Penn State Child Rape Case Brings Out Worst In Sports Idolatry
Friday, November 11, 2011 at 10:01AMI spent most of this week avoiding reading and writing about what was going on at Penn State because all I could likely add to the conversation would be a long string of curse words. A tale of how no one likes to be proven right about the more disgusting side of the human condition. The truth that some people will do anything for a win.
Even overlook the sexual exploitation and abuse of children.
I don't understand it because it is incomprehensible that adults would do more to protect a school, its reputation, a football team, and its coach than children being repeatedly raped by a pedophile. It's not like the school administration would have been fatally harmed if they'd dealt with the problem as soon as it came to light. There would have been some reporting on a coach being an alleged child rapist, but the school wouldn't have been blamed for that if they'd acted immediately.
But they didn't. And now everyone's head is up for the chopping when it could have just been the perp ever so long ago.
I don't understand this mentality, that an institution is so big it can't handle something like firing and prosecuting a guy who commits a crime. I don't understand the logic that makes you know that you have a child rapist in your employ and you just look the other way out of ... what? I don't even know what. By ignoring it, they became complicit. They were just as bad as the monster in the locker room showers. The crime was unconscionable, but the cover-up was equally sickening.
I don't understand the students of Penn State rioting because their beloved coach who was part of the whole "Let's just ignore the child rapist thing" lost his job over it. I definitely don't understand how even some representatives of the victims think Coach Joe Paterno didn't deserve to be fired. Even though his negligence prolonged the suffering and abuse of others close to them. That Paterno cared more about kicking the problem up the chain of command than anyone stopping and going, "Hey. We should call the police and file a complaint."
That's some amazing sports hero idolatry on a perverse level. An immoral end when the "ends" justify the means by the way of child rape. How negligent could Paterno and Penn State be and students and fans would still be OK with it? If the assistant coach murdered the kids after he raped them, would that be cool? What if he stalked the families after he raped and murdered their kids? What if he then moved on to raping and murdering Penn State students because, shoot, why not? No one's going to stop him? Not the other coach who witnessed him raping a student. Not his boss. Not the bosses of his boss. Not the university. A child being exploited was just another "small" price to pay if it mean winning football games. It was a sacrifice of decency and morals and a child's health and mental well-being for the sake of Bowl titles. When did Penn State become Basin City from the film (and graphic novel) "Sin City," where a rapist was protected by his family and the powers-that-be simply because of his slight connection to the captains of industry and political influence?
If you'd offer up a 10-year-olds' body for sexual sacrifice at the alter of a winning season, what else are you willing to toss up on that tabernacle for the promise of a win? Another kid? Your conscious? Your soul?
Being a winner doesn't give you a pass if those "wins" are created in an abattoir.
Reader Comments (8)
Totally Agree with you Snob. I in no way understand having so much pride in your school and loving a sport soooo much that I would just dismiss something so vile as this.
I was upset that on all the sports sites, all they could talk about was how great Joe Paterno is/was. Yeah, he was a winning coach, but that doesn't mean that all of the ills that occurred and have been brought up recently should be overshadowed by his legacy of coaching and how "awesome" he was. Apparently, he wasn't awesome enough.
It is unfortunate that he got fired on his last year, but maybe he should have thought about that 10 years ago when he turned the other cheek. Serves him right.
I'm so glad you posted this Snob. I was beginning to believe the world had finally gone completely insane. Children were sexually assaulted! And all anyone can think about and talk about is Joe Paterno. Priorities people. Get some.
This whole nightmare is a small version of how larger atrocities happen. If enough people turn their heads and kick the can down the road you can destroy a country, rob a generation blind, wipe out a people and subjugate an entire race, ethnic group, faith or gender. Because ... who will stop you? The more I read about this thing it's like this guy WANTED to be caught, but no one would take him up on the offer, so he just kept on going, taking their silence as an endorsement.
People seem to love authority and idols more than the people this authority and these idols are supposed to serve and protect. They've confused flawed humans for gods.
Snob:
Great post. It has always annoyed me when people describe a pedophile as “molesting” or being “inappropriate” with a child. It makes this heinous act sound so legalistic and clinical. It obfuscates how vile this act is. According to the grand jury report, Jerry Sandusky had this 10 year old child with his hands against the shower wall, f**king him up the ass.
Anyone who could witness this act and either not stop it or not call the cops is a cowardly piece of shit who also needs to go to jail.
Why anyone would try to save the “good name” of a football program instead of helping a young child being butt-f**ked by a 61 year old man is needs to burn in hell.
negligence? he reported it to the AD. you want to get mad at someone? get mad at mcqueary and curley. those are the people who really dropped the ball because mcqueary saw it first hand and curley was the final decision maker who ultimately made the decision to keep it on the hush. paterno did his job. and reported it to his boss.
it's easy to get mad and say what what one should do after the fact, but i bet you wouldn't be super quick to report your father or your brother if you heard that they were doing the same thing from someone down the street.
and before everyone becomes an unwavering agent of justice, paterno morally should have called the cops. but i can understand why he didn't. it's not exactly easy to call the cops on someone whom you've been close to and friends with for more than 30 some years.
Don't all states have a child abuse hotline where you can call anonymously if you suspect something is going on? In my state, if you call and have a reasonable belief abuse occurred you can't be sued/prosecuted if the state later determines there was no abuse. If anyone was afraid of calling the police (and of having their identity known), did no one even think of at least calling the hotline? Then there would be an actual investigation and a paper trail to refer to if other cases are called in. I guess they thought child rape and sexual assault from a non-parent adult didn't qualify. It'd be interesting to see if and how many reports were called in against Sandusky... unless they were swept under the rug too.
You know what, swiv? It's not easy to be raped either. As a survivor I am completely sickened by your comment.