I think this is an interesting question and one that should be asked about many tragedies, not just the one in Haiti. I was actually thinking about this when September 11th was brought up in lecture. Although we paid much more attention to September 11th than we did to the tragedy in Haiti, I felt that many parts of America forgot about September 11th soon after it happened. I don't know if forgot is the right word.. it's just that it was put on the back burner and lost it's intense focus in people's lives and conversations. I think it is just too easy to get caught up in our own lives and stop caring about something that we are not directly seeing. Although I was in Pennsylvania at the time the towers were hit, which is fairly close compared to other areas of our country, I didn't feel the direct affects of the event. No one that I knew was involved or even near any of the crashes, so it was easy for me to remove it from my thoughts. I think the only thing that kept September 11th in the minds of a lot of American's was the fear that something like that could happen here and that it may happen again. I guess I'm just saying that yes, I agree, we focused our attention much more intensely on September 11th than we did on the earthquake in Haiti, but I think September 11th escaped the minds of the majority of American's soon after it happened. I also thought that little attention was on Hurricane Katrina and the tragedy in New Orleans. It was in the news for a few weeks after it happened, but many families suffered the affects for a substantial amount of time after that.. long after it was constantly broadcasted in the news. And since this didn't affect the majority of American's and was far from where we live, we quickly forgot. And that happened to "our" people. This isn't an issue just about Haiti or "other countries" either. It is the same situation when it come to racism and simply not understanding other people. There are tragedies everyday, all around the world, and sometimes even next door. It is easy to push it out of our minds because it is difficult to think about. It is important to acknowledge that there are people everywhere that are worse off than us.. but it is also more efficient to find a tragedy that means something to you enough that you want to create change and do something about it. I understand what this girl is saying and I agree that it is tragic that we don't pay attention to this event more and want to help.. but it is just so easy to get caught up in our lives and it's very intimidating when you don't know how to help or where to even start.

I completely understand the point that Sam was trying to get across with yesterday's lecture. I think that a lot of people are continuing to look at it from their closed minded Christian American perspective. Sam isn't saying that Christians are trying to take over the world and that American's are evil and purposefully killing innocent peoples. What he was trying to do was get us to see the issue from the other side. Step out of your monotonous life for 2 seconds and admit that from a Arabic Muslim's perspective, "Christian invaders" may be exactly how you see it. Just like we continue to judge people that we do not know that much about (even within our own country), other people around the world have some very generalized and negative attitudes towards Americans. And it is easy to see how a people's who are seeing their friends and family killed by American's may not have the best opinion of us. Like in many cases of racism or discrimination, it takes only a few extremist or radicals to taint the view of the group. The issues of war, discrimination, homicide, and even divorce could easily be solved if we were more willing to look at situations through the eyes of the "other".
On the other hand, I didn't completely agree with Sam's approach to addressing this issue. I understand that this is something he is obviously very passionate and opinionated about.. I just felt like he was assuming that we didn't know anything about the war and we all were super-patriots who agreed with everything the US government decides. I also felt like he was screaming at us the entire time and by the end I was actually getting a little pissed off. Not all of us are completely ignorant to current events and some of us do know how to think for ourselves and are willing to question the decision made in Washington. And by the end of lecture I felt a little hopeless and small. There is really nothing that can be done from our position. We are dependent on foreign oil. To continue our lifestyle we have to have that oil.. Iraq isn't just going to hand us that oil. I understand the issue but I just feel like we are stuck. So many people have already died. So many people that we know (and even more that we don't). What happens if we stop now? What did they die for? I just think that Sam's point would be better taken from a less harsh voice. (To be honest, I would have liked to hear it from his wife.) I would have been much more receptive if he wouldn't have yelled the entire time and pointed his finger.

I can understand why Sam brought up this issue in class. I was pretty taken aback with his word choice, but then I realized that he was only reacting that way because of the reaction he got out of the class. It is pretty crazy that people reacted sooo strongly. I will admit that I was a little uncomfortable, but some people were freaking out and leaving the room. Yeah, it is a topic that isn't often discussed, but it is also a part of life that 50% of the population is quite familiar with. The main issue that I had with Sam going into detail about his wife "bleeding," was first off, partly due to his word choice. "Bleeding," for me, has somewhat of a negative connotation and if we want to get technical here, it isn't just blood that comes out when you're menstruating. I think that it is okay if his wife wants to use that terminology, but I just feel less comfortable with Sam saying it. That brings me to my secondly, which is my second issue with Sam's disclosure of his wife's periods... I just don't see it as his place to talk about.. even if he does have "permission" from her. If she wants to share her womanly experiences with us, more power to her and I welcome it with open arms. And if Sam wants to talk about it in a general sense, as in "most women" or "I have heard of women that..", etc.. then I would be more okay with it. I just don't think it is any mans place to share any woman's struggle with a cycle that they will not fully understand. And I guess this is a good transition into how this issue may pertain to race issues. It wouldn't be fair of a white person to share the struggles of a black friend in a way that they were implying that they knew what it felt like or could even grasp their struggle. I believe you can be the most enlightened and open individual and share experiences with people of different races, but as the saying goes, "until you walk a mile in their shoes.." there is just no way that you can really know. It would be nice for people to make a greater effort to try to understand, or at least acknowledge that many people deal with racial struggles on a daily basis, and many people struggle with a woman's cycle on a monthly basis. I guess a step towards understanding is the beginnings of talking about it. Enter the subject of menstruation like you would enter a conversation about race, willing to listen and learn and acknowledging that it is something that you do not deal with or can ever fully understand.

