To me, if Sandusky were black or Latino I feel like it would become even more crazier and wild than it already is. Because he is white that probably lets him off a little easier than it would if he were black or Latino. White people seem to get off easier in most cases of crimes and wrong-doings. This is coming from a white person as well. When someone goes missing, it is usually a white person and I can't think of a time where the media reported a missing person who was black or Latino. The media has a certain favoritism with white people and I am sure it is no deliberate but they do nonetheless.

This crime is as heinous as they come. But i still think that it would be more hectic if Sandusky were black or Latino. It seems that the media makes more of a situation of things when it is a person who isn't white. The other thing that we as students and spectators of this event have to think about is, would we have rioted and got in such an uproar if he was black or Latino? I personally think we still would have because most people rioted not for the fact that what was going on with Sandusky but what happened with Joe Paterno. The media made it more about the coach of our football team rather than the heinous man who committed all of these disgusting crimes.

Race shouldn’t influence the way media covers topics but it does. Like I said before, I couldn’t remember the last time CNN covered a story about a missing black woman. But I can remember them covering extensively the Michael Jackson case and covering it to the extreme. And the Sandusky and Jackson cases are very similar because Jackson got off for his crimes and we don’t know all of the facts yet on the Sandusky case but I would go as far as to say that they covered the Jackson case much more than they did the Sandusky case. I suppose it’s a matter of opinion but that’s how I see it.

In conclusion, I think that the media would have hammered this case a lot harder if it was a person of a different race. The way the media portrays white people is in a very favorable light. Anyone can see that. But what they tend to do more so is to paint a bad picture for anyone of a race other than white. The example with Michael Jackson is the one big case I keep going back to because it happened so recently. But it will be interesting to see how everything plays out down the stretch when every facet of the facts are revealed.

I feel like the riots and all this nonsense would not have happened if social media wasn't involved. Twitter and Facebook have made such a huge impact on this scandal and it has basically forced Joe Paterno out of his position of coach. I know it isn't about Joe Paterno and football and it is about the kids that had this heinous act done to them but the media has made this about the football program. But if the media had not had the outlets that they do have, I think everything would have a gone differently.

Twitter is arguably the most volatile in this situation. Everybody and their brother knows exactly what is going on with the University and they think they are the highest authority on the matter. This ranges from students to people who are outside of the state college area. Everyone thinks they are an expert and they won't let the proceedings ... well proceed. All of the facts to this case have not come out. We need to hear the insight from the people who matter in this case. That includes Paterno and Spanier. But twitter is making it difficult for people to view this scandal with an open mind. People are hearing things from all over the place and believing everything they hear. My one friend who does not go here called me the other day and basically said that Paterno molested the kids. And that is simply not that case at all. I asked where he was getting his information from and he said twitter and Facebook. I then told him everything that he needed to know and he was shocked by how the media was portraying everything. Also, the fact that people see other people’s opinions and perspectives and take them as fact are wrong. This makes the reader think that what the other person said is true down to the t. This alters the way people think and is forcing them to take what the people say as fact and then they have no where to go with their opinions.

But at the same time, the social media is a very good thing because some of the things you hear are definitely true. I learned a lot about this case from the articles posted by people and what people who are reporting the case in state college were saying. Some of the things you hear are valid and then some are obviously false and overbearing.

So overall, facebook and twitter are probably bad in the whole scheme of this investigation. It has altered people’s minds and has not let people think with an open mind. And this is not a good thing for people who are outside of the situation and don’t understand all of the facts.

I feel that Americans won’t do the jobs the Mexicans do because they feel like they are entitled to something better than picking tomatoes in a field. They feel like Mexicans are beneath them and should be doing the hard labor, while they reap the benefits and pay them cheaply. It is almost like a form of slavery because these Mexicans are working very long, hard hours and then when they quit the Americans have no idea what to do because they don’t want to do the hard labor. Meanwhile, before the influx of Mexicans to American they were doing this hard labor and no one was complaining about it because they had to get their crops to the market to make some sort of profit. But now that they see Mexicans standing outside stores like Lowe’s and Home Depot, they know they can find cheap labor to do the jobs they don’t want to do. And Mexicans for the most part accept these jobs because where they come from, there might not be any jobs available. They need to make money to send back to their families for food or for them to try and come over. America is the land of opportunity and these Mexicans are trying to make the best out of their opportunities.

