[25] Write your Alphabetical Number as I just did (explained in the Intro email).
Tell us about yourself. Are you an ADP student, a Seton Hill undergraduate, or other? What is your major? Where is your home? Why are you taking this course? Have you been to Latin America? If so, where and for how long? Do you speak Spanish? Who is your favorite historical figure?
Then, after doing the 7-page reading from the Handouts and having read my two questions in the Assignment 1 handout, answer them indicating each with 1) and 2). Thanks.
[7] I recently transferred, as a Biology major, to SHU as a junior this fall semester. I grew up in Wyoming; however, I now reside in Ligonier. I chose to take this class for credit for my Non-Western Cultures requirement in hopes of furthering my knowledge of Latin America before I travel there. I have been blessed with the opportunity to travel to many places but I have not been to any of the Latin American countries. I’ve taken 5 years of Spanish and I’m very comfortable reading and writing Spanish; however, I’m not fluent in speaking the language. My favorite historical figure is Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt because of his major impact on the national parks system.
ReplyDelete1) The set of prejudices that have been held for the last 200 years are still in effect today. My role as a white American is to look past those prejudices and show others the respect they deserve whether they are the same religion or the same race. In order to create an unbiased community, we need to communicate a positive message about Latin Americans and other races and their religions.
2) The opinions of the North Americans 200 years ago have transferred across generations and now seem to still be the opinions of people today. The Lars Schoultz article explains how the prejudices against Latin America were passed down starting with John Quincy Adams and the founding fathers. The problem was that these important individuals of high political standing were educating the people of our country with these prejudices which then were passed along to other political officials who spoke to more people of the United States causing all Americans in the United States to think that they were better than others. These prejudices of religion and race were then passed on to me by my grandparents and to them by their parents.
[14] I am an undergraduate junior Biology major at Seton Hill. I was born in Philadelphia and I currently live in Norristown, Pa. I am taking this course to fulfill my Non-Western Cultures Liberal Arts requirement and I enjoy the Latin American culture and the Spanish language so I thought that this class would be interesting. Unfortunately I have never been to any Latin American countries but I would love to visit Mexico in the future. I have taken four years of Spanish and my mother is a Spanish teacher so I am very comfortable with the language; however, I am not fluent. My favorite historical figure is Abraham Lincoln because I admire his work during the American Civil war, my favorite period of history.
ReplyDelete1) Racism, prejudice, and feelings of superiority have been around since the beginning of time and are still prevalent throughout the world. Today many US citizens still believe that Catholics are inferior to Protestants, Hispanics inferior to Anglos, and dark skinned people inferior to light skinned people despite the fact that these opinions are insulting, politically incorrect, and illegal. I believe that most people in the world are raised to grow up believing that their race and religion are the "correct" and superior race and religion, contributing to a vicious cycle of prejudices that will never end. We are all people no matter our skin color, religion, or race; but unfortunately most people do not share my view and I believe that more prejudices are to come in the next 200 years.
2) These biases have transferred across generations for the past 200 years. In his article, Lars Schoultz explains how prejudice feelings toward Latin America began with the founding fathers of the United States and have survived the last 200 years as they have been passed down from generation to generation. Although many early Americans never went to Latin American countries or really knew many people of Latin American descent, they believed in the prejudices taught to them by the founding fathers because they resepcted and looked up to them. The early Americans in turn taught their children and so on and so forth, with the prejudices getting worse over the years. Prejudices against all types of people have been unjustly passed along for years, especially by people who know nothing about the type of people whom they hold prejudices and feelings of superiority against. These prejudices were passed on to me by my family as it was passed along to them by their families when they were children, and also especially by the media. The media is very influential whether you are a child or an adult and it is everywhere, contributing to the world's vicious cycle of racism and prejudice.
[23] This is the start of the second semester at Seton Hill University. I am a Business major, minoring in Human Resources. I transferred from Westmoreland County Community College where I received my Associates degree. My fiance and I bought our first home in Murrysville this past February. I have never been to Latin America, but hope to go some day. I took this class because I do not know a great deal about Latin American culture. I took three Spanish classes in high school, but unfortunately, do not remember most of what I was taught.
ReplyDelete1. Prejudices have existed for hundreds of years and are still very present in today's society. I find it fascinating, as well as troublesome that these prejudices have withstood the test of time. I think a great deal of prejudice is due to the lack of experiencing and understanding other cultures. Recently, I have had the opportunity to learn about the Muslim religion from a doctor I work with. He has exposed me to a great deal of information about the religion and the information has been a real eye-opener for me. The fact that a great deal of prejudice has been passed on from generation to generation conveys to me that a lot of the population are ignorant to that they are prejudice against. I think of people would step away from their narrow-mindedness, they may understand and perhaps even accept that which is different from their way of living.
