I don’t think she was asking why we aren’t helping more. I think she was asking why we don’t seem to care about 300,000 people dying. I agree with you that out of sight out of mind comes into play here. I mean with September 11th it was right in our nation. We knew people affected by it. I also see where you are coming from saying we sent a lot of help, but I just think she was asking why its only been 3 months and we have already stopped talking about it in the news and act like everything is now fine.

Although I do agree that it is a really shocking thing to know that 300,000 people died and we act as though it was 3 people, I do not think it is anything like September 11th. The only reason I say that is because America was attacked by terrorists on 9/11. People died because of other people not because of a natural phenomenon. I do agree it’s horrible that we don’t think about this more because 300,000 people is a lot. If it was my family of course I would care more. The more I think of it the worse I feel because everyone should care more and I don’t now why we don’t.

I think this student makes a very good point. I think there is a very fine line between feeling better than someone else and feeling good about your well intended actions. Racism is basically thinking a person’s race makes them superior or inferior to others without any other characteristics factoring in. You basically think your race is the right race and all other races are wrong and worse off. I think feeling superior from helping a country isn’t the best way to feel, but I don’t believe it is racism. I do agree it is on the way to racism because if you feel superior for volunteering, then you might as well feel superior in other ways. I think if everyone had the money and spare time then everyone would choose to help others. Some people don’t have the necessary items to help, but it isn’t their fault just like their race. Should you feel superior to other countries just because you can help more than them? I don’t know if you should or not, but I am going to say you shouldn’t. I mean think about it, the countries that aren’t helping are third world countries that can’t afford or have the means to help other countries. Just because you have the time and money to spend helping out other countries doesn’t mean that you are better. If people from poorer countries had the means necessary to help other countries, then who is to say that they wouldn’t. If you feel superior to those people who cant help it that they cant volunteer, then you are on your way to feeling superior to those people who cant help what color their skin is. Born into money and a white family doesn’t make you any better than a colored person born into poverty because they are both things you cannot help. No one blames you for being born white because you didn’t have a choice. I do on the other hand think that it is ok to feel superior to people with same lifestyle as you because you use your wealth and spare time for good. What makes helping and volunteering such a good thing is the thought behind the action. The thought of wanting to spend spare time helping others is what makes something admirable. I think that the thought alone to help others makes you a good person, and the action just puts the cherry on top. You did a great thing but feeling better than others for doing it takes away from the good nature of your action. My philosophy is that there will always be someone who is better than you. There will always be someone who cares more, helps more, tries harder etc, so just do what you want to the best of your ability and don’t think about being better than others because you will never be the best.

I want to say I think that there is something different between girls and boys besides physical features, but I don’t think there is. I think if we were all shaped the same with the same voice tones there would be no difference. I know a lot of girls who act like guys and a lot of guys that act very girly, so I don’t think your sex has anything to do with your personality. The way you act and who you are has to do with your surroundings and family. We are all individuals, so why would our sex matter.

Let me start with saying that I am a very religious Christian and I don’t think being Christian has anything to do with the war on Iraq, that being said, I did think Sam did his job, and did his job well yesterday. He wanted us to see what it is like from the other point of view, and he succeeded. We had to put on the ‘lenses’ and see outside our culture, and Sam made me feel like I really was a Muslim Arab. As Americans we only see the good stuff Americans do over there, and only hear about the bad things the Arabs do. When we do hear something bad about the US, we justify it. Just as Americans only see the bad things Arabs do, Arabs only see the bad things the US does. They dislike what we do to them, just like we don’t like what they do to us. When Sam used the China/ coal example, I thought he made a very good point. It was a perfect analogy of what we are doing to the Middle East. He made my viewpoint change a little. I knew why we went to war, for the oil, and I knew they didn’t like it, but I never thought about what they felt like when we are bombing them for something that is theirs. It would be different if we owned it, and they stopped letting us have it, but they own the land, and we are stealing. Isn’t stealing against the law? Just like how we have a bad view of Muslims, the Jewish, Buddhists etc. the Arabs have a bad view of Christians. They see Christians coming over and killing them for their land, the Arabs don’t see the US fighting; they see Christians. I also understand why Sam makes that point because of all the Christians trying to convert the Muslims to Christianity. Here is where I have to defend Christians. It is our religion to spread Christianity. We are supposed to help people find Christianity and spread the word of God. We do these things the same reason the Jews don’t eat pork. It is our religion. To me, Sam wasn’t trying to say being Christian is bad, he was just trying to show us what the Arabs think because of what the Arabs see. All of the lectures this year have really opened my eyes to a lot of different topics in the world, but the last part of this class was one of the biggest surprises to me. We did the poll of whether we would join the fight against the US as Arabs, and like 60% of people said they would. I forget the actual number but the real percent of people in the Middle East who joined against the US was way lower than 60%. What does that say? To me it was saying first that 40 min of pretending to be Arab made over half the class want to fight against the US, and second that the Arabs must have a lot of generosity for other humans not to want to fight us. It also showed me that most Americans love war. I thought Sam’s lecture was one of his best this semester. I thought it could have been just about the Arabs and war, and he could have left Christians out of it.