Americans for the most part are lazy and don’t like to do anything that is strenuous or out of the way of what is easy for them. This has become the norm for people of the United States. They always feel that other people could be doing work that they should be doing themselves. There is nothing wrong with giving people jobs but when those people quit it shouldn’t ruin the business. The clip we watched in class on Thursday demonstrated it perfectly. The tomato farmers were having a hard time collecting the tomatoes because they didn’t have the Mexicans to pick the tomato from the vine. This results in a reduction of what they can make for profit when they take the tomatoes to market. The tomatoes would rot and then they couldn’t sell them and would just have to get rid of them.

Overall, Americans just don’t like to do the hard labor that other people could be doing. It has been going on for a long time now and there seems to be no end in sight. I say this because people will always be coming to America and looking for opportunities and these opportunities will always be present. They will be present but they will be hard labor jobs that Americans think they are above and believe that immigrants should do. It is sad to say because our forefathers would be displeased but it is true. Americans need to accept responsibility for themselves and do hard labor.

A majority of people who live in this country today have roots that tie back to other countries. Everyone should be considered an immigrant of some sort because of where their family started. For instance, my family came from Ireland on both of my parents sides. I don’t really understand why people make such a big deal about where people come from, isn’t the United States considered the “land of opportunity”? That should mean that everyone gets an equal opportunity art everything in the country but that certainly is not true. It is unfortunate too because we preach ourselves as such a free Democracy but realistically there is no opportunity for many people who come over here now a days.
Even illegal immigrants come over here looking for the best opportunities available. The known that there is a much better chance for success in the United States than in the countries they are coming from. Our ancestors did the exact same thing and today they are not criticized for doing it. When the Irish came over they were given an incredibly hard time. The Irish had to scrap for jobs and many of them were poor for a very long time. This is reminiscent of what is going on today. The main people that are coming over illegally today are Mexicans because the border is so close.
Now I understand people get upset because it seems like they are taking jobs from the “American” workers. But if these people would open their eyes, they would see that another problem with joblessness is that jobs are being sent overseas. Now don’t get me wrong, I think people who come into this country illegally are in the wrong. But my point is, was it legal for our ancestors to come over and steal land from the Native Americans? I am going to have to say no but most people do not think anything of it in todays day and age.
In conclusion, what I am saying is that we came over as immigrants as people are doing now. It is not fair to treat these people differently and to not give them the same opportunities that our ancestors were given. Regarding illegal immigrants, it is basically the same as what our ancestors did. It is still wrong and those who do it need to be deported or some sort of punishment. It is easy to make an excuse and say that it was different for our ancestors because it was technically unchartered land but that is the easy way out. But what I’m trying to say is that I feel that they are not being treated the way they should be. This is the land of opportunity and that motto should stay true no matter who is living in the United States.

I think that this answer comes down to the person or group of people identifying the person as a poser or not a poser. If the person really is just in the group to show that he/she can make friends with other races but really doesn’t have much in common with that group, then they are a poser. Some people just like to tell people that they are racist or discriminatory towards others because they have friends who are black or friends who are Mexican. And this to me is the true definition of someone who is a poser.
Now if the person truly has an interest in the people in his group and can honestly say that they are his friends then it is a completely different story. The area in which I am from is predominantly white but there are a few black kids who I went to high school with. They didn’t have to hang out with us just because we went to school together because there were plenty of other schools around us that had people of other races. One of the black people I went to school with is one of my really good friends. We actually didn’t hang out a lot in high school but whenever I am home now we routinely hang out. To me, I don’t see him as someone of a different race. He is no different than any of my other friends. No one in my area considers him a poser either. It might be because it is a technically “white” group of friends and we might not see anything about it but I don’t feel like our friend feels any way about it either.
Now it is obviously going to be different in a different community. But I think it is the way you grow up that influences the way you think about people of a different race in your group of friends. For example, if you are a white person and you hang out in a group of all black people but have done so since before you can remember, you will probably have a strong bond with this group because you have known them forever. It would be hard to say that that person is a poser because they have been in that group for so long. But if you are a white person who just in college decided to start hanging around a lot of black people then it could be looked at as if you just did it just to say you have friends who are of a different race and that to me is a poser. You shouldn’t hang out with a certain group if you don’t actually want to be a friend or whatever. If you are doing it for your own personal gain or achievement then that is just wrong.

