When asked what I had taken out of the semester’s worth of Soc 119 classes, a few things come to mind. An entertaining experience, a perspective of other peoples beliefs, and the ability to think outside of the box. These were a few of things that the course had brought to me. Opposed to course ratings online the class did not completely change the way I am thinking about he neither world nor my viewpoint on it. Thought it was a good class that had me wondering what the topic would be the next week. Wondering what would stir up a conversation or a story.

All these things led to the class being entertaining. The discussion groups are where, I felt, the most actual thinking went on, as well as some of the best conversations. All while keeping me interested enough to actually go to class.

Another thing that this class had given me was a window into other peoples lives, their beliefs. We were able to speak to others in far away countries using Skype and this was pretty interesting. Just getting an idea of where they were coming from and what their thoughts were of us. We was what we had as opposed to say people in Haiti and also saw what a little empathy can do when beginning to judge another culture or country.

Last came the ability to think outside of the box. I did say that this did not completely change my way of thinking, which it did not, but it did allow me to see that sometimes I may be a little closed minded. I will still believe that the United States is the greatest country in the world even though I have not traveled to all the other ones. I’m proud of that, but I do see now that other people may not see it that way because of their experiences and I can accept their thoughts because of that. As far as the conversation we had in class Thursday, I would still take a steak over lamb eyeballs any day no matter what kind of once in a lifetime experience it is. I love steak and I will eat what I like. But it is something to think about and it shows that some people want to try new things. I just love food too much to waste a good meal involving something I like over something else. I will be adventurous, just not with my food.

All in all, this was a good class, a good elective. It was a fun experience and not a horrible class to end my final year at Penn State. If anything, I had the experience.

When Sam brought up the point that anyone can be made to kill, I agreed fully. All you would have to do, for me at least, is put my life or the life of the people I love the most in danger. Under these circumstances, I believe most humans would opt for fighting for their lives. We are no different then any other living thing, in that respect, the same way that lions protect their pride. However, when it comes to other situations where a human can be brought to kill such as loss of freedom or a threat to your certain way of life, people will be more indefinite with their action.

When it comes to a point in class where we are asked to step out of our own shoes and into those of another, I find myself having a tough time in doing so. There are things that run through my head, and probably the heads of many others that hinder us from truly submersing ourselves in the idea of being a different person. I believe this is because of a few obstacles that get in the way of my thought process. These obstacles include culture, beliefs and probably a little bit of stubbornness. These are all things that most likely hinder the majority of people in the case of seeing though someone else’s point of view.
First is the obstacle of my culture. I have grown up and have been so assimilated to the culture in which I am apart of so I find it hard to, even in the sense of an activity to just drop it. Even while trying to take into account certain things, like the example in class of the Iraqis, I find myself placing an America mindset on the situation that is un-American. This really is tough for me to not think as an American.
The same goes for my beliefs. My beliefs get in the way when it comes to these types of examples, this is because I have built these beliefs over the past 21 years. No matter what they are, it is tough to drop them and accept another set of beliefs wit that much ease. As hard as I try, I can not seem to place my beliefs or culture in the background when it comes to placing myself into others situations.
In the case of both of these, culture and beliefs, I believe that my obstacle that I must overcome is the fact that I am stubborn in the case of these. I feel that I am privileged to be able to form my own opinions and have my own culture, so I do not really drop them to easily. Even though it is an exercise I still hold on to the beliefs that make me who I am. This may or may not be the problem for others in class when we have examples where we must place ourselves in others shoes.
We like to think that we are dropping all of our possessions and becoming a person of a different race, ethnicity, etc. but in reality we can not place ourselves there. We do not truly know their situations or where their thought process is coming from, so that really adds to the difficulty. Even with these obstacles, I still will try to place myself there and maybe on day I will understand.

When it comes to a point in class where we are asked to step out of our own shoes and into those of another, I find myself having a tough time in doing so. There are things that run through my head, and probably the heads of many others that hinder us from truly submersing ourselves in the idea of being a different person. I believe this is because of a few obstacles that get in the way of my thought process. These obstacles include culture, beliefs and probably a little bit of stubbornness. These are all things that most likely hinder the majority of people in the case of seeing though someone elses point of view.

