en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/758390 Comments by zanna_re https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/christian-invaders-the-turnaround__trashed/#IDComment70004707 Ok. There are some parts of this lecture that I liked and some that I did not like. I will not be one of the ones saying that this was the greatest lecture they have ever seen, nor will I be one of the one's calling it supremely offensive. Was some of it offensive to me? Sure. Mainly his points about Christianity and how that relates to oil. Beginning with that. Sam made huge leaps in this lecture. HUGE. While I do agree that this war was mainly about oil, I think he was severely over reaching in his analysis of the George Bush quote. We have learned after eight years, that most things Bush said, were a) not written by him or b) he made them up. Sam's obsession with Bush using the word crusade was blown entirely out of proportion as that word has taken on an entirely different context in this century. People go on crusades all the time that have NOTHING to do with religion. I have to state that I believe this war was not entirely about oil, but that was a HUGE part of it. Sure our country was attacked and we needed to do something about it, but neither Iraq nor Afghanistan attacked us. Al Qaeda attacked us. Now I knew that the Afghan invasion would happen as they openly supported the group that carried out the attack. But Iraq did not really support them any more than many other countries in the world. the quote from the oil executive was truly shocking to me, and I think that that was more of the internal motivation for the Iraqi invasion for the Bush administration. While I do believe that religion plays a small role in the war, I agree with some of the posts above me who said that it is more about the misunderstanding and lack of communication between the religions than the two religions being directly at war with one another. I mean, these are the two most popular religions in the world, and of course it is easy to assume that that is the reason for everything, but I think that that is a bit of an intellectual cop out to assume it's all about religion. During this lecture Sam made sweeping generalizations about people and their intelligence. He fed us small pieces of information and assumed that we would not try to intellectually reason through things. He showed us the snippet of the Christian camp and assumed that we all would just think Christians are crazy and trying to kill us. Do you not think that maybe, possibly some would see, as we do, that this is a small number of radical extremists and not the whole?? I think Sam severely underestimates the intelligence of people, because he seems to find himself on an intellectual level that many of us may just never achieve, at least that is how he seems in many lectures to me. Fri, 23 Apr 2010 21:44:30 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/christian-invaders-the-turnaround__trashed/#IDComment70004707 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/women__trashed/#IDComment68456059 The question of what it means to be a woman, is a really, really, hard question to answer. She was right in saying that women come in all shapes and sizes and colors. But the most important aspect of being a woman is what is not seen. It is in how the media tells us we should behave and what we should wear and what we should aspire to be. What is the saddest to me, is the fact that the media boils down everything that it means to be a woman down to how we look. Whether our skin is clear or our hair is shiny or we smell good or if we dress sexy enough to attract a man. And that is constantly what society boils everything down to again. The ability of a woman to attract a man is the only thing that our society seems to think a woman is capable of. Almost every advertisement targeted for women is to make them look better or feel more confident so they can attract a men. Whether it is a shampoo add for shiny hair, which will obviously attract a man, because they like shiny things. Or perfume that smells so good, the actresses promoting said perfume do not want to be hindered by clothing. Or teeth whitening gel that gives you the confidence to flirt shamelessly with a man that said woman just met. Being a woman is about being smart, confident without the need to impress men, but clearly for themselves. But perhaps the most frightening part of what society is trying to show us is our need to impress other women. One of the great things about being a woman is the community that we are all apart of. We all go through a lot of the same body issues, insecurities when it comes to guys, and problems with friends. But society has told us that we need to be in constant competition with other women for their approval or the approval of men. Many women do not get dressed with a guy in mind, but how other women will view what they are wearing. Someone in class said that if women really wanted to dress for men, they would just walk around naked. So, I think that by wearing and spending the amount of money we do on clothes shows that we are definitely dressing for other women. Sat, 17 Apr 2010 01:31:37 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/women__trashed/#IDComment68456059 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/flip-the-script-for-a-moment__trashed/#IDComment64279565 Ok. This