I have taken a lot out of Soc 119. I can honestly say that Sam Richards along with the curriculum of this class has changed my perspective on life forever. I am honored to part of such a cultured family. I am an Israeli and my family is from the Middle East, and there is nothing else in this world that I am more proud of then to be able to say those two things. This class as a whole taught my how we all have this skewed way of looking at all different people of different ethnic diversities. This made myself realize that I am also guilty of doing this sometimes. I, in the past, have been one to judge people of certain ethnicities due to the fact that I am Israeli and from the Middle East. My people have had its apparent problems with other countries, groups of people, and terrorist groups in the area. One major thing that I have leaned is that just because there are some terrible people and groups in this world, that doesn’t mean that everyone of the religion or cultural background reflect their actions. Just because people are of the Muslim religion that doesn’t mean that they are all terrorists or bad people. They just believe in different guys and have certain ways in honoring them. I believe that the fact that our country judges different religions and groups of people in situations just like this is one of the most ridiculous things, yet it is something that in no way shape or form can be easily changed. Learning more about the Muslim religion, different stereotypes proven to be false, and getting other people’s opinions on such things as the situation in the Middle East has completely opened up my mind. Skyping with people from Iran was very interesting to me because we were able to hear the opinions of typical civilians just like you or me in a country that our people known to be filled with terrorists. This alone gave me a whole new outlook on the situation. I now know that not all people in countries like Iran and Iraq should be labeled as terrorists just because there are terrible people in this world that are located in those areas. There are families and children that are completely innocent just like the ones here in the United States. What blew my mind the most was the one class that linked all of this together. The class where we were put in their shoes and asked to target innocent people here and how that would make us feel. That class alone made me realize that the outlook on the majority of the people in this country is so skewed in this absurd. I’ve learned a lot of things at my time in Penn State, but nothing as important or valuable to me as the lessons taught to me by Sam Richards in this Sociology 119 class.

I have taken a lot out of Soc 119. I can honestly say that Sam Richards along with the curriculum of this class has changed my perspective on life forever. I am honored to part of such a cultured family. I am an Israeli and my family is from the Middle East, and there is nothing else in this world that I am more proud of then to be able to say those two things. This class as a whole taught my how we all have this skewed way of looking at all different people of different ethnic diversities. This made myself realize that I am also guilty of doing this sometimes. I, in the past, have been one to judge people of certain ethnicities due to the fact that I am Israeli and from the Middle East. My people have had its apparent problems with other countries, groups of people, and terrorist groups in the area. One major thing that I have leaned is that just because there are some terrible people and groups in this world, that doesn’t mean that everyone of the religion or cultural background reflect their actions. Just because people are of the Muslim religion that doesn’t mean that they are all terrorists or bad people. They just believe in different guys and have certain ways in honoring them. I believe that the fact that our country judges different religions and groups of people in situations just like this is one of the most ridiculous things, yet it is something that in no way shape or form can be easily changed. Learning more about the Muslim religion, different stereotypes proven to be false, and getting other people’s opinions on such things as the situation in the Middle East has completely opened up my mind. Skyping with people from Iran was very interesting to me because we were able to hear the opinions of typical civilians just like you or me in a country that our people known to be filled with terrorists. This alone gave me a whole new outlook on the situation. I now know that not all people in countries like Iran and Iraq should be labeled as terrorists just because there are terrible people in this world that are located in those areas. There are families and children that are completely innocent just like the ones here in the United States. What blew my mind the most was the one class that linked all of this together. The class where we were put in their shoes and asked to target innocent people here and how that would make us feel. That class alone made me realize that the outlook on the majority of the people in this country is so skewed in this absurd. I’ve learned a lot of things at my time in Penn State, but nothing as important or valuable to me as the lessons taught to me by Sam Richards in this Sociology 119 class.

