I think they made a huge generalization here in assuming straight parents would be pissed if their son/daughter turned out to be gay. I have straight parents and I know that they would be ok with it. I think it is a product of their environment, how they were raised. Obviously, it will be easier for a person to come out to their gay parents because it is a social norm in that family’s dynamic. Not so much for a straight family. Breaking a norm in a family culture is a very tough thing to do, but saying as a whole that straight parents have a problem with it is a huge generalization. Like I said, I know that if I was gay, by parents would accept it.

Going a step further, I will answer the question that probably the biggest reason why guys don’t come out to their parents in the first place, what will my dad think? I have said in previous blogs that I am religious, but my parents are not, so that dynamic is out the window. My dad is your classic hard worker who will do anything to put food on the table. He is the stereotypical central Pennsylvania truck driver who may only have a high school diploma, but on his off days he is still working around the house and on vehicles. To say it short, I come from a redneck family, one that you would think that the parents would not be accepting in the least of a gay lifestyle. Truth is, it wouldn’t change anything in my family. If your family has a problem with you being gay, maybe your family isn’t as close as you thought. Being gay changes who you are attracted too, and not your personality and/or how you treat your family. There is no reason for a family to be upset with their child to be gay, but it happens. My honest opinion is that if you are a close family, it won’t be an issue.

I hate how everyone in this class makes generalizations. Basically, they take what Sam says and apply it to everything. I don’t think Sam means it this way (am I actually giving him the benefit of the doubt?) but it does come off that way. Once we sit down and think about it logically I’m sure you will find a good portion of the gay population that say their parents were not upset when they came out. I’m sure that once they had a family backing they were everything was a million times easier. Going towards the family’s who would be pissed, what right do you have? Love your kids no matter what, it’s selfish and blatantly stupid that you would think differently of your child if they liked someone of the same sex.

Now remember this too, these comments supporting gays come from someone who is very religious and loves Jesus. Don’t make broad generalizations about all Christians, either.

I am very happy that Sam brought this up. I for one thought that the answer was 10,000 or whatever the choice was. Sure, I was caught up in the media fear. Looking into it deeper though, I think it is a misguided statistic in that most child abductions are at the hands of a relative of the child. When is a child vulnerable? Alone, and walking to school is one of those vulnerable times. I still wouldn’t trust my 8 year old to walk to school on their own. I don’t think that’s fear, I think that’s being safe rather than being sorry. I also think the lottery example was completely off base here. I’m sorry, but I am not willing to take a slight chance on anything if the ending could be my child being abducted and possibly murdered. Would I let my kid skateboard with the fear of breaking an arm? Sure, but they can come back from that. A lot of times they wont come back from abduction, and even if they do, I still wouldn’t voluntarily go through that. A one in 175 million chance at winning a few million bucks is so much different than having a child abducted. They are not nearly the same thing. No amount of money could bring a child back.

With reference to Sam saying that the world is safe…who is that according to? I didn’t take a class at Penn State to hear all of his opinions. My definition of safe and his could be totally different. I think the world is somewhat safe, but I could be hit by a bus tomorrow or mugged in a back alley. This is not a utopian society, crime still occurs. You cant ignore the fact that I have a chance of being shot as I write this blog. Will it happen, more than likely not, but it still could. As a species we have free will. I could go out and commit a crime tonight. The way Sam uses his opinion to illustrate what he thinks is fact pisses me off. I don’t understand how he can throw out facts about childhood abduction and make us think the world is safe, it is so much more than that.

Do we think there is more crime than there actually is because of news and crime shows? Im sure we do, but the fact that Sam says the world is safe doesn’t make it safe. Crime still happens, and it could to you. You may actually be the one committing crime. Who knows? Another thing about child abduction, please don’t speak on the fear of childhood abduction until you have had a kid Sam. Regardless of statistics, I highly doubt you would put your child in any sort of danger on that scale.

One can have their own relationship with God. Its not about having the same relationship with God that your pastor, priest, parents, friend or whomever has with God, its about your relationship. I am a Christian and I meet one on one with a lot of different people to talk about God. In some of these relationships I am a mentor, but in many I am the mentee. One reason that we talk to ‘higher people’ is for perspective, and to learn about faith. We grow in our faith through discussion with brothers in Christ. We are told in the Bible that we are to meet with those around us and grow in our faith in ways like this. Never in the bible does it say that we need to talk to God through others. There is nothing (except for sin, but that’s a whole separate issue) inhibiting you and me from talking to God. I don’t have to confess my sins through someone, I can do that between me and God, and us only if I so choose.

It helps talking to someone with a different perspective on your religion, or someone to help you through your struggles. Never have I felt the need to talk to someone else though to have a relationship with God. Everyone’s relationship with God is unique, that’s the beauty about it. My good friends have totally different relationships. This can come in different ways too. Some people spend time with God in different ways, some pray differently, some interact for God differently, its quite amazing how unique a relationship can be.

But to answer your question, I don’t think you have to go through another human to have a relationship with God. It helps with growth and perspective, but it isn’t 100% necessary. We are told by Jesus to be among followers and help our brothers, but that doesn’t mean we cant talk to God one on one, and have that be our only way we have a relationship with him. I like the question a lot, and I hope this helped out, even slightly.