I’m not sure that my race directly influences the way that I view the world. Growing up my parents always taught me to treat everyone respectfully and to not have any sort of stereotypes against anyone. But growing up in an all white community definitely makes you think one way over some others. I grew up in a basically middle to upper class area, went to a good high school, and lived in a small town. There were very few people of a different race from my own. So when certain things in the world would happen it would come as a huge shock. 9.11 for example is one instance that made our community take a different look on the world. Most people in my community had an instant hatred for anyone who came from the Middle East. They thought that everyone from that area had a direct influence on what happened. This is obviously not true but the people in our community were those that haven’t left the area in years and don’t know what is happening besides what happens on CNN. So this is one way I would say that my race has affected the way I looked at the world, at least for a small portion of my life.
I do believe that everyone’s race affects how each person looks at the world. Everyone’s experiences will be different too because they all grew up in different places and were taught different things. This is not always a bad thing either because it can make people more educationally sound and more open to life experiences. I feel that the way most people end up viewing the world is based on how their parents brought them up and what kind of community they grew up in. If both of those were good communities with morals and people helping to guide you, then you should have a good understanding of the world. This is important because if you come to a place like Penn State where there are people from every walk of life, it will help you to better adapt. For me it was different because my sister and my parents went to school here so I knew what it was like even thought I hadn’t lived in State College yet. This was good for me, I believe, because it gave me a more rounded knowledge on life outside of a small white community. Coming to Penn State has really broaden my view on life, and that’s not to say I had a closed mind beforehand but it helped me see everything in a different life. My community at home and at Penn State have each influenced the way I look at the world.

This is a very interesting question and it is not an easy question to answer. My first thoughts about this question was that a parent would definitely have to decide for the child. And my original reasoning was that you have to raise a child in a certain way and you can’t have them guessing what they are for the beginning of their life. But then as I was thinking about it more, I was thinking that maybe you should wait a few years to see if the child can, for him/her self, decide which gender it will be. I feel like this is probably the best way to go about it because you don’t want your child to hold a grudge against you because they actually wanted to be a different gender. I feel like letting the child choose their own gender is something that gives them the independence that they deserve. It is a hard decision regardless of what option you choose. For the parent to decide is one huge burden because you might get the choice wrong and it can ruin your child’s life and it can also ruin yours because it will affect both of you for the rest of your life. But even if the parents do decide a gender that the child is happy with, what if they chose the other gender? Could the child’s life turned out better or worse? It’s something that you will never know. One the reverse side, letting the child pick their own gender can also turn out good or bad. What if they choose a certain gender and then later in their life they realize that they should actually be the other gender. They can never change their gender because it would cause too much conflict in their already stressful life. This question is really something that takes a lot of time to think about. It is not an easy question to answer and it puts an incredible burden on the parents regardless of what decision they choose. I personally would let the child decide because it is the fairest way for the child. The child can determine which way their life will go. It may seem like the easy way out for the parent but sometimes the easy way out is the best way to go. It lets the child make the decision for him/her self. But as a parent, you can also look at the wy the child acts for their first few years and this could better help the child make their own decision. You can help the child determine their race without saying be this or be that. Like I said before, this is an interestingly hard question to answer.