I have taken a lot out of Soc 119. I can honestly say that Sam Richards along with the curriculum of this class has changed my perspective on life forever. I am honored to part of such a cultured family. I am an Israeli and my family is from the Middle East, and there is nothing else in this world that I am more proud of then to be able to say those two things. This class as a whole taught my how we all have this skewed way of looking at all different people of different ethnic diversities. This made myself realize that I am also guilty of doing this sometimes. I, in the past, have been one to judge people of certain ethnicities due to the fact that I am Israeli and from the Middle East. My people have had its apparent problems with other countries, groups of people, and terrorist groups in the area. One major thing that I have leaned is that just because there are some terrible people and groups in this world, that doesn’t mean that everyone of the religion or cultural background reflect their actions. Just because people are of the Muslim religion that doesn’t mean that they are all terrorists or bad people. They just believe in different guys and have certain ways in honoring them. I believe that the fact that our country judges different religions and groups of people in situations just like this is one of the most ridiculous things, yet it is something that in no way shape or form can be easily changed. Learning more about the Muslim religion, different stereotypes proven to be false, and getting other people’s opinions on such things as the situation in the Middle East has completely opened up my mind. Skyping with people from Iran was very interesting to me because we were able to hear the opinions of typical civilians just like you or me in a country that our people known to be filled with terrorists. This alone gave me a whole new outlook on the situation. I now know that not all people in countries like Iran and Iraq should be labeled as terrorists just because there are terrible people in this world that are located in those areas. There are families and children that are completely innocent just like the ones here in the United States. What blew my mind the most was the one class that linked all of this together. The class where we were put in their shoes and asked to target innocent people here and how that would make us feel. That class alone made me realize that the outlook on the majority of the people in this country is so skewed in this absurd. I’ve learned a lot of things at my time in Penn State, but nothing as important or valuable to me as the lessons taught to me by Sam Richards in this Sociology 119 class.

After today’s lecture I definitely had a lot of different things running through my head. The issue that the world sees with the whole Muslim population in regards to things like attacks and bombings and things like that is something that I have grown up my entire live thinking about. I am a 19 year old man that originates from the Middle East, Israel specifically. I was brought up in a highly Jewish household and attended private school for a good portion of my early years. Growing up, I was always told about the “bad guys” and the Muslims and the Arabs in the Middle East and things were always brought up concerning attacks on my country and how they are terrible people. The lecture that Sam gave the other day put a whole new spin on my perspective. I was never told to not only put myself in their shoes, but to also think about the possibility how maybe there are other religions and ethnic cultures that can easily be viewed as the ones that are out of line or threatening.. The whole terrorist and Arab situation that takes place in the Middle East hits close to home to me, considering that I have a lot of family still there, including several cousins currently enlisted in the Israeli Defense Force. When Sam told the entire class to imagine for the entire class that we were these Muslims and Arabs and to put their situations into perspective, my initial thought was that there is no way that I am going to do this or feel any sympathy. Throughout the class however, I found myself more persuaded to take part in the situation and conversation and I realized that slowly my views were being changed more and more. I still find the Muslim and Arab population extremely violent in the Middle East and I’m extremely against everything they stand for, but at the end of the class when we were asked to raise our hands on whether we would be violent and join the rally and respond the way that they do, I didn’t even hesitate to raise my hand. I found out that in order to truly understand the situation you really have to think about it for a very long period of time and imagine what would happen if the entire world viewed your culture that way and everyone was against you. A lot of people in the Middle Eastern area are very much against my culture, religion and everything I stand for and my people are constantly pinned up against the wall. However, the country on Israel does not respond violently against the rest of the world so we are not really viewed the same way that Muslims and the Arab population is.

I feel that it is a great thing that this guy is trying to make a difference in regards to the processing and slavery work that goes into some things like electronics like cell phones and computers. Unfortunately, I do not feel that one person really makes a difference in this situation. My outlook on this my be narrow minded, but I feel that regardless, it takes a lot more then one person to make a difference in this specific situation. Regardless of whether he chooses to use his cell phone or get a new cell phone or not, cell phones are still being made by the tons and this does not ultimately slow down the production of these products. Regardless as to whether one person does this, ten people, or even a hundred, these cell phones are still being made in bulk overseas in factories run by slaves and they are told that they must have to make a certain amount or they won’t get their pay regardless of what is going on here in the United States. It is unfortunate that it is that way, but there isn’t much this one guy can do to stop it besides makes this unfortunate situation known by as many people as possible. I have seen the behind the scenes part of the production of other non-electronic products overseas in factories in a movie that I was once shown in another one of my classes. Although I do not recall the name of the movie, it is clear that in this movie, the production of these certain products starts in these slave factories or low wage factories overseas, but there are other ways that this slaves are put to work and these products, regardless of what they are also go through a long lengthy process to get from point A to point B. In this particular situation, the cell phone industry is a worldwide thing and the fact that slaves are used in some places to process these electronics is absurd. Unfortunately, slavery is a major problem in the world still and not one person in my personal opinion can make that big of a difference. I feel that if a person stops buying a product or chooses not to buy a new one like this guy is with the cell phone situation, it won’t make much a difference because regardless of whether he buys it or not, it will still sit on the shelves in the store, still be created and ultimately, slave labor will still be enforced to create this products like cell phones. It is something that we definitely need to help fight against and gain a better knowledge as to how we can stop this slave labor of not only electronics like cell phones, but all products that are being used by slave labor.

