The guest lecture that I found most informative and inspiring was the lecture by Kristin Kopp from the Department of German. The first impression of her presentation was what stuck with me most and caused me to choose this lecture opposed to another lecture. The first impression was the video about the German woman riding the train saying racially intolerant things to the black man sitting next to her on the train. I have always strongly disliked individuals who are racially intolerant like that woman was. I believe people like her are extremely ignorant and close minded. People like that woman believe one thing for their whole lives, not letting anyone or any facts change their minds. I understand that the woman was born in a time when some of those beliefs about people of color were common. As Ms. Kopp stated though, the woman does not even have her facts correct. Most of the things the woman was saying in the video were completely inaccurate. It is one thing to be set in your beliefs, but it is another to be set in beliefs that are not even factually correct. In the incident with the woman on the train, she just made herself look foolish because of the inaccuracy of her facts.
I loved the scene in the video when karma finally caught up to the woman and she was kicked off the train. I believe that kind of thing is what people like her deserve for being so ignorant. I understand that she actually did have a paper ticket and she technically should not have been kicked off the train because she paid for her ticket. At the time the ticketer came around though, she had lost hers (in the black man’s mouth!) so she was rightfully kicked off the train for not possessing a ticket; which I think is only fair. The black man deserved to be able to mess with her a little after how mean she was to him.
In the end, one of the big points of the video that we were discussing was stereotypes and how you cannot always assume something about someone just based off the color of their skin, etc. The black man, who was thought of by the woman as a poor, lower class individual, ended up having a laminated year long train riding card while she only had a cheap, day long ticket. This was just proof that the woman was all talk and was maybe even talking bad about the black man to make herself feel better. I really enjoyed this lecture because I agree with every point Ms. Kopp made in terms of stereotypes, racial intolerance/ignorance, etc. It was also nice to learn a little more about Germany, which is actually a large part of my family’s cultural background.
When doing research on my country throughout this past semester, I learned so much. My country was France, and let me just say what a time it was having France during this period in the country’s history. I lived in France for three weeks when I was in high school and although that is not an obscene amount of time, it is enough time to be able to get a feel for the cultural climate of the country. After researching France this semester, I have realized just how much the country has changed in the matter of 5 years. It has gone from a somewhat peaceful, stable country to a country of slight turmoil. I believe this is due mainly to the immigrant crisis, among other things. France is definitely not suffering the most out of all the countries in Europe but it is still being negatively affected by the immigration crisis.
France now has many more ‘slum’ areas than it used to, making it less appealing to tourists. This is a big deal to a country like France, as tourism has historically been a help to France’s economy. France’s citizens/government also have to chuck out money to help the refugees by building housing for them, etc. This is putting the country in a less stable financial state, which is one of the worst things for a country to have to deal with. I believe, especially after the recent attacks, that France will come out on top of all of this due to their increased alertness and slight change in policies that could possibly be taking place. Although tragic and completely uncalled for, the attacks gave France the little push it needed to start handling the crisis a little differently. This will hopefully, if done correctly, help France in the long run and improve conditions in the country in the years to come.
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