2. Unfortunately, I can say that I have been exposed to prejudices by my parents. I don't consider myself a prejudice person, but I was exposed to a great deal of prejudice thought between dark-skinned and light-skinned people. Growing up, I saw that my grandparents imposed this type of thought upon my parents. And more than likely, my grandparents were exposed to that type of thought from their parents. It's a vicious cycle and will continue until as long as parents keep passing their way of thought on to their children. I want to expose my children to all different types of cultures and let them form their own opinions.
[18] Hi my name is Katie Sanford and I'm a junior Music Therapy major with a Psychology minor. I graduated from Springdale Jr./Sr. High School in 2008 and still live in the area when I am not in school. I've always found Latin America intersting. I took Spanish in high school as well as this past year and wanted to learn more about it. This course is not only meeting my Non-Western Cultures core for graduation, it is a way for me to learn more about Latin American in hopse for visitng someday.
ReplyDelete1) Prejudices have not only been going on 200 years ago, but is still happening to this day. It is past down generation by generation. Family members views and beliefs tend to be influentional to children where they pick up the prejudice. Today the prejudices are the same as there were 200 years ago. The Catholics still believe that they are more superior than the Protestants, the Anglos still superior to the Hispanics. Some believe that the white population is still superior than the black population although they are all created equal and have the same rights. I also believe there are prejudices because people aren't willing to learn about the different cultures or religions. They are focused on what they do in their culture and their religion that they are blinded in seeing others and what they believe in. That is the problem in society and in the world.
2)Growing up, I have been exposed to different predjudices. My grandparents still hold prejudices to the black population. They grew up during the time where black people didn't have to the same rights as white people. Although, the prejudices have been shown by my grandparents, they have never pressured me to have the same beliefs. Growing up as a Protestant has also opened my eyes to the different religions. My town was dominant Catholic and they would constantly say how Catholics was the best religion known to mankind. Although I've been taught to believe how I want to believe, the pressure of others and the beliefs being passed down have showed a weak way of mankind and how vicious people can be. Being the fact that I will be a music therapist when I graduate, I have to set all beliefs and views aside. I must not let the pressure of others be a burden to my job so my clients will have the best expereinces.
[4]
ReplyDeleteMy name is Jean-Raphael de Raoulx. I am a senior and a psychology major at Seton Hill Uiversity. I am from Redmond, Washington. I am taking this course because I do not know a lot about Latin American culture and history, but would like to learn. My favorite historical figure is Juan Ponce de León (because I like his name and I'd like to find the fountain of youth someday).
1.) Racism and Prejudices have been around for centuries. The human species feel inferior to those who are different from them. For example, in Europe there still is a rivalry between the Catholics in Ireland and the Protestats in Scotland. Both feel they are more inferior than the other. If you look at US citizens who are both Catholic and protestant, the same feelings goes for both. These biases have transferred across generations for over 200 years. It all started with John Quincy and the founding fathers. There beliefs were respected because of their status in society. There beliefs were passed down from generation to generation. It caused many Americans to believe that they were better than one another.
2.) I did not have any prejudicial beliefs passed down to me. I was brought up in a home, where self-respect and respect for others was taught. I grew up in a affluent area, where people judged others and saw others with different cultural backgrounds as beneath them. But that never influenced me to be that way. I treat people how I would like to be respected.
[6] I’ve Attended Seton Hill for three years, after transferring in from Community College of Beaver County. I have an associates degree in Childhood Preparation, and I am currently going for my Bachelors in Psychology while getting my teachers certificate in elementary and special education. I work at a daycare and I teach children ages 1 ½ to 5 years. I live with my mother in Beaver, and I have lived there my entire life. I spend most of my time in Greensburg because of school and work, and I am currently looking for an apartment here for my roommate and me. I am taking this course because it is required for me to take a non-American history course, and this was all that was available. I have never been to Latin America. Although I took four years of Spanish classes I do not speak Spanish well at all. If I would have to pick a favorite historical figure I would choose Susan Brownell Anthony for all the hard work she did in the women’s suffrage movement.
ReplyDelete1. Prejudice and biases against people were very apparent in cultures, societies, and religions many years ago. People did not hide their prejudice feelings about others. They said what they felt, and they acted upon it. Many people think that prejudice and biases are not as big of a wide spread problem as they were 200 years ago, but that is a myth. Weather someone has prejudice against people who are different skin color than them, different religions than them, or different cultures than them, the biases still exist. Not as many people are so open about their prejudice and bias towards others but it still exists. I think that prejudice and biases are just as widespread today as they were 200 years ago but they are not as apparent in some people as they are others.
