Would this situation be different if Jerry Sandusky were black or Latino? I wish I could say no that it would be exactly the same, but unfortunately I don’t believe that. First of all, I believe that if Sandusky were not white, these incidents never would’ve gone on for as long as they did. I think if Matt McQueary walked into a Penn State locker room shower and seen a Black or Latino man raping a child, he would’ve stopped it, or called the cops immediately. I think this especially would’ve been the case if the boy was white and Sandusky was not. I think the fact that not only was Jerry Sandusky a highly regarded figure at Penn State but the fact that he is white makes a big difference. If he were a highly thought of Black man, I believe that in an instant he would’ve been turned into the authorities.
I also feel like race would’ve played a larger factor in the media’s view of Jerry Sandusky. Barely anything was even mentioned about Sandusky in the press. A large part of this was because Joe Paterno being caught up in this scandal made a far better news story than some 70 something year old pervert who flew under the radar for so long. Because of Joe Paterno’s fame, Jerry Sandusky got pushed to the side in the eyes of the media and in the eyes of people across the nation. However, if Jerry Sandusky were a different race, that would’ve far over shadowed JoePa’s fame. The story would’ve been how some Black or Latino man was allowed to be around these kids and rape them, how dare he. The race of the individual would’ve been brought up everywhere. The press let him off easy because he is a wealthy white man who “did a lot of good for the community.” Any Black man who did the same thing would be absolutely crucified by the press. There wouldn’t even have been time to mention JoePa’s name because of the witch-hunt that would be ensuing.
The final place where I believe race makes a huge difference is in the eyes of the law. Jerry Sandusky was released on bail and though the amount was high, it was obviously payable. He is currently free to roam freely around State College (at his own risk) as he pleases. If he were Black or Latino, I don’t think the bail amount would have even been set to a payable amount. He would not be currently living in his home, he’s still be in jail. Honestly, I think he would be in jail until the trial. And whatever the trial’s outcome is, if Jerry Sandusky were not white, there would be no doubt of the trial’s outcome. The verdict would be guilty, no doubt about it.

For the past couple of days it has been impossible to turn on the TV, go on Facebook or browse twitter without seeing something about Penn State. The majority of this has been negative attention and for the most part hasn’t been directed at the correct targets. At first all of the negative feedback was aimed at Joe Paterno, for what the public perceived as him not doing enough. By Tuesday, the media had invaded State College and that’s when it really started. Wednesday night when Joepa was fired, obviously the student body was angry beyond belief. When we look at this man who has lived in the same tiny house on McKee Street forever and donated money to build us a fabulous library, we don’t see a football coach, we see a guy who is like all of our Grandpops. He is the Granddad of Penn State. That is why we rioted. Not because we believe that any part of what Jerry Sandusky did was right and not because we believe that no one in power dropped the ball, because they did. We rioted because after over sixty years of service to the school, this beloved man was fired with a phone call, and we believe he deserved more respect than that.
That being said, the media’s reports on Wednesday night showed nothing of that. It showed a bunch of out of control college kids who “were rioting because they don’t know all the facts.” The media portrayed us as a bunch of mindless kids who would follow this man off a cliff if that’s what he told us to do. But we are nothing like that at all. But, it doesn’t really matter anymore what we say we are like or what we even do, because people already have their minds made up. All across the country people now view Penn State and its students with a negative light cast upon us. Is it fair? Absolutely not. Is that what has now happened though? Yes.
I find this unreasonable on many accounts. The first one being that if this incident happened at any other school, that student body would have the same feelings towards it. Second, we were portrayed terribly by the media. From the very first second they got here, they showed us in the worst light possible, using condescending tones and insinuating that we don’t have our facts correct. In reality it is the media, who is reporting this as the Penn State scandal instead of the Jerry Sandusky scandal, who do not have their facts straight. And finally, this incident should not change people’s view of Penn State students because though we get a little rambunctious and a few morons were destructive, at the end of the day it was still Jerry Sandusky who molested and raped those children and adults who covered it up. Frankly, most of the students who are currently attending Penn State didn’t even know who Jerry Sandusky was until last week. People outside of Penn State should stop judging the students and start judging Sandusky a little more harshly. He ruined lives, we ruined a few lampposts.

