I choose to answer this blog because it will be good to reflect on the many lessons and subjects that we discussed throughout the semester. Before this class I never was very one minded and thought I had a good grasp in the world. After sitting through the many lectures it was nice to have my mind challenged with these new ideas that I probably never would have faced by myself. Race and even religion has always been more on my awkward side and I never truly opened myself to think about other people’s situations. I thought it was nice to understand what others thought about certain situations. I think the fact remains that we do live in a world were race is still a major issue and I think people are starting to move past it finally. The one lecture were Sam sowed us a video from a tv segment called, “what would you do” really hit home for me. In the segment the showed a white male, a black male and a white female all trying to steal a bike in the part. What surprised me was that one would think that anyone would try to stop anyone from stealing a bicycle in a park. This video showed us differently though and it really blew me away. I was horrified to see that people immediately tried to stop the black male from stealing the bike, and when it came to the others people just walked by or in some cases tried to help out. I feel that every college student and maybe even people in high school should take a class similar to this one because it’s important for people to understand that we are all human at the end of the day. Also some of my favorite lectures were the ones were we talked to a man who was from Iran I think. Being at war in the middle east I guess I shamefully thought that everyone from the middle east must hate us and we should also hate them. The truth is that is far from the truth. When talking to this man we learned that he was not in anyway, besides his skin color, different from us Americans. It was nice and refreshing to learn that most people love Americans and even watch the same television shows that we would watch here in the states. I really enjoyed class such as that and it was certainly a once in a life time experience to talk about some of the things that we did talk about in the class. What made the class even better is that the class itself was very diverse and I got the chance to hear a lot of different perspectives people had who were not white.

Interracial dating has more recently become more common, but I would not say that it is very common. The fact remains that generations before segregation separated blacks from whites. Our grandparents and maybe even some parents grew up in a totally different world that we live in today. In history for a black and white couple to exist was taboo. People would look at that strangely and some would even look down at the couple. Nowadays I think we see more and more couples of mixed races because our generation does a much better job of looking past that. On top of this modern day media does not discriminate against blacks, whites, Asians etc. so we see more and more models and figures of different colors and we portray them as “hot”. Growing up in a society were any race is portrayed as hot probably had a huge effect on how we look at life. We don’t look at other races as different people anymore and I feel as if we are slowly moving in the direction of just seeing people and not focusing on what race they may be. If there is any hesitation that exists today it originates with the older generation. People might be afraid of what their parents might think or how their grandparents might react. I do not think there is a soul alive today in their twenties that would not be able to point out one very hot girl or guy of a different ethnic background. It all comes down to this huge fear children have on how the world and their parents will view them and judge them for doing something different. I personally have never dated a black girl or an Asian girl but that does not mean I’m not open to it, I just have never found someone I was interested in. Also I think that were you live plays a major role in how you date people. If a person is from an area where it is predominantly white then most likely they will grow up dating white people. I don’t think it has anything to do with fear of dating someone who is black, but simply the just have never encountered a situation where dating a black person was an option. I think the same goes for the opposite. If a white male grows up in a predominately black area then most likely that person will end up dating someone who is black. Sure there will always be a few who will never get over this and always look strangely at a couple like that but in the end of the day who cares. I think the majority of people don’t really look at that being a major issue as they would have 50 years ago.

America is the land of the free and is seen by many around the world as the land of opportunity. This country was build on immigration, whether it was England, France, Spain, Ireland etc.. The bottom line is that the only reason why most of us are here today is because at one point in history our ancestors immigrated and arrived by boat. When we were first building this great country and immigration was welcomed and needed to help populate the lands and help protect them. It seems ironic that in today’s world, our view on immigration has completely changed to the point where we have walls and officers in place to track down illegal aliens. To me this just seems hypocritical and unfair because at one point all of us were once immigrants too. I understand the necessity to have walls and rules in place to get our immigration under control but that doesn’t exactly make it fair. I think one solution to our immigration problems here in the states is to somehow reinforce not people coming over here but to instead focus and how much they are paid hourly. I realize that this sounds funny and weird but let me explain. Immigrants are hired but Americans who would rather pay them less than the average American citizen who would demand more money. If we are forced to pay immigrants’ the same wages as immigrants people might be less likely to always go for illegal immigrants and just pick American citizens in turn. With this new form of action from employers immigrants might see the necessity to come to the states legally to have a green card so they can compete with people getting jobs who are American citizens. What makes this topic and issue even more complex is that our government pretty much promotes immigration with the severity of our laws and how difficult the process of legally obtaining a green card. I think we should revisit our system and take a second look at the laws that we do have in place. If obtaining a green card was easier it might help promote those who intend to come to the states to just come legally and not by some underground tunnel. The fact remains is that a large part of the reason why our country remains is the fact that we do have immigrants that come here. Most that do come only com with the intention to work hard and to make enough money to send back home. I don’t see any issue with this if Americans want to complain about illegal immigrants, they should also take into consideration their own work ethic and how they perform on the job.

