Between a murderer and a priest there are just some circumstances.

We've been a lot of talk about discrimination so I decided to think for a while about it. In fact, I came to some conclusions that you may or may not agree.
First, I realized that, somehow, every single one of us might discriminate someone; and if we don’t, lucky us because it means that we’ve never felt threatened about anyone.
So, if we just discriminate when we feel threatened, we can assume that discrimination was one “polite”, “civilized”, human way that mankind found to substitute their animal instincts.
We are all nothing but animals – that’s the truth. We born, we live, we grow, we die; and that’s it! So it’s normal that we have the same instincts, the same need of survival that any other animal.
So, when cats get mad, they spine themselves, saying like “I’m feeling threatened by you, let’s go fight so I can have a chance to beat you!”. Humans are way more subtle and, as they don’t like to show the World their fears, they discriminate, but just because it is just one way to say “yes, you might be better than me, but I’ll make you think that you suck, so perhaps I can convince you!”. And then, if the person that discriminates has influence in some others, as people tend to stereotype and create dogmatic ideas, that discrimination usually passes from generation to generation; and then we came to one point when people discriminate because someone told them that it was the right thing.
Mankind is just like that: we are animals, but cynics. And we probably should became more animals and let behind all our beautiful dresses of sake politeness and be more honest. Because inside each and every one of us, no matter the color, religion believes, ideas, values, we are all made of the very same things: we all might succeed, we all might lose, we all might fight and we all might dislike this or that; we all might criticize, we all might kill, we all might get killed, we all might suffer, we all might be lucky, we all might be unfaithful, but, what we’ll, for certain, do is to try to fulfill our lives and be happy, and no one has the right to deny that.

By: MariadeLurdes

Luisa Sobral - Not there yet

perfect video,
perfect music,
perfect voice,
perfect lyrics:
I just fell in love

by: MariadeLurdes

The Americanization of the World

The American economy is an ever-present force in the world today. Pepsi ads now clutter the streets of every big city in China, Big Macs are being ordered throughout the entire world, and the term "Always Coca-Cola" is being muttered by all of Europe, although they have no idea what the phrase means. Have we gone too far in our economic Americanization of the world?

Americanization is not only changing the world, but also causing wrong judgments to be made about American life. In a recent French poll of images that come to mind when thinking of America, 67% of those polled said "violence" and 49% "inequality" as opposed to only 20% who said "freedom" and 4% "generosity". In Europe, Americans are stereotyped by globalization as being shallow, spoiled, and shortsighted.

Comment: We think that this has gone too far! We are loosing our identity by tanking America's culture! And that is a shame because America don't have one real and unique culture: it's a combo of people and races, religions, ...
So we think that there is no problem with taking some ideas of other countries, but trying to adapt them to our culture instead of copying them. We should keep our roots and maintain our originality and our dignity! The world only moves while there are different ideas to be discussed.

Barack Obama

Although Barack Obama campaign had raised some racial problems,

he was elected !

And he was seen as one hope for the world.

Some people opened their minds and stop wondering weather he was black or white, Jewish or Cristian;

and some people realized that his difference didn't stopped him from winning and became the hope for so many people.

He is the first black president of the USA and we hope that contributes to one change in society.

People have to became more unite and stop wondering about their tiny differences, because we are all made of the same. Barack Obama is the proof that anyone, no matter their roots, their believes or their skin, can make difference, and make the world a better place to live.

the racial issue in USA

Racism in the United States has been a major issue ever since the colonial era and the slave era. Legally sanctioned racism imposed a heavy burden on Native Americans, African Americans, Asian Americans, and Mexican Americans. European Americans were privileged by law in matters of literacy, immigration, voting rights, citizenship, land acquisition, and criminal procedure over periods of time extending from the 17th century to the 1960s. Many European ethnic groups, particularly American Jews, Irish Americans, and Eastern European and Southern European immigrants, as well as immigrants from elsewhere, suffered xenophobic exclusion and other forms of racism in American society.

Historical explanation for the racial issue:The Jim Crow Laws were state and local laws enacted in the Southern and border states of the United States and enforced between 1876 and 1965. They mandated "separate but equal" status for black Americans. In reality, this led to treatment and accommodations that were almost always inferior to those provided to white Americans.
Segregation continued even after the demise of the Jim Crow laws. Data on house prices and attitudes toward integration from suggest that in the mid-20th century, segregation was a product of collective actions taken by whites to exclude blacks from their neighborhoods.
Black-White segregation is declining fairly consistently for most metropolitan areas and cities. Despite these pervasive patterns, many changes for individual areas are small. Thirty years after the civil rights era, the United States remains a residentially segregated society in which Blacks and Whites inhabit different neighborhoods of vastly different quality.

Some researchers suggest that racial segregation may lead to disparities in health and mortality.

Let's stop racial segregation, that is pointless!

influence of immigration

American immigration history can be viewed in four epochs: the colonial period, the mid-nineteenth century, the turn of the twentieth, and post-1965. Each epoch brought distinct national groups, races, and ethnicities to the United States.

The immigrants contribute to the development of the country they go to, because they go looking for work, and they usually work harder that they would if they were in their own country.

In that sense, immigration benefits one country because it gains labor, that is necessary to raise one economically stable country.

When one country has a stable and strong economy, the population become happy, and it leads to one stable society as well; that attracts more immigrants, so we can conclude that immigration leads to more immigration and that its important to any country.

USA

Prehistoric times -territory was occupied first by Native Americans

1492 - Territory was occupied also by European colonists
1493 - Spanish explorers arrive with Christopher Columbus
1534 – France colonize North America during a period extending
1607 - First successful English colony was established
1775 - The Thirteen Colonies began a rebellion against British
1776 - Declaration of Independence