Yeah, I don’t think there is any difference on how lesbian, gay, or straight couples would raise their children. I think it all just depends on the person and the ideals they choose to impart on their children. My neighbor is actually gay, has his partner, and they have a kid my age and I can say the kid didn’t turn out bad. For starters, the fact that he has gay parents apparently has no effect on his sexual orientation. Secondly, he has way more than I could ask for making him a little spoiled but I mean he doesn’t brag about it, leading me to believe he knows he was just lucky and is well mannered. I actually have hung out with him a few times and from what he tells me, he isn’t bothered by the fact that he has gay parents, however he did tell me that occasionally he gets ridiculed for it, but we both agree that the people who get on him for it are simply assholes.

On the other hand, my other neighbor (who’s straight by the way) has 2 kids and I have no idea what happened to them. Those two are constantly getting into trouble and when I’m home I always hear them fighting with their parents, cursing each other out, and not to say that I don’t get into fight with my parents, but I mean they really go all out and half the time cops are coming in to see what’s going on. Now, I’m not going to make pretend I’m a saint and don’t do anything wrong either, I do love to party just as much as the next guy but I do think I’m well mannered enough to respect my parents, respect people around me and be smart enough to not get myself into trouble. Going back to the kid with the gay parents, we both go out and have fun but if compared to the the kid with the straight parents, you’ll clearly see we were raised better. So going back to the main point, I think it all comes down to how your parents raise you, no matter what their sexual orientation.

Hmm, I guess my explanation for the fact that conversations involving race always revolve around blacks and whites is that because these two are the largest groups most people see them as having the biggest problems. Even though it is obvious that Whites and Blacks have a rough history together the truth of the matter is that every group is confronted with their own racial issues (off the top of my head I think about Native Americans and their horrific history regarding genocide). I think that because these two groups are the majority everyone sees their problems play out more often and thus they have become a sort of “default”.

As I think more about it, besides it having to do with size I think it has a lot to do with the fact that no other ethic group feels as much tension as the White and Black group. Although I did say that other groups have their own issues, the fact that these groups aren’t as large as the Black and White group means not everyone sees the problems occurring. Relating this to tension, if you compare other groups to each other, no one else feels as much tension between each other as these two groups. As an example, if say Arab Americans and Latinos really hated each other or had really big problems with each other and you heard about it everyday, no matter how big these groups are, I think these two groups would be the “default” parties in an argument about race. I don’t know if I’m being clear enough, but basically I think this phenomenon has to do with size of the group and I guess coverage (for lack of a better word) of the problems between these groups. Everyday we see something in the news involving discrimination of Blacks or something and thus it has become the first thing we think about wen talking about race. Just recently I saw an article of a black girl standing in front of a train station next to three security guards and still being beaten by another black girl. This created a whole dilemma involving why the security guards (which I believe were White, and this was actually used in the argument) didn’t protect the girl and so things like this influence our ideas when talking about race. I guess in the end, I don’t think it should be like this and everyone should be included when talking about race but it is easy to talk about the majority groups and that is why I think everyone resorts to talking about Blacks and Whites.

To be honest, before this movie I had no idea who James Cameron was so when I first heard about Avatar I wasn’t one of those people that were hype to see it. After my friend had told me he had directed Titanic, I understood why everyone wanted to see it but I still had no interest in watching it. Eventually, I was convinced to go watch it one weekend with nothing to do and, honestly, I thought it was one of the best movies I had ever seen. While watching the movie though, I hadn’t paid attention to the idea Brooks currently brings up and in retrospect, it does seem a little odd that a lot of movies do use this “White Messiah Fable” but I don’t really think it is intended instead, I feel like our culture unknowingly follows this fable.

To state my argument a little clearer, I feel that Hollywood doesn’t mean to make it seem that White people become a “Messiah” for these native cultures, but instead because of our own history, it has sort of become engraved in the back of our heads, and so a lot of our movies stick to this general idea. Now, although directors may have caught on to this idea, and realize people are making the assumption that Hollywood purposefully follows this “White Messiah Fable”, I think they aren’t doing anything about it because of the classic saying: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Many people enjoy these movies and most people don’t look into it as deep as Brooks would, so people don’t realize (or care) that Hollywood is constantly portraying this fable. Even if people did realize this ongoing pattern, I think that perhaps our culture has evolved to such a point that we have overcome the idea of the White Man’s Burden. We no longer think of it as the White person having to save these native cultures, but simply accept the casting as a coincidence. Like one of my peers pointed out, coming from a society led by a nonwhite, I think we have let go of the idea of the White Man’s Burden (except in racist groups I guess) and so these movies simply provide for an entertaining story.