I had a lot of strong emotions towards the discussion over the whole rape and pregnancy issue. this is one of the topics that I kind of get fired up about because in the end of the day I agree with what Sam was saying towards the end of the discussion that people should not be able to tell other people how they should be living their life and what they do with their life. I realize that abortion is a huge issue in today's world and for many people it can even be a deciding factor in voting for the next president with politics. All in all I agree with people that people who have abortions every other day because they got too drunk one night or too wreck less another night and are just careless with their body, should not be giving the right to pull the plug on the potential life growing inside of her. On the other hand though if someone where to get raped by a man, I feel that no one has the right to tell that women what she has to do because that decision should come down to her and her only. Even going beyond that if a person makes a mistake and is truly not ready or able to are for another human being I honestly believe that they have the right to an abortion if they feel that is there only option. Society needs to mind their own business sometimes, allot the crazy people holding up the protesting signs out side clinics or yelling at women as they walk in need to just chill out and go home. I'm 100 percent positive that any father, or mother or brother etc... Would be perfectly ok with there family sister or daughter getting an abortion if the case truly needed it. I feel that all of the people protesting it are just hypocrites because I know for a fact that if they got brutally raped tame pregnant, the last thing they would want to do is give birth to a child, who could have health problems from the rapest, constantly remind them of that horrific day. I don't blame anyone who got an abortion that needed one and I think it's impossible to slap a law down on this issue because there is too many factors and possibilities with each case that makes them unique. To make a broad law covering all possible abortions doesn't seem fare to compare a rape victim to a reckless girl. In the end people are always going to have their opinions towards this topic but I believe everyone is somewhat pro choice and the ones that are claiming they are pro life are just the ones that hasn't had an issue hit close to home yet.

To hear about how most of our beliefs are based on misinformation is not news to my ears at all. I believe that a majority of our be leafs are formulated through assumptions and information that was handed to us through others. Personally I would love to believe that I am my own person who decides things for himself and cannot be influenced by others but the fact remains I feel that it is impossible to have beliefs that are 100 percent your own. The fact is we live in a world were other people's perspectives and views about the world is constantly being thrown at us. Through television and other forms of media we are constantly being influenced by others and sometimes we are being influenced and not really even realize it. I feel that modern day television and movies have a huge part to play because it through movies and tv were we are exposed to certain scenarios that seem to play over and over again and get to the point were we eventually begin to believe them. To be honest I wasn't that surprised to hear that there were only around 100 kidnappings a year, when the majority of the class thought there would be more. I thought it was very interesting to hear that the majority of the kidnappings are done by current family members. Television would have us to believe that sending your child off to walk to school in the morning is one of the most dangerous things in the world with all the movies we see we're kidnapping happens but the fact is that the world isn't as dangerous as most of us believe it to be. I think the most interesting fact that we learned today was the percentage of actual crimes that happen verses the top crimes seen in movies in television. Most of what we see are the crimes that are exciting such as bank robbery and kidnapping and other top crimes. In reality most crimes are much less serious such as drug related crimes or minor cases such as theft. The problem with the world today is that we are exposed to misinformation and in turn we turn to our friends and family and spread this misinformation which ultimately leads to the world being less trusting to each other. We recently talked in class about what should a child do if they ever find themselves in a scenario were they are lost and alone. Statistical the answer is to go up to the very first person they see and tell them that they are lost. Modern day misinformation would have us believe that the child should remain hidden to keep unnoticed so that they don't attract attention to themselves being alone. It's this kind of misinformation that needs to be dealt with so parents and kids can learn the facts and the truth.