I agree with him completely. I mean I like the fact that I might get a job because I’m a middle class white female, but the thought of less qualified people getting jobs in hospitals makes me rethink my opinion on affirmative action. The smartest, most qualified people should get the job. Yes this means the people on top will stay there but it also means you are getting the best service possible. If I pay a huge hospital bill I want my money’s worth. If you had the choice you are not going to choose someone less qualified. Everyone will choose the most qualified person for the job.

First off I want to say wow. Like you honestly can say your opinions about everything he has talked to us about haven’t even slightly been affected by what he tells us. I think you are wrong. I think you would have to have no soul in order to not be affected by the images, facts, and books he has opened up to us. Almost every subject we have discussed in class has made me rethink how I feel about it. He showed me that it isn’t necessarily anyone’s fault for being poor or on welfare. It has to do with the fact that some people are born on top and once you are n the bottom it is harder to work your way up. I didn’t know slavery existed in the world today until I read the book Disposable People. Every time I buy something from Wal-Mart or anything cheap for that matter I always think about what the people went through to make it this inexpensive. I will admit I haven’t stopped buying inexpensive things, or things that were processed due to slavery, but I have decreased the amounts of stuff I buy. It is very hard in our society not to buy slavery made products but I really wish it was easier because I hate the fact that I support slavery, and Sam showed that to me. When he showed us the video just yesterday I was almost in tears thinking about how awful their lives are. When they showed the scars from whips I didn’t know what to feel. I felt like I needed to go hunt down and kill the slave owners. You are honestly going to sit there and say you had no remorse what so ever about what they went through. I would love to see if you could handle what they went through. Actually I don’t want to see anyone go through that but you need to imagine being in their shoes. Imagine just being taken away from your family and put into hard work and not get a dime for it. I think you are either not listening to Sam’s lectures or you don’t understand the lectures. I use to think affirmative action was so unfair and unjust, but then Sam showed us that it actually helps white females more than any other demographic. I actually had a huge discussion with my family over Easter about it and I had a complete different pint of view than usual. He showed us the statistics of employment for whites and minorities. He showed me that an employer would rather hire a white male with something on his record than a black male. Did you already know that fact? If you didn’t know that, then it should have changed your opinion of why so many black and brown people don’t have jobs. I learn something every day in that class. Sam’s job isn’t to change your opinions, it is to make you feel something and make you see the whole picture. I think you are just against changing your point of view. More power to you but I guess I am just more open-minded.

I think more men are educated about periods than people think. For example my dad knows just as much as my mom. He was the one who explained what was happening to me when I got mine. I think people think men don’t know about periods because they don’t talk about bleeding and I think they don’t talk about it because they think women will be embarrassed or feel uncomfortable about men talking about bleeding. Free tampons would be so great, but I don’t think they would be free if men had periods but maybe they would be cheaper since twice as many people would need them.

I agree completely. Most black and brown people I know do dress like those people in the LL Bean magazine. It isn’t just wrong to stereotype black people as poorly dressed thugs, but it is also plain rude. He didn’t show pictures of white boys in thug outfits so there was no need to show the catalog. I think LL Bean clothes are nice and therefore the clothes are nice for every race. If a family can afford LL Bean then more power to them to buy and wear the clothes. As a side note, my swim instructor was black.

The issue about whites becoming the minority obviously affects me because I am white, but it affect everyone in different ways. I have mixed feelings about this issue. I lean more towards the angry/ sad point of view, but I also think it is bound to happen and isn’t such a bad thing. I feel like whites don’t have as strong cultures as other ethnic groups. This is why we have so many multiracial couples involve white people. I feel like we don’t have such strong bonds to keep our ethnic group secluded in order to preserve the white race. I think white people also get involved in multiracial couples because of guilt. They feel less guilt about slavery and genocide if they are in relationships with different races, and their children won’t have to feel so much guilt because they are half black or Hispanic. Since we have so many multiracial couples, there is a decrease in the number of people who are just one race. So in forty years when whites are the minority, I think that the only majority will be multiracial people because most people will be multiracial by then, which is not such a bad thing.
I also lean towards the idea that this could be bad. Not necessarily bad but more sad and strange. Whites have been in the majority for so long. I think once you have something for so long you will definitely miss it. It is not such a good thing because once the white race is gone; we can never get it back. It is like whites will be an endangered species. I do not know if getting rid of the whites is a good or bad thing considering most of the things you hear about white are bad, but I think it will be a sad day because blacks and Hispanics will still have a strong race. I also think mixing all the races is sad because we are losing some cultures. If we are all the same ‘race’ i.e. multiracial, I think there will be less cultures expressing their unique features, which means less diversity of learning about other ethnic groups. All this being said, I think it isn’t such a bad thing. I think it will get rid of most racism. Although without racism we will be left to discriminate against gays, women, and obese people. I guess it is one down and three to go. It is so hard to think about whites not being the majority. I wonder if whites will be put into slavery or killed because Native Americans just want the white’s land, and since the whites will be in the minority, the Natives just might take over.