The Importance of discussion

It was interesting to read something controversial in Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead like the rape scene with Howard Roark and Dominique Francois. Although it made me very uncomfortable reading it, I am still glad we did and that we discussed it afterwards. I think as the world advances and people have more time to delve into intellectual issues people need to be able to discuss even the things that make us uncomfortable. People often mention how in order to solve most problems related to topics like gender, racism, or status we need to discuss them more. Sometimes an issue of itself is that the majority of people are not aware that an issue is there. This is why I appreciate whenever we read uncomfortable readings such as the rape scene and discuss why they are wrong instead of relying on the assumption that everyone recognizes it.

I remember when I came to Notre Dame and I was surprised at the decreased interactions between the Latinos and the black people on campus. Coming from the Bronx where there a lot of Afro Latinos and interaction between the groups it surprised me how much more segregated the school was. Although people obviously talked and came together from both groups it was nowhere near to how much interaction can be found back home. Additionally, a lot of people did not even know that Afro Latino was even a term. This was one instance in which it was clear to me the importance of talking about issues since it can bring a lot of exposure to it.

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