2. There are many ways in which prejudice has been passed along to my generation through my family and community. I come from a very small town in a very good and safe area. In my graduating class there were only 2 people who were not of U.S decent. This made it tuff for a lot of us, including me to accept people of different decent without having biases towards them. When I was a junior in high school, a near by school district was closing. They wanted to separate their children between us and another near by school. My school board would not have anything to do with this, since most of the children were of African American decent. The school board voted, and agreed that only the students with a GPA of 3.7 or higher were allowed to attend our school. They said that the other students would only cause problems and havoc. This caused a lot of debate about biases and prejudice of those students being discriminated against. But, since our school board has much power, and we are one of the best school districts in our area, we won the case. By showing that a school board and many community followers would allow something like this to happen, would spread a great deal of prejudice to the children of this town. Not only that, my family and most of my community look down upon interracial dating of any sort. I think that because of the values of my family, and my community many children were affected and think it is okay to be bias and have prejudice towards people of a different decent.
[16] I am a junior at Seton Hill and I am majoring in Criminal Justice and minoring in psychology. I am from Philadelphia and am taking this course to fulfill my non-western cultures credit for my liberal arts degree. Half of my family is Spanish and they all speak Spanish, unfortunately I can not speak Spanish fluently, but I can understand a lot of it. I've been to Barbados, Cayman Islands, Haiti, Mexico, Jamaica and the Virgin Islands when I was on a cruise. My faorite historical figure is Amelia Earhart because she was an author, she tried to fly solo around the world, and believed in equal rights.
ReplyDelete1)These prejudices are completely wrong and it’s a shame that we can not stop them from transferring over into each generation. I understand why people perceive such prejudices, but it still doesn’t make them right. I feel that these prejudices won’t stop because there will always be wars and crimes being committed. Instead of assuming that all people from certain backgrounds and religions are bad we need to understand that it isn’t the whole race or religious group, but rather just a few “bad eggs”. It’s like a family, every family has at least one member who makes bad decisions or is unable to get their life in order. Just because one person is bad doesn’t mean that the whole family is also bad.
2) I can see how these prejudices keep being passed down to each new generation. For example, after 9/11, many people now assume that every Middle Eastern person, specifically males are terrorists. I know that I have even started to accept those beliefs. It’s completely wrong and I don’t want to have these prejudices, but it’s hard after everything that has happened in the last few years. I think it would be almost impossible for someone to not be even remotely prejudice because of everything that is being said in the news and what the government officials are saying; people start to buy into these beliefs and form their own opinions, which they than pass on to other people. I have seen comics in the newspaper that talk badly about Middle Eastern people and lately there has been a lot of discussion about illegal immigrants. Personally, it is hard to not buy into other people’s beliefs especially when you hear things all day long and see on the news some of the things that are going on in the world.
[24] My name is Brian Warheit and I am a senior entering into my final semester here at Seton Hill. I am an accounting major and I am also a pitcher on the baseball team. I encourage all of you to come check us out this spring. I am from nearby Butler and I am taking this course to remain a full time student and to give myself enough time complete my internship this semester. I have never been to Latin America but I can speak a little Spanish. Took 3 years in high school and 1 year in college, but haven’t retained too much of my knowledge. Alexander Cartwright is my favorite historical figure, for those not familiar with him; he is credited with inventing the game of baseball.
ReplyDelete1). The fact is, prejudices are always going to part of society. Prejudices have changed over the past 200 years, but are nowhere near over. The biggest challenge with prejudices would have to be race. Although laws in our society have made all races equal, people are still not willing to accept that. In the United States, the light skinned race considers themselves as superior to all other races. But when you think about it, most countries are similar to us, it just varies depending on who the majority of the population and who their leaders are. Stereotypes fuel these prejudices. All we ever here is about Hispanics illegally coming over the border and taking our jobs for less pay. Is this true? Probably, but we have such a biased opinion of them cause that is all we hear about. In a way, the media is a great promoter of prejudices.
2). As mentioned before, these prejudices as been made aware to me by the media. Have they influenced me? No they have not but they do make people aware of what they perceive to be correct. Luckily my family has no prejudices as far as I’m aware of; if they did they never made it known to me. This is a little surprising because in a high school of over 2,000, there were maybe twenty black kids in the school. But I was not exposed to any prejudices in my time there, was actually friends with most of them due to sports. As far as religion, I was never exposed to any Catholic/ Protestant debate on which is superior, so I have no comment on that issue. So besides the media, my parents kept me pretty sheltered from prejudices.
[20] Hey hey everyone. I am Jaclyn Spoljarick and am from North Huntingdon, PA, not too far from Greensburg. I am an undergrad at Seton Hill studying communications and working on two minors as well in political science and legal studies. I am taking this as part of the requirement for my poli sci minor, but it also covers the requirement for non-western cultures. I am never been to Latin America but some background in spanish, but speak it poorly. I would rather read it. My favorite historical figure is Alexander Hamilton.
ReplyDelete1) Prejudices like the ones mentioned have continued to severely threaten progress in a world that can offer so much if people just take the time to learn about different people and ways of life. People too easily forget that just because a person defines themselves as something that not all of those people will have the same opinions or ways of life. There are different ways Catholics think as some being more liberal while others are conservative. Not all protestants think the same way either. Over the past 200 years the prejudices have continued because people do not take the extra step to get out of their comfort zone and take the time to learn about other ways of life. Fear is the problem.
