Our society conditions us to be a self-centered country and only care about our own lives and how we can benefit our lives for the better. If we do not feel any personal connection to a disaster or death then we do not take the time to mourn. I honestly believe that, especially in college, people are not educated on what happened in Haiti. They do not know how many people died, who died or what has happened to them since the disaster. Especially since this disaster did not occur in our own country, it is difficult for people to try to connect and take time away from their “busy lives” to help other people who they have never even met before. I live in New York and know many people who were affected by 9/11 and we still discuss it on a regular basis, yet I do not know anybody affected by the New Orleans hurricane and never talk about that. Within our own country we cannot even have enough compassion to care, so how are we expected to care about other countries.

You are not judging these people based on their race, you are just noticing the lack of resources they have available to them. If their country as a whole is developing it is not realistic for one single person to make a giant impact on the world. In the United States we have every resource imaginable available to us to further ourselves in the world and make a difference. Racism is judging people due to simply their race, there are many white people, black people and every type of person in all different developing countries around the world. Even though it is hard for some people to admit, living in the United States alone makes you more empowered then many other people in their world. It is not your fault that you were born in America, when others were born in a suffering country.

I feel that immigrants should work hard in their country before coming here. They should work as hard as they have to, to obtain the necessary money to enter the country. I know that immigrants want a better life for themselves, and see that opportunity in America but sneaking in illegally is not the way to begin a new life in America. As well, coming into America illegally makes it more difficult to gain a better life in America because it is more difficult to find a job and if an illegal immigrant is lucky enough to find a job it is probably an illegal job making under minimum wage. It is American citizens hard work that forces them to pay taxes to support the government as well as the poor American citizens. I do not feel that these hard working Americans should work any harder just so that illegal immigrants can work and make money and not pay taxes until they become American citizens. I feel that it is wrong to assume that illegal immigrants do jobs that Americans would not do. There are many different types of Americans and those who do believe that hard work yields a better life will do practically any job to better their lives and the lives of their families. It is sad to say but I do believe that people need a little bit of money to obtain a better life. If this wasn’t the case then the stories of the poor rising up and become rich in their lifetime wouldn’t be so idealized in our country. Movies such as The Pursuit of Happiness, that are supposed to be based on a true story, are so popular and gross large amounts of money because this rarely happens. It is basically a fairy tale. In the first half of soc 119 we saw statistics about students who attend college and which colleges they attend. Some extremely large number around 93% of ivy college students are in the top financial percentile in this country. That alone proves that the wealthy stay wealthy and even become wealthier, and the poor stay poor and become poorer. Hard work can get you to a better place then you were previously were in your life but if everybody just “worked hard” then most people would be rich. It is upsetting to think about but the poor and middle class work harder then most of the upper class. Even though hard work should be enough that is not the way our country works. Hard work and money are not the only two factors in making someone successful but they are two main determinants. Often times I do not feel that it is pick one or the other, rather that hard work and money have a direct relationship. People who do not have money argue that hard work does not have any rewards and people with money believe that hard work takes you far. Believe what you want but I do not thinking that picking one or another is the key to success.

I feel that now more then ever men are conforming to societal views of what the perfect man should be. Men now a days use the term “metro sexual” and it is not an insult. Men are not looked down on for getting manicures and pedicures and going tanning. I personally like how men care more now because women are not the only ones who are trying to impress the opposite sex, or the same sex. Women now wait around while men are getting ready. There are still men who do not care but as well there are women who do not care about their appearance either. I feel that this equals out the playing field, and everybody should try to look the best they could. Everybody wants to fit in and be told that they are attractive. In our society where everybody is judged upon their looks men now feel the pressure as much as women do.

I feel that there is a bond between women similar to a bond between African Americans. African Americans have suffered through being discriminated together and so have women. Women didn’t gain full rights and equality to men until the 1970’s. Women all say how all women are beautiful, yet they all compete with each other to a disgusting level. Society makes us believe that all women are good for is their looks and that is all they should care about. I feel that now women are fighting back and are entering the work force more then they used to and taking their careers more seriously then in the past. Women are using their looks to further their careers and use societies negative effects to get ahead of men in the work place and manipulate their looks for something useful.

