Thursday, November 10, 2011

Talking About Penn State

I had another post all ready to go, but then I just had to talk about Penn State.

It's not a racial issue, at least not that I know of, although that could change if it turns out this coach was preying on poor little black boys because that will only make things worse. For those of you who have been avoiding the news, Penn State Coach Joe Paterno has been fired, along with the university president, after the Board of Trustees determined they behaved inappropriately in allowing a former football coach to systematically molest young boys using Penn State as a lure.

The decision, which was the only correct one if you read this grand jury report, has sparked outrage among Penn State students who have actually had mini riots in the streets.

And that's what I want to talk about in this post.

See, I've gone over this in my mind, and I can't figure out how intelligent, thinking people could take the actions those students in Penn State took last night. Nobody, NOBODY, who read that grand jury report with a working conscience could believe that Paterno deserved to keep his job. In fact, there should have been mass firings as a result of the allegations made, mainly because there is easily verifiable proof of their veracity.

Yet, these students marched, and chanted and spouted idiotic rhetoric that has made me severely question their intelligence and the well-being of a world where they will be given responsibility. It made me question their parents and their schools, and the values they hold dear.

When adults decide to allow another adult to engage in behavior like showering naked with children, they are wrong. There is no middle ground. You cannot allow someone to behave in that manner, and continue to allow them to be around you and your organization. You cannot decide to avoid reporting them to child welfare agencies. You cannot decide to give them more chances to hurt children. If you make any of those decisions, you have condoned the abuse of children, and you deserve no sympathy and no succor.

That report alleges that Paterno and others ignored signs of molestation, and swept a report of anal rape of child under the rug rather than take an action that would have resulted in outrage, pain and, most importantly, bad publicity. They chose to protect their livelihoods and reputations rather than save children from easily avoided pain. And for that, they are evil.

Anyone who not only refuses to acknowledge this, but defends their actions as "following the rules" is a person whose morality is lacking. If you honestly believe that Paterno "didn't know" or "did what he could" on a campus where he was only a step below God, then I don't just question your intelligence, I doubt its existence and the existence of a true moral compass in your bosom.

Watching students who are supposedly engaged in the activity of educating themselves take the actions those students took last night brings into the doubt the educational mission of Penn State, and the parenting of parents who send their children there. It is a system failure on a massive scale, and that's what people need to be talking about today.



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3 comments:

lifelearner said...

It's an utter disgrace, and just speaks loudly to the victims that your life isn't as important as football or the culture of football. Sickening!! I pray that the victims find healing eventually and have productive lives. Sandusky and all his ilks will pay (financially/spiritually) for what they did.

Deacon Blue said...

I can understand how some folks might be sad and angry at the hit their school (or alma mater) is taking, but I can't in any way understand or condone them being angry at the firing of various folks who clearly did wrong, or the necessity of making this public. It's an all-too-common shame that the victims get somehow turned into enemies, and sometimes the people who do what it right end up being labeled the villains. Such attitudes are the great enabler of evil people.

Anonymous said...

I disagree Big Man I think to some extent this IS a racial issue and part of it is because I have yet to see the media especially the sports media come against Sandusky witht he saem vitrol they have given to black males. I haven't seen the same level of attention or even outrage such as when this was Micheal Vick or Barry Bonds. Who you'd have thought was behind 9/11 the media is really treading lightly with this story and I have a gut feeling if this were John Thompson or some other famous black male coach it would be a very different story just my humble opinion.




Raving Black Lunatic