2) How prejudices have been passed onto me since I grew up in an area with little diversity. Having grown up with honestly no diversity other than difference in religions (Catholics and Protestants) in the area being comfortable around others of a different race. However, not having people around that are Hindu or Muslim never gave me the ability to be purely comfortable around them until I was in high school due to being introduced to them in a class. Education helped me to be more comfortable and I think education is a big factor to reduce prejudice, but of course the information given must be correct. Bias only creates more bias.
(17) My Name is Tina Richey and I am a senior. I am a Business Major with a Minor in Accounting. I live in Pittsburgh Pa and I am taking this course because it looked interesting to me. I have never been to Latin America but I would Love to go. I do not speak Spanish at all but I did take it for a couple years in grade school. I have never really had a favorite historical figure but if I had to pick one mine would be John F. Kennedy.
ReplyDelete1. These prejudices as well as others have been around for so long and I don’t think they are going anywhere. I totally agree with the fact that these opinions and prejudices are insulting and there is no reason for them. Everyone wants to be better than everyone else and they want to think that they can stomp on people but I don’t think they realize how hurtful and cruel they are being. We are all alike in some way and we are allowed to have different opinions and beliefs but no one should be punished or treated unfairly because of those opinions and beliefs. Everyone is entitled to their own opinions so, if you want to think that you are better than someone then fine, but don’t go around trash talking others and putting people down, just keep those feelings to yourself. Its sad to look around this country and see so much hate an envy. There is no reason for this.
2. The only prejudice from our readings that I think was passed on to me was that dark skinned people are inferior to light skinned people. I do not believe this or feel that it is true but members of my family still to this day believe that. I grew up in an all white upper class neighborhood so some of these prejudices about light and dark skinned people were felt strongly by most people in my neighborhood that as a child you pick up on them. I went to a catholic high school in the city of Pittsburgh and I was surrounded by all different types of ethnicities and races and it was hard for me to adjust and realize that they are no different than I am. I just cant comprehend how some feel others are inferior to them just because of the way they look, act, or because of what they believe. We are all equal and these prejudices need to end.
[21] My Name is Julianne Sticha; I am a 24-year-old veteran. This is my fourth semester at Seton Hill; I am an undergraduate Biology major. I live in Export, Pennsylvania; I have never been to Latin America. I am taking this course to learn more about the region and because it fulfills the Non-Western Cultures requirement. I have taken one semester of Spanish and am planning to take more. My favorite historical figure of all time would Indira Gandhi; the historical figure in Latin American History that I find most fascinating is Che Guevara.
ReplyDelete1) People in modern United States might still secretly have prejudices similar to those held by Anglos 200 years ago, because some prejudices are learned behaviors. Throughout western history, wars and genocides were the result of prejudices against those who were different and considered inferior. Even in the era when the United States was fighting for independence, preaching the equality of all men- the settlers still owned slaves and massacred the Native Americans. Now, 200 years later these prejudices still exist, passed from parent to child in different ways for generations, possibly becoming so commonplace that it is more of an inherited trait in addition to a learned one. Today’s society promotes such beliefs in nonchalant ways, such as encouraging stereo types through television and movies or by making jokes on the internet. Whichever way it is passed along (whether from parent to child or thru a media outlet) it is still known as a wrong behavior; like underage drinking doing something we know is wrong and believing we will get away with just increases the thrill. One way to overcome this trend is to know and do the right thing of being tolerant and accepting of others and to teach our child to do the same, along with reducing the mockery of stereotypes publicly; maybe then the prejudices will disappear.
2) Although I try to be a tolerant and accepting person, I was raised in an almost all white community. My parents tried to enforce the tolerance and understanding of others, but children hear everything their parents say whether they were meant to hear. My grandparents would often times tell inappropriate jokes and make racist comments. When I was in the Marine Corps, the stereotype jokes would fly rampant in the air, usually made by those whom the stereotype was about, but I know it is not an acceptable behavior and would either ignore it or try to stop it. It is hard to describe the way a prejudice is passed along but in my opinion, the two ways it was passed to me were from my grandparents and parents and from inappropriate jokes.
[12] Hello, my name is Lindsy Muchnock and I am a junior at Seton Hill. My major is Psychology with a minor in Sociology. I am from Latrobe, Pa. I took this class to fulfill my credit for the Non-Western Cultures requirement. I have never been to Latin America. I believe it would be neat to visit. I do not speak Spanish fluently. I have however taken it in High School and two semesters of it at Seton Hill. My favorite historical figure is Ronald Regan. For the great work he did well he was in office.
ReplyDelete1)The set of prejudices that were held for the past 200 years are still in effect today, whether people are willing to admit it or not. Everyday we have to force ourselves to imagine that these prejudices do not exist. However I believe once people grow up within their race or around various beliefs including their religion they begin to believe that those values are correct and the rest are wrong. We have to keep in mind that we are all humans no matter what we believe. I strongly feel that it all begins with respect. If One person shows respect to another it will continue to be past on to the next person. Society plays a huge role in these prejudices. We must continue to show respect to others even if they are different from us. We need to be open. Because at the end of the day we are all allowed to have our own opinion.
