Once again, lecture has proved to link ideas together that I have never thought to do. Once brought to my attention, it is pretty clear just how related affirmative action and nepotism really are. To be honest, although I guess it is not the most respectable thing, I have certainly been the “victim” of nepotism as well. I have gotten every job, besides the one I currently have, because of someone I know (whether it be my grandfather, or a friend of my dad, etc). What I do feel is that, nepotism is something that really can’t and will never be avoided. Although it’s nice to think of a perfect world where everyone will be “equal” and no one will be judged based on their race, age, social status, etc – it will never happen. But really, the “victims” of this nepotism don’t have a complaint (including myself) – so why would people that get to be fortunate jeopardize their lives/futures? Personally, I think it’s one of those things that are pretty interesting to analyze, but near impossible to change.
What I found to be the most interesting (and pretty damn hilarious) was the survey of the Ten Commandments. I suppose that being raised Roman Catholic can certainly contribute to my feelings on this aspect of the lesson. However, it just proves exactly how hypocritical so many people are and how they go on thinking. The contrasting percentages were incredible. For example, the 64% that follow the first commandment vs the 15% of others that follow – it’s almost laughable. It’s just very prominent, especially through these surveys, just exactly how people perceive themselves as better than the people around them. The other survey I enjoyed was that of the Floridians. To think that the same amount of people that think they conserve enough water, also think that their neighbors should do more is actually ridiculous. It makes me pretty mad that people could try to make themselves better than others, even in a survey about water conservation. I think that Dr. Richards slide about “we generally perceive ourselves as” really hits the nail on the head about pretty much the majority of society. It’s constant judging between one another, even strangers passing on the street.
Overall, I think that the sad realization at hand is that inequalities are her e to stay. It is both unfortunate and fortunate for all people around the world. Affirmative action and nepotism are here to stay. No matter how much it isn’t fair, and really goes against our principals as Americans, it’s become a way of life. Social status, race, financial status, “who you know”, etc will always exist. And as long as those things exist, so will the discrimination associated with these two concepts.

I can definitely relate to that way you are thinking and experiences you have had. I agree entirely about your statement regarding opportunities resulting from the equality standard you live in. As much as I don't think I am proud to say that most of my opportunities have arisen because of nepotism (jobs, school, etc), I can't say I have ever really tried to stop it. You put it very well when you said always wanting to be the "victim". Especially in my town, nepotism goes a veryyy long way. To this day, my grandfather will still say "we'll get ya in to vet school, just get okay grades, I know people". So I know where you are coming from when you say that you have used nepotism. Finally, I agree entirely with your thoughts on Penn State and nepotism.

Although I guess it is not a good trait to possess, I can without a doubt say I am generally not very educated on the current events and issues taking place in our society. Unless it is a major problem, or directly effects my way of life (or at least that I notice it effecting me), I seem to shut it out. I don’t really even watch the news or read the paper, beyond my local town’s dramatics. This also rings true about my knowledge of immigration. So overall, I can’t really say that I have a formed or educated opinion on the topic, even after lecture. However, as usual, lecture was very interesting – in this case particularly to hear about immigration from the business standpoint.
The first thing that really “caught my eye” was the cartoons Dr. Richards displayed in the beginning of class. I always enjoy how he can incorporate humor into lecture and at times break things down to a simpler level. However, these cartoons really struck me. My favorite was definitely the one where the native American was saying “I’ll help you pack”. It is so overlooked (as I truly never put in any thought to it) that Europeans “discovering” America were the first immigrants. And when Dr. Richards said that it was actually terrorism, I completely agree. It just angers me sometimes how hypocritical our society can be and how easily we can forget exactly what our forefathers did in the past decades.
The other thing I want to talk about is those people that say/think “if you are going to move to America – be American (i.e. speak English, wear American clothes, etc). Being honest, I once agreed with this idea. However, when I really put myself in their places, my thoughts have changed. If I were to be thrown into another country, I would not be able to speak that language or conform to their customs immediately. America is the “poster country”. And by this I mean we pride ourselves on our freedoms, democracy and acceptance for others. However, I really don’t think that it is true for the majority of our society. So many people are so quick to criticize others, especially in the case of immigrants, before actually considering the perspective of the other individuals or groups. We are becoming more and more hypocritical every day, and ruining the reputation we pride ourselves on as Americans.
Overall, I don’t really have much to say on the actual issue at hand of immigration – simply because I don’t think my opinion would even make much sense. But what I can say, which is true of many issues that have been brought up throughout this class, it is something that I will be definitely paying more attention to in the future.