I am glad that someone brought up this subject, because I have often wondered about it myself. It seems like in the majority of class discussions it is a white against black and brown people discussion. I also noticed that there a lot of multiracial students in our class.. I would be interested in hearing how they feel about a lot of the topics brought up in class because they have strong ties to more than one background or opinion. I have always wondered if they felt a sort of animosity towards some of the questions asked.. or even left out when discussions continually omit or dismiss them. I am also wondering if they are more open to the many topics of "race relations" or if they carry an even deeper burden of guilt or oppression. I would appreciate it if in future class discussions Sam were to ask specific multiracial students to answer.. and whose "side" they feel a greater connection with and why. And does that connection change from topic to topic or depend on which part of their family they are closer to or where they grew up or who their friends are or who they just happen to be around at the time. In a race relations class where we are attempting to break down barriers and create an openness and understanding among all people, I think someone of a mixed race may be able to speak more honestly and experienced than someone who isn't mixed. And I also would like to hear more from the "brown" people. It seems like a lot of the discussions compare black and white people, I guess because there is a more dramatic or opposing comparison... but where do the "brown" people stand in race relations? There are a good amount of Asian and Indian and Mexican students in our class.. why don't we start asking them some of these questions? And I wonder how much of a difference it is for them if they are immigrants or born and bred Americans. I understand that to make a point it is easier to pick out the extremes and pin them against each other, but I think the majority of us are somewhere in the middle.. regardless of being black, brown, or white. I just think we exclude the majority of peoples opinions by always searching for the extreme "white" or "black" in every conversation. As a side comment - I am not really sure how I feel about this new message board that Sam is doing. I think it gives people an opportunity to share their thoughts.. but it is also an opportunity for people to make light of a serious conversation and say things that they wouldn't have the guts to say out loud.

I am agreeing with what this kid has to say (in addition to these previous comments).. I was actually wondering about this myself during lecture. I would be very telling if Sam could put up a US map with statistical evidence of crime according to areas and populations. The majority of crimes are committed in cities and most of this just has to do with easier access and the culture of inner cities in general. As another student pointed out, once again, the whole issue comes down to money. The majority of people who commit crimes are from a lower socioeconomic status. As it has been hammered into our heads for several lectures now, on average, black families make less money than white families. This will make them more likely to commit crimes... but we also have to remember that there is an enormous amount of white families who are poor too. The top 3-10% of white people are just so filthy rich that it brings up the average. There is undoubtedly a lot of truth to the last lecture. It probably is much more likely that a black kid will get sentenced to time over a white kid.. but, how often is that attributed to money and not race? It is easy to make generalizations and correlations from some of this data.. but there is much more to this than just numbers and race... (I think so anyway) What actually is going on here? I'm not sure if anyone can provide a straight answer. I think it may be more important to deal with crime in general than crime according to races.. Or lets look at crime in adolescent boys versus adolescent girls. Isn't that an issue too? Our crime rate is absurdly high to begin with.. I don't know if we'll ever be able to hash it out in accordance to a race issue.. why can't we just look at it as a societal issue and begin to search for solutions? As the previous blogger mentioned, there is definitely different expectations for different populations.. maybe according to race or maybe just according to where you grew up. They mention that black kids tend to lean towards the badass image.. I would like to point out that for every black kid that is looking to act tough, there has to be at least one white kid doing the same thing. In class someone even mentioned the rap culture and how it may promote doing drugs and committing crimes.. and I would like to say, yeah it does but how many white kids are listening to that too? There are plenty of white kids following that image and looking for that "badass appeal". I am just really undecided about how much of a race issue this is. I do not deny that there are probably plenty of racist people in the judicial system.. but I would like to believe that they are few and far between.

