Yeah, I definitely wasn't crying but that's because I only cry when I am sad and these videos made me super happy so I didn't cry. Isn't it crazy that that little Chinese boy wanted nothing more than to just hold that little girl's hand and (figuratively) he just couldn't. It will be a great day on this planet when that young man can look at that young girl and have absolutely no ethnic bounds to cross in making his decision for love. We must continue to strive for a life that offers us the freedom to live and the freedom to love who we please.

These really are great stories for sure. To see the care and love that these humans exhibit toward each other is really astonishing. There really are completely selfless people in the world, you just have to look in the right places. Makes the world feel a lot less empty. Basically, all you can do is control the way that you treat other people. From there, it's pretty much just a roll of the dice. It's just so refreshing to see these two young people completely ignorant of their ethnic differences. We really can live in harmony, I've seen it with my own two eyes.

You know, sometimes I sit down and start thinking about the past for quite a while. As I mull through some of the good memories, the bad ones, and everything in between, there is usually a moment of realization that follows. I'm never going to be a kid ever again. Isn't that odd? Thus far (depending on your definition) I have been a kid for at least 50% of my life. That's a pretty sizable chunk! So, when I look at a video like this one and see the genuine care that little boy has for the other girl, it's a pretty cool thing. The longer that we as individuals are here on this Earth, the more and more conditioned we become toward its consistencies. Young children though are merely living on a whim. It's one of the most refreshing things you could ever experience, I'm sure. This young kid has absolutely no idea what the implications of dating a young Malaysian girl could be, and he doesn't care. He likes HER. Not her status, her nationality, her parent's bank account, but he likes HER. You know, the thing that really is a shame is that, we can't find anything remotely like that amongst American adults. It's almost like the thing to do nowadays, get married 2 or 3 times. We're witnessing completely unconditioned, unaltered love. How is it that we can let all of these "problems" with ethnicity and skin color get in the way of one of the most important things we have as humans? To deny someone the right to fall in love is to deny someone the right to life. It is unlikely that that little boy and that little girl will be around each other long enough to where they could take a serious shot at being together, but if they could, it would end in total devastation for both of them. Of course, this isn't any one person's fault or anything like that but this video really has to bother you. There's just something about their blissful naiveté that speaks infinitely louder than any words could ever hope to. In the end, that's really the only thing we're seeking: happiness. These two young kids, unbeknownst to them, are seeking pure happiness. Who is to deny them that right? When cultures begin to deny the happiness of its citizens, perhaps it is time to think about the place you live. Love and happiness are the only two basic human rights that require not one possession or dollar to obtain. So I ask, what is the sense in denying two people their rights to happiness and love? Especially since it affects others in absolutely no way whatsoever.

I hear what you're saying about some more qualified people perhaps missing out on a job opportunity but think about it, if they're "more qualified," they're probably going to get a job of similar merit elsewhere. It's not going to ruin that person's life, you know? Affirmative Action, in my opinion, is a great thing because now instead of one person getting a job, two people have jobs; this ultimately stimulates the economy and provides a better future for more American families. That's really what it's all about, everyone's just trying to have a roof over their head and some food to eat, you know?

I totally hear what you're saying, but I don't think that anyone was saying that minorities are less qualified. In fact, if you remember Sam told us that most of the beneficiaries of Affirmative Action are actually white women. Personally, I think Affirmative Action is a fantastic way to create more jobs for all people which ultimately stimulates our economy and provides a better future for more American families. In the end, we're all just trying to get by you know what I mean? If Affirmative action achieves the results that the policymakers set out to attain, then its a great thing in my book.