Well I can definitely relate to how you are feeling, which of course is confused. I also am not sure how I stand on this issue, and frankly I don't think I am informed enough to actually hold a valuable and respectable opinion on the issue. It was however, interesting to hear about aspects of this issue from the business perspective. But although I don't know much about the issue, when I thought about how business is so involved, I wanted to kick myself - duh, the business world is involved with every issue of our society. I just suppose I should become more educated on this subject and be able to learn more about it. Overall, as usual, I did enjoy the lecture.

I totally understand where you are coming from with your posts. I was also raised Catholic and attended parochial school. At the time, I don't think I put too much thought into what exactly was being drilled into us as students. It was such a sheltered and biased view to be raised on. Now that I am older, and I think back to Catholic school and CCD class, it's almost sickening to really analyze what they were telling us, at such young kids. It is terrible to think that religion can be so hypocritical.
On the other hand, I also understand your story about your grandma. It sounded like you were exactly describing my grandmother too. She is a harmless woman, and has love for every single person on this earth but is simply just old-fashioned. For example, I have a very close knit family and have 10 first cousins that I see regularly. My cousin is gay and simply will not tell my grandma in fear of hurting her. Now it's not that would stop loving him, but it is just not how she was raised and would be too hard for her to change her views.

First I’d like to touch on the first part of this week’s lecture – multiculturalism. I think the survey Dr. Richards provided was pretty typical of stereotypes. It makes a lot of sense which groups were more in favor of living in a more diverse community than others. Breaking it down, the first most obvious one that I think most people would be able to predict was that Democrats were more in favor than Republicans – especially the more liberal democrats. To be honest, if the statistics were the other way around I would have been very surprised. But an interesting point Dr. Richards brought up was that maybe many of these people within the statistics, especially in the area of the Democrats, is that maybe they felt they had to answer that way. It is interesting to think that people become sort of “trained” in their opinions based on what political party they are rather than actually thinking through each issue at hand. I definitely think that many people that label themselves Democrats are probably trained to be politically correct and answering questions towards the liberal side is pretty much second nature to them. This is why I truly don’t like the idea of identifying with a political party (which is a whole other topic in itself). But it just seems that once you categorize yourself in these groups, it is hard to form opinions differently from your most typical response. The next group that I was not surprised by was when it was broken into age group. It came to no surprise that the younger generation, as opposed to the 65+, were more in favor of more diversity within his or her environment. I think many of these individuals that can be referred to as senior citizens are just very old-fashioned. This is certainly true for my grandparents. They are in no way racist, but I think it is just hard for people who grew up in such a different time and world all together to really be able to accept the amazing progression our society has today. The last statistic comparison I want to mention is that of college grads versus high school grads. I know this statistic definitely rings true for if I was polled at both stages of my life. College really turns many individuals’ perspectives of the world and society around them – especially when you take classes like this!
The other thing I want to mention is from the LGBT part of the lecture. Growing up Catholic and attending parochial school, my brain was pounded with all the “sins” we commit. It is honestly amazing to me that in religion, being homosexual is a sin. It just makes me really angry to think that while religion and belief in a higher power, is in general supposed to something for individuals to feel accepted and welcomed into. It just seems that so much of religion is truly so hypocritical.