I thought that this lecture was very eye opening. After seeing the exercise that Sam did in class I was glad that he helped put the view point from native Americans into perspective for me. Seeing one person being pushed off the today by another simply because they wanted the table for themselves helped me understand how unfair we were towards native Americans back in the day. I thought it was very interesting to see what the majority of class thought about who has the right to something. It seemed that most of the class felt that as generations passed the right to land and property decreased. This is a hard question because without taking the land that we did and doing what we did in our passed to the native Americans, we obviously would not be where we are today and America would probably look very different than it does today. This being said the fact remains that we did commit a massive crime that has yet been dealt with. I'm not entirely sure how we should go about correcting this because of how much time has passed. I feel that the government should probably step in a try to help these people out. We should be improving schools there and providing native Americans with some form of payment plan to help each one of them out with there day to day lives. After watching the video about pine ridge it was and hearing the guest lecture it really made me take a step back and realize how badly these people have to live. I was amazed that this was actually the first time I have ever heard about this issue. To be honest it doesn't seem right that we have so much coverage of other areas of the globe with people in poverty level and struggling to make it every day, when we have people here in struggling. I thought it was great to hear from the guest lecture today because he really helped prove this point and it was great to explain his point of view towards this issue. All in all I do believe that if something gets taken from a person, that person has a right to get what originally belonged to them back. That being said, the harsh fact still remains and it should be understood that it would be almost one hundred percent impossible for the native Americans to regain there land. It simply would be too impossible for anything like that to happen. On the other hand it the they should reserve payment as I mentioned before. It wouldn't be a bad idea to start companies and other forms of business to help them get on there feet and make more than 5,000 dollars a year.

I was not the slightest bit surprised that Asian and White non Hispanics households make more on average compared to African Americans and Hispanics. There are many obvious reasons for these numbers that might play in affect here that I have to say I’m not very proud of our society for it. In truth I completely agree with Sam’s point that the reason why whites are on top is because we got here first. It’s a shame but it’s true, people in America discriminate against any other race that isn’t their own race. So when you have powerful rich white guys running the show it makes sense that they are going to hire white guys and girls to work for them because it there is that connection. In no way am I saying that this is fair or how things ought to run, I’m just pointing out some facts. I do believe that this trend that most Americans fall into will change dramatically over the next couple of years because what we have now is more and more powerful people of color rising to the tops and I believe that same discrimination that white people have shown others will come back and do the same thing to them. Another reason for those numbers can be traced back to an individual’s education. Personally I live in a wealthy area and go to school with mostly white kids. We have the best technology and the best teachers and from that we get a great education and end up in college. In today’s world it has become increasing more impossible to make it “big” without a college education. On the other hand if you go to the city schools the majority of kids who attend them are people of color. City schools are underfunded, have less technology to teach the kids and in turn have teachers that are not as great as other areas. With a poor education it makes it hard for students to attend a college because they don’t get accepted and finally this result with them making less money. I would bet a million dollars that if I could magically trade my school with a school found in the city I bet it would be me who makes less money. The only way to make it in America nowadays is with a good college education from a well known school. Sure kids from the city can go to other community colleges or take online classes but that kind of education won’t hold up against someone else graduation from Penn State, Ohio State, Harvard etc… The only way to change these numbers is if we improve schools in the city and give them more funds to increase their educational capabilities.

After listening to the other blog questions I found this one to be the most interesting. In the video they refer it to men not allowing it as if guys hold some sort of leash or control over women and what they choose to do with their bodies. As a guy myself I feel compelled to defend all males because the blame over who controls the body image and influencing others to look a certain way can directly be blamed on society today. In every magazine and every TV show people are shown images of people and what beauty should look like. I feel that sometimes women go around thinking and blaming men for controlling what they have to look like and what they should be wearing, but in fact it is a team of people girls included that design these images and photos of what beauty is. That being said I find it a shame that society has brought us to a point where mass media and advertisements have such a short leash on us. I for one consider myself a sucker to media influence as well as most of society but it is still a shame that we act a certain way to fit into society. I thought it was very interesting to hear the story about the girl who didn't shave her body due to that fact that she wanted to remain in the same form as god created her. I thought it was cool and almost inspiring to hear because not only did she not embarrassed about the photo being posted on line but she even posted another photo to tell the world that she is proud about the way she looks. To me I feel that she has a lot of courage and its nice to hear a story about someone who looks beyond beauty in people. I found it interesting to hear about the religion in general and i thought it was cool that she even gave a little description and an explanation along with the new photo of herself smiling, about her religion and her beliefs. That being said I think the issue goes way beyond just shaving legs and face, in todays world society controls what people should dress like, what people should act like and this happens through modern day movies, television, and magazines. So to see this person make a stand against all of that even though people might look at her differently is inspiring. Unfortunately I feel that society has driven people to think an act a certain way for so long that I think it would be impossible for people to get back to a time where girls wont have to shave their legs.

