I am not exactly sure what this person was asking during the flip camera, but from what I take, the question she was asking was whether or not hard work is enough to have a good life for those who cannot afford one. Now, obviously everyone knows that even though it is said that everyone is equal, everyone in their right mind knows that is not true. If one person from another country were to walk down the streets of San Francisco and then walk down the streets of New Orleans, they could obviously tell there is a difference in how people live. On the other hand, they could go to a fortune 500 company business meeting and then cut lawns all day and realize that hard work does not get you very far in life all the time.
However, although sometimes hard work is not enough to get the perfect American dream with enough money to not know what to do with it, but no matter what you do hard work is necessary. Take for example what I said above. Even though a fortune 500 business meeting may not take as much hard work as cutting lawns all day to earn ten times as less, hard work was put into building the fortune 500 company. The difference between having the best life possible and working harder than most to just get by with the bills is knowing people. If you work hard and know people, then you will get far in life. If you do work hard and don’t know people, it is a lot harder to make a lot of money in certain cases.
Regardless of how much money one person makes compared to somebody else, I believe is irrelevant to whether or not you are living a good life. I believe that having a good life is based off of whether or not you are happy in life and content. If you are making enough money to pay the bills and you wouldn’t change anything in the world about your life, then I believe that you have a great life even if you don’t have a lot of money. On the other hand, if the question is based on something like the question below this one, then if people’s lives are at stake because they do not have enough money to get food or get surgery, then there is not much one person can do, but work harder to make more money. If an illegal immigrant cannot afford to live in America then I believe that they should make as much as they can and move to somewhere they can live happily and not try to fit in when they can’t.

While watching the videos in class and listening to Sam… I kept thinking to myself, “WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS?” Like are these people serious? I couldn’t even comprehend what was going on in class because I thought it was all a joke. How can anyone in their right state in mind believe that this war is about Christianity? Honestly, the people of the United States of America elect a president to lead their country. How can such a multicultural nation pick a Christian leader to carry out the words of God? The one thing that Sam talked about is radical Islamic people being the culprits of terrorism. Well if there are radical Islamic terrorists out there, then there are certainly radical Christians out there. With that being said, I believe that the radical Christians are the idiots out there that are being videotaped for the presentations and making the United States of America and the war look like a joke.
For the past week, my roommate and I have been watching the Unit which is a TV show about the army. It started five years ago and included parts from the Iraqi war. From watching the Unit, I have been getting very proud of what the army and the armed forces do for our country. Now, I do realize that this is a TV show and this isn’t what war looks like, but for someone like me who does not see anything like it, it seems like a very good projection of what happens during the war.
Now, how can people make videos like those shown in class depicting what they did? I feel like that is beating the soldiers who are fighting for us to the ground, and then kicking them while they are down, it’s ridiculous. On the other hand, the government probably never told us the exact truth about the war, but it is not that hard to figure out reasons why we are there. Oil, influence, and money. Everyone knows that the Middle East is loaded with oil and exports just about everywhere in the world. The Middle East is also one of the few places that the United States does not have a direct influence over. Now, I am a college student and can figure out a general idea of why we are over there to begin with. Everything in today’s world has to do with money, on a large scale.
Now did anything of what I think have anything to do with Christianity? NO!!! I am sorry but I cannot even for a second believe that this war is about Christianity, nor is this war about Islam. It is about radical Islamic terrorists, very few in numbers and not about their religion, that this war is about.

In terms of affirmative action and nepotism, everyone always assumes that the person with lower qualifications are getting the job or getting the interview. However, what about the people that are getting the job or the interview who do deserve getting the job and just because they know someone they have a better advantage than most people.
In terms of affirmative action, I agree that it is not a bad idea to “level out the playing field” for someone who is less fortunate. However, the problems with colleges and acceptances is that no matter which people get accepted into a college, black or white or brown or asian, there are always people who shouldn’t be getting into a college, but somehow do. For example, in high school I was not the top of my class in a public high school, but I was about average. Now, I’m not stupid, but I realize that I am not the brightest student out there. I do not question my acceptance into Penn State University Park, which was because I did well on my SATs, but the problem was that I know a few people who were not very smart at all and were at the bottom of my class of 1000 and still got into Penn State University Park. Regardless of who gets in, it has nothing to do with race, color, or any of the above, that is the real problem with acceptance into colleges, not affirmative action. Affirmative action, I believe, is a very good tool for colleges to use, but with limitations. For example, I am not a very big Obama fan, but I was very impressed with what he said about affirmative action, which Sam told us about in class on Thursday. I completely agree with Obama in that affirmative action is very good, but people of color such as himself or other more fortunate individuals should not be allowed to be a beneficiary of affirmative action.
In terms of nepotism, what I said before was just being the devils advocate. I was shocked to hear the story jawhawks03 said about the white female they overhead. In terms of a business I feel like nepotism is not a big deal and it is just flat out unfair to someone who is hard working and get the short end of the stick. However, with something as delicate as the medical profession, I could not believe the story because this is dealing with people’s lives, not just a business that could be eventually fixed. I assumed that nepotism could not be used in the medical profession, but apparently I was wrong and this is something our society needs to fix now.