2) These prejudices were passed on from one generation to the next. For me personally I haven't had any of these prejudices passed on to me. Although like I stated in the first part sometimes we believe are values and beliefs are the correct ones. I was raised Catholic and when I was younger I sometimes thought every other religion doesn't matter or its not the right religion. However as I begun to grow I saw that Catholic is not the only religion and people have other beliefs and that its okay to be different from me. In the Lars article it talked about the Latin American prejudices and it stated that they were passed down by the founding fathers. I wish the founding fathers would have down a better job at trying to change these prejudices. The media does a great job of showing these prejudices. But, if you have the right mind set I believe you can look right past them.
[22] My name is Mikala. I am a senior at Seton Hill University. My major is Accounting. I reside in Delmont, PA. I took this Latin America class to fulfill my requirement for the Non-Western Cultures. I have never been to Latin America and I do not know any Spanish. My favorite historical figure would be Abraham Lincoln.
ReplyDelete1) The types of prejudices described in Schoultz's article are still very present today. A lot of people may seem like they are being secret about this racism, but it is openly known and seen everywhere. It's hard to deny that these prejudices do not exist when you can feel tension just by being around two people from completely different backgrounds. Although I don't like to admit it, I have my own set of prejudices, probably due to the way I was brought up. The settings of these prejudices are known to me, but I do not necessarily practice them. I am very open to giving anyone a chance no matter where they come from. And I think in time a lot of cultures will get to that point as well.
2) Like I was saying previously, I definitely know prejudices to the Latin Americas have been passed down through generations in my family. I am not a prejudice person, but I always have that 'hatred' in the back of my mind, although I do not hate anyone. It's hard to describe. Society and media do not help with trying to change how these prejudices are portrayed because it's shown everywhere how cultural differences are "wrong" or not the right way of life. Everyone is alive to do their own thing and believe their own beliefs. Hopefully one day things will change.
[9] My name is Kim Lesterick and I am a junior Biology major at SHU. I am from Monroeville, PA. I am taking this course to fulfill the non-western cultures requirement for the core curriculum. I have never been to Latin America but I would like to travel there in the future. I do not speak Spanish. However, I took 4 years of Spanish, so I have a moderate understanding of the language. My favorite historical figure would be Thomas Jefferson.
ReplyDelete1.) Unfortunately, racism and prejudices still exist in our society. We learn a majority of our behavior, beliefs, and morals from our parents and elders. Therefore, if prejudices are present in older generations, then it is very simple for them to be passed down. However, I believe that younger generations have become more accepting of other races and religions. If people become more accepting, we will hopefully be able to remove these prejudices completely.
2.) Although I have not been raised to uphold these prejudices, I believe that one of the biggest ways that these prejudices are passed along is through the media. Many tv shows use racism and prejudices as jokes, but they are actually reinforcing the beliefs of many. By using racial slurs and other prejudice phrases, tv shows, music, and other media continue to spread prejudice beliefs throughout our society.
[11]Hello, everyone! I am a senior at Seton Hill University. I am originally from New Castle, PA, which is North of Pittsburgh. I am a student-athlete and I play for the women’s basketball team. I am majoring in history and working towards certification in Secondary Education. I am taking this course because I love History and Social Studies, and need to get a better idea and background of Latin America’s history and culture. In high school, I took 4years of Spanish and also was the President of our school’s Spanish Club. At Seton Hill, I completed my language requirements by completing Spanish II. I find the Latin American culture interesting! I have never been to any Latin American countries, although I wish to someday. My favorite historical figures are Thomas Jefferson and Jesus Christ.
ReplyDelete1) In the Declaration of Independence it states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that ALL men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” This statement, written by Thomas Jefferson, is a very beautiful and yet bold statement. After reading Schoultz,”Two Centuries Later” handout, I immediately thought of the principles in which our country was founded. The prejudice policies that the United States government has established with Latin America do not support our preamble of the United States, which is so important for our national character. For 200 years, the United States has prided itself on integrity, honesty, and freedom however the policies that have been enacted by our government are of the contrary. Starting with John Quincy Adams, our nation’s biases towards Latin American have remained neither unchanged nor negotiated. It is disheartening that such a powerful country such as ours has not only passed our biases throughout generations within our government, but also the American people as well.
2) These biases have been passed down to the American people, without a doubt. 200 years later, racial stereotyping is still frequently occurring. In Schoultz’s text he spoke of light skinned people being superior of dark skinned people. This is definitely true in our society. A thought that came to my mind was if our first African American President, Barak Obama. He is a light skinned African American man. If he was darker, would that have affected him being elected? I think so. We do not see many Latin Americans holding high positions in our government nor corporate offices. Schoutlz stated that our government sees Latin Americans as “immature, emotional, and needing supervision” (p277). This prejudice idea is also embedded in the mindsets of Americans. That is why we rarely see Latin Americans in high positions. Over time, I believe that we can undo this ancient misfortune in which our founding fathers have implanted within us.
