IntenseDebate - dwemerick

14 years ago @ World In Conversation - Voices From The Classroom · 0 replies · +1 points

I feel that most people when pressured to answer truthfully, would feel the same way that I do. It is a sad point to make but it is just one of those things that Sam said just “is.” Another area that I have heard speculated about was that his trial would be a much quicker process if he were a minority. I do not put too much stock in this argument. I believe that in cases that involve high profile pictures the trial is going to take some amount of time to come to fruition.
Sandusky’s race or ethnicity would not have that much of a difference in my opinion. There are some areas that would be different, but ultimately it comes down to the fact that crimes against children are going to be considered pretty much the worst crimes no matter what race you are.

14 years ago @ World In Conversation - Voices From The Classroom · 0 replies · +1 points

I believe that this is because the safety and well-being of children is universally accepted as something that takes utmost priority. The factor of race would only end up as a side note in this area of discussion. I do not think that when they get down to looking at the victims and everything they have been through you could honestly say that they are going to care what race or ethnicity Sandusky was. No matter what, these crimes are appalling.
With all that I said above, there are certain areas that would more than likely be different if Sandusky had been a minority. The most glaring factor that would most likely be different is the bail situation. As it was mentioned in lecture, Sandusky was released without having to pay anything it was all on his word that he would show up to his trial. I have to believe that if he were in fact black or latino he would have had some amount of money he would have to pay.

14 years ago @ World In Conversation - Voices From The Classroom · 0 replies · +1 points

The question, “If Sandusky was black or latino would this change the case?” is an interesting quandary. In some aspects I do believe that the case would be different; however, I think that for the most part it would be pretty much the same. It is hard to speculate though, based on the fact that it is hard to say how the media, police, and all other areas we have seen blow up play out if he were a minority. There is so much to this case that when analyzed it is almost impossible to say that it would be one way or another.
I think that the majority of this case would be the same. I believe that the type of crimes that were allegedly committed transcend the matter of race or ethnicity. When it comes to crimes that involve children, it does not really matter what race you are the response would have been the same.

14 years ago @ World In Conversation - Voices From The Classroom · 0 replies · +1 points

This presumption of guilty instead of innocent is not something new to us. Even though the system has changed long ago, it is still hard to find a jury of one’s own peers that has no predetermined biases. With this in mind, I do not think that we will ever be able to operate the criminal justice system to its most efficient state. However, we can look at how we are behaving now and try to correct our mindsets as best we can.

14 years ago @ World In Conversation - Voices From The Classroom · 0 replies · +1 points

I think another factor into this presumption of guilt has to do with the general audiences’ outlook. We as a society are very impatient. In a society where information is just a mouse click away, waiting for a case with this high of a profile to unfold is tortuous. I think this leads to many people jumping to the quickest solution of the case, which is that the defendant is guilty. This means that they do not have to go through the long process of actually finding the defendant to be guilty. Even in cases where it seems that all of the circumstances point to a certain person, the case may not always be that clear cut. In these situations I feel that it would be much better to gather all of the evidence, then and only then can the phrase “guilty” be bestowed upon someone.

14 years ago @ World In Conversation - Voices From The Classroom · 0 replies · +1 points

The criminal justice system for the longest time has been based off of the assumption that everyone accused of a crime is assumed innocent until proven guilty. The system has many flaws but as a whole it works pretty well. The problem is that many people often presume that someone is guilty before they even have a chance to prove his/her innocence. I think that it has a lot to do with the way that society is set up today.
In the recent scandals that have rocked Penn State, the accused Jerry Sandusky has never really been given a chance to prove his innocence. He has been presumed guilty from the beginning. I am also guilty of this thinking. After hearing the allegations, I was so outraged that I immediately believed the guy was guilty. It certainly looks like he is guilty of the charges against him, but the way the criminal justice system is supposed to work is innocent until proven guilty. In this regard the people have failed. They have jumped to conclusions without looking at all of the evidence. Again, I must say that I have also done this. From the moment the announcements of the allegations have been release I presumed that they were entirely true without question.

14 years ago @ World In Conversation - Voices From The Classroom · 0 replies · +1 points

The other reason that we cannot seem to do the jobs the illegal immigrants do is simply that they have more desire to succeed. Their situations in the countries that they are coming from are so much worse than anything they could find in America. They are almost guaranteed much more money to support their families in America. In that sense, we could never hope to have the same desire or passion for what they work for. This could either be a testament to their character or a knock on our character as a society.
I feel that as a society we have to break out of this trend of basically arrogance. We have to learn that physical labor is not something to be frowned upon if we ever hope to be able to consider ourselves on the same level as illegal immigrants. As I said before, it is more than a little embarrassing that we are not willing to roll up our sleeves and go to work, no matter what the job is.

14 years ago @ World In Conversation - Voices From The Classroom · 0 replies · +1 points

I think that this sense of entitlement is probably the number one reason why Americans will not do the jobs illegals will do. The entitlement comes from the connotation of the phrase “migrant worker.” This term is usually associated with poor, lower class people, and these jobs have been being filled by those who have coming illegally into the country with little to no money. This gives Americans a false sense of higher class. Americans see themselves as above just being a migrant worker, they just are not that low of status to do that work.
Another reason that we as Americans do not want to be migrant workers is that we have become lazy as a society. It is evident in all areas of our country. Part of this has to do with the increase in technological advances. Also the demand for more migrant workers is not stressed nearly as much as the need for scientists and engineers. I think this is mainly due to the recent surge in the economies of other countries, especially China.

14 years ago @ World In Conversation - Voices From The Classroom · 0 replies · +1 points

In class today we watched the clip from the Colbert Report on the lack of interest from Americans in taking over the jobs that illegals are being banned from doing. There are many reasons that Americans just will not do them, and most of them are for ridiculous reasons. I find it a bit embarrassing that we as Americans are willing to throw illegal citizens under the bus when we are not willing to go out, roll up our sleeves, and get to work.
The first reason that I feel is why Americans will not do these jobs is entitlement. This word “entitlement” has been thrown around a lot recently, with a serious oversight of the world, but in this case it does apply in this situation.

14 years ago @ World In Conversation - Voices From The Classroom · 0 replies · +1 points

I think that there are more people who think in racial labels than we see. I think that there are a lot of people who are just afraid to use these racial labels. They should not but just the fact that they are thinking like this is enough for condemnation. They are just as guilty as the people who voice their opinions aloud.
After saying all of this about racial labeling, I will admit that I do happen to have problems with this occasionally. I see myself as someone like I first described. This is the category of people who subconsciously have hidden stereotypes that they have to work out. I do not think that I have ever flat out just labeled someone racially. Most of these slip ups with racial labeling I think would have to be tied in with the area that I grew up in. The area I grew up in was a rural area without really any diversity. A lot of these smaller communities happen to have very, very opinionated people. It’s just one of those problems that most of us have to work out for ourselves.

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