To be honest I don’t even know where to start, whether Sam’s comments or about the actual topic of “that time of the month.” Well, first of all, in class on Tuesday, I believe the reaction that the class, OF 700 PEOPLE, gave Sam was completely understandable. There are most guys who don’t want to talk about it, then there are the guys who don’t care, and there are the women. However, in a class of 700 people, I don’t understand the necessity to talk about the menstrual cycle, WHEN IT IS COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT TO THE CLASS DISCUSSION. I believe the reaction wouldn’t have been as bad as it was if Sam had used different words or if he wasn’t so graphical or if he just didn’t say some things. For example, for guys the menstrual cycle, period, or that time of the month, are completely understandable names for having a period, but when Sam blurted out about “bleeding,” it just gave me an image in my head that I didn’t want there. Of course I know what happens and during the menstrual cycle girls bleed, but it was completely unnecessary to use that term. In addition, not only was Sam bringing up a huge topic to begin with, he said he liked to look at his wife’s blood because it’s art. There is only one phrase for that, “that’s fucking weird.”
Now, for some guys, it may be a touchy subject and they don’t want to hear anything about a period, but I personally don’t care one way or another. When I was growing up, I knew about the menstrual cycle and what happens, but I didn’t want to know anymore than I did because I thought it was gross. However, after I started dating my ex, she was very, very open about it and even joked around about it when she was on it. After a few months of her joking around, I realized that it really is that gross and there is nothing girls can do about it. Now having that said, if a girl or guy or group wants to talk about the menstrual cycle, I would be all about it and I wouldn’t care either way if we did or didn’t. I understand it sucks and trust me I would never want to have a period because from what I hear they suck. Regardless, even though I don’t mind talking about it and know about the menstrual cycle, I don’t want to know anymore than I do. I don’t want to know how to use a tampon or what the blood looks like in the toilet. I am perfectly content with knowing as much as I do now and even though I will still talk about the subject to anyone, I found Sam’s lecture about the topic completely unnecessary/irrelevant/weird.

Although I completely agree with what mam5474 said in reference to the comments in class, there are a few points that I would like to contest. For example, I agree that the reason that the comments made an uproar was because the texts did not answer the question Sam posted, but instead were meant to be derogatory. On the other hand, regardless of what the question was or was not, I believe that this topic is still a huge controversy. However, I also agree that everyone will answer that specific question differently because everyone does have different experiences and everyone has different personalities from one another.
First of all, I believe that the biggest problem with the uproar in class was because the text did not answer the question that Sam asked. Instead of answering the question, the text just simply stated, “Black girls are loud and obnoxious,” which stood out because it was clearly just meant as a derogatory insult and not an answer to the question. When people were reading the texts, this just stood out and made an uproar because everyone could clearly see the intentions of the text.
Second of all, even though I agree with most of mam5474’s blog, I feel like just because this incident has an explanation, I feel like this controversy comes up a lot in everyday life. I think this is a huge problem because it makes black people look like hypocrites because they get all pissed off when we say a “racist” comment, but if they say the same thing or something “racist” against white people, nothing is ever said. I believe that this is the huge controversial topic that was being brought up in this question.
Finally, in regards to the question in class, I find it interesting with what mam5474 said in that “I do agree with this person about the fact that there were offensive things to white people on the board. Everyone takes this differently, it doesn’t matter what color you are, every person takes insults differently.” I find this interesting because it’s true. Even though there was a huge uproar in class, not every black person was offended. Also, when the usual white statements were made about sororities, uggs, tanning, north face, etc, not many white people make a fuss. It goes to show the only thing that matters is how u interpret and analyze a situation differently than someone else.
In conclusion, I feel that everyone needs to get rid of the race card and everyone has to be equal. In recitation we talked about affirmative action and how it can be manipulated. Although its intentions are good, I feel that now in the 21st century, racism has slowed considerably and it can almost be forgotten and everyone can be equal.