[2] I am Jessica Carroll -- a junior Psychology major, Political Science minor at SHU. I am originally from Sharon, PA. I decided to take Modern Latin America to fulfill the non-western cultures requirement for the core. I have never been to Latin America but, have studied Spanish in the past for about five years. I am not fluent, but can read and write it well enough. My favorite historical figure is William S Burroughs because he aspired to liberalize US publishing from censorship.
ReplyDelete1.)As I read the article, I came to the conclusion that some people think in order to further yourself, you must put down others. While the founding fathers were busy setting up a new government, they didn't realize that the inferiority they casted upon Latin America in order to justify their behaviors and decisions in legislature will one day affect an entire country-- leaving behind the biggest prejudicial imprint on everyone living in it for the next 200 years.
2.) Specifically regarding Latin American, I do not have any prejudices and I don't feel that I've been imparted any although I've most certainly been exposed to a lot. I'm half-hispanic, so to hold any prejudices against people of dark-skin would just be hypocritical and completely counterproductive, plus I enjoy having a year-round tan. I know what it is like to be semi-discriminated against, or asked questions like "what are you?" On a lighter note I usually reply by saying, "human, duh!" There is a lot of discrimination in movies and television for the sake of entertainment, or even as far as playing x-box live and hearing bigots yelling and screaming using every derrogatory term possible. It's mind-blowing. As far as religious prejudices, I was raised Lutheran, and I know my very antiquated family prefers us all to be raised and continue to remain Lutheran for all eternity-- changing of religions is just completely looked down upon. I'm not sure if it's a discrimination thing. But, I think that it couldn't hurt them to be much more open minded.
(13)
ReplyDeleteHello my name is Jon Murphy and i am a junior here at Seton Hill University. I am currently a history major at Seton Hill and I am taking this class as part of the history majors curriculum. I am from the Greensburg area, and I have never been to Latin America though I would like to. I do not speak Spanish except for the numbers one to twenty and what i learned in elementary school. With all of that said I would have to say that my favorite historical figure would have to be General Patton.
1) If you look at the big picture, especially after reading the excerpts from Shoultz, prejudices will be a part of society forever. There are laws today that make all races equal, but the fact is, not all people feel that way. There will always be people in the world that feel they are better than others, it is just a fact of life. All in all if you look at how the prejudices were in the last 200 years, you can see that there have been improvements in our day and age. Though the improvements are positive that have not done away with prejudices.
2) The media, in my eyes, was one of the biggest ways that the prejudice have been passed on. I'm not saying that I believe them, but the media has informed me on the situation at hand. Being from a very open minded family these prejudices were never really pressed on me because they did not believe them. The rest of the world is not like my family so I have seen prejudices but not in large amounts.
[5] I am a junior at Seton Hill majoring in biology. I am from Valencia, PA. I am taking this course to fill the requirement for a non-western cultural class as part of the Seton Hill liberal arts curriculum and chose this class in particular because it sounded interesting and as I am not familiar at all with Latin American history, I hope to learn much from this course. I have never been to Latin America, nor do I speak Spanish or have ever taken a Spanish class. My favorite historical figure is Elizabeth I, as I find her life and accomplishments very interesting.
ReplyDelete1) Now that this hierarchy of prejudices has been pointed out to me, it seems that throughout history this has been very true and even exists to a high degree in our society today. I feel that this way of thinking has been so ingrained into our culture that it will take many more years to overcome these prejudices, if possible at all. I also think that in some cases, prejudices against Latin Americans and other groups turn into a self-fullfilling prophesy, where the U.S. creates policies that inhibit Latin American nations from improving their station, therefore driving them into a worse position. As optimistic as I'd like to be about racism, I feel that although a lot has changed in the last 200 years, the problem will never go away completely and will always be something humans struggle with.
2) I feel that these prejudices are passed along to me in numerous ways, and even though I personally have nothing against those of other races, throughout my life I have dealt with family members that do. I feel that the issues of illegal immigration and border patrol have negatively influenced people's views on Hispanic people, and if this issue is ever brought up with certain members of my family, highly prejudiced and racist views are sometimes voiced. Although I believe that immigration should be done legally, I am fortunately able to distinguish the difference between what characterizes a race, and what a horrible economic situation forces a group of people to do. Just because someone is black, Hispanic or any other race does not mean that they fulfill the racial stereotype.
[1] Hello, My name is Dan Astfalk. I am a junior at Seton Hill University. I am majoring in history, and am taking this class as part of my history curriculum. I'm not familiar with Latin American history, but I am looking forward to the opportunity of learning more about it. I have never been to Latin America, and do not speak Spanish but, I would love to visit Latin America someday. My favorite historical figure would have to be Franklin D. Roosevelt.