If people are speaking a different language around you does that make you feel uncomfortable? At first, I wanted to say no that it does not bother me at all, but then when I truly thought about it, I could think of certain instances when it would bother me. For example, if I was walking around campus and overheard some foreign exchange students speaking to each other in their own language, that wouldn’t make me uncomfortable at all. It probably makes them feel more at home to speak in their native tongue. It is also probably easier for them to speak their native language than English. I have absolutely no problem with these kinds of situations; actually it is quite the opposite. I would encourage that, because I know that if I were an exchange student I would want to speak English with fellow American students.
However, I can think of two instances where I don’t find it acceptable to speak in another language. First, if you are in a group of all English speakers and then suddenly two people who speak a different language begin speaking in their language. I do not think that in that situation it is acceptable to speak in a different language. I believe this because first of all, the other members of the group have no idea what the two individuals are saying which is rude and second, they are excluding people by doing this. It is irrelevant what they are talking about, whether it’s about a person in the group or about sports, I find that unacceptable. Another example of this is in Asian-run nail salons. If you’ve ever been into a nail salon run by Asian people, you will know what I’m talking about. Often I’ve been getting my nails done and instead of the woman speaking to me, she would speak to other employees in their native language. It really doesn’t matter if they’re talking about me or not, either way I find it rude. Funnily enough, I once went to this same salon with one of my Vietnamese friends and none of the women, who were also Vietnamese, spoke in their language the entire time. My friend and I laughed about it afterwards because she speaks Vietnamese as well as I do, which is not at all. But I found it interesting that simply because she was with me, they spoke in English or not at all, the entire time.
Another instance where I find it unacceptable to speak in another language has also been a hot topic of debate in Philly, my hometown. The owner of Geno’s steaks posted a sign in 2008 saying “This is America-Order in English.” While some people find this racist, I disagree. I work in fast food and I also expect people to order in English, why? Because I don’t necessarily speak their language. If someone came up to my counter and tried to order in Spanish, I wouldn’t be able to help them, because I don’t speak Spanish. While I believe the owner could’ve gone about it in a nicer way, I don’t believe asking costumers to order in the native language of all of his employees is too much to ask.

How would do I feel about white people eventually becoming the minority? This question is one that, for me, has a simple answer. Honestly, it would not matter to me at all. I highly doubt I would even notice a difference in the world if white people were the minority and people of color were the majority of people in the United States. Because of where I come from and where I attended high school, and now college, people of color are around me in great numbers every day of my life. But I don’t really see them as “people of color,” they’re just people like everyone else. That is the biggest reason why it wouldn’t matter, because people are just people. White, black and brown don’t really mean anything.
My hometown is located less than 15 minutes from Philadelphia. Because of this, I attended high school with a lot of people of color. Throughout my high school years, I began to really stop seeing race. I have friends who are both white and of color. Their race really means nothing to me. They are all my friends and all just people. Although my school was diverse, it was by no means more populated with people of color than white people. Had it been the other way around however, and been divided seventy-five/twenty-five in favor of people of color instead of white people, it wouldn’t have been a big deal at all. That is why when in the United States, white people are the minority it won’t really affect me.
I can see how many white people would be very nervous about being the minority because many white people come from areas that are highly populated with white people and have extremely low populations of people of color. For example, my friends come from a very small town in Pennsylvania’s coal country. This part of Pennsylvania has an extremely high population of white people and in fact there are barely and people of color at all. In my friends’ town, there is only one family of African American people. All of the white people in the town aren’t used to being in a place that is highly populated by people of color. I’m sure if this question was posed to everyone in their town, all of the answers would be similar. I’m sure most of the people would say that it would make them very uncomfortable to be the minority.
I believe that people’s feelings on this issue are based almost completely on where they were raised and what the population demographic is there. Because I was raised in an area that is populated by both white people and people of color, being the minority does not matter to me. It all boils down to whether race is truly important to you.

