What do you think of the Penn State situation?

[iambren]

I went to Ohio State way back when Woody Hayes was our coach. My first game to watch was playing Penn State, one of our arch enemies and I remember Paterno from those days. He has struck me as a man of integrity, someone to be respected.

I reserve judgement on him until I can look deep into his soul and tell what dishonor lies there. He reported. He reported as he was told to report. I don't have enough evidence to throw stones at what must be presumed is an innocent man.

 

[K9_Trainer]

I don't understand how the guy who witnessed it was able to just turn around and walk away. That's sick. If I saw a child going through that, I would intervene, seriously refrain from beating the crap out of somebody, call the police and get that poor kid to a hospital.

 

[GQ Chris]

It is also sick how these people view "JoePa" as deity like. Don't get me wrong I love sports, and a big Football fan, but not to the point where it consumes me 24/7.

 

[Hadassah_]

It is also sick how these people view "JoePa" as deity like. Don't get me wrong I love sports, and a big Football fan, but not to the point where it consumes me 24/7.

Agreed.

I am trying to put it into perspective and try to imagine if it were Nick Saban who was dealing with this. I only use him because he's BIG in this area and practically a diety as well; not because I would CONSIDER slandering him or suggesting he would have a part in this.

But if it were Nick Saban, how would our community act? They would probably rally around him, support him, and give him the benefit of the doubt. But this is the Bible belt so maybe I should see their response to be different? I would hope.

I am still just baffled about someone walking in then walking out. I still don't understand, and probably never will, the rationale behind that.

 

[Apollo Celestio]

What I don't get is why the graduate student assistant who witnessed the shower incident did not beat Sandusky down and then take the kid to the hospital.

The witnesses were distraught at what they had seen. One of them almost had a heart attack due to witnessing it. The first witness went and told people who said they'd take care of it, but they actually downplayed it like it was nothing. I hear that these scandals were why the head coach didn't let the pedophile succeed him.

 

[leothelioness]

Paterno is not innocent in this whole thing. It was stated in the indictment that Paterno, the athletic director Curley, the witness to the event and one other guy (Schultz) had a meeting where the witness disclosed everything he had seen. So, to say that Paterno and the others were completely oblivious to the accusations is false. They were specifically told what happened by the guy who had witnessed it, yet none of them contacted the authorities. They just passed it off to the next person to do something about it, which ultimately never got done.

 

[leothelioness]

The witnesses were distraught at what they had seen. One of them almost had a heart attack due to witnessing it. The first witness went and told people who said they'd take care of it, but they actually downplayed it like it was nothing. I hear that these scandals were why the head coach didn't let the pedophile succeed him.

Yeah, and he and his co-worker didn't tell anyone because they feared they would lose their jobs. When did your job become more important than the welfare of a child?

 

[explodingboy]

Yeah, and he and his co-worker didn't tell anyone because they feared they would lose their jobs. When did your job become more important than the welfare of a child?

Considering this is the second big abuse scandal, since the summers Catholic out rage..

It's probably about time that one of the high profile cases really gets made an example of, in the vain hope that legal requirements get changed and that the culture of in house cover ups gets dealt with.

 

[iambren]

Hey ya'll, please don't sign up for jury duty at my trial! A lot of the conclusions you've laid out are not proven, rather conjecture and inference.

We DO KNOW:

1 Paterno didn't comitt these acts.

2 He DID report them properly.

3 We don't know what HE knew at the time.


----Seems skimpy evidence to hang a man.

 

[SharonL]

20 More boys have now come forward. Lives ruined for the sake of football.

 

[kevlite2020]

20 More boys have now come forward. Lives ruined for the sake of football.

Lives ruined from the desires and perversions of a man. It isn't right to shift blame like that.

 

[Tamara224]

Lives ruined from the desires and perversions of a man. It isn't right to shift blame like that.