whole thing about the periods seriously pissed my off. I hated when he started talking about it. I was in that fourteen percent that said that Sam was totally off the mark, so I guess I m one of those women Sam is just "dying" to talk to. I found his whole demeanor during this lecture to be condescending, rude, and just plain inconsiderate. Having your period, is like nothing words can describe. So for me to have a man tell me that I am ashamed of myself for not wanting to talk about it was a whole new level for Sam. I am usually taken aback by his desire to make people uncomfortable, but this was taken to an extreme. Here is something for Sam to chew on. One: Women do talk about their periods. Usually in pretty deep detail. We just prefer to talk about it with other people who know what it is like...aka other women. It is a phenomenon that cannot be described to anyone who has not actually gone through it. So, my friends and I prefer to talk about it with other people who know what is going on and know what we are talking about. And to a lot of people, blood is gross. It does not matter where the blood is coming from. Whether it is a finger, or a vagina. Blood just freaks some people out. Just because something is natural, does not mean that we have to talk about around people we do not wish to discuss it around. What pissed me off the most was his apparent thinking that because he lives with a woman, he knows what it is like and what having a period is all about. He kept referring to bleeding. It is NOT all about bleeding. The bleeding is in fact a very small part of having a period. It is also about the intense pain, sickness, and general feelings of shitiness that we experience both before and during this cycle. I do not want to hear that a man thinks he understands what it is like to have a period. Because, I can guarantee you that you do not. Another part of Sam's talk that got me was his use of periods as a tool to get people freaked out. He says that he cares about the gender issues and is a femminist. If he really cared, he would not have used it as a ploy to get people talking about ethnocentrism. He would have brought it up in a respectful manner that allowed women to actually voice their opinions in a way that would not seem as though he could not be bothered to listen. He often talks about how open minded he is, but in this issue, he so clearly thinks that he is right, that he made those of us who disagreed with him feel stupid and uninformed. As a woman, I found his approach and attitude highly, highly, offensive. Sat, 27 Mar 2010 01:24:04 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/03/flip-the-script-for-a-moment__trashed/#IDComment64279565 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/whats-with-the-theme-parties__trashed/#IDComment59979575 I have been to many themed parties during my time at Penn State. However, the only theme party that I have been to that was directly related to an ethnic group was a Jersey Shore theme. Almost every party that is thrown at Penn State has some kind of theme, but I have never been present at a party that was directly insulting or insensitive to Blacks or another minority. They have all been either toga, abc, beach, etc. They just have a theme so people can wear stupid or slutty clothing depending on the theme. I think you could even make the argument that the golf pros and tennis hoes parties are insulting to the wealthy, country club set. The party that I could see being really offensive to an ethnic group would be the Jersey Shore party. Kids are actually putting on tanning lotion and makeup to make their skin darker than it is. The girls are dressing in extremely provacative way and the guys are gelling their hair and wearing Ed Hardy tee shirts. I do agree that many of the theme parties are thrown by white kids, but that is because they are the majority of the kids at Penn State. Sat, 6 Mar 2010 03:17:57 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/whats-with-the-theme-parties__trashed/#IDComment59979575 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/when-do-we-do-or-say-something__trashed/#IDComment58841225 She also had to go through racially motivated counseling and training. I am so happy that my school was able to take a stand and actually do something about the racial hatred we were seeing. But that does not mean that all the racism is gone. On any day, you can hear parents complaining about the Latino population and saying that they should form their own school district, but the students at my high school have definitley become much more open and aware of the racism and are actively trying to eradicate it from the consicence of the school. Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:08:51 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/when-do-we-do-or-say-something__trashed/#IDComment58841225 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/when-do-we-do-or-say-something__trashed/#IDComment58841064 All of my friends and I started to yell at her, asking her why she said that and telling her that she cannot go around calling people names like that. She then proceeded to say something along the lines of, "of course I can, I pay for her food stamps." At this point, a teacher had heard the comotion that we were causing and came out into the hallway. He arrived just in time to hear that girl utter the last sentence. At that point, she was quickly whisked away to the principal's office. I am thankful to say that our school handled the situation really well. She had to go on the morning announcements and publically apoligize to not only that girl, but the entire hispanic population at our school. Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:08:21 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/when-do-we-do-or-say-something__trashed/#IDComment58841064 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/when-do-we-do-or-say-something__trashed/#IDComment58840953 I think many of us have been in situations if not exactly like this, then similar to this. I grew up in a very wealthy, white suburban area, which is very close to Reading, PA. Currently, Reading has one of the highest percentages of Puerto Rican populations in the contiguous United States. Many of the citizens of Reading are moving into apartments in a town next to mine, which is still zoned to my school district. You can imagine how thrilled this makes many of the parents in my home town. There is so much racism in my town that I am constantly amazed by it. One day, we were walking to class and this one girl who was a very popular white girl, ran into a Latino girl. She then proceeded to call the girl a word that rhymes with trick. I have never been so angry in my life. Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:08:01 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/when-do-we-do-or-say-something__trashed/#IDComment58840953 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/when-do-we-do-or-say-something__trashed/#IDComment58840746 This class was definitly the most thought provoking class for me of thentire semester. I do not understand how that boy could sit there and honestly say that he didn't think it was his place to say anything in that situation. WE all have an obligation and a duty to step up and be responsible citizens. This means interfering when someone is saying blatantly racist or insenstive comments. I understand that he may have been brought up to respect other people, but that has absolutely no bearing on the situation at hand. If you were brought up to respect other people, you should help those who are being disrespected. There is never a time when it is okay to stand by and watch injustice be furthered by another person. Fri, 26 Feb 2010 18:07:20 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/when-do-we-do-or-say-something__trashed/#IDComment58840746 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/lgbt-class-question-six__trashed/#IDComment57681597 I do think that lesbians are accepted, more generally than gay men. I think a lot of this has to do with the media. There are many more portrayals of gay women in the media than gay men. From celebrities such as Rosie O'Donnell and Ellen DeGeneres, lesbians are being portrayed in a positive light by the media. There are even dating shows on VH1 about lesbians and bisexual women trying to find partners. I think a lot of this portrayal goes back to the idea that men find lesbians sexy, or a turn on. The fact that men seem to find women being with other women attractive leads to the media portraying them a certain way. There have yet to be dating shows portraying men trying to find other men. Although there are some examples of gay men in the media as successful and sexy. Usually when a male celebrity comes out, they are seen to be less attractive to women than they were before. However, celebrities such as Neil Patrick Harris have been shown as being sexy and openly gay. Just look at the movie Brokeback Mountain. I have yet to be around straight men who voluntarily saw that movie. However, if the story involved lesbians, I can guarantee that almost every man would go see that movie, and women would also still go see the movie. I asked one of my friends her opinion on this subject. She offered an interesting opinion. She said that because it is just not as weird for her to imagine two girls being together as it is for two guys. She said girls are more touchy-feely in their relationships, ie: holding hands, kissing on the cheek, and hugging, than guys usually are. Which is definitly true. Many of my guy friends will also insult each other by saying someone is gay or a "fag" ( I personally hate this word and do not condone it's usage). Girls would never insult one another by calling each other a lesbian. Many guys seems to have this fear of being seen as less masculine and there is still definitly that fear for girls to be seen as butch. So in that way, I think there is a stigma for both. I seem to notice though, guys only seem to find lesbian couples attractive when both the girls are attractive. But when either one of the girls is slightly masculine,they do not find it as attractive.I think there is a definite stigma associated with being gay if you are a guy, and it is seen as cool for a girl to be a lesbian. I have also heard many guys say that they think they can "change" lesbians, or they think that a girl is just going through a phase. Girls almost never say that they think they can change a guy from being gay. So I think it is just a difference of how people think about their lives and how the media portrays the two. Fri, 19 Feb 2010 22:14:29 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/lgbt-class-question-six__trashed/#IDComment57681597 