To call someone who primarily hangs out with people of a different race than themselves a poser is an ignorant accusation. One’s personality should not be judged based upon whom they like to spend their time with. A person’s outward appearance should not qualify them into a category nor should it be the means on which one bases their opinion. That person can have a great connection and relationship with the group of people that has nothing to do with race or color. If a girl mostly hangs out with guys, does that make her a poser because she just happens to enjoy the company of males? Just because she may have more in common with boys, does that make her a sellout? No. This is the same situation as a person of a certain race hanging primarily with people of a different race.
If you had asked me this same question 4 years ago, my answer probably would’ve been much different. My elementary school consisted of about 99.9% white people. We only ever had two black kids in the whole school, and they were both mixed, therefore lighter skinned. They fit right in with everyone else because there was no one else to hang out with. So these kids had to assimilate and hang out with white people. This of course didn’t bother them because honestly, no one knew anything else other than a mostly white school. Often, I would see kids from the local public school and there would be a group of black kids hanging out with one white person. This always made me laugh because I assumed that the one white person really wanted to be black or thought they were black so they were trying to fit in with people they aspired to be. I held this belief pretty much until I hit high school.
When I graduated eighth grade and began high school, it was like culture shock. My hometown is about 15 minutes away from Philly and it’s one of the nicest Catholic schools in the area. Therefore, a lot of kids from the City came into my town to go to high school. Now instead of 99.9% white, we were about 75% white and 25% black. A lot of white kids would hang out with with groups of black kids and we would often wonder “are they trying to be black?” Do they actually think that they’re black? And finally I realized that the answer is no. The reason they hung out with who they did is because they have most in common with them. The kids who hung out in mostly black groups have the most in common with these people. They listen to similar music, dress in similar ways and like the same people. The reason we hang out with who we do is because of common interests not because they’re trying to be posers or “cool” but because they enjoy the same things.

Being raised with a strong Catholic background and attending Catholic schools my entire life, I still cannot fathom why being gay is such an issue. I heard all of the sermons and lectures during Theology class about why marriage is sacred between a man and a woman. And then, I made my own decisions and though I am still Catholic, the anti-gay message of the Church is something I can never agree with. It has always been my belief that you should love whomever you want to love regardless of what anyone else thinks. Gay people are just like straight people. There is no difference. Everyone just wants to find someone that they can spend the rest of their life with.
After reading many of the blog post responses to this question, I was absolutely appalled. Shocked by the ignorance of people who have such serious problems with homosexuality but deny actually having a problem with it. If my roommate were gay, I would have no problem with it whatsoever because why should I? What difference does their personal preference have in relation to my life? It has no effect on me at all, so why would it be a big deal? Honestly, if I moved into my dorm at Penn State on the first day and my roommate informed me that she was a lesbian, my response would be “That’s cool, so how do you want to decorate our room.” It would almost be like a non-event because it makes that little difference to me about a person’s sexuality. Just because she is gay doesn’t mean that she would be attracted to me. And if my lesbian roommate were by chance attracted to me, I wouldn’t feel weird at all. I would explain that though I’m flattered, I like boys and we could never have anything more than friendship.
But then the larger question really is, why should my roommate, or any friend for that matter, have to tell me that they’re gay? When I moved into my room last year and met my current roommate, I didn’t say, “Hi, nice to meet you, I’m Kait and I’m heterosexual.” If I wouldn’t immediately inform someone that I am straight, why should a homosexual person have to immediately inform a person that they’re gay or lesbian?
As for the question about the roommate waiting until later in the year to inform me that they are homosexual; that again just wouldn’t matter. What people don’t take into account is the fact that it is extraordinarily difficult for gay people to come out for fear of being out casted or bullied. Or maybe they hadn’t admitted to themselves that they were even gay until way after move-in time. It is always that person’s decision whether they want to tell anyone at all and they shouldn’t feel forced to do it because it might make some people uncomfortable. Everyone has the right to love who they want to love. No matter what, we are all just people.