It's not blame-shifting to recognize that there are multiple parties at fault. There are degrees or percentages of the overall blame, but people who know that someone is being abused and do nothing about it do share some blame. Had they done what was right and reported the incidents to the police or protective services, that man would have been prevented from hurting anyone else. The blame for that is squarely on the heads of those who knew it was going on and did nothing to stop or prevent it.

This is really an axiomatic legal-moral principle: You know someone is doing something wrong and you either don't do anything to report or stop it or, worse, you actively take steps to cover it up..... then you're culpable.

If it was murder, burglary, embezzling or any of a dozen other crimes, Paterno and others would probably be charged with accessories after the fact and be subject to the same penalties as the perpetrator.

And let's not pretend that their motivation for not reporting it was anything other than the good ol boys club and football worship. They circled the wagons to protect their own. There's no excuse for that.

 

[Miles]

If the allegations are true, then I think they should throw the book at the perp(s). Until we learn more, however, it's probably best to consider the accused innocent until proven guilty.

That said, based on what I've heard so far, I think the school did the right thing by firing Paterno.

 

[LOVEthroughINTELLECT]

Reason, including moral reason, dictates that a lot more should have been done a lot sooner to stop the alleged abuses.

Something finally has been done--when it was suddenly in the best interests of those in power to do so.

Just read (or reread) [thread=7563398]this thread[/thread] if you do not know what I mean.

I was reading about a company where a woman sexually harasses male subordinates. The victims bring it to the attention of her superiors and then those superiors terminate the employment of the victims. The offender--a sales supervisor, I believe--produces so well and brings in so much revenue to the company that it is better for their bottom line to continue to allow her to abuse other employees and then dismiss those employees if they protest.

But if it gets out of hand so much, like in the Penn State case, that the company cannot survive if it continues, then they will sever ties with that abusive woman. That is because it will then be in their best interests to do the "right thing". Again, if you do not know what I mean then read (or reread) that aforementioned thread.

 

[Apollo Celestio]

Yeah, and he and his co-worker didn't tell anyone because they feared they would lose their jobs. When did your job become more important than the welfare of a child?

Right.. if something made me that sick I think I'd tell someone anyway. Even if I lost my job, I'd get the support of the lovers of justice everywhere.

 

[kevlite2020]

And let's not pretend that their motivation for not reporting it was anything other than the good ol boys club and football worship. They circled the wagons to protect their own. There's no excuse for that.

That's really not a fair assumption. You don't know what Joe Paterno was told or why he reported it once and did not follow it up afterwards. You don't know why the higher ups didn't report it. The only thing we know about this case is that the guy molested boys. Penn state is one of my rivals, I could care less about their football team, but I just hate seeing their coach getting trashed and getting fired and getting this horrible reputation based entirely on hearsay and assumptions. That to me is bogus. Not as bogus as what Sandusky did to those kids. But still, bogus.

 

[leothelioness]

Hey ya'll, please don't sign up for jury duty at my trial! A lot of the conclusions you've laid out are not proven, rather conjecture and inference.

We DO KNOW:

1 Paterno didn't comitt these acts.

2 He DID report them properly.

3 We don't know what HE knew at the time.


----Seems skimpy evidence to hang a man.

Actually, those of us who have read the indictment do know what happened.

 

[Gwendolyn]

It makes me sick when ANYONE lets sex abuse slide. The reason they decided to turn the other way doesn't matter. They enabled an abuser when they should have stopped him from harming all those kids.

 

[iambren]

"Actually, those of us who have read the indictment do know what happened."


Haven't seen it. The creep that did those boys hopefully will get his. But what did it say PATERNO did.

I don't like this broadbrush spreading guilt around I hear. He may be innocent or may have guilt on his hands. From what I gather justice sAYS TO PRESUME HIM INNOCENT.

 

[Hadassah_]

Yeah...read the indictment before you start throwing us under the bus.

I personally don't have a vendetta against Paterno solely; I have a problem with EVERYONE involved who did not stop this from happening when they saw it, and swept it under the rug. I think each and every one of them should be fired and thrown in jail for aiding and abeiting a rapist, and caring more about the wellbeing of a college than innocent children.