Not judging a book by its cover is something that we have all been told at point or another in life; however, its something easier said then done. With so many stereotypes and generalizations of people judging people for appearance and by the clothes that they wear is how a lot of people first judge other individuals. Stereotypes can be seen in media today on popular shows on comedy central like family guy and Tosh.O where poking fun at people based on stereotypes is something that can be witnessed in almost every episode. Although it might not be the right thing to do it happens regardless whether you mean to or not stereotypes sway your opinion of people subconsciously. After you meet these people you might realize that your stereotype might have been correct or proved to be terribly wrong.
After watching this video it hurt me to do, but there was no other way to judge these seven people without meeting them personally prior, then based on stereotypes and generalizations. So when I saw the first two individuals both wearing beats headphones by Dre and being African American I figured that they are probably hip hop fans. Most popular artist in Hip-Hop and Rap are African American besides Eminem there are very few white rappers that have been able to be successful in rap. Rap is something that is full of dirty lyrics that often times talk about getting drunk and getting money. Now not everyone that listens to rap does what the rappers talk about but in most cases the music you like the most is the music you can relate to so I wouldn’t be surprised if the first two kids were into partying. Another factor to that is the fact that they are students at Penn state where partying is undeniably a part of its culture, being ranked as a top 10 party school is almost an every year occurrence. I also figure that they might not be the most out going people both with emotionless expressions makes them seem like they want to be known as tough guys. Giving off the feeling that they don’t care.
The Third person is the women in business casual attire this says she takes class and appearance seriously. If she takes class and her appearance that seriously on a daily basis that probably means she takes her studies on a daily basis just as seriously. She is smiling which is a huge thing for me it makes her seem a lot friendlier and out going epically being surrounded by a bunch of people who are emotionless. The smile makes me think she probably the most out going and friendly person in the video. Even though she is white, there is a possibility that she is a woman of different ethnicity.

I found this video to not only be extremely entertaining, but it exactly reflected how our society is today with regards to racism. This video showed both a white kid and a black doing the same action of stealing a bike. Neither of the kids were trying to be sneaky or hiding the act and they both had all of the same similarities; clothing, language, approach, etc. besides the fact that they were different skin colors. It was not shocking to me to see that no one really bothered the white boy and it took a lot longer for someone to call the police on him then when the African American kid tried to steal the bike. I predicted that this experiment would turn out this way, so this didn’t really come to my surprise. The interviews of the people who viewed the bikes being stolen also didn’t really surprise me. The fact that someone can say that they didn’t even take into consideration the skin color of the kid stealing the bike when they stopped them or called the police is a bit ridiculous. However, I did see this coming. This can be explained simply in that people do not think that they are being racist and thinking about skin color in these types of situations because most of our minds are automatically indicated to view people by their looks, including their skin color. The brain does this without being told to. So when people say that they didn’t take skin color into consideration, I feel that yes, it is true that they didn’t intentionally do it, but it was done without even thinking about it. It is a shame that our world is like this now and there is still racism out there. Regarding the third situation with the girl trying to steal the bike, this was a clear indication of how our world works. No one really expects a girl to commit a crime like that. People always here about things like robberies, shootings, etc. and always immediately think that a man did it. Women commit crimes too yet no body really thinks about it. Also, when a woman is trying to do something and is struggling, it is a man’s instinct to help the women out, as chivalry is defined. However, the fact that the man in the video not only helped the girl steal the bike, but also admitted it to the camera, is absurd. Just because she is a women doesn’t mean it is acceptable to help her steal, even though you are trying to be nice and help her. It surprised me a lot that the guy was very open to the camera by saying that he was more then willing to help that women steal the bike.