Unfortunately, even today, there is a huge correlation between race and suspicion of guilt. It seems that although a large amount of racism has diminished in our society, one that has stuck is that people of color, such as Black and Hispanic individuals, are criminals. This is one of the most ridiculous stereotypes that is prevalent in our world today. As seen in the Dateline special, “What would you do,” passerby’s were much more likely to not only ask the African American man if the bike was his, but the police were called on him multiple times. However, the white man was barely asked about the bike. When he was questioned about who the bike belonged to, he answered honestly and stated that it wasn’t his. But, even then, no one told him that he was wrong, they didn’t try and stop him and they especially didn’t call the police. Why was that? Because people are still under the ludicrous impression that the majority of criminals are black, not white.
I believe that much of this racial stereotyping comes from many different sources. The first is influences from parents, grandparents and other older people who still hold on to their ancient beliefs regarding race. For example, when my grandmom was a child, she lived in the north east part of Philadelphia. At the time, this was a primarily white area. She grew up there, got married and began to raise her children in that same part of Philadelphia. Then, that area became a more diverse neighborhood and she felt “pushed out of her neighborhood” by people of color. This feeling of displacement plus the general attitude regarding African American people while she was growing up makes for a pretty strong dislike of people of color. This has made her and people of her generation very racist. As they raised children and passed their beliefs onto them, people have continued to hold this view.
The second reason for this type of stereotyping, I believe, is the way African American and Hispanic people are presented and present themselves in pop culture. If you were to turn on the radio to any rap station, you would hear rappers of color talking about selling and doing drugs, shooting other people and stealing things. Rappers promote this sort of thug lifestyle and present themselves as people who live it. Obviously, this is not the normal lifestyle of all people of color, but this is the image that we’ve been shown as a public. Since this is one of the largest ways that people from primarily white areas, can be introduced to African American culture, this is what people think all African American people are like. People need to change their ideas and people of color need to begin to present themselves as they truly are. The great majority of African American people are nothing like these thug rappers, and they need to show the public that they aren’t the way they are being presented.

What makes certain accents attractive and others unattractive? This is a question that is closely related to the question, “What makes someone beautiful or ugly?” It is a question that can never have a firm, solid answer because beauty is in the eye of the beholder. In my opinion, accents are generally attractive and men who have them always seem more attractive to me than men without accents. I think that men with accents are more attractive simply because they are different. And different is usually exciting. In my town at home, people are mostly white, middle-class and have lived in my town or the surrounding area for their entire lives. They all talk in the same dialect and with the same accent as I do. This lack of diversity causes very little excitement. If a boy were to move to my town with any kind of accent, whether a British, Jamaican or even Boston accent, it would be exciting, different and therefore attractive.
Personally, I only find a few accents attractive. I enjoy British, Australian, New Zealand, and Boston accents. The first three are probably fairly normal, however I’m sure most people wouldn’t find the Boston accent super attractive. I find it to be a sweet and very appealing accent. I can’t describe exactly what it is, but I know that I enjoy it. As for British accents, I find them extremely classy. They sound polite and gentle which is why I think so many girls find men with British accents attractive. The Aussie and Kiwi accents are very similar and in turn are very similar to a British accent while be different at the same time. The Aussie and Kiwi accents almost sound like a more rugged British accent. This makes all men from Australia and New Zealand seem adventurous and rugged, both of which are attractive to most women.
However, many women find the Latin accents extremely attractive, while I find them slightly annoying and difficult to understand. Though the Latin and Spanish languages are languages of love, I don’t believe that the accent matches that description. I find British accents to be much more seductive and appealing than a Spanish accent. The Latin accent, I feel, sounds like it’s trying too hard to be sexy that it actually becomes the opposite.
As for unattractive accents, I believe that any accent that doesn’t flow smoothly is unattractive. Accents such as any Middle Eastern, Japanese, and German are very harsh sounding. These harsher sounding tones and the speed at which the language is spoken anyway makes these and other accents that are similar sounding unappealing. The aforementioned accents have much different tones than say a British accent which just seems to flow smoothly. Attractiveness of an accent all depends on how it is perceived by the listener. There is no one accent that is generally more attractive because how they appeal to people differently.

