I never met anyone from Haiti but they seem like some dope people. Every time someone cracked a smile in this video I felt the power of it. Also in Tuesday’s lecture the story about the man who was happy because god gave him a tree. I wish I lived in a society that thought like this. To be honest, I’m not completely like that but I feel like I could conform very quickly. The fact that they can find happiness in whatever small things they can, is amazing. I really wish I could spend a month over my summer helping people get back on their feet because they seem like they totally deserve some help.

This is a pretty cool topic. I’m sure this letter was eye opening to many people. One Saturday I was sick so I just laid on the sofa and watched television. There was a marathon of a television show, documentary thing that was all about life in prison so I feel like I understand what this lifer was talking about in his letter. The Jail is like its own community, you’re going to have your nice, open people that made a really bad choice, and then you’ll also have the guys that have to heart or feelings about anything. Reading this letter and knowing how much some people really change in prison makes me almost think that there should be an evaluation system so that people like this could possibly be freed. But then look at the situation, someone that took someone’s life away should have nothing other than their life “taken away”. And by taken away I do not mean the death penalty because I do not believe in that. I mean it’s obvious that the man whom wrote this letter evolved and now has a new perspective on things, which is really good. But say he was now left free, and truly has changed. What about the parents, or kids of the person he murdered. They have every right to be totally infuriated by this. Say this man killed your mother. Would you be okay with him being a free man again?...even though he changed. I know I would not want that to happen at all. And I’m not even a person to hold grudges, it’s just the fact that he ‘killed my mother’ that I’ll never be able to let go. It is so interesting how much a person can change while in prison, while on the other hand some people will never change. And how Sam said it takes people sometimes ten years or longer to accept their fate that they are in prison forever, is nuts. I feel like the ones that quicker accept that are the ones that can truly change in their years in prison.
For this man to notice the little gestures of kindness and compassion in a prison says a lot. I give him many props. However, I do not feel bad for him, well maybe I would if I knew more about the nature of his murder but with little knowledge that only says he killed another human being and ended their life forever, I just can’t feel bad for him. This story was very touching and I would find it very interesting to visit some of the lifers so I can truly try to see it from their perspectives.

I think your question is stupid. It’s generally human nature to have the mindset of “out of site, out of mind”. And to say not much help has been given is crazy. Haitians received over one billion dollars in aid. How about all the food Haitians receive. The UN provided 2 million meals on a particular day after the earthquake. As we learned in lecture on Tuesday, this money is only making a worse economic situation for them. I feel like more people would try to help if they were right there and could help with physical labor, but we’re not.

I’d have to say men definitely have to try to conform to society. Just look around the classroom and look at all the bro’s trying to be cool. I’m a male and I’d like to think I wouldn’t convert to society, but I try to go to the gym every other day and honestly, I would have to say this is to “look good”. I like to think it’s because I care about my health but it’s really just me trying to get that slick beach body. I feel like females are more pressured to conform but males definitely are supposed to fit in. Not only physically but males have to act a certain way in front of their friends, compared to in front of the ladies.

I don’t like to toot Sam’s horn and say it was my favorite lecture, because I feel like that gets to his head sometimes. However, it was a really deep and interesting lecture. I don’t think anything could have been really changed to make have a bigger impact. Thinking back to the video he showed at the beginning of class, it generally made the class think like “wow the Muslims are really trying to take over the world with there acts of hatred” But these same exact words can be said about Christians if you look outside of our ethnocentrism views.
I do think though, Sam twisted some things slightly and exaggerated others to make his point a little stronger. Yeah, this may just be a biased view that I have but I’m pretty open minded. One thing I know he twisted a little was regarding the John McCain video he showed, and just for the reference I am not a John McCain fan. In this video John McCain c said something along the lines that until we are not dependant on foreign oil we will remain at war (I do not remember the direct quote). Sam twisted this to say that he directly said that we are in war for the oil. This is a little beside the point though. Also when he was referring that the United States accounts for 48% of the world’s spending on military in 2008, I have no doubt this is true, but how many country’s are in a war like the one we are/were in, in the year 2008. The enemy I guess was, but no country is nearly as big as the United States so of course they won’t be spending as much. I feel like some people connected the Terror attacks discussed at the beginning of class with the United States military bases all over the world. I felt like some people thought these were the same thing, just one from a perspective of someone living in Iraq and the other from someone living in the United States. However, our government has such an international network for security reasons, whereas the terror attacks are just plain violence spread over the globe.
Leaving the lecture today, I had a different perspective on the war in Iraq. Coming into the lecture I was against the war, and I must admit I generally had a negative outlook against the Iraqis. I now can admit I was totally brainwashed. I now understand that the pictures of kids with guns are probably just a one time thing that’s strange that becomes popular just because of how odd it seems to us. To sum it up, I now have a different outlook about Iraqis and that general group while my negative outlook on the war was solidified.