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/animals-vs-humans-vs-welfare-cheats__trashed/#IDComment56589964 This man belongs to a church in South Carolina. As a Christian, he is called to love as Christ loved. To help the poor, sick, and weak, to support those who cannot support themselves. And his comments are not only rude and insensitive, but super hypocritical. Not only is he not following the tenants that are supposed to rule his life, but he is pusposefully insulting them. His characterization of giving free lunches to children as feeding stray animals is disgusting. These are children that are not given enough money to buy food by their parents. What have these children done to deserve where they are? What have they done to deserve this treatment from a man who is supposed to represent their best interest in the government? He should be made to live one life in the day of one of this children that he wants to deprive of food. South Carolina has been put through many scandals at the hands of their elected officials. It is time for the people of South Carolina to stand up and say that they have had enough of this behavior from their governmental representatives. Sat, 13 Feb 2010 03:23:03 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/animals-vs-humans-vs-welfare-cheats__trashed/#IDComment56589964 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/animals-vs-humans-vs-welfare-cheats__trashed/#IDComment56589904 I appreciate the right of free speech as much as the next person. But this man should not only have to apologize for his remarkable stupid and insensitive comments, but be made to live, for just one day, on the salary of someone who is eligible for the welfare benefits that he is condemning. Welfare was made to help those who have NEED. What exactly is he against? How can someone be against something that is helping out their fellow human live in a reasonable way. Welfare does not provide enough money, goods, or services for someone to live a "rich" life. It provides people with the bare necessities to help them live within their means. Now, are there some people who abuse the system? Of course. But, for the most part, those that need welfare use it in the proper and intended way. The worst part of all of this, is his profession of christianity. Sat, 13 Feb 2010 03:22:26 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/animals-vs-humans-vs-welfare-cheats__trashed/#IDComment56589904 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/voters-and-their-senseless-stories__trashed/#IDComment55547512 This article was certainly interesting, but it did not really provide any new information. Any American who has watched some valid form of news over the past year has seen these "Town Hall" meetings, and they are frequently disturbing to me. Now, let me first state, that I am a liberal, Proudly, unashamedly, and permanently slanted all the way to the left. I am one of those people who feels this health care plan does not do enough and could certainly be strengthened. Now, back to these town hall meetings. For eight years, Democrats were constantly called unpatriotic and traitorous for even thinking of disagreeing with George W. Bush. However, now it is suddenly all right, and even our civic duty, not only to question the administration, but to be blatantly disrespectful and seemingly violent towards our ELECTED representatives. Now, I will not say that I was never disrespectful or rude to the previous administration, because I was. But, I was always told how wrong it was. I do not care if they say that you are allowed to disrespect the President; however, there cannot be certain presidents that you can publicly disagree with and some that you cannot. One of the most interesting parts of the article is where the author talked about story having a lot to do with how voters chose who they will vote for. The perfect example of that would be millions of American's thinking that Barack Obama was a Muslim or an Arab, when he was neither of those things (not that it should have mattered if he had been). An opposition frequently produces stories that they hope hinder the other nominees chances, but the American public is much too quick to buy into them, without investigating for themselves. That is the biggest issue. Many Americans are too willing to but whatever brand of bullshit the media is presenting to them, without taking the time or effort to find out the truth. Another issue is our society's obsession with belonging to a group. Everyone is so concerned with belonging to either the Republican or Democratic party and voting strictly along party lines without even looking into the issues. America's herd mentality is a dangerous facet to the American psyche. Instead of voting for what they "think" is in the best interest for their party, perhaps people should try investigating the issues, really spend time getting to know the candidate's positions on certain topics, and then making up their mind. Sat, 6 Feb 2010 00:11:48 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/voters-and-their-senseless-stories__trashed/#IDComment55547512 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/racism-looks-pretty-good-on-this-side-of-the-atlantic__trashed/#IDComment54389340 I was stunned when I saw this video. I have to say, as an American, I watch very little soccer, and the soccer that I do watch does not tend to be league play. However, one of the soccer