As for me, I personally don’t look at movies in depth so I don’t pay much attention to things like this but I can say that I wouldn’t mind seeing someone besides the White man being the hero. I trust in our society enough to not purposefully make movies glorifying the White man, which is why I don’t mind watching movies that seem to fit this fable, but I do hope no one actually takes these story lines seriously and feel superior to any other person because then these movies would have reason to be thought of as offensive and movies should simply be movies and not a form of subliminal messaging.

Being a huge Soccer fan, I am well aware of the situation going on in Europe and the first thing that game to mind after watching this video was the idea of money. Soccer is without a doubt the most played and the most watched sport in the entire world. Every four years the entire planet has its eyes set on the coveted World Cup, and every family that can, watches or listens to every game played. Now, although I am extremely against the racism occurring in stadiums around Europe, this idea of money is crucial to understanding why it has not stopped. Europe has quickly become the place to go for talented Soccer players because of how much they invest in their teams. Every year, European clubs scout around for the greatest players from around the world to play for their team and dish out massive amounts of money to sign players. But where does this money come from? The fans. European fans have become very passionate about the game and are a huge source of revenue for European clubs thus if the FIFA were to regulate who could go to the stadiums, it would be extremely time consuming and the European League would lose a massive amount of revenue.

It does seem to be ironic and sad though, that although the fans love to see their clubs win, they cannot accept their players just because of the color of their skin. Many of the players on European teams come from places like South America or Africa and were it not for these players, their teams would most likely not win any games and these fans would have nothing to cheer for (if I could even say cheer, since a lot of fans simply degrade them). As Dr. Richards pointed out though, this video did actually get me thinking about racism in our country and I realized that unfortunately, it is going to take a lot of time before everyone in Europe adopts the same ideals regarding racism as the US. It took us centuries to get to where we are in terms of racism and apparently Europe still has some work to do. I can’t go as far as saying that Europe as a continent is racist because I’ve actually been to places like Italy and France and the people were far from racist but because these things still happen in stadiums, it is clear that not everyone is on the same page. Unfortunately, we can’t simply change everyone’s opinions so the only thing we could do is hope people learn to think differently and actually accept people, regardless of race.

hellooo

Wow. How does one respond to such outlandish comments made about such a heartbreaking tragedy? To be honest, I am not one to watch much news so I had no idea who Pat Robertson was until a few days ago, but his remarks regarding the cause of destruction in Haiti truly shocked me, not only because of its stupidity but because of its insensitivity. The first thing that came to mind after reading this article was a simple question regarding position. How would Pat Robertson have responded to the events in Haiti had he suffered a loss? Would he still blame this so called “pact with the devil” or would he have actually learned something and feel sympathetic for his fellow human beings?
Another issue that captured my attention was the idea of people being surrounded by others who think just like them. Too often we are subject to this idea of right and wrong and we believe what we are told and grow up with a narrow viewpoint of the world. We make friends with those who think just like us and we essentially surround ourselves with the same idea, not allowing ourselves to get a broader prospective on different issues. Like Dr. Richards pointed out, Robertson is simply a victim of these practices. Although his opinions seem irrational and farfetched, in his head he believes he is right and there is no one around him to tell him otherwise.
Regarding Olbermann’s video in the blog, I couldn’t help but completely agree and even admire his response to Robertson’s comments. Although it was harsh and demeaning, I thought of it as a response from the general public to Robertson, rather than just the opinion of one person. Most of us had the same reaction towards Robertson and because we aren’t all celebrities or hold some sort of power to have our voices heard, I thought Olbermann’s response was a way for Robertson to know how we all feel. As for Jon Stewart, I thought his argument (even if it was with a hint of humor) was a valid one. For a man who follows the teachings of Christ, Robertson completely disheartened and most certainly angered the people suffering in Haiti. Instead of lifting their spirits with prayers and reminding them God is with them, he simply blamed them for their own misfortune. In the end though, it is all a matter of opinion and everyone is entitled to them. Not everyone is going to agree with each other but it is how the world runs and will never change.