I read the majority of these comments and don't even know where to start or who to respond to. I was honestly baffled when reading through these posts at the number of people who said incredibly hateful and "holier than thou" comments. Everyone has the right to believe whatever they please, but I just cannot accept people being disrespectful and even hatred towards another group. Believe what you want but do not judge others or act like you are somehow better than them because you live your life by "the book". And let's not kid ourselves, who actually lives by the book? I would like to follow each of you around for a day who quoted the bible as an attack against gay marriage and see how many sins you commit. Even if you are religious, this really shouldn't even be an issue for you. A legal marriage is granted by the state, and as previous posts noted, we are supposed to have separation of church and state in the United States. It really shouldn't be up to the church or any one religious person to decide if gay couples have the right to get married. If marriages are granted by the state, then they should be equally granted to every United States citizen. If you want to call marriage a "holy matrimony," then get married in a church by a priest and that is your deal. If you want to call gay marriages a union, then all marriages should be called a union.. and "marriages" can only occur under the direction of the church. But, as it was brought up in my discussion group, most people in our country do not keep the "sanctity" or marriage anymore. Considering the divorce rate, number of annulled marriages, number of loveless marriages, etc, etc etc... I just don't see the "sanctity" anymore. It really isn't an issue about right or wrong.. it is an issue about human rights. No religion should get to decide who does and does not get rights in our country. You have every right to think how you please or disagree with what other people do, but those opinions have no place in our laws. And for anyone against gay rights/relationships/marriage, I just want to ask, who are you to judge them? What makes you so righteous? It doesn't make any sense to me. Denying two people love because of a religion that is supposed to be centered around love and acceptance of others. It is just so hypocritical.. and hurtful. Perhaps people should spend a little less time and energy fighting against something that will never affect their life personally, and should begin living their own lives and focus on loving others, like their religion directs them to do.

I have often have thought about this issue myself. I don't know if I am just extremely naive or out of the loop but I really didn't think there was much of an issue anymore. I would say I especially felt this way in high school when I was not exposed to many other races or race relations issues. Beyond high school and even through this class I have begun to realize how prominent and present these issues still are. In a way, I kind of miss being naive and oblivious to these issues. When I was there, I didn't have these stereotypes or preconceived ideals about any particular group before I met them. I honestly looked at all people as people, just like me or my family or all the white people I grew up with. I didn't think it was such a big deal that some people looked differently than me or grew up in different circumstances. I think that it is interesting and cool to talk about, but I honestly looked at skin color in the same way that I would look at hair color or eye color. It was a non-issue for me. Now when I look at that version of me, I guess I look at it in a new way. It was easy for me to not take ethnicity or skin color into account because I am white. It was a non-issue for ME. But what about everyone else? I guess it's been an issue for them since they were little and first realized that they were the "non-white" or "non-privileged" group. Now I am at a point where I think, "I wonder what that was like.." I do have to say that I never heard so many negative things about other races or stereotypes until I came to college. You would think that in a place full of our educated generation, people would be more accepting. I was surprised with the amount of people my own age who grew up with much more exposure to different races had such negative opinions of others. In most cases, as Laurie pointed out, it is an issue of white vs. black. For historical and possibly some other reasons, the two races are often pinned against each other. And the stereotypes are much more prominent between whites and blacks judging by the number of adjectives the two use against each other. Sometimes I feel like the stereotypes get stronger with increased exposure. It's completely depended on an individual's experience, but I think the stereotypes make both races act in a way that further establishes the stereotype.. especially if they are uncomfortable in the situation or feel threatened at all. I'm not really sure how much sense that makes.. but that is just what I'm thinking.

This isn't an issue that concerns a specific political party. This is an issue that should concern every citizen of America. Yes, we get the right to vote and choose people to make the best decisions for our country... and yes we don't always take the time to be informed when we go to make that decision. But what is the solution? No matter how well informed or politically active you may be, it is impossible to find a party (or a person for that matter) who will represent your values and beliefs. For everything wonderful and grand about the structure of our government there are also the flaws... The political agenda may not always be led with the best of intentions. You may vote for a leader who claims to feel one way about a particular issue and then act another once in office. These errors are inevitable because they are human. I just find it completely ridiculous that arguments are always so conservative or so liberal.. and it's so annoying how many people claim to be an avid member of one or the other. It is virtually impossible to completely agree with EVERYTHING a particular party stands for. Yet why do we continue to be so divided? Why do we feel so obligated to choose a side? Yes, we are all hypocrites because we vote for people or stand for things that go against who we are. If it became less about the party and the constant bantering back and forth, and more about specific issues and goals for where we want our country to head, I think we could make some real progress.
It is amazing how contradicting we (as US citizens) can be. We are proud to be free and have the right to vote, yet many choose to ignore that or simply do not care. When you have such a lack of interest from the people that the government is supposedly representing, it poses a real problem. The same kind of people (and often people from the same families) have been running our country for decades. (And that is an understatement) If the other half of the country got up and started caring about politics, we might see some real change. And we might see a government that more effectively represents the people. Will we ever get there? I highly doubt it. Sure, last election we saw a lot more voters, especially young people, which is undoubtedly a step in the right direction. But how can we get people interested in a government that is so stationary and unrepresentative of them? People are intimidated when you throw facts and statistics at them, but maybe that is exactly what they need. I don't know where the education can begin, but it would be nice to step away from the arguing back and forth and step towards a feeling of connect and unity in our country. If we felt more apart of our government and more together as a people, maybe we could really get somewhere.