events that I do watch is the world cup, and it is amazing to see so many different countries represented in that event. That is precisely what makes the event so incredible. There are so many amazing athletes from so many countries, and they all play because they love the game. The fact that there are fans of this sport who are more concerned with a player's skin color than their ability was stunning to me. Many fans that I have heard love to talk about how "pure" a game soccer is. It is the international sport and beloved by billions of fans, all over the world. I was astonished to see that this sport, which truly is international in both fan base and participants is so rampant with racism. I believe that it is entirely up to FIFA to control the crowds at events such as the World Cup. However, I do not think that it is possible for them to be able to control the crowds during league play. Unfortunately, these people do have the right to speak their minds, even if they are tiny, close minded, and bigoted. There is no way to regulate the hate that is portrayed by these fans. One of the most interesting parts about the video occurred when the announcer stated that a movement similar to the Civil Rights Movement had never occurred in Europe, simply because there were not many Black Europeans, which is a fact that I had never really considered. After watching this video, I tried to come up with an American equivalent of this sport. Soccer was primarily a white man's game in Europe. The only sport that I can think of that would be akin to that in the US is golf. Tiger Woods transformed the sport of golf from a rich, white, New England, mans game, into one of the most watched sporting events in the country. I am sure that he has experienced a fair amount of hatred and racism, even though he is the greatest player in his field, and maybe the greatest golfer ever. It is sad that in these times, skin color would continue to trump talent. Looking at sports in America, many of the most popular sports in America are dominated by racial minorities. Basketball, football, boxing, and track are just a few examples of sports where a large percentage of the professional athletes are Black. This might be one reason why racism, if not being as prevalent, is at least not as egregious in the American sporting arena. Without these athletes, there would be much less beauty and athleticism in the sports that we as Americans love to watch. Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:38:36 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/racism-looks-pretty-good-on-this-side-of-the-atlantic__trashed/#IDComment54389340 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/clubbing-the-bejesus-out-of-rationality__trashed/#IDComment53469931 I want to start out this post saying that I am a Christian. Pat Robertson's personal brand of Christianity is not only giving millions of Christians around the world a bad name, but it is dangerous and down right cruel to say that the people of Haiti brought this catastrophic event on themselves. As Christians, we are called to love and care for the poor, hurt, and sick. We are called to be lights in the world for the love of Christ. If Mr. Robertson really is a Christian, he should understand that in this time of need, it serves no purpose to point fingers at whose fault a natural disaster is. It serves no purpose to further put down people who have already been through so much in their lives. A better use of his millions of viewers and millions of dollars, would be to ask his viewers to donate to any of the funds currently being collected for, or to donate some of his millions. Another use would be to even go to Haiti and personally make a difference and urge his viewers to do the same, to actually do something Christ-like. But no. He would rather sit on his pedestal that he has erected for himself and condemn the people of Haiti. Let's take a break from reality here and say that maybe Haiti had done something to bring this on themselves (a statement that I COMPLETELY DISAGREE WITH), he cannot possibly be serious to think that these people made a pact with the devil over two-hundred years ago, and this disaster is their fault. Pat Robertson has long since become a running joke and a problem for Christians today. His brand of Christianity is not only blatantly disrespectful and rude, but in this case, has become cruel as well. Keith Olberman does have a reputation to uphold and I agree that his statements do give, both Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh way too much credit. However, most of what he is saying, at the root, I cannot disagree with. These men have taken a natural catastrophe and turned it into a political bargaining tool. How dare they use the suffering of millions of people to pursue their own sick and twisted view of logic. Whether you are a Republican or a Democrat, a Christian or an Atheist, we are all human. And that humanity should allows us to, if not understand, at least respect the magnitude of what these people are dealing with on a daily basis. Do not misunderstand, I love America and I love that we are all given the freedom of speech. I just wish that someone would turn down the microphones on these two men. Fri, 22 Jan 2010 22:53:42 +0000 https://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/01/clubbing-the-bejesus-out-of-rationality__trashed/#IDComment53469931