Let me give you my opinions right up front:
> I think the Penn State football program should be shut down for a number of years (which will never happen.)
> I think all the current football players should be released from their obligations to Penn State and be allowed to transfer schools while keeping all their eligibility.
>I think they should be allowed to play next year at their new schools (usually transfers must wait a year before playing for a new school.)
>I think they should finish the season.
There, I said it.
The whole story is horrible and I imagine more secrets will continued to be buried than will be revealed. However, those secrets that are revealed will be even more sickening than we have already heard.
I am interested in people’s reaction, particularly pertaining to this football season.
There was an outcry from some calling for the Nebraska game and ultimately, the entire season to be cancelled.
There was an equally fervent cry to keep the season going, even after (or especially after) Paterno was relieved of his duties.
I listened to Laura Ingram, a conservative commentator (commentator? Hmmmm…someone who “makes comments.” Like me in the back of 10th grade Geometry with John Capitani…except she gets paid and I got detention.) She was shrill in her rage against Penn State University declaring the season must end. When a caller stated he felt some consideration must be given to the current students on the team she exploded in an even more-shrill retort, “I don’t care! No one considered the victims! They must cancel the season!”
She has a point.
I started thinking about the current players.
The initial reported contact with a victim was 1994, when the current Freshman class was 1 year old. The first reported incident of abuse was in 1998, when the current Freshman class was 5-years old. (Now, a predator like Sandusky doesn’t suddenly start abusing boys at age 60. He’s been doing it a long time and has honed his technique.)
No one is alleging any current players had anything to do with the abuse, but two polarized camps have emerged: Those who lump the entire program in with Sandusky and those who completely excuse the program, the players, and even Joe Paterno from Sandusky. Obviously, both are misguided and charged with emotional thinking.
Because one man did many evil things and because a small (or not so small) group of leaders either:
a.) used poor judgment,
b.) looked the other way
c.) enabled and covered it up
The program should be immediately plowed under regardless of how it affects others.
Or
The program should be propped-up regardless of how it affects others.
(Finally, here’s my epiphany)
It’s very similar to the Iraq war or the Libyan Conflict. Here me out.
In Iraq and Libya, there was a central “villain” to target, Moammar Gadhafi, and Saddam Hussein. By all accounts, these evil leaders had small inner-circles who carried out their agendas, yet we all hated the Iraqi’s, and we bombed the crap out of them…all of them.
At the same time in Europe and the USA, there were those that said, “Leave them alone. The civilians didn’t do anything.”
In the past 10 years the US military has “minimized” the “collateral” of “civilian” casualties through more targeted attacks (103,000-113,000 Iraqi casualties in