The most interesting thing I thought about during this lecture is how whites do not typically perceive themselves as a “race” in the same sense that black and browns are a “race”. White people in this country are pretty much never in a minority group or struggle with the problems and issues individuals in these groups have to deal with. What is also interesting and very true is that most white people don’t think of racism as anything but a white person being prejudicial against a black or brown. What came to my mind when I thought of this was an experience I had when I completed the race relations project in the beginning of freshman year. The project was really very interesting. It was awkward at first to be in a circle of strangers of different ethnicities. And you knew other then the group leaders, everyone was “forced” to be there (aka it was needed for a class). But what I specifically remember from this group was when we were talking about racism and one of the other white females in the group called something “reverse racism”. Now at first, being a white female, I knew what she was talking about. she was talking about a black or brown person being racist towards a white person. But it wasn’t until the group leader spoke up about this that I really realized that it was a totally ridiculous way to categorize something. Racism is not just whites against other groups. And as the other members of the group really began to give their perspective on this phrase the girl had mentioned, I almost felt ashamed to be able to identify with it. it really is an issue in our society. Racism needs to be known as what it is: a prejudice from one group to another. This was just a really interesting experience I probably won’t ever forget.
The other thing I wanted to comment on was the diversity – or lack thereof – that we have at Penn State. It was really interesting to look at the percentages of races in major cities and then compare to Penn State. But in my case, Dr. Richards was right, I don’t really notice that we are predominately a white campus. In fact, I feel like we have a ton of diversity here. I guess that is entirely because I went to a high school, with a graduating class of 220, where I would guess that 210 were white. It all comes down again to past experiences. And it proves that how you were raised, your experiences, and past situations you have been put it really shape how you view your surroundings – especially regarding race.

I agree entirely with your post. It's definitely true that many people are not raised to talk or form opinions about race. Watching the example of the singers was pretty shocking and upsetting at the same time. But I do agree - it isn't their fault. A way an individual is raised plays such a huge part of how they perceive the world and the opionions they possess. Many people are definitely too quick to play the blame game. The last part is definitely true also- people conceive racism as whites being rascist towards other only. Being "white" is definitely a race too. overall, I think you make really good points.

I also think this is a really good point. Issues with race can and do often start with family life. I know that growing up in a predominately white neighborhood and attending a small catholic school I did not encounter many people of different races. It wasn’t until middle school, where I switched to a public school that I was really confronted with any racial diversity. I think it is definitely something that should be stressed and brought up to young children. With more racial diversity and knowledge as a young child, this can hopefully begin to help mend issues we have without our society today.

I think the way Dr. Richards introduced this topic was really interesting. It is definitely entirely true that we only identify ourselves with certain aspects or characteristics we possess. In most of what Sam said, I fell into those categories. I am white, straight, average height, and right handed. I never really stopped ever to think that these qualities had a huge bearing in my life, probably because they don’t really. But when I put myself on the other side of things, I can see how these qualities might actually affect an individual. If I were a short, left-handed, homosexual I think those things would definitely affect my life. It is sad but true that minority groups or qualities can have such a huge impact on a person’s life.
Although the stories about the disabled people were funny yet sad, I think it really was a good example of how disengaged we are from people or situations that we don’t have experience with. When he was telling the story about smoking weed and the disabled guy in the pool – I laughed and thought “wow what an ass”. But really when I took the time to put myself in that situation I think I would have done the exact same thing. It’s amazing how truly disconnected a person can be when you aren’t faced with that situation every day.
The last part I want to comment on is that of political correctness. The sign was a great example of how people and groups tip toe around this issue. It’s almost more offensive in a way to have to go to such great measures to try and hide what you really mean – especially when everyone already knows. The clip of the interview about the sign was perfect. It was obvious exactly what the sign was made for. It was totally laughable when the guy was trying to convince the guy interviewing him and the audience that it was just a family you might see taking a run across the highway. The other example with the elderly senator was good too. It is so clear that he had to try so hard to find the right wording to try and get his message across. It was almost painful to watch as he had to take so long to let out a simple message. Then the fact that he have such an in depth apology for simply stating what he was actually thinking is really just obnoxious. We all know that racism and issues regarding race exist in our society today. however I think the idea that everything needs to be politically correct actually is making our problem worse – or essentially brushing it to the side and dealing with it later. Instead of hiding behind this idea of correctness we as a society should address the issue at hand.