When it comes to the issue of immigration, for every person you ask you will get a different solution on how to solve it. If it were so easy to regulate and please everyone, then we would not see this as a prime topic every election season. The reason for this discourse, in my opinion, is because the topic is a double edged sword; we want to be America, the land of opportunity, but on the pother hand don’t want to just open the flood gates and let everyone rush in at once. This is tough but with a little work, I feel this can all be resolved.
I would like to start my opinion by saying that I believe anyone should be able to have the opportunity to come to America and try to start a better life for themselves. I do feel, however, that they should do so legally and “pay their dues”. If a person is working and living in this country, it is only right for them to have to pay the taxes that all American are so privileged to do. This is my main problem with the immigration problem in this country. My solution would be to have a day where all illegal aliens would register with the government in order to get the ball rolling and become American citizens. No penalty, no sending them back to their country to get in line, they would just be grandfathered in and would begin paying taxes as they go through the process. With each step there will be different tax codes leading up to full citizenship. For those out of the country perusing citizenship, they will have to apply for prolonged entry. After this point, anyone not “in the system”, meaning living here without paying the tax, would then be deported and sent the back of the line.
One problem many people have with immigration s the fact that immigrants take jobs away from people already living in the country. That I do not have a problem with, if these immigrants can find work you should be able to as well. The immigrants mostly take grunt work that 90% of American will not take, I think if you really need the money, you should go out and to anything to make it, not feel like manual labor is beneath you. I grew up in an upper-middle class family and still do manual labor when I need quick cash. You gotta do what you gotta do.
In the end, the immigration problem, could be solved by registering all who need to be registered and not by setting out on a “crusade” to deport all that do not belong. However, once the opportunity passes to register yourself, there is no excuse not to be and if you cannot produce proof of citizenship or that your perusing citizenship legally then you should be dealt with.

I believe that there are many implications of the presence of latent prejudice that surround us all. The problem with this type of prejudice is the fact that we do not see it or even realize that we are doing it, which accounts for the “latent” in the definition. Since we are not aware of our prejudice in these situations, it causes many problems within society. In all aspects of life, people will be the subject of latent prejudice that affects the outcomes of their living situation, whether it be in their place of business or even in their homes.
Since latent prejudice is all around us at all times, it is safe to say that the implications are endless. With the upcoming election, you can see places where latent prejudice may come into play. It can affect a person who is white, having a small but present latent prejudice toward Barack Obama because of his color. It may cause the white person to be a little more convinced before they vote. The same goes for Mitt Romney, where his wealth may cause some people to be prejudice against him.
We saw with Sam’s demonstration in class that latent prejudice has implications when it comes to receiving a job or not. We had seen that when an interviewer is more comfortable with you then you have a better chance at making a lasting impression. If the interviewer does not feel as comfortable, then they will sit farther away and not engage as much. This is latent prejudice, and it is not even noticed by the person that is having the thoughts. This is unfortunate, being that a person will not have the same chance at a job just because of the way they initially look to a person. This difference can be the deciding factor in someone receiving the job of his or her dreams or not.
Now, even though we know about this latent prejudice and the effects it has on peoples lives and perceptions, I feel it will never leave or even be diminished. Since we do not even realize we are being prejudice, we will not see the direct effects. Then since we do not se the effects, we will not make strides in our lives to change this. Even though we know latent prejudice is a real thing and all people probably do it, human beings will always be in denial about latent prejudice. As humans we believe that we are not the ones in the wrong and we would never be the one who acts a certain way. That in the end, is what will come of latent prejudice, it will remain latent.

It was interesting to see that in the video, people said that they believed one thing while acting on something completely different. For what I believe, this can be accounted for based on a few factors that had to do with the experiment. The mannerisms of the actors and location of the experiment were two that really stood out to me. Sometimes these factors can play into peoples reactions, even though they probably still would act the same way in any situation.
To begin with, the difference in the mannerisms and dress of the actors kind of stood out to me. Even though the actors were dressed the same, in a way that tried to convey a “shady” individual, it was much more convincing on the black kid. The white kid had a shirt and pants that still fit, while the black kid’s pants and shirt were much baggier. I believe this could play a role in the differences exhibited. Secondly, when the actors were questioned it seemed to me that the black kid did a much better job of acting like he was really stealing the bike, where the white kid was acting like he was acting.
The next set of factors that I can see changing people’s reactions are the community that the experiment is taking place, and the people that pass by. I had noticed that most of the bystanders that had seen the actors trying to steal the bike were white. This tells me that it is a predominantly white community, and in a community like this they may be more conditioned to stereotype that the black kid would be more likely to steal a bike.
Even accounting in these factors that may or may not change peoples perceptions, it still will not account for difference in peoples beliefs and their actions. I feel like this is common in any aspect of life. You always want to believe that you will do the right thing and act the right way, but you never really know until it happens in real life. Then once it happens, you still stick to your belies because, first, you are in denial or, second, you still believe that you are always right. I feel like very few people will admit to a camera that they acted in a way that could be classified as racist. Even in that case of the man helping the woman steal the bike, he justified it by saying he was “just helping a damsel in distress”. Every person will find a reason to say that they were in the right, even if they don’t believe it. Especially when they are publicly called out for it, then they really will not admit to them acting in a racist way.

