Race In America Response

All the articles seem to be about depressing lives and things that African American suffer about. What they fail to mention are the amazing things that they have overcome and made possible for the human race. I think that people of different races in the United States seem to add so much to the culture and diversity of the United States. Tim Wise talked about the way he is never treated like a criminal when he goes places. He is making assumptions that black people are. The extreme cases are rare. A black person may be searched at a concert just like Arab people are subjected to searches at the airport. Does it mean that the country is racist? No. People who manage concert venues and airports probably have statistics on criminals. It is not fair to say that black people account for all crime or all Arab people are terrorists. People watch the news and see the extreme cases that always seem to catch everybody off guard. I understand that African \Americans are treated differently by police officers and security, but it is just the way things have come to be. These people are trying to make our lives safer. I know it is a stretch to compare myself to black Americans but I feel as though teenagers are subjected as well. Every time I go to a concert with my friends I think I am searched just as hard as the black people there. Of course these are stereotypes, but I understand them. It makes sense that a teenager would more likely have drugs. Why does everything have to be turned into a race issue. If you are a women, teenager, or a minority there is likely going to be a time in your life that are being discriminated against. I saw it just the other day. When I went to the meeting with congressman Robert Dold, teenagers had a lot of questions but he just shook them off. I would say a quarter of the people there were teenagers and almost everybody raised their hands. Only one person was called on. We are citizens who can vote too. Shouldn't are hand be just as important as a senior citizen? Hidden biases will always exists but this is not a question of race. People need to know when it is okay to be sensitive. For all you know that extra pat down at the airport may be a security measure. It is common knowledge when things are taken out of hand.
-Igor

Hidden Bias

The tests showed that I had a moderate biased towards people of European descent. This doesn't really prove anything. I feel as though the test just calculates your reaction time for whatever your brain sees first. I really don't think that I have any biased. I think I judge all people based on what the way they present themselves. I don't judge by the color of peoples skins. I was fairly surprised by my results only because I thought my reaction time was equal for all of the pictures and words. I wonder how they actually calculate it. Also, I wonder if a racist would get a report that said he was severely biased. It's a very credible source so I'm assuming that a lot of research went into the actual project of creating this.
Something that surprised me about the FAQ was the question about the prejudices. I feel as though kids do not learn prejudices at the age of three. I think those are developed early in life but not that early. Also, the IAT tests seem to be legitimate. I don't think I'm bias but the IAT test say I am. It is a lot more complicated than I had originally thought. I was also interested in what causes discrimination. I was surprised to see movies and life or death situations. I figured that movies would try and stray away from discriminating. There are obviously clear affects of prejudices in our nations. I think the problem is diminishing and as the more prejudice people die off we continue to become a more integrated nations.

Invisible Children

It seems like the people making the film made a small joke about what they were doing. They were obviously doing the right thing but it doesn't seem as though they set off the dramatic, serious tone that they needed to. I really liked the story that they told and I thought that the cause was very important. I didn't really get the facts that I wanted to see. I wanted to know more about the actual abducted children, not just the reaction of the children who were worried about being abducted. I thought that their reaction was extremely important but I felt as though they didn't focus on the things that they needed to. My favorite scene of the documentary was probably the child crying about his lost brother. Not only was this the most powerful message in the whole documentary but it really summed up the the documentary and the feelings of the entire country. I don't think that other than donating money and spreading awareness there is nothing really anyone can do. The United States government can make a decision on whether or not they should think about going in to Uganda and helping the people. I think that what the film makers did was absolutely the best anyone can do. Unless you are a part of the government then you can't really make an immediate impact. The film makers did the most anybody can do by spreading the message. I really think that's the best that we can do.

Mock Trial Recap

I do not agree with the verdict of my trial. It seems like the jury was upset about the possible punishment. I wish that we had a chance to prove that the punishment was not what we were looking for. We just wanted him to be proven guilty. He was definitely guilty of rape. She had said no and made it clear. Also, they had sex with their clothes on. This is a clear indicator that the sex was rushed and forced upon the girl. She had even tried to leave the bed. David Jones would admit that she had said no and had tried to leave the bed. No matter how much someone leads you on, you still need to respect that they don't want to go past a certain point. Once you start to push them past this point, something is wrong. I think for the jury to reach the right outcome they needed to understand that we were debating guilt. He was obviously guilty but I do not think that he needed to to prison or even go to jail.

For the case concerning the sexual harassment I needed to hear more about credible sources proving that it was not sexual harassment. The group arguing that it wasn't sexual harassment never even mentioned that another agency had went in and investigated. I agree with the verdict. The comments made to the women were to vulgar to be ignored. After she had shown a clear discomfort there seemed to be enough evidence to prove him guilty. I wish the group had emphasized on what he had said. He said some pretty nasty stuff and I only heard it a few times.

None of these issues are problems at DHS. It seems like these things can only occur in a place that you have not been your entire life. People in high school have reputations that they do not want to ruin. You can't just go saying things to piss people off. People have known each other for up to ten years and in their minds they always have "what will my friends think". No matter how they try to deny it, the thought is always there. The culture at DHS is to be first class and that PDA is wrong. People are scolded and made fun of for holding hands in the hallway or hugging their girlfriend. I don't agree with this but if things were to escalate the students would definitely know the consequences.

What's going on in the world?

When I was doing my research on the current problems in Libya, everything was new to me. It seems as though everyone was obsessed with learning about what happens in Egypt. However, since the resigning of Mubarak, news on Egypt has calmed down. There is still violence there but it seems to be more or less under control. However, the violence in Libya is peaking and it doesn't seem like it will be slowing down anytime soon. It almost seems as thought the violence in Libya is worse. There seems to be a lot more guns to control the riots rather than nothing. I don't know whats better. Would I rather have my government leave an unsafe environment for me in the streets by not controlling the protests, or would I rather have them control it with violence, making it even more dangerous? In the New York times article, the author wrote about turmoil due to oil on the Libyan border. It seems as though a country can very easily take advantage of a country with a lot of internal problems. I think something like this happened in World War One. Someone had told Mexico to attack the United States so that the United States could not fight a war on two borders. It seems as though the internal conflict can be an external conflict and may even impact the business of Libya. Investors would be hesitant to invest in Libyan markets or due business with Libyan business. It seems like it's going to impact their country. If I were el- Qaddafi I would try and control the whole situations with less violence. It doesn't seem like things are going to escalate to the point where violence is going to be used. Also, keep all the other countries out of it. The New York Times talked about the United States and NATO coming in to help keep the peace. They also talked about no fly zones. This doesn't seem to make sense. How are they going to keep the peace by shooting down planes that aren't supposed to be there.
-Igor