Too be honest, I expected things to be a lot worse in Haiti. Obviously this is a terrible situation, but at least Haitians aren’t just sitting in their tents all day waiting to be given their lives back, they are back on their feet, and I believe that we can learn a lot from them. I would like to think that if this happened to us, then we would keep our chins up and start back from scratch, rather than dwell on what we have lost (economically), but maybe we are too used to having so much that it would be too hard for us to start over again.

The creators of South Park really like to push people’s buttons and see how far they can go without (illegally) crossing the line. I have to admit that it is an entertaining show, because it points out the flaws in humans and kind of shows us that there are so many angry people out there. I don’t know much about the Islamic religion but I believe that Muslims consider it blasphemy to show any physical representation of Muhammad, so whether it’s good or bad? I’m not saying that Muslims are uptight or anything, but a big deal is being made over a cartoon show.

I have to admit that I am one of those people who don’t really feel affected by news of natural disasters in other parts of the world. Problems somewhere else don’t seem real and don’t put speed bumps in my everyday life. I know I shouldn’t be self-absorbed, especially considering the fact that my parents adopted six of my brothers and sisters when they were orphans in the Philippines. There are ten of us total, and we all grew up thinking our family was normal. My parents in fact have said they did not plan to adopt, but when they were overseas and saw the huge need, they had an “aha moment” and went with it. They experienced a social issue up close and personal and chose a way to do what they could about it. People come face-to-face with social issues at different times and in unexpected ways. Not everyone adopts six kids just because they want to make life better for orphans, and not everyone sends money to Haiti or builds houses for Habitat for Humanity. But plenty of people do, and that’s a good thing.
I’d like to think part of me is changing, and after paying attention to what is going on in the world and what is happening to others, I can start doing something, big or small, to help somebody else. Just like the girl in the video said, if somebody in my family or anybody close to me died, or if a terrible accident happened to them, I would not be able to focus on something like school. Compared to the health and safety of my loved ones, school or my part-time job would be pretty meaningless.
Even if I wanted to, though, I couldn’t help every time someone needed it. Preparing myself to sort out the issues and needs and ways I can help will take more time and education than I have right now. That doesn’t mean I don’t feel anything when there’s news of a disaster like the one in Haiti. It means I can’t stop, do a 180-degree turn, and figure out what more I can or should do besides contribute a few dollars.
I completely agree that we should be helping, no question about it, but why is there so much pressure to do so? There are too many causes and disasters and people who are young, old, sick, or hurt, and it’s overwhelming to think about helping every time someone asks. We can only do what we can do, and it isn't possible to join every effort to save the whales or send school supplies to young girls in Afghanistan or buy mosquito nets for kids in Africa. I can’t do it all. But I will pay attention more to what’s going on, try to put things in some kind of perspective, and do what I can.

It feels weird to be able to say after leaving class that I really do understand the fight against Americans now. It made total sense when Sam said that people on both sides pretty much only look at events and situations from their own perspectives and believe they are “right” or claim they are the victims. We all believe we are doing the right thing. When I read about American soldiers harassing innocent Iraqi citizens, the only thing that popped into my head was exactly how Sam put it—yes, those specific people are wrong and should be punished, but overall we are good people and the rare occasions in the media that portray us as bullies are not realistic. However, if I saw something similar to what was shown in class, like actual terrorist attacks, pictures of young Muslim children holding rifles, disturbing protests, and so on, I would probably react ignorantly and think that these kinds of images showed how many Muslims really are—evil and wishing harm to innocent people. From their vantage point, they clearly see and feel the same way about us. When you consider it that way, everything seems to fall into place. Not that it directly solves anything, but if more people could understand how typical people identify with and support the purpose and legitimacy of their own group, like I recently managed to understand, we might start talking more and attacking less. It really changes your perspective. Others want what we want, and that is to live a normal, terror-free life that allows us all to be safe and healthy. Unfortunately, the circle of world events seems to continue without anyone effectively trying to understand the view from the other side.
I don’t get why anyone might think one religion is better than another and converting your enemy is the only way to resolve conflict. Because I am a relatively non-religious person, it is easier for me to see things more neutrally. I am not biased toward or against any religion and have no problem accepting that people worship differently. Like I said before, I just don’t get it; live and let live. These fanatics are very creepy, traveling overseas and basically disguising themselves to be Muslims. They say that doing this is worth the risk because eternity in heaven is better than eternity in hell, but would their God be a fan of their actions to deceive people?
Personally I don’t believe Christianity has anything to do with U.S. involvement in the war on terror. I think oil simply translates to power, and if your enemy is living on the land directly above such a source of power, then it attracts attention and competition and fear. But more to the point, I think people in Middle Eastern countries DO believe Christianity is the basis of the war. If we switch words around a little, I think most Americans would agree tha\ Islam and Muslims who practice it fanatically ARE at the core of the conflict. Again, it’s probably all about perspective.

I used to be guilty of generalizing a group of people based on the actions and words of even just one person in that group. Although I knew it was wrong and I knew that not all are like that person, the thought still did cross my mind, unfortunately. One evil person does not count for all of the people in the same religion or culture. It’s just that the bad is what we look for, and all of the good things are looked through as if they don’t make up for the chaos that the other one caused. I hope that your husband doesn’t get any hate for this.