In 1492, the Europeans started to take over the Native American land in North America that killed ninety percent of the Native Americans due to disease and war. Between 1949 and 1966, Mao Zedong killed between forty nine and seventy eight million people because of communism in China and Tibet. In 1923, Joseph Stalin, leader of the Soviet Union, forced a genocide caused by famine that killed twenty three million people in Ukraine. In 1944, Che Guevara killed 69,000 people in Cuba because of the Communism in Cuba.
However, nobody did anything about any of these genocides. A couple of weeks ago, my dad called me and told me to watch a documentary on communism by Glenn Beck on NBC. It was very interesting and focused on all of the communistic leaders that I mentioned above including Mao Zedong, Che Guevara, and Joseph Stalin. This was the most interesting documentary I’ve ever seen because I honestly had never heard of any of the genocides that Glenn Beck’s documentary including. Now, I consider that the education that I have received through high school was better than most public school educations and I feel that I am more beneficial than most people coming to college because I attended a private catholic school that focused on academics and that is is it. So if I did not learn about any of these genocides, then how did anyone else (minus the select few teachers who did teach this to their students).
The reason I brought this up is because it relates the to Native American problem in America. Even though the Native Americans’ genocide occurs in America in 1492, some people believ that we should still feel bad about what our ancestors did to the Native Americans. Similarly, some people also believe that we should still feel bad about what we did to African Americans during the civil war. However, I completely disagree with that belief because it is a completely different time. I do not feel that we should be paying for what our ancestors did to people over a hundred years ago, but we should do something about what is happening during our time. For example, I do not feel like we should be paying for what our ancestors have done because that is not us, but I feel like if something is happening during our time period we should take action. Honestly, how can something that happened one hundred years ago be something that I should be sorry for. The problem that I do not get is that why did the United States take action when the nine million Jews died nin World War 2, but non eof the other genocides? And that is my final opinion. BOOOM!

As I grew up, I attended public school, but my parents insisted that I get a religious education because they feel that is important to growing up. After public school from kindergarten to eight grade, I attended a private catholic school and learned a lot about god and the catholic church. However, even though I consider myself catholic, I am not a practicing catholic and have developed my own beliefs as I have grown up. For instance, I believe I am agnostic more than catholic. I believe in the ideals that the Catholic Church tries to enforce including the Ten Commandments, but I don’t believe in the idea that there is figure of “God.”
Now after that being said, I have very strong feelings for the idea about gay marriage. I believe that the whole idea of being allowed to have a union is bull shit because they are getting the short end of the stick. I have always had these feelings, but the cartoon that Sam brought up in class clarified my ideas and helped me to explain myself more clearly. How can people go to Vegas and get married when they are drunk, celebrities get divorced and remarried multiple times (for popularity), old men marrying hot ass, and teens getting married because they accidently got pregnant. For example, in What Happens in Vegas, Ashton Kutcher meets Cameron Dias in Vegas and get drunk and end up married in the morning. However, as soon as they wake up and met each other at breakfast, they decided to get a divorce. Now how can people like that get married after just meeting each other, but two gay ‘lovers” are not allowed to get married. I think it is complete bullshit.
During recitation on Thursday, I had a lot to say about what we talked about. Even though my initial thought that comes to mind when I think of “gay” people is the flamboyant homosexuals. For example, in I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, Jessica Biel’s brother is a flamboyant homosexual and runs around in a fairy costume at a Halloween party. Even though that is my initial reaction, after finding out one of my close friends was gay, it made me change my perspective because he really is just like anyone of us, “heterosexuals.”
On the other hand, as I am typing this, I am talking to my roommate about this topic and he is completely against the entire idea of gay marriage. This is the reason that gay marriage is not allowed yet and only “unions” are allowed right now. However, in a few years, I believe that majority of the population will be open to the idea and allow gay marriage similarly to the women and black rights movements.