I have to admit thursdays class really shocked me. The quote that was posted up on the wall seemed incredibly offensive and even angered me a little bit. When i first saw the quote It scared me because the first thing I thought of was that this quote could be a legitimate threat. Once we found out about the truth about the quote and how the presidents spiritual adviser, Franklin Graham was the one who said it I was really taken by surprise. Not only was I still upset with a quote this offensive and rude I suddenly felt an overwhelming sensation of embarrassment for our country. America is thought to be the country of reason, justice, and freedom, when a person of power in our government says something as foolish and barbaric as this it just puts shame to our country for even considering an idea this crazy. To America defense we should not be judge on the foolish mistakes of a christian who has lost his mind and in any country there is bound to be one or two who feel that pushing a red button seems more convenient than working out problems the proper way through peace and compromise. The thing that makes this so unfortunate is that someone allowed this psychopath to speak his mind on television and to our president. What allows surprised me about this class and this quote is the fact that a president that commands a country where freedom of religion and opinion is highly practice would even consider having a spiritual adviser seems incredibly inappropriate. It doesn't seem far that christians get there chance to advise the countries leader when there is many other religions present in America. In my opinion religion and politics need to be two separate things and should remain separate. I also found it interesting to hear about peoples responses to Sam question about how we felt about the situation that a christian could say something as drastic and harmful as this. Personally I was born into a christian family but would like to consider myself an atheist, and that being said I was not as surprised as some of the other students were that a christian was the one to say something like this. Throughout history Christians have been trying to convert the world to their religion and have countlessly killed in the name of "god". Im not saying that all Christians believe in this quote, in fact I'm sure 99 percent of them in todays world would be just as appalled by a quote this harmful as I am. All I'm saying is that its not surprising that a person who wants to destroy an entire group of people for believing something different then they do, is a Christian.

I personally have not had the chance or been put into a situation where being around mentally disabled or the specially needed was no big deal. I will admit when i do find myself in these situations it does make me feel a little bit awkward. I went to a school that was not very diverse. In my school we did have students who were had special needs but i was never around them too much because they would be in separate class rooms and walk the halls at separate times. In class sam brought up the fact about people in wheel chairs. Its hard for me not pay close attention to people who are handicapped because I do not have a lot of experience on being around others with special needs. I agree with sam in class with the idea that we must first acknowledge these handicaps because to ignore them would be childish and morally wrong. I think its ok to look at people in their current situation so that we may be able to slowly change behaviors or attitudes that might conflict with this persons special needs. For example learning to take the elevator for a friend who needs a wheel chair. If a person spends enough time drilling this idea in their head to use the elevator it might be at that point that they can look at the person and just see a person and not a person with special needs. I think its important for people to spend more time around people with special needs that way they can feel more comfortable and used to the situation on being around someone who might be mentally disabled or physically disabled. I do feel though it is important to remind yourself constantly what this persons special need is so that way you can learn to live with it with that person and that way it makes it easier to see them without their special need.
Unlike many of my friends I personally do not have a very big family. I have a cousin with autism who lives in Connecticut which makes it kind of hard to get the chance to go out and visit him. I can remember my dad bring me to see him when I was very young and i can remember the feeling when I first meet him. Ill admit it was very hard not to feel a little bit awkward around him because it was something i just was not used to. Truthfully I still feel a little awkward around him but it has dramatically decreased since my first visit with him. I think with time and enough visits I will get to the point were it wont even notice his disability.