ReplyDelete1. Prejudices have been around for as long men and women have been communicating, interacting and working together. Over time the most prominent form of prejudice has been that of racial prejudice. The United States was perhaps founded on the principle of freedom, but that reach of freedom only extended to the white population. Whether it was the near extermination of the native American culture, to the slavery of African Americans, it would only be natural to be prejudice against another darker skinned population of Latin America. Today, it is not uncommon to view the religion, or race you’re in as superior, although because of laws today people for the most part hold this to themselves and are not open about their prejudices. Over time I wouldn’t say we have gotten any closer to solving these prejudices, I would be willing to say that people have just been better at keeping these feelings to themselves.
2. Prejudices are passed along from generation to generation. Fortunately my family has been very unbiased and accepting of all races. However, it was when I stepped out of the family, and entered my first job that it really opened my eyes to prejudices. I worked at a high quality golf course, and on the first day the first thing my boss said to me was a racial slur about my co-workers who were immigrants from Mexico. The way it was casually said to me, made it seem like I was just assumed I felt the same way because we were both white, and it was just understood. I didn’t agree with this and it seemed like it was being passed along from generation to generation from elders.
[10] I am an undergraduate junior psychology major at Seton Hill. I live in Derry, PA. I am taking this course to fulfill the non-western cultures requirement and I also thought it sounded interesting. I have never been to Latin America. I have taken 2 semesters of Spanish, but I am not fluent.
ReplyDelete1) No matter what is done these prejudices will always exist. There have been some improvements but many people still hold these beliefs. For 200 years these prejudices have been passed down from generation to generation. Prejudices threaten to destroy any progress that we have made in the past 200 years. I believe the most prevalent prejudice is racism. In our county all races have equal rights but many white people believe they are superior.
2) I have been exposed to prejudices throughout my life. My Grandparents still hold racist feelings against African Americans. They have attempted to push these feelings onto me. My parents raised me to be accepting of all races and cultures. If I was not raised this way by my parents I may have been pressured into believing these prejudices. If people are not taught to be accepting they will adopt the prejudices that their family members hold.
[8] My name is Karl Jacobs, and I'm a junior here at SHU. I'm an International Studies major with a minor in French, and I am taking this course as a part of the IS curriculum. I am from York, PA and have never been to Latin America. I haven't had any study in Spanish. My favorite historical figure is Charlemagne (with whom I share the same name).
ReplyDelete1) In today's society, every has a prejudice towards another group. There is always one group (majority or minority) who thinks they are superior to another. It's a fact of life that we must accept, but should not use against one another. Look at our American culture, it is rooted in superiority. We were superior to the Native Americans, because we were more "intelligent" and used technology. Through slavery, we were superior to dark skinned people. Today, we feel are superior to the entire world! We boast one of the largest military forces and economies.
2) The media plays the largest role in promoting prejudices about people in "developing nations." We hold Latin Americans to low-standards. Our prejudices are that they are uneducated, because some of them don't speak English. The major media outlets, such as news sources, only promote a prejudice of inferiority, because we see stories about illegal immigrants and drug cartels. We here of the military dictators and natural disasters. The news rarely portrays these nations in a good light. In my opinion, the only country perceived by the media to be advancing is Brazil, and that is only publicity for the Olympic Games and the World Cup.
(19) Hello my name is Maria Schmucker. I live just outside of Blairsville and have two boys ages 16 and 12. I am a senior ADP student majoring in Business Administration. I work full time in Pittsburgh as a Clinical Research Coordinator.
ReplyDeleteI was interested in taking this coarse as part of my liberal arts requirement because I hope to do extensive traveling in a few years.
I took spanish in high school and have been relearning it over the years with my boys school work.
I do not have a favorite historical figure. I have a tendency to look at periods in time as a whole product of people working together. Not one person changing the world.
(1) Prejudice is just a horrible form of ignorance. People fear what they do not know and belittle other people just to feed their own insecurities.
This ignorance and insecurity has been passed down through generations of narrow minded people. Through expierence and education people can learn to live together and realize that everyone has something to offer to make society better.
(2) Everyone has prejudices so I can not say that I am without any. But to be prejudice is a conscience decision.
I grew up in a very small community full of prejudice but for over 15 years I have worked in a very diverse environment. I enjoy interacting with people from differnt backgrounds and cultures.
Through music and the media I believe the world is becoming much more diverse than it was when I was growing up in the 1980's. At that time it was rare to see people from different cultures on tv shows and cultural music was not played on main stream radio.
[15] Hello, my name is Jessica Pierce. I'm a junior undergrad student at SHU majoring in Communication with a minor in Political Science. This course satisfies my non-western cultures and political science requirements. I'm from Sidman, PA, which is about an hour from SHU. Though I have never traveled outside of the US, I do hope to after graduation. I was a member of the Spanish Honor Society in high school, so my knowledge of the language is passable. As for historical figures, I honestly do not have a favorite; maybe I will after this course is over!
