Penn State AD charged with perjury -- *UPDATE 2* Sandusky Arrested Again

Re: Penn State AD charged with perjury -- *UPDATE* Paterno Fired

Competing loyalties.

Sandusky was in the program. He's the good guy.

His training isn't do prevent wrongdoing, it's to protect the program.

 

Re: Penn State AD charged with perjury -- *UPDATE* Paterno Fired

So he's not like a soldier?

 

Re: Penn State AD charged with perjury -- *UPDATE* Paterno Fired

You say "103 pages ... here."

That is the debate all over the world, on what Paterno and others did. We are not some different subsample of that, although I like to think we're better informed because we're a pretty obsessive group about reading the news.

 

Re: Penn State AD charged with perjury -- *UPDATE* Paterno Fired

This is the last I'm going to say on the topic of fantasizing about what we all would have done in that situation, then I'm going to take a break from the board for the weekend. This story has just sucked me in, an the back-and-forth has been tremendous. But I need to get away from it at this point and breathe again.

Anyway ...

I am pretty sure that if I now saw a man raping a child, I would try to do something about it. I'm a little guy - 5-9 and about a buck fifty, so I'm not sure how much good I'd do. But I would probably try, because I'm aware of the possible situation after all of this McQueary talk.

However, in the moment as he was, before this week, I'm not sure I would have done that. For one thing, I wouldn't want someone to get hurt when the situation escalated to violence, including me or the child. For another thing, I'm not sure I would process what I just saw. I think my first reaction would be some sort of denial - "I could not have seen what I just saw." I remember walking in San Francisco and seeing a couple nonchalantly having sex against a building in an alley. My friend and I took a few steps past before we were like, "Did I just see that?" And those were two consenting adults.

If that makes me an unworthy coward, so be it. I've been called worse. It is also possible that I would have jumped in and stopped him. I've broken up near-fights before. A lot. I've always played peacemaker in those situations. But I honestly don't know. I still think I'm a good person and a man of character.

 

Re: Penn State AD charged with perjury -- *UPDATE* Paterno Fired

Good on ya, tbf. People like you make this country great. Hope you have a great Veterans Day.

 

Re: Penn State AD charged with perjury -- *UPDATE* Paterno Fired

Exactly.

 

Re: Penn State AD charged with perjury -- *UPDATE* Paterno Fired

Actually, you just summed up this entire sordid, 15-year mess in a single sentence. From McQueary through Paterno and all the high-ranking administrators, every single person chose protecting the program over preventing wrongdoing. The pathology of such a thing is stunning, and I understand that is what DD was getting at initially. I also understand why the soldier comparisons were met with shock.

 

Re: Penn State AD charged with perjury -- *UPDATE* Paterno Fired

Short of death, the hurt that would be going on for the child in such a situation is worse than anything that would stem from an escalation to violence, as you call it.

 

Re: Penn State AD charged with perjury -- *UPDATE* Paterno Fired

It makes you honest. I believe you and Rick are the only ones who've admitted they probably wouldn't have transformed into Rambo hero mode and pounced on Sandusky, as most of us want to believe we would've, and I'll give both of you props for the honesty.

I believe I would've intervened, but I also know there's no way for anyone to know with certainly what they would've done unless they've actually been placed in the situation. There's a mountain of evidence out there showing that human beings tend to believe they'd react more instantaneously and heroically in these situations than they usually do. And there's no convincing them otherwise unless they've been there.

 

Re: Penn State AD charged with perjury -- *UPDATE* Paterno Fired

Some of the things being written by national columnists, people I've admired and respected for my entire life and not just career in journalism, are profoundly depressing and demoralizing.

This place, this thread, has helped me hold my faith in journalism.

 

Re: Penn State AD charged with perjury -- *UPDATE* Paterno Fired

Examples other than Litke, Posnanski and Forde?

 

Re: Penn State AD charged with perjury -- *UPDATE* Paterno Fired

Sally Jenkins was pretty pathetic.

Maybe I'm being dramatic? Mostly taking a breath and, as an aside, acknowledging how...important I feel that this thread, and the level of discourse, has been.