Fear is the first thought that enters into my mind after this lecture. If we can be convinced to join the fight against Americans, from the Islam side after one lecture, then the feeling that they must feel against the Americans are stronger than any of us could have thought. Whenever I hear about the war, I automatically think about oil. I never thought that the war had anything to do with religion or a Christian crusade I just think of 9/11 and the need for oil. For most of us, our daily lives in America are not affected by suicide bombers or police surrounding us. The lives of those in the Middle East are affected every day by this war, and personally I would want to fight back when I know that I am not safe from day-to day. In the way that we all group Muslims together and view them in one way, when in fact they are all individuals, just as we are in America, I now see that the Muslims group us Americans together and view us as one from the minimum media they see about us. It was tough seeing the video clips of our leaders talk about the war as a “crusade”. If our leaders do truly believe this war has something to do with religion scares me since I am not of the same religion as our country’s leader. I’ve never thought about how the people in the Middle East actually feel and what they want our of their lives. I knew that they were living unsafe lives but I just never thought about Americans part in the way there lives played out. There is no way to deny that the Taliban and terrorists are the bad people we are fighting, and after viewing the pictures of the student who went to visit I finally realized that there are “normal” people their just like you and me who are trying to live “normal” lives just as we are trying to do. We allow the media to influence our view of the Muslims and we do not even consider the way that the media in the Middle East allows their citizens to view us. The only part of the lecture I disagreed with was the Christian invasion. I am not a Christian but I am an American. I feel the religion has less to do with the war then Sam is making it out to be. I do not feel that the spread of Christian ideas and beliefs is linked to trying to gain oil for the country of America. Since the Christian religion is so large there are many different levels of belief within the religion and many different ideas within the different divisions such as Catholic, Baptist and Lutheran.

To me it is hard to picture a world where “white” is not the majority in America. My whole life I read about white people in history textbooks and white people being in control, and when I think of the United States I think of most states being mostly white. I am not upset that white people will not be the majority, I just personally cannot picture it because my whole life I have never been introduced to that idea. I do not think the color of skin really matters and that white people are better then brown people. The only thing that frightens me a little is “immigrants” taking over America. I would be upset to see America turn into a country full of immigrants and there is no one who is “proud to be American” anymore. I feel that Americans have more pride in their country then any other country, and I feel as if it would be a shame to loose that pride and have it become a country that looses its history.-march19

Sam was talking about that we all benefit from slaves. The way in which we benefit from slaves is by the prices being low on the products that they work on. Therefore the second step would have to involve something that affected the price of these products. I feel that when the United States is doing well economically we care and focus on other countries, but when we are suffering economically we tend to focus more inwardly on our problems. If the United States simply opted to stop importing chocolate and only sold chocolate that was made in the United States it would be an easy fix to the problem. I do not feel that the American public go out and think to themselves “hmm I want to purposely purchase slave chocolate today” , I just think that they purchase the products provided to them.-march 19

This video game depicts everything that America has been working again for 50 plus years. The men players want to rape and kill the woman for firing him from his job, that truly disgusts me. I do not see the goal at the end of this video and this game ever being created. As a parent, I would never purchase this game or this type of game for my child. A parent buying this for a child promotes this type of behavior towards women, and men for that matter. It is sad that Japan is one of the world powerhouses now and they are promoting morals and ideals such as these. As long as no games such as these enter America I can still feel happy that we have higher morals and standards then other countries-march 12

I feel that as a nation changing an education plan or trying to enforce one is difficult. In different areas of the country there are different budgets and different types of people that would not enforce a nationwide plan. I feel in New York the education system is very liberal in their teachings from growing up and learning things that were sometimes questioned. i feel that I did not have the same schooling as a teenage girl from the south where there is still a larger issue with race and segregation. I admit I did not learn alot about native americans in my schooling and I feel that I should have began to learn more in middle school. I do not remember anything about preschool and elementary school besides playing on the playground and taking naps. I feel as if teachers should discuss the current standards of the native american lifestyle instead of focusing on the past because the main problem is fixing equality now. Feb 26