ReplyDelete(1) Racism is a sad but true part of any culture. Growing up in an old coal mining community that is predominantly white, I experienced some of the existing prejudices firsthand, but do not share them. As students in our day and time, it is our responsibility to help create an unbiased majority and improve the image of Latin Americans for good.
(2) I consider myself to be without prejudice. But, I come from an extremely small town where tons of prejudices still exist. Many people in my town still believe in white supremacy. The media also doesn’t help improve views, feeding us with images of poor and underdeveloped Latin American countries. Seeing these injustices for myself has helped me develop my own informed views, but it was my choice. It is easy to see why these prejudices still exist, considering the number of people still holding these views.
[25] Hello. Most of you speak to a universality of prejudice and racism. Keep in mind that most prejudice is rooted first and most deeply in racism. If, as you say collectively, prejudice is inherently wrong but somehow a fact of life, you are expressing a contradiction, and/or a feeling of helplessness. You are suggesting helplessness in the face of that which is wrong. As several of you say, and I think most of you agree, at some point in the future ending prejudice and racism of all sorts should happen. I agree that there is a continued predominance of prejudice and hatred of what is called “the other," (“the other” being anything that is different). In order to begin changing the helplessness, one must be attentive to the activity and presence of bias. That attentiveness can only develop through practice. We will try in this course to practice seeing prejudice and bias between individuals and between cultures, no matter what time period we are investigating. That is the point of this first assignment, to open our minds to thinking about prejudice and its passage through time. Now that we have opened that door I ask you to look for unreasoned judgmentalism and the negativity that comes with it when and where ever it occurs in the course of our readings, not to mention our daily lives.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, we have in front of us this week a glaring example of intolerance and its effect, which is the shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, Arizona. The 22-year-old man who did the shooting obviously opposed Representative Gifford’s stance on political issues, including health care and immigration. The New York Times describes Representative Giffords as being “an outspoken critic of the state’s new immigration laws.” Actions like those of Jared Loughner, the shooter, are taken in rage. Nevertheless, his actions were not more extreme than the actions several of you have underscored between white settlers and native Americans or white slaveholders and slaves. And neither are they more extreme than a Guatemalan military supported by US funding that in the name of fighting communism murdered tens of thousands of indigenous Mayan Guatemalans during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
Now that this tragic episode is on the media radar, we can witness the words that will be spoken against intolerance and violence. What we must ask ourselves as the days move forward is the degree to which any of those words affect behavioral change. Think to yourself, what actions might be taken that may in fact change intolerance and the behavior that comes with it. Please don't hesitate to write your ideas on this topic as further comments in the Assignment 1 comment block. Always be sure to place your course list number in brackets at the start of any comment.
[25] Part 1. Hello. Most of you speak to a universality of prejudice and racism. Keep in mind that most prejudice is rooted first and most deeply in racism. If, as you say collectively, prejudice is inherently wrong but somehow a fact of life, you are expressing a contradiction, and/or a feeling of helplessness. You are suggesting helplessness in the face of that which is wrong. As several of you say, and I think most of you agree, at some point in the future ending prejudice and racism of all sorts should happen. I agree that there is a continued predominance of prejudice and hatred of what is called “the other," (“the other” being anything that is different). In order to begin changing the helplessness, one must be attentive to the activity and presence of bias. That attentiveness can only develop through practice. We will try in this course to practice seeing prejudice and bias between individuals and between cultures, no matter what time period we are investigating. That is the point of this first assignment, to open our minds to thinking about prejudice and its passage through time. Now that we have opened that door I ask you to look for unreasoned judgmentalism and the negativity that comes with it when and where ever it occurs in the course of our readings, not to mention our daily lives.
ReplyDelete[25] Part 2. Unfortunately, we have in front of us this week a glaring example of intolerance and its effect, which is the shooting of Representative Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson, Arizona. The 22-year-old man who did the shooting obviously opposed Representative Gifford’s stance on political issues, including health care and immigration. The New York Times describes Representative Giffords as being “an outspoken critic of the state’s new immigration laws.” Actions like those of Jared Loughner, the shooter, are taken in rage. Nevertheless, his actions were not more extreme than the actions several of you have underscored between white settlers and native Americans or white slaveholders and slaves. And neither are they more extreme than a Guatemalan military supported by US funding that in the name of fighting communism murdered tens of thousands of indigenous Mayan Guatemalans during the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
ReplyDeleteNow that this tragic episode is on the media radar, we can witness the words that will be spoken against intolerance and violence. What we must ask ourselves as the days move forward is the degree to which any of those words affect behavioral change. Think to yourself, what actions might be taken that may in fact change intolerance and the behavior that comes with it. Please don't hesitate to write your ideas on this topic as further comments in the Assignment 1 comment block. Always be sure to place your course list number in brackets at the start of any comment.