This post really struck a cord with me because I have always been interested in women’s issues and have been especially fascinated with Muslim women. Until a few years ago, I too thought that burqas were oppressive, and quite frankly, weird. I have a hard time understanding why a woman would want to hide her face, behind heavy layers of dark material in the dead of summer. It is very easy to judge a group of people who seem so far from your beliefs (both in the sense of religion and culture). To another degree, “western” women have gone so far past the burqas that it is almost a mockery of what they claim to stand for. Yes, we should feel liberated enough to wear whatever we want and feel comfortable walking the streets in an array of attire. I believe this is the point Sam was trying to make when he referred to make-up and high heels and mini skirts. To a certain extent, I completely agree with him. It has become the norm to not only show off a little skin, but to push the envelope so far to the extreme that you never know what you may encounter on the streets of State College (or any American town) during a weekend. I would have to agree with Sam in that some women go to great extremes to look good to men. I’m not sure if we should expect anything else, considering the bombarding of sex symbols every second of every day. It’s like if you don’t wear make-up or clothing that shows off your womanly curves, you’re not sexy enough. Although we consider ourselves “enlightened,” this parade of women as sexual objects argues quite the contrary. I agree with an earlier statement that the majority of this parade isn’t even for the opposite sex. It seems that from my experiences, women are pinned against each other in a battle of who can be the sexiest without being called a “slut” while walking down Beaver Avenue on a Friday night. There is definitely a “girl-eat-girl” mentality in our teen and twenty year old society. (Okay, maybe that wasn’t the best terminology, but you get my point.) To what point are we no longer enlightened but just following the ideals set forth by our male counterparts? I really don’t know the answer to that, but it is something that I struggle with. To be completely honest, I enjoy spending a little extra time on the weekends getting ready to go out. I love shoes and probably own more high heels than a girl should. I enjoy putting make-up on and wearing a little dress. I’d like to think that I do it for me, but where did this desire to be so sexy come from? The answers are almost all too obvious… all I am saying is that we cannot judge Muslim women for what they wear and believe. Yes, it may be very different from us.. but is it really?

It is sad to me that Robertson and Limbaugh can actually say these things out loud. Do they even hear themselves anymore? I wonder how a person can get to a point where they have such a level of insensitivity. And, especially for Robertson, who claims to be a “religious leader”. What kind of example is he for fellow Christians? Isn’t Christianity supposed to be about doing good in the world and accepting every person for who they are? It just irritates me that the people that we see in the media are always so extreme. No one wants to watch a rational person talk about current events. For some reason we, as the American public, are enthralled and entertained by extreme people. It creates separation among us as a society. It’s like you always have to pick a side. Are you a democrat or a republican? Christian or not? White or Black? The majority of us lie somewhere in between, yet we continue to listen to those who so strongly represent the poles. It’s constantly separating us and forcing us to have a “us versus them” syndrome. What is sickening/disturbing to me is that these people actually have followers.. people who listen to them on a regular basis and actually believe and respect the crap that comes out of their mouth. I wonder how many people Robertson gained or lost from these outrageous comments. And I wonder how many people can reassure their indifference to the situation in Haiti because they now believe that they got what was coming to them. How crazy is that? How can you continue to listen to a man and respect a single word that comes out of his mouth after he makes a comment like that? I don’t get it. I wonder what Robertson would say if a disaster of that caliber occurred here in the U.S. I doubt he would conclude that it was somehow our fault. Or maybe he would… This man seems to have no rationality. I also think he gives Christian’s a bad rep. I’m not too sure where I stand when it comes to religion, but I like to believe that most religions bring some good into people’s lives. It gives them a script to follow and a group to be a part of and a sense of security in life (and death). It is just a shame that a man who most likely has the right intentions and wants to do good in the world has gotten so far off the track. Someone should kidnap him and send him to Haiti. It might do him some good to see the human side of this natural disaster. I hope it would be difficult for him to maintain his beliefs after looking people in the eyes and seeing their unimaginable pain.