Gender and sexual orientation are perhaps two of the most argued topics in sociology. I, like most others, have thought greatly about this topic and have my own personal opinion about it. I do not believe that a person willingly chooses their gender. You are born a certain gender and it is science that decides that. However, in some instances, such as transgendered people, I believe that there was some sort of mistake. A transgendered person feels as though they should be the opposite sex and are trapped inside the wrong body. As I said, in this case I believe that there was some sort of issue while still developing in the womb and the person truly is the gender they feel rather than the gender they were born as. In these rare cases, a person does essentially “choose” their gender, but really they are just becoming the gender they were supposed to be all along.
As for gender roles, I do believe we have a choice in deciding whether or not to play into our assigned gender roles. As a child, I used to dress as a tomboy and wore baggy t-shirts, boys shorts and backwards hats. I didn’t like pink and really didn’t want to participate in girly activities, so instead I played softball. I was able to do this because of my parent’s openness to accept their children however we wanted to express ourselves. So to an extent, I believe that parents play the biggest part in deciding whether we play into our gender roles or not. Less accepting parents would never allow their daughters to shop for clothes in the boy’s clothing section. But parents who are less concerned with gender roles will have children who are free to express themselves and their gender however they choose.
Sexuality is a topic I feel very strongly about, especially the “choice” of whether to be hetero- or homosexual. I firmly believe that we have absolutely no choice in the matter of our sexuality. Saying that a person chooses to be homosexual is like saying that I chose to be white. Most straight people who believe that it is a choice have never thought about how this choice could possibly be made. Straight people don’t choose to be straight just like gay people don’t choose to be gay. If it were a choice, wouldn’t most people choose to be straight? Why would anyone want to make a choice that could get them ridiculed, bullied, exiled from their family and unable to marry the person they love? Being gay in today’s world is extremely difficult. Saying that anyone would choose a life full of obstacles is really ridiculous. Sexuality is not a choice; it is as genetically inherited as the color of your eyes.

When I signed up for Soc 119 this semester, I knew exactly what I was getting myself into. I had heard all about Sam from other students and was so interested in the class that I watched the YouTube video that was a trailer for Soc 119. I remember one specific part of that video that really stuck out to me. It was a clip of Sam doing one of his demonstrations. He had two boys walk hand-in-hand along the front of the classroom and posed the question “Why would you notice these two more than these two (a heterosexual couple)?” The fact that Sam was not only challenging people on their beliefs of race, but also sexuality, is what inspired me to take this class.
So my question is, why are people more readily accepting of the use of gay slurs over racial slurs? I know that walking around campus I am much more likely to hear someone saying, “That’s so gay” or using the derogatory “F” word, than to hear them use some sort of racial slur. This has always been confusing to me because they really are on the same level. A person cannot change his or her sexuality anymore than they could change their race.
Although I am a straight individual, the use of gay slurs really irritates me because my best friend is gay. I see how the use of gay slurs affects him and makes him feel inadequate. Someone might think that when they say, “That’s so gay,” that they’re just making a harmless statement and referring to something that is dumb or has annoyed them. But really, isn’t that just making gay a synonym for shitty? So that person is really saying that gay means shitty, so gay people must be dumb or annoying, right? If this was occurring with any other derogatory slur, people would be up in arms. What if the new popular phrase became, “That’s so (n-word)?” No one would stand for that, because that’s not an acceptable phrase, but it’s just as acceptable as saying, “That’s so gay.” So why, then, is the latter being said right here on campus at any given moment?
This semester in Soc 119, I want Sam to address this question and really make people think about what they’re really saying and how it would make them feel if someone was attacking their sexuality. This is an extremely serious issue that plagues the LGBT youth of today. So serious, in fact, that there is an entire website devoted to ending the use of homosexual slurs in everyday conversation. It is called “ThinkB4YouSpeak” and they have all sorts of information about the effects of such language on LGBT youth. Hopefully after this issue is addressed, students in the class will be inspired to sign the pledge and think before they speak.