I think that the kid in this video asks a great question. In reality and in theory, Affirmative Action probably does place less qualified individuals into jobs that maybe they wouldn't have gotten otherwise. Can this kind of thing become directly detrimental to individuals? Certainly. However, I think this is tightly connected to what Sam was saying at the beginning of last class. Surely, some people will be negatively affected by Affirmative Actions, or any policy for that matter. The thing is though, the nation and the economy benefits overall from something like Affirmative Action. As Sam was saying, the idea is not to make every single individual better off than they were before, because that's not really a realistic goal. Affirmative Action makes our economy better off by giving jobs to those who, for some reason or another, could not get a job. Now, personally I've never lost a job opportunity or anything like that because of Affirmative Action, so I can't empathize with those who have, but even if you do I don't think you should get very upset about it. If you had the qualifications to be considered for the job, you can probably get another job, right? The person who took your spot was given the job because they couldn't get one on their own accord. I understand that the initial reaction is to get angry about something like that, but three or four weeks down the road you're going to get a job too. Now, two people have jobs instead of one. Expand that over the entire country and you've got more people with jobs, and more money flowing through the economy. The point that I'm trying to make is that I understand where the kid in the video is coming, but the beneficiaries of Affirmative Action are not getting jobs conducting brain surgery, I promise. So, while he makes a completely valid point by voicing concern about diminishing quality of service, I think this sort of policy has more pros than cons. Also, was anyone else as astounded as I was when Sam asked how many people had benefited or had family members who benefited from Affirmative Action and almost no one had? I honestly thought there would have been way more people than there were. However, this helps to pad my point because it's not at all like the government is displacing millions of people from jobs, they're trying to improve the future for as many people as they possibly can without completely acquiescing to everyone's individual needs. To me, the majority of the problems that people have with race and politics stem from polarized media attention. If you think about it, almost every political pundit on television is either unwavering in their conservatism or drowning in liberalism. Guys like Bill O'Reilly, Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh are quite literally extremists. They automatically ridicule anything that a Democrat says purely because of their political affiliation, and it frightens me that that's who the conservatives are primarily getting their news from. Whereas, I also have an incredibly difficult time watching anyone on CNN because they've made a career of kissing President Obama's behind. There's no possible way to agree with one idea or ideology all the time.

I literally couldn't agree with you more. I commented in the section with Laurie speaking and said pretty much the same thing. As a guy, I'm very comfortable with the notion of the menstrual cycle, etc. We're just trying really, really hard to not picture it.

I know what you're trying to say here and I agreed with much of it a few comments down, but i was thinking about your post for a minute or two and thought about something which may or may not sound bad. Do you think maybe the reason Sam doesn't talk about Asians as much is because there isn't as much (from a relatively naive white male's perspective) outward racism toward Asians in America as there is to this day toward African-Americans. And even if there is, I don't know how many people would be offended by jokes about being good at math or being intelligent. Those are really the only steady generalizations I hear about Asian people. I don't mean to downplay anyone's situation at all, I'm just trying to get to the bottom of this whole ordeal. I would love to hear the Asian people's opinion on this matter.

I thought about this for a few minutes before answering, and I realized that there's really nothing you can say about any race that would hold true all the time or even most of the time. Sometimes I can distinguish between Asians and Asian Americans, but to be honest other times i cannot. I don't think that really means anything other than that I see way more white people on average than Asians. Some of my best friends on the planet are these Korean Americans from my hometown. I've never met funnier people in my life, I swear. But, that has nothing to do with the rest of the Asians because they are, as we've clearly established, 100% individuals. The thing I'd like to propose to minorities and sociologists alike is, maybe the questions that we're asking are too limited. Asking what people think about Asians in general sets them up to immediately generalize about an entire race. We've got to be more careful.

Okay, well I understand what you girls are saying, but if we're really going to be honest, I'll give you the guys' side. Surely, there are guys in our class who reacted harshly or crudely or whatever you'd like to call it, but to most guys its something that we acknowledge freely and comfortably that happens to women. Unfortunately for the girls, we cannot empathize with the pain and discomfort that goes along with the menstrual cycle, but certainly we can understand. However, there is not one guy that I know who really wants to think about it in depth. I have no problem talking about it in terms of the operation of the human body, life cycle, etc. I hate to be so blunt about this but here's the deal: for guys, the vagina is pretty much the holiest of all holy places in the world. I understand that may be a kind of odd way to put it, but that's pretty much how it is. With that in mind, you have to realize that while we grasp that it is a totally natural and "beautiful" occurrence, we really, really don't want to think about our "Mecca" doing things that it does every cycle. Again, while it is natural and happens to every woman, I just don't think men really want to think about it. I grew up as an only child, and have lived with only my mom for my entire life. I would consider myself quite privy to female issues and biology. However, I just really don't want to think about it. I'm sorry if that offends any of the girls but I'd be willing to say that I speak a good portion of the guys in our class. I've heard the phrase "get over it" from many of the girls speaking on this topic and I just wanted to make it clear that I don't think many of us guys are too hung up on girls menstruating. But, we (guys) are and always have been programmed to try very hard to have sex with girls because, from a biological standpoint, it's what we're put on the Earth to do. Procreation is burnt into our minds. The only way to procreate, that I know of, is through some form of sexual intercourse. From a straight male's perspective, that is by means of the female and the vagina. As I said earlier, this leads guys to, quite literally, worship this very thing to a level that is much different than other things. Please try to understand, this isn't something that we hold against girls or makes us think differently of women, it's just something we're trying really hard to not picture.