What the hell? I never thought any human could have such low morals that they would, 1. Create this game, 2. Allow this game to be released (the Japanese government) or 3. Play this game??? It’s gross. There is no reason for this, and how Sam tried to find the counter argument for this, I agree with what he said. There is no reason for this in any form. This should not even be considered a “video game”, it should be called like “How to be a Rapist for Dummy’s”. How isn’t the company that released this game ashamed of themselves, like I just don’t understand. I would love to see what the sales of this game were in Japan. Some people may compare this “rape game” to violent games that involve shooting and say that is just as bad, but it is different. The shooting games that involve killing people, actually have a plot that is based (also normally very exaggerated) on true life. They have a plot and require skill to get past certain levels, just like every video game really. This is just clicking buttons to rape a girl, its effed up. Don’t get me wrond, if they made it like a challenge to successfully rape the girl, it would not be any more acceptable. The rape game seems to have no point other than settle some hormones for some creepy guys. Honestly if this is what you have to do to get “off” to this type of material, you should just get rid of you wiener.
I can’t imagine what the creators are like that made this game. Between the say, 30 people that worked on the creation, they probably got laid three times between all of them. But that doesn’t really matter, what does matter is how disrespectful this is to woman. I know if I had this game, I couldn’t be caught by anyone, I mean anyone, playing this game. I would be totally embarrassed not only sexually, but because I do believe woman are more than people to have sex with and I would not want to be related to something so degrading. I would be very interesting to who exactly plays this game. I mean I sure hope there is some type of rating system in Japan trying to keep this game out of the hands of kids under the age of 18 years old. However, if it is anything like America, these ratings are hardly followed. And the thought that teenagers are probably playing this disgusts me. I know if I had a son and I caught playing this, he’d be the first child signed up for a social dating site. What was ever wrong with frogger and tetris anyway?

Ha- good question. But really I thought I was a generally open and enlightened person regarding race, and yeah what Sam has said changed what I think and some of my opinions. With that being said, a lot of it was just educating me on certain issues rather that changing my opinion on the topic. The lecture about how the European settlers, and now all American citizens were really part of the largest genocide in human history. I never thought of it like that. I never realized how the Indians were brutally murdered and forced off their land. If you do not have any opinions that have been slightly changed by Sam’s lectures, my guess is that you came high to all the classes and couldn’t pay attention.

This video exposed so much that can be commented is. I never thought of this topic but it’s a really interesting one. It’s unbelievable to see how the media’s influence can brainwash even young children. Now I do not think this is a form of racism. I feel like America is still a majority white people, and for that reason a majority of tv, advertisement, movies, and what not is aimed towards white people, which does make sense. But this video is just so sad to think how these black children think that black is “the bad color” and white is “the good color”. I once heard a white kid saying that statistics support this type of idea but I could not believe that statement. It’s just how people generally stay where they are in social standings so they fit into the given categories.

It is a census, why do people think that the writers would ever do anything like trying to offend people. They want you to fill it out so they obviously are not trying to offend you. It’s like the people are trying to find a controversy in it and if it went smoothly, some people would be mad at that. Just put your x in the category that fits you best and move on with your life. I think you’d have to be dumb to not think the term “negro” was put in there for a reason. It’s obvious that some people today still identify with this racial category. I’m pretty surprised there aren’t any white people on here complaining that all the different white categories are not listed. What I mean by this are like German, Italian, Polish, Scottish, exedra. In comparison, isn’t this like instead of putting African American, Afro American, Black, Negro, just simply putting black. I know that would start worlds of controversy. About the man that said he knew a female who was upset because the word negro reminded her of her childhood in the south and the hard times of racism back then. Well honestly, I feel like this is just selfish to say. SORRY, a word that reminded you of another time was placed on here that thousands of older blacks still refer to as there race. I don’t know why this one person thinks that this one word shouldn’t be on the census because it upset her. And besides that situation, she should just focus on the importance of the census. In general, race is a very hard thing to ever talk about, especially when directed toward an audience as big as the United States Population, without offended people. I’m sure the census creators did all they absolutely could to make as many people happy with the wordings of the questions. If they were to try to not offend anyone, there would be no other way to do that other than to make multiple copies for the different generations of America. For example, the African Americans that are over the age of sixty ( I don’t know what the actual age is) would have a form that would include the word negro, where as the newer generations of our country would have a form that would leave out the word negro. But really, this is way, way too much to try and tackle rather than just offend a few selfish people. And being a white kid, rose in generally white area, when I hear the term negro I do not think it carries a negative stigma at all. I just think it’s an older term that you don’t use as much, really now that I’m thinking of it I feel like when I do hear the word, I just think of an older black person. Now I know that’s not what it means but I guess that’s just what was sculpted through my eyes as a definition of the word.

After listening to this video clip, I see what Sam has pointed out about students being confused which “team” they are on, and I totally understand the confusion that you are experiencing. I’m not an expert on race issues by any means, but I would say it’s up to your own discretion to what you want to be. Now I don’t think you could go saying you’re Jamaican, but I’m saying between your mother and father. If I was in your shoes, I would probably just keep myself under the multiracial category. Then when you have to pick one or the other, I’d just try to relate the issue at hand with which race has impacted that more. I’m not sure if that completely made sense, but this is just an overall very difficult question.