Throughout my life, I’ve had to make a lot of major decisions, many of which were not really a decision made on my own free will. However, I feel that when I was time to make the largest decision in my entire life thus far, it was solely based on my own free will. This was the choice to attend Penn State for my college education. I had applied for 10 different universities, all of which I have never attended or known anything about. Yes, a couple of these schools were not my choice and were recommended by my parents, but ultimately they ensured me that the university I officially chose to attend was up to me. My list of schools had no specific categories, as they were all different types of schools; cold weather, hot weather, big, small, city, small town, etc. My number 1 choice was the University of Miami in Florida. This was my dream school since I was at the young age of 12. Yes, I didn’t know much about them at that young age but I loved their football team, their colors, the location, and everything I knew about it. I had never seen the entire campus before, but when I finally went to check it out my senior year of high school, I got to see that it is a truly amazing campus. Penn State was my second choice in that I loved the school and everything about PSU, but it just didn’t have the place in my heart that Miami had at the time. However, I got a huge reality check when I got to Miami. I realized that I like the cold weather and that I wouldn’t be able to deal with that time of humidity. Also, I decided I wanted even more of a ra-ra school and more of a party seen. Ultimately, I was disappointed to find that there were some flaws with my dream school. I applied to Miami as my reach school, but to my surprise, I was accepted. It was one of the happiest moments of my life and I was in tears. A week later I received my acceptance to PSU. The emotion going through me at that point not only blew my mind, but I got a feeling of pride. I was happy that I was able to decide between my two top schools on my own free will. My parents knew how I felt about both and they knew that I would make the right choice for my self. I feel that the decisions of free will are very important because without them, some life lessons cannot be taught, and some of these lessons really taught me some of my higher values and shaped me to who I am today.

I feel that the reason that nobody wants to really identify themselves as rich is because in our society, we judge people straight off the bat depending on how wealthy a person may or may not be. In class, we always speak about how there are different types of stereotypes that come with different types of ethnic cultures and diversities. We have spoken about ethnic stereotypes like how people think that all Asians are smart and how all Indians smell. Well, there are also different types of stereotypes based on the wealth factor. In our society, many people believe that if someone is extremely wealthy or “rich”, that they are also described with different qualities such as stuck up, selfish, and not frugal. This is a false stereotype that a lot of people in our world believe. I think that it is for this reason that people are not willing to come forward and say that they are rich. When people do come forward and say that, many take it the wrong way and find it as being cocky or bragging. Its interesting to see that people are actually more scared to say that they are rich rather then being scared to say that they are poor. Stereotypes also come with being poor, but usually people that are less fortunate or poor don’t mention it because they fear that people will judge them for other reasons or feel bad for them. In class, when the two girls up front were asked if they were wealthy or rich, one of them answered by saying that they are “well off”. Many people who are rich say things like this because they are scared to actually say that they are rich in fear of what people may think of them. Its something in our society that has always been frowned upon. I find this to be strange because I feel that having wealth is not something to be ashamed of or to hide. Yes, I understand that people don’t want to give off the impression that they are wealthy because they fear what people’s first reaction ill be, but if someone really knows you, they won’t think these stereotypes of you just because you are rich. I have a lot of my best friends that are quite wealth, but I people would never know by the way they act. I come from a middle class family where I can afford to have some luxuries but I am far from rich. All of my friends act like I do; yet all of them vary in wealth standards completely. This is why people can’t really judge a person’s qualities and personality by their wealth. People in our country stereotype based on wealth and that’s the exact reason why people fear coming forward and say that they are rich.

I think that the exercise that we did in class the other day regarding the guessing game was a great way to show the entire class how you can't really judge a book by its cover. This guessing game really acted as a huge eye opener to me and I'm sure it did for the entire class as well. The fact that there were about 15 people lined up in the front of the classroom and the people guessing their origins got 3 or 4 right blew my mind. I was going along with the student in front of the class while he was guessing and I guessed differently then him the majority of the time, yet I was probably wrong most of the time as well. It’s just not something that people think about. Most people in our day in age just see stereotypical views of whites, blacks, Asians, Indians, etc. and that can’t be the case. For us Americans, it is not easy to tell the difference between Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. This may be because either it is just difficult to tell or we are just not experienced enough with other people’s cultures. I think that trying to tell someone’s origin just by looking at him or her is just not easy and is close to impossible for anyone to do. I think that a perfect example of this and how it’s close to impossible to do is myself personally. I am of Israeli background and by the looks of me, many people wouldn’t really guess. Yes, you may be able to tell that I am Jewish by my looks but it’s very rare that someone is able to point out that I am from Israel. I was probably most surprised about the girl that was volunteering in class that was from Saudi Arabia, yet she appeared to be your typical blonde white girl from America. Not only that, but she grew up there. That is something that I would have never known if she hadn’t said it. It’s funny that this one instance caught me so off guard because I live in the same situation in that I am also just a white boy from the Middle East area and no one would ever know unless you ask me. I would have also definitely have gotten all of the Asian origins wrong if I had volunteered in class because I am not usually one that is good with that type of stuff. Overall, I feel like this activity worked perfectly in that it really opened the eyes of everyone and took many by shock. It is activities like this that keep me so interested in the class and Sam’s lectures every week. This activity has taught me to be careful now before I judge a person by their looks as to their origin.