This is what has happened to Gerry Sandusky, not to be confused with the accused felon Jerry Sandusky and it has made a good man be put in a spotlight that he never intended nor wanted!
The sad reality is that there are hundreds if not thousands of people who share the same name as criminals and for many, they have lost their jobs and homes. They have been put in data bases and for some the only way they can get resolution is by changing their names altogether.
Did you know there is a site where you can find out "how many of you" (same name) are out there and it is called
Out of curiosity I wondered if there were other people who have the unfortunate(?) name of Jerry Sandusky living in the United States and there are 7 people who are probably going through the same problems as Gerry and I wonder how they are coping?
I would like to think that just as we should never judge "a book by its cover", also we should never judge a person by their name but the reality is that people will judge and I can only hope that these people will get the support that they need not to be tarnished by the deeds of one man.
#justsaying
I'm pretty sure there's a Canadian by that name as well..
ReplyDeleteGives one pause to consider who else might be out there using the same name as you.
One other thought however (and slightly off topic).. is of course impersonation.. If your ID's ever been stolen.. there is possibly someone out there getting credit cards and racking up bills in your name!
In both cases however.. the onus is going to be on YOU to prove that you are the perv OR the thief.. and I think there's a problem in that.
Now.. if we get into bio-metric ID systems.. they are much more ID positive.. but get the Bible believers shouting NUMBER OF THE BEAST, and Privacy adherents claiming INVASION!!
Yes this could pose quite a conundrum. You could live your life to the letter of the law but still get into hot water and have to prove your innocence. Could be a scary circumstance for
ReplyDeletesure. As for Tim's comment on biometrics, this could solve the problem and we will likely see it in our lifetime. The problem with that is that "Big Brother" is watching and guess what even less privacy. Can you say 1984 people.
P.S. Just for the record there were 380 with my name in the US, it's a good thing I have two middle names.
You have raised an interesting topic when it comes to "bio-metric ID systems", which has been shown to be very accurate with identifying a person through various (tagging a person) and yes there will be those who will vehemently oppose this system, due to privacy and lets not forget discrimination.(oh the science fiction fans will have a lot of fun with this one)..my problem with this idea is two fold
ReplyDelete1. At this time there are such tagging methods on the market and whenI read about one case where in 2005, Malaysian car thieves cut off the finger of a Mercedes-Benz S-Class owner when attempting to steal the car I went..OUCH! The damage to an owner of any tag could potentially cause more issues, cause even more harm than what Gerry is going through at this time .. see the story here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4396831.stm.
2..Gerry and his name! The fact is people will not ask first "are you the same person as this criminal" or "where is your tag?"..they will assume and judge..why? People do that..they judge first, they assume first without asking for ID or anything else for that matter. In this particular situation, it is even worse as both men are or were in the sports industry... guilt by association!
All the tagging in the world can not stop people from thinking or wondering..but it is through these kinds of conversations, that we as people can do our best to make things right for those who are innocent of all wrong doing.... #just saying!