I think that step two is a step that people aren’t expected to take. I think that it is something that requires you to take action to try and liberate these slaves. But something like that would take so much for a person to accomplish that it really isn’t something that people would consider doing and therefore not considered a step. You could ask many people who are in step one if they would travel to these plantations and do whatever it took to free the slaves, but I think that they would try finding another and safer way to do that, yet less effective. There isn’t much stopping us from doing that other than determination and our own greed for a candy that we apparently think is more worthy than the lives of innocent people.

I am somewhat a fan of shooting games like Call of Duty, even though they are based on violence, because I actually like the strategy and good guy/bad guy aspects. That said, I think these “rape games” are in a different, totally disturbing category, and it’s pretty wild to know there are people who actually pay to play them. Now I actually feel better about myself playing shooting games when there’s this crazy group out there playing gruesome rape-to-win games.
It’s hilarious for anyone to say that this kind of game would help potential rapists vent their desires without actually raping anybody. I really doubt that deviant people could be satisfied with virtual rape. The way I see it, violent, pornographic games are only going to fuel sick desires to do this in real life. I wonder if fans of these games have a voyeurism thing going on and feel safe watching and playing sick games as part of a really unhealthy lifestyle. I also wonder how game creators would respond to news that their games provoked somebody to rape someone.
I’m not a violent person, yet I play shooting games. I suppose you could argue that an individual isn’t a rapist nor does he (or she) want to rape somebody but enjoys playing rape games. But when you think about that, rape is just plain creepy. How would anybody get joy out of that kind for forced brutality? At least in the shooting games I sometimes play, there are goals other than killing. You play to win the battle or war or territory. How does somebody win a rape game? Do you have to get away with it? When you think about someone you care about getting beaten and raped, there’s no way a game like that could be okay to play.
To answer the last question Sam asks, I honestly would not play this video game with a bunch of my male friends. I wouldn’t even watch “normal” porn (without violence) with my friends. That just seems so weird to me and not much of a bonding experience with my buddies. If these responses were anonymous, I think there might actually be some guys out there who would do this, but maybe only for a sick laugh. I don't mean to laugh at the fact that women are being raped, but more so because games like this are actually being created in the business world. I think (hope) most people would not buy this stuff but would laugh at those who buy and play it.
I know I keep comparing shooting games and rape games, and I am okay with the former but not the latter. I can think of a few reasons why. First, the war games I play feature players who are armed and ready for battle. There’s strategy involved, like I said, and the fight is not a surprise to anyone. Rape games are vicious and pointless. They are about someone exerting power over somebody weaker and hurting someone who is innocent and unarmed and who didn’t expect it. It’s not a fair fight and it’s sick and illegal.

I’m not sure if hospitals or medical schools base much of their employment and student acceptance through affirmative action. But if they did I can see how it could downgrade the quality of their care, because they could very easily decline an excellent upcoming doctor and choose one that may not pull through in the end all because they were following the codes of affirmative action. Although I don’t believe affirmative action occurs (or at least that often) in the medical fields, but I’m sure there isn’t a huge (negative) result from it. Nepotism is just an unfair action but I don’t think there are many ways around it.

It kind of makes me think about in the history books, people didn’t have welfare then, but they seemed to make it through the day. These people worked, and worked their asses off, and I think that those who went through that without welfare should be the ones to have the right opinion on it. I’m not sure how one can expect to learn how to become a hard worker when things are given to them (I know it’s not much, but still…). I don’t know what the people on welfare are going through or how badly they all need it, but think about whose money is being taken away.

I was pretty amazed to read that minority births could surpass non-Hispanic white births almost any minute now. I never stopped to think about it but would not have guessed that the country could not be anywhere near that point. I’d like to think that the rate of minority births keeps increasing at least partly because there are more interracial marriages. I would hope that means there’s a gradual increase in the respect and kinship people feel for others, right?
I also imagine there are people out there who would take the news that non-Hispanic whites are on the verge of becoming the minority in the United States as a bad thing, rather than irrelevant news like it really is. Personally, even when non-Hispanic whites dip lower than 50 percent of the population here, I will have a hard time thinking of myself as part of a minority. I wouldn’t be in denial of the fact; I would just feel kind of shocked. Anyone who makes a big deal about this may think that whites are losing control of the country, and people who “don’t belong here” are taking it from us—in a more natural and much less violent way than WE took the country from the Native Americans, however. Do you suppose there are people out there who worry that whites will be put on reservations and have absolutely no power in the future?
I can’t really predict what non-whites might do or say when their numbers become the majority in the United States. I suppose there might be some (not many I hope) who would possibly want revenge for grievances that took place long ago. I hope nothing as radical like that would ever happen, but I know there are extremists in every group and they can cause harm. I also wonder if some minority people who feel persecuted by white society will start to blame some other group for their lack of success when a white majority no longer exists.
I hope some positive things will happen when non-Hispanic whites become the minority. Maybe racist white people out there will be able to see past their ignorant ways after spending more time with non-whites (at work, in the community, etc.) and realizing that this country will run just as well if not better when the numbers shift.
Maybe with this change, people who focus on racism will be able to see that this country is not secretly making decisions based on race and that skin color really doesn’t matter. All in all I welcome this change, because I honestly think that if anything does shift, it will be better for humanity and hopefully will broaden people’s views.