I understand I only touched on the Christian side of this question, but im interested in hearing the opinions of people from other religions! I think that’s a great way to become aware of other faiths and exactly what those people believe.

I disagree with you on the idea that we cant be offended if something doesn’t directly affect us. Now, don’t think that if a white person is calling a black person racial slurs and another white person gets offended that they are more offended than blacks. Its not a competition to see who is more offended. Rather, with people who are entrenched in the idea of race, they can feel for one another. I personally was offended by the Asian exploitation video shown in class.

I was offended because after the whole Sandusky/joepa situation I asked some Asian students about their feelings (I am a journalist after all) and the overwhelming feeling was that they didn’t care. This had to do a lot with their focus being on things other than football and sports. Many international Asians really don’t pay attention to sports, and therefore are numb towards the Joe Pa thing because they didn’t have a connection with him in the first place. What this reporter did in these interviews was he chose his targets, and exploited a.) their inability to speak clear english, b.) their lack of knowledge about something that Americans believe everyone should care about (football), and c.) personalities for the enjoyment of Americans. I actually did not find this video funny at all because I hate seeing people being exploited for being themselves. Personally, I am made fun of frequently because I do things that aren’t part of the ‘norm’. To be honest, I couldn’t care any less about it, but I hate seeing these international students made fun of because they don’t put 100% of their heart and soul into something Americans think they should. Also, football is something trivial in the grand scheme of things, so that pisses me off too.

Also, the reporter being white pissed me off. It doesn’t help the outlook other races have on white people. He completely fed into the stereotypes that white Americans are stupid, and insensitive. A lot of people talk about how other races need to chill out for racism to die, including me, but white people need to take a step back too and realize that stupid stuff like this is only hurting the situation. I mean come on, you really think making a mockery out of Asians not caring about sports is going to help the racial divide? You have to be an idiot to think that this would help. Because of this video, the racial gap has been divided even further. This just proves that one person can ruin it for all.

So yes, it did affect me in that sense, but not directly. I really felt for the Asian kids who were being mocked, and I was offended by it. I think a white person can be offended by things that directly affect other races.

I would 100% agree with this guy. Im from a town where the population would have to bee 99% white and the level of diversity just isn’t there. Although diversity isn’t there, discrimination is absent. The few kids who went to my high school that were different races were rarely discriminated against, they fit right in. Coming to college and all of a sudden being hit with the amount of diversity here one would automatically think that there would be a learning curve or some type of culture shock would be present. I would disagree with that. Through the act of being open I think that one can assimilate into a diverse culture pretty easily. It doesn’t take a white kid growing up ‘in the hood’ to understand race and its basic struggles. Now obviously I don’t know what being called a racial slur feels like and the devastating effects that come from that, but I don’t feel the need to discriminate because I have the open mind about other races.

You can have as much experience as you want, but what if those experiences are negative? It doesn’t help the main cause and might actually hurt it. If a person has a negative experience with those of another race, they won’t easily be swayed to the positive side. They will always think that the other side is bad and this does nothing for either side. It keeps the inequality gap there and provides zero improvement in race relations. This is one way that experience may not be the best way to ready to deal with racial issues.

Sure, experience could be a lot better than just having an open mind, but with those experiences don’t you gain an open mind? With this theory, coming in with an open mind is a lot better than just having experiences to fall back on. I don’t think they are mutually exclusive, one depends on the other. Experiences will give you an open mind (in some respects) where as an open mind will allow you to have experiences. Sure, experience is invaluable and you will say something you probably shouldn’t have, but isn’t that how it always is in the learning process? So yeah, I agree. Coming from a predominately white neighborhood isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It doesn’t automatically mean you are a white supremacist or numb to racial issues. In some instances, it prepares you better for those issues.

I feel like there are so many things that we can learn from this situation, but one thing stands out for me. Doing the right thing, at the right time, may not look like it’s the right thing in the future. In hindsight, I think there are a lot of things a lot of us would have done differently in our lives, but in the situations in which we made those decisions, we thought them to be right. What I am referring to here is Joe Paterno’s reaction with the whole Sandusky situation, with a focus on the 2002 incident involving McQueary. I feel I have to say I support Joe Paterno 100%. There is nothing that I would have done differently in the situation, but the way he handled it can be a lesson to us all. No matter what we do in life, whether it’s right or wrong, someone will have the ability to vilify us for it. It is something we must learn so that when we come across it later in life, it doesn’t grab us by surprise. It sucks that certain people view things in this way, but it is the truth. It is something that we need to understand and live with. We can apply this to our lives in a way like this; when we are posed with a situation, make sure you do the right thing, make sure all loose ends are tied up. On a grand scale, the Penn State situation is probably the biggest thing we will encounter in our lives as far as a scandal goes. This doesn’t mean it will be that way personally though. There are many of us who will go on to be business people, husbands, wives, and many other things. We need to make sure that in all aspects of our lives we do the right thing in that time. If you were at the memorial service you will remember Jay talking about Joe and how during high school he told a friend that “if he felt he won, that’s all that matters.” This is a lesson that Joe would pass on to countless people. If you feel that you did the right thing, that’s all that should matter. With hindsight, I’m sure Joe would have done more because the people he trusted in administration had failed him. I too, with hindsight, would have done a lot of other things differently. If you do what you think is right in all situations after taking everything into account, you will be fine. Just be prepared for others not to view it that way. Do it the Paterno way.