I believe that race definitely affects the way we look at criminals because of the way the media portrays it. The media is always talking about racial profiling and the way non-white people are treated when dealing with law enforcement. It also doesn't help that movies, music, and video games all portray crimes to be committed by people of different race. One example that stands out to me is the way that people of the United States view young African-Americans. They see them as people who are always out committing crimes and causing havoc on the streets when this is clearly not true. Police also seem to view it this way as they (police) seem to think that this young black people are out committing crimes. It is really a messed up thing because it is not true in all circumstances. White people do the exact same things that people of other races do but they are mostly let off the hook. Crime is definitely influenced by how you were raised and where you were raised but it doesn't necessarily have to do with what race you are. There is a lot of racial profiling that goes on in the United States but it is not right. Something that really stood out to me in class was the statistics about jobs. How a white man who had a felony could get a better job than a black man who has no convictions. This is astonishing because in this day and age, one would assume that equality in the workplace is happening but it truly is not. It is unfortunate too because it means that people are not getting the same opportunities. A black man could be as well qualified as the white man but because one person is white, he gets the job. It really makes you think of how messed up our society is when you have things like this happening on a daily basis. Black people are not the only ones that are being stereotyped and racially profiled too. Native Americans, Mexicans, Asians are all being judged on a daily basis. They say America is a place where all people are created equal and that just isn't true. We all came from another country to come to the United States and form this melting pot. I don't understand why we can't just accept people for who they are and give them an equal shot at living the American dream. It makes no sense to me but for how our country boasts itself, you would think that everything is equal and everyone has an equal shot at a good job and that just isn't true in our society today. But, yes race definitely affects how people look at criminal activity and it all relates to the way different races are preceived by the media and everyone in the country.

Why did I choose Penn State? This is an interesting question and there are several parts to this response. First, Penn State was always my main choice when I was looking at colleges to attend. My parents, sister, brother-in-law, and aunts and uncles all came to school here. That is one reason why it was such an easy choice to make. I had been going to Penn State football games for many years before I was even thinking about colleges and I loved State College. My aunt and uncle lived in State College for many years so I would visit them and also visit the campus. Secondly, my parents really didn't give me a choice on whether or not I had to go to college. I just had to go. They said I could attend any university I wanted to but my choice was always Penn State. I always knew I would be going to college regardless of what my parents thought or said, and I always knew where I would go. I would also say that going to a big school like Penn State is a statement of the class you belong to, at least in my hometown it is. Penn State is not an easy school to get into by any means and it is also expensive. When people find out that you are going to Penn State there is a different thought about that person. The thought is that of your class ranking being higher than one might imagine. I lived in a town that is mostly middle class to upper middle class. Those people in my high school that were in the upper middle class were considered the "cool kids". But once they found out you had interest or got accepted to Penn State, their thoughts changed and it was a whole different perspective. It is very interesting to look back and see what people had thought and realize that it means nothing in the scheme of the big picture. Finally, I thought college was going to be some walk in the park and just partying all the time but i soon realized that it is more work than people actually let on to. I work my ass off night in and night out to try to earn the best grades I can and to accomplish all of the goals in my life. Penn State was definitely the right choice in my mind and I couldn't have picked a better place to earn a degree from. The alumni network is so unbelievably helpful and it just goes to show how much people love this school and will do anything to help others who have went here.

The question that is posed is something that is very interesting. I asked my friend why do people from Brazil consider themselves Brazilians and not Americans? He said it is because they are from Brazil. I then posed the question why do people from Pennsylvania considered themselves Americans and not Pennsylvanians? He said it is because we are patriotic and from America. I then said that Brazil and Pennsylvania are both from places that have America in their title. He then said nothing because he knew what I said was true. The reason I feel that the term Americans distinctly refers the United States is because of how patriotic we truely are in this country and people from South America are patriotic to their own area and not the whole land mass that is considered South America. It is something that is very interesting and should be research if it has not been already. I hope that someday people of all Americas can come together to consider themselves Americans. It is a term that has united our nation and maybe it can unite us all as well.