Social Justice Blog Four: Social Problems

I found today's discussion about social problems to be intriguing and stimulating. The activity where we moved around the room based on our feelings toward an issue really put social justice into perspective for me. Although I moved a couple of times throughout the exercise, it really hit me towards the end that all the aforementioned are social problems. Due to the manner in which Diane phrased a couple of the statements it didn't seem like it, however, each issue had some aspect relevant to society as a whole.

Cancer, sexual orientation, and wealth were a couple of ones that I noticed myself and others struggling to categorize. They are not as clear cut as say, domestic violence or child abuse which the majority of people agree are definite problems. Cancer, in my opinion, is a social problem; this is why I stayed in the left side of the room. Although cancer is often caused biological factors and not necessarily by society, the impact it has on people without healthcare is definitely one for us to think about. As an intern for the People's Community Clinic, I'm well aware of the recent budget cuts affecting the likes of PCC and Planned Parenthood. Physicals and breast exams for women will no longer be offered at the low cost rate at which they once were, thus putting multiple people at a higher risk for cervical and breast cancer. It's no secret that cancer is one of the leading causes of death in the country, and unfortunately, many of the people who die won't make it simply because of a lack of adequate healthcare.

Sexual orientation seemed to stump quite a few people. About half of the people moved to the left of the room and the other half to the far right. I initially went to the right, because the way I percieve it, sexual orientation definitely isn't a problem. It's simply a part of someone's biological make-up and he or she shouldn't be treated differently because of it. However, when I noticed there were quite a few people on the left, it occured to me: maybe they are on the other side because they believe that while sexual orientation itself isn't a problem, the inequalities that someone may face because of their orientation is? It then hit me that sexual orientation is in fact a social issue. The issue isn't with orientation itself but rather the discrimination certain people may face in a society.

Lastly, wealth was one that puzzled many of us. People moved to far ends of both sides of the room. I moved left, since I believe the issue of wealth is something affecting society in a large scale manner. Obviously, wealth in itself isn't a bad thing; we wouldn't have access to the numerous luxuries we have in this world without wealth. However, the problem is with the disparity in wealth around the world. There is definitely a problem when Kim Kardashian has millions of dollars to blow on a fairy tale wedding while a three month old boy dies of exposure to cold weather in a refugee camp in Afghanistan. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/world/asia/in-grip-of-cold-afghan-family-buries-8th-child.html?_r=1&hp It doesn't seem just that some people in this world are struggling to survive while others have more than they need. Lack of wealth is a social problem, and it is up to us as a society to propagate resources and education in areas of need.

I also enjoyed discussing our frustrations regarding disparities in society. I found Diane's example of the well-being of Austin's tree vs homeless people to be an interesting one, as well as Professor G's about Ben Rothliesberger being let off easier for a more serious crime than Michael Vick for his dog-fighting. As we were on this subject, I thought about an instance that I had actually written about. When I was in high school, I wrote an op-ed about the plight of the Jena Six in Louisiana. To this day, it really irks me how unjustly they were treated. Although the students involved should have recieved some kind of punishment for physically assaulting a classmate, this doesn't excuse the fact that they were given disproportionately harsh charges. It is astounding how the judicial system and school board of Jena seemed to almost overlook the racial tensions leading up to the attack. Administrators were so quick to criticize the students involved in the attack, yet they treated racism toward African-Americans in the school as a non-issue. I find it appalling how someone can be treated so differently simply because of the color of their skin.