After attending the recitation last week and talking to other students in my section, I have thought a lot about the lecture that Sam gave on Tuesday. While I was in class, I may not have been paying attention, but I did pay attention enough to comprehend what Sam was saying about the difference between Conservative and Republican and Liberal and Democrat and make my own opinion about the subject. The reason I like the recitations each week is that after thinking about the ideas Sam throw out in class, I can talk to other students and see what they think compared to me. During my recitation, I wish we could have talked more about this because I think this is important for when we get older because unless you take a political science class, no one really talks about politics or similar topics. For example, no one talks about what to do with taxes or how to mortgage your house when you get older. How are we supposed to know how to do that if no one tells us how to?
Now, I don’t know about other people, but I feel like our beliefs come from our parents. Even thought when we get older we are supposed to break away from parents and form our own ideas, but I feel like for most people we base everything off of our parents. For me, my parents are republicans. Therefore, as I have grown up I have taken the beliefs of my parents and just assumed that that is what I believe. For example, as I grew up I just assumed that I was republican because that is what my parents were. However, as I grew up and went to college I started to believe my own ideas about politics. The problem is I don’t have enough knowledge about politics to form my own ideas. Fortunately, my dad tried to explain to me to help me make my own ideas. I believe that people can make their own choices, but it may start them off worse than others. For example, republicans believe that black people choose to not move up into society. However, after listening to Sam’s lecture on freedom and determinism, I have realized that I lay in-between republican and liberal, but more towards republicans. I fell like everyone starts out in the social structure that they are born into, but it is up to the individual to determine whether they stay in that social status or they move up into society/move down into society. I feel like it is more up to choice that eventually determines what status people are in society, but social structure does play a minor role.

After reading the article that lxb931 left about the Avatar “White Messiah complex,” lxb931 made a very good point that I have to agree with because I feel like there was a lot more to the movie that James Cameron created than the white man is going to be our savior. When the movie first came out I wanted to see it so badly, but no one wanted to go see it because it wasn’t “cool.” However, after everyone went and saw it and said how “cool,” I finally got out and saw it. Now, even though I believe with David Brooks’ arguments, I have to disagree with the fact that it’s not the major, nor is it even important, part of the movie.
Of the movies that David Brooks mentions in his article, I have seen “FernGully” and “Pocahontas.”In both of those movies, the “White Messiah” fable is clearly evident. In addition to the movies that David Brooks mentions, I believe “The Matrix” trilogy is also in the same boat as well. In all three of those movies, the “white man” comes out and helps the people. In “Pocahontas,” John Smith saves the Indians from getting slaughtered because the Europeans are taking over their land and destroying nature. In “FernGully,” which I believe is very similar to Avatar, Zak turns into a fairy to help the fairies stop the humans from destroying the last rainforest. In “The Matrix,” Neo helps save the last humans from the machines after the humans destroyed everything by creating the machines. These are all similar to Avatar, but they also share one main common point. Even though they share the common “White Messiah” fable, they also include the fact that is shows how the white people, but also humans in general, are destroying the environment. I agree with lxb931 because I felt like it was more of a message about how we are destroying our own planet, and if we don’t try to do something about it, then it might be the end of the world as we know it.
In terms of the “White Messiah” fable, I feel like it isn’t as bad as David Brooks portrays it. Although the concept is obviously there, it isn’t the main reason for making the movie. Have people stopped to think that maybe there aren’t enough Black, Asian, or Brown people in Hollywood to be the main characters in most of the movies? There are actors like Chris Tucker, Will Smith, Jackie Chan, and Denzel Washington, but how many movies can they be the main actors in? Actors can’t be in five movies a year, and since there are so many good white actors, generally, they will be the main character in these movies. Now I may be completely wrong, but there are always two sides to every story.

Part 3:
The part that I liked the most about the plane incident was that the teenager was very calm and understanding. Some people might be shocked and offended that they were suspected terrorists trying to blow up a plane, especially in today’s circumstances. However, this teenager was very cooperative with all of the confusion. The reason why I thought this was very respectful was because imagine if you were in his shoes. If the world was different and majority of the population was Jewish, even though there were plenty of Christians, and you brought out your prayer beads on the plane because you were going to pray. I am fairly certain that flight attendants would act the exact same way as they had with the Jewish teenager last week. I feel that not only was the teenager mature considering today’s circumstances, but the flight and crew handled the situation perfectly. Now I don’t think that a terrorist would be that obvious about trying to blow up a plane, but I would not want a flight attendant to think something might happen and not do anything about it.