When the dilemma of “free will vs. determinace” was first brought up in class, I had pegged myself as a dead on free will guy. However, mostly through the discussion group conversations, I have shifted toward the determinance side of things. Now I am not saying that I now believe that free will has nothing to do about how successful you can become, I still believe it is more important the where you are born, however, your living situation holds more weight to me now. I like to call it a shift from a radical right-winger to more of the center-right.
As stated, when I came into class that day, I felt that no matter what you come from, you could make something of yourself and become as successful as you would like. I believed that everyone had the same opportunity to become rich and successful, all they had to do was put in the time and work. However after speaking with my discussion group, I began to see things a little differently.
I began to see that maybe the situation you are born into, whether it be your financial status, social status or genetics, can play a big role in the spectrum of your life. I began to realize that it is not as easy to build the traits of a successful adult when you are not surrounded by parents or guardians that will instill these traits in you. That is something that these people have to overcome later in life, which can still be done, but I will admit, it much harder to reinvent yourself.
There are singular cases of course, where someone with nothing, grows into something truly special. These cases are built on free will of that person and I still would like to believe that this is possible for all people. Some people though, are just in too deep to believe in themselves and then they settle for the situation they are in. The same can go for the opposite, someone born into the best family life in the world, cannot work hard and completely fail. Much less of this happens because of the things they are given and I do understand that as well.
SO when it comes to free will vs. determinance, I would like to say that anyone can overcome anything with a little bit of hard work and determination. I am beginning to realize that this hard work and determination often comes easier to people that are born into good family lives, and the motivation is much lower when it is hard to get by in the first place. So determinance does play a role in your life, I just hope that everyone will still try to set and accomplish their own goals no matter where they are born.

I believe that hip-hop, and art in general, can definitely help in spreading a message from cultures of the east to the west. With the social media culture we are living in today, an innovative idea is just one YouTube share, one tweet, or one Facebook post away. After one of these things are done, the ripple effect will begin, reaching more and more people as the message spreads. The good thing about art is that no matter what language you speak, everyone from every culture sees the same thing in the piece of art, whether it is a painting, photo, or drawing. That makes that message very powerful, knowing that there will be nothing “lost in translation” as is the case with music, poetry and story telling.
Even though things may be “lost in translation” due to language barriers, I believe that these forms of art can be effective as well, when used correctly. What I mean by using it correctly is to combine aspects of the culture you are trying to reach out to in order to draw them in. We saw this used when we heard Omar’s rap, he began rapping in English and just when we got comfortable with that, he flipped it to his native language. I do not know about anyone else, but I tried to look up the lyrics translation of what he was saying. I do not think this would be the case if he had just come right out of the gate in a different language. Mixing the two cultures is what helps to bring them closer together; it makes us more comfortable with it and in turn will help us embrace it.
When it comes to trying to get one culture to embrace the way another culture is, it is important to establish that level of comfort early so that it is embraced as much as possible. In the case of crossing cultures, being uncomfortable because you think there is nothing in common, is the reason that we will not give those cultures a chance. Music, poetry and paintings are great mediums to establish that sort of comfort also in part because of the international appeal of the arts.
So in the end, all types of art can be, and should be used to help cultures understand how other cultures live, act, and think. In the case of art, it can easily be interpreted and understood because you cannot hear the artists voice or accent. For music, this is the problem, but if the cultures are combined and a level of comfort is established then music can be a very powerful thing in the act of attempting to spread someone’s culture.

I tend to agree with Sam when he says that we have to acknowledge others differences in order to ultimately not notice these people for their differences but just as people. As someone who is not normally around people with disabilities, I can say that I do notice people first for their disability, and then making a conscience effort to act as normal as possible when encountering them. It makes no difference in the way that I will interact with this person, but I do believe that the need for me to think about it, even for a second, is what Sam is talking about. Immediately upon seeing a person with a disability, people tend to classify them by that disability instead of just as the person they are.