor or something. Lastly, it’s just a television show, and not even a real television show – it’s a cartoon. It kind of makes me laugh, how much ruckus and controversy a cartoon can cause. Everyone is going to receive criticism in their life, so everyone is going to have to learn how to deal with it and know how to accept and work with that criticism. I understand that celebrities get it a lot – in the magazines, tabloids, on the news – and South Park is yet another thing that tacks on some more criticism. I’m not a celebrity, so I don’t know what it’s like, but like I said, you’re going to receive some criticism, so you should learn how to deal with it.
On a final note, I would have to say that South Park does go too far sometimes. Most recently, I remember the episode that picked on Sarah Jessica Parker pretty badly. I almost felt bad for her, because every line was just, “She’s so ugly” or “She’s hideous and gross”. Not to mention how her character in the show was pretty gross looking. So sometimes I do feel like South Park goes overboard. Oh well though.

I think that the answer to this question, and the pressure felt by a guy from society on how to dress, is based on the perception and mindset of the guy, and can vary greatly from one guy to another. There are guys like me and most of my friends who don’t seem to feel a lot of pressure. Then, there are guys like one of my roommates who I think feels a lot of pressure. He takes a while to get ready, wears a lot of button downs, etc. Also there are guys like kids in my fraternity who wear button downs all the time, gel their hair, and do all kinds of things that I think are unnecessary.

I think that girls feel the pressure more from society on how to dress. Girls take much longer to get ready and go out than guys do, and therefore I think that they feel the pressure more. Guys can pretty much just throw on a shirt and jeans and be accepted. Girls, however, have the issue of doing their hair, doing their nails/toenails, what shoes to wear (heels/not heels), whether to wear a dress, pants, or a skirt, and the list goes on. Honestly, I feel bad for girls because of all of this, but I definitely appreciate being a guy and how easy it is for me to get ready to go out at night.

Well, I’m a guy so I feel like this is a pretty good question for me to answer. To start, I think my answer would have to be no, I don’t feel that guys feel the same need to conform to society’s pressures as women do. A lot of people say that our society is dominated by men, and my guess would be that that has something to do with it.
From class, a few of the girls who spoke gave me the impression that they did feel the need to dress in certain ways so that they were accepted by men, women, and society. I think that there are some of the same types of pressures for men in a way. However, I think that these pressures kind of apply differently to men. For instance, I’ll start by saying that guys do think about what they’re wearing when they go out. They don’t just throw on the first thing they see and accept it – however, guys probably don’t feel the need to think about what they are wearing quite as much as girls do. I myself only think about two or three things when I’m dressing to go out at night. The first thing is, what kind of pants will I wear? And the second thing is what kind of shirt will I wear? Occasionally I will think about whether to wear a hat, or what kind of shoes I’m wearing, but not normally. That being said, I feel that it is much easier for guys to dress in the first place.
Girls, as I was able to (I think) tell from class, feel like they are very pressured when it comes to what to wear. Apparently girls worry about what their friends will think about their outfit, as well as taking in to consideration what guys will think of their outfit. From a guy’s perspective, I only take into consideration what I think about my outfit really. I feel like I can be the sole judge of the clothing on my body and that I can judge it well enough to not feel self conscious when I go out. Normally my friends won’t even comment on my outfit, so I don’t have to worry about what they think. And I think another real key point to this issue is the idea that girls don’t even really care what clothes guys have on. Some guys put too much thought into what they wear (I think) and wear Ed Hardy shirts, button downs on a nightly basis, etc. I’m not into dressing up like that, and I don’t think society requires it. However, some guys do feel that way, so I guess my real answer is that I think the pressure guys feel on how to dress from society varies from guy to guy.

