A mere 36 hours after Jerry Sandusky’s conviction, the anti-Paterno legions are growing vocal, demanding to tear down Joe’s statue outside Beaver Stadium in return for his allegedly facilitating Sandusky’s disgustingly illegal conduct through the years. I’ll neither defend nor condemn the late head coach here. The pending investigations will determine the extent of his involvement. I’ll merely ask for sanity to prevail. I’ve had to do this too much these days as simple people seem to want to take the simple expedient of rushing to judgement to obtain their simple personal vindication. But real life just ain’t that easy.
All the headline making cases that have come up lately bring these crazies out of the woodwork. They want to convict people because they want to convict people, and they believe they know better than anyone else what should be done. It was like that for Trayvon Martin and Casey Anthony, just to name a couple of cases close to home. These people hide their ignorance of specifics behind the shield of self-righteousness, and inevitably come off looking like fools. When the justice system eventually has done its work, we mostly see that these fools were wrong, and then we never hear from them again. They have no voice in the matter, so they have to make noise. They have no patience, so they have to rattle the cages of anyone who is stupid enough to give them a forum.
The fact is that these people have no idea how deeply Paterno was involved in allowing Sandusky to operate. Graham Spanier might well be the one they should be hanging in effigy. As University President, he could have easily given the gag order on all things Sandusky. He could have threatened everyone else with their jobs if they didn’t agree to sweep the matter under a rug. Ultimately, Spanier is in charge, and even if he knew nothing, he should be held accountable. We don’t know what Paterno knew, either, but Curley and Spanier were his superiors. The whole cover-up thing was not just Joe’s idea. That’s for sure. It might have been the case that Paterno did his job by reporting the incident to his superiors. As he said, in retrospect he should have done more, but that is no reason to pin the whole shebang on him. Culpable for his share of it, sure, but not for the entirety of it, you know damn well that Joe wouldn’t have been so stupid as to be solely responsible. Any idiot, even an egotistical one, who works in a university any length of time knows how to play the CYA game. And we know that Paterno briefed Curley.
This morning, a friend posted a simple question on Facebook: “Should the statue of Joe Paterno at Beaver Stadium come down?” I was flabbergasted by some of the affirmative responses. Several investigations are pending, Paterno has heretofore not been charged with anything or flat out blamed by anyone in a position to have pointed the finger, and it is likely that the culpable negligence will be spread across several high ranking Penn State officials; however, these loudmouthed cowards of the Internet have to “share” their opinions with anyone who will listen, as if they personally knew what went on at Penn State. Some of them have undoubtedly never even visited the campus. Who knows what is the reason for their schadenfreude, but it is always defended from the highest peak of moral rectitude: the chillllllllllldren.
In the immortal words of Joseph V. Paterno uttered frequently at his press conferences, “You guys don’t know what you’re talking about!”
Here are some of the dumbass comments:
“Absolutely
2 national championships
Most div 1 wins
All 4 majors bowls
Many kid molested
They are all Jopa’s legacy”
Don’t forget $5 million donated to the university and countless underprivileged kids helped to become first class citizens at the behest of Joe and Sue.
“his statue should come down….give him a plaque in the shower room! for anyone to consider football more important than a child is just rediculous to me! ooo gosh I have STRONG opinions about this!”
I hope your body odor is not as strong as your opinions, but remember, opinions are like assholes: we all have to have one and they all stink. You not only want to chastise us for “[considering] football more important than a child”, as if we are condoning Sandusky’s actions if we dare suggest that Paterno’s statue should stay, but also you have to tell us that you have strong opinions, just in case we hadn’t noticed. In other words, “Congratulations, self! You’re so wonderful! You just saved all these children all by yourself!” What a winner!
“All u ‘We Are’ people are turning a blind eye to ur black eye. Paterno was psu for 50 years. The buck stopped there. The jer had access to school facilities for years after his ‘retirement’. If ur [son] was a victim ‘you’d want the lion’ to rip joepa from limb to limb.
So, you’ve taken up the cause as the victims’ surrogate parent? No Penn State homey in his or her right mind is turning a blind eye. We’re all embarrassed about Sandusky and those who were responsible for enabling his activities. We’re all sorry that all of this happened. We have shed tears for the victims and for Dear Old State. However, we’re not rushing to judgment about Paterno being the one and only responsible party and we refuse to join the hysterical lynch mob that wishes conduct a pre-emptive Depaternoization campaign (c.f. Khruschev, Nikita, Destalinization for Fun and Profit, (Moscow: CCCP Publications, 1956)).
“After they tear down the statue, they can give Mrs. Paterno Joe’s millions that he donated to the school.”
Joe and Sue donated that money together, willingly. What does your stupid suggestion imply? That they bought off university officials to ensure that they were sycophants to Joe and would cover for him? Surely, Joe wielded loads of influence with the administration and the BoT because of his billion dollar external fund raising for the University, which dwarfed the several million he and Sue donated unbegrudgingly and with no strings. You forgot to demand that Paterno’s name be taken off the library, too. That’s probably because you had no idea that his name was on the library, and for that matter, you wouldn’t know Rec Hall from Galen Hall.
“they can send his money to the children who were intentionally abused for the sake of FOOTBALL and the Paterno reputation!”
Another moronic suggestion. This is about as likely to occur as Santa Claus coming in July. Listen here, dumbass, none of us want to see children molested! Some of us are football fans. The two notions can mix. Are you saying that every football coach, player, and fan has blood on his or her hands?
These hysterical and self-serving comments are typical of a segment of the population in this country today. They want things to happen right away, fair or unfair. That’s how we elect presidents who promise “change” and deliver nothing. People want instant gratification. They want their scapegoat. What happens when they get what they want? Well, the fun for them is over, so they go after the next guy, fair or unfair. Nothing but hypocrisy.
With Sandusky put away, Paterno is the next target. If Paterno’s memory is suitably besmirched for these yokels, then maybe they’ll go after Spanier. But they never will be satisfied until they play the blame game all the way to the destruction of the institution itself. That’s the way the small minds work.
The institution has suffered enough destruction and will be dragged through the mud while pending investigations and present and future criminal and civil cases are tried and adjudicated. We should all be working toward rebuilding its reputation and restoring its rich tradition. Instead, the schadenfreude brigade will not be satisfied until the University is penalized by the NCAA and the Federal Government, while being sued into bankruptcy by the families of the victims.
I was watching Twitter while waiting for the Sandusky verdict Friday night. Twitterites were impatiently tweeting crap like, “What’s taking so long? He’s guilty. This should be a slam-dunk for any jury.” First of all, anyone who writes garbage like that probably has never sat on a jury of any consequence, if they’ve even sat on a jury at all. Beyond that, this type of mob psychology is nothing short of lynch mob mentality. Most of us believed that Sandusky was guilty, but damn few of us were content to let the justice system run its course. I am pleased with the outcome, but unhappy that a dangerous mob element exists in our society. If the trial were in Chicago or Atlanta instead of Bellefonte, it might have become violent.
I want people to reel themselves in and be sane again. Sure, we’ve all suffered wounds because of the perverted actions of the deranged tickle monster; we “We Are Penn State” alums and associates have suffered greater wounds than the rest (or is this partially OUR fault, too?). Think! Think long and hard about how petty and vindictive you are to call for taking Paterno’s statue down before the completion of any of the pending investigations. Let Joe rest in peace for a while, let his family have a quiet moment, and wait until you know what the hell actually happened before you blow wind straight out your ass!
We Are — Still and Forever!