So this whole ordeal kind of troubles me. No one can deny how messed up it is to play a video game in order to satisfy such urges as raping a girl. I think that video games based on killing people (the current most popular one probably being Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2) are not quite as inappropriate. These types of video games are based on actual events that take place in the real world. Wars are fought and people are killed. Therefore, the act of playing such video games solely represents a desire to put oneself in the shoes (hypothetically of course) of people who are conducting legal actions. This is where the line is drawn between violent video games where killing is done, and violent video games where raping is done. Clearly, the latter video game portrays things that are illegal in a moral society, whereas the former depicts events that unfold as a result of a dispute between nations. Such acts in the former are not outlawed, as they are a representation of war.
To me, it's pretty despicable that people are entertained by playing a video game where they rape people. No one can deny how messed up it is to play a video game in order to satisfy such urges as raping a girl. I think that video games based on killing people (the current most popular one probably being Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2) are not quite as inappropriate. These types of video games are based on actual events that take place in the real world. Wars are fought and people are killed. Therefore, the act of playing such video games solely represents a desire to put oneself in the shoes (hypothetically of course) of people who are conducting legal actions.
I guess you can’t just pinpoint this problem on Japanese people though. My guess is that there are thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands or more Americans playing these messed up (in my opinion) games. The problem does not just lie with the creators or the game, but also with those who buy, condone, and play the game. Honestly, anyone can make a video game where the character does something that is generally accepted as being morally wrong. Look at the Grand Theft Auto series, for example. The character in that game does all kinds of despicable things. The player cannot make the character rape girls, but he sure can kill a whole lot of people. It’s just too bad some video games have to take it father than others and, in the end, they cross the line. However, like I said before, people can make video games, but people don’t have to play them. I think a large part of the problem is the people who buy and play these games. Giving money into the hands of the games’ creators.

So what type of people would buy these games? My first guess (and my girlfriend’s first guess) is a pedophile. Probably some type of heterosexual middle aged man who has no wife, has not been intimate with a girl in multiple years, and lives alone. I feel like this type of person would get pleasure out of seeing a girl being raped because he would know that he himself cannot get a girl to have sex with him without the use of coercion. Therefore, the sight (and the ability to manipulate through playing the video game) of a girl being raped, would likely turn on such an individual. Gross.

So, for this post, I’m going to voice some opinions of others. I’m asking my girlfriend what she thinks, and her response was the following. “That’s disgusting, fucked up, and I can’t believe something like that actually exists. Do people even buy video games like that? They must be messed up in the head.” I agree. She also touched on the issue of war games, and on the issue of Grand Theft Auto, how such games are “vulgar.” I wonder if such games would be more popular if they were made in America rather than in Japan. Would more people buy them? Who knows.

So this whole ordeal kind of troubles me. No one can deny how messed up it is to play a video game in order to satisfy such urges as raping a girl. I think that video games based on killing people (the current most popular one probably being Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2) are not quite as inappropriate. These types of video games are based on actual events that take place in the real world. Wars are fought and people are killed. Therefore, the act of playing such video games solely represents a desire to put oneself in the shoes (hypothetically of course) of people who are conducting legal actions. This is where the line is drawn between violent video games where killing is done, and violent video games where raping is done. Clearly, the latter video game portrays things that are illegal in a moral society, whereas the former depicts events that unfold as a result of a dispute between nations. Such acts in the former are not outlawed, as they are a representation of war.
To me, it's pretty despicable that people are entertained by playing a video game where they rape people. No one can deny how messed up it is to play a video game in order to satisfy such urges as raping a girl. I think that video games based on killing people (the current most popular one probably being Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2) are not quite as inappropriate. These types of video games are based on actual events that take place in the real world. Wars are fought and people are killed. Therefore, the act of playing such video games solely represents a desire to put oneself in the shoes (hypothetically of course) of people who are conducting legal actions.
I guess you can’t just pinpoint this problem on Japanese people though. My guess is that there are thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands or more Americans playing these messed up (in my opinion) games. The problem does not just lie with the creators or the game, but also with those who buy, condone, and play the game. Honestly, anyone can make a video game where the character does something that is generally accepted as being morally wrong. Look at the Grand Theft Auto series, for example. The character in that game does all kinds of despicable things. The player cannot make the character rape girls, but he sure can kill a whole lot of people. It’s just too bad some video games have to take it father than others and, in the end, they cross the line. However, like I said before, people can make video games, but people don’t have to play them. I think a large part of the problem is the people who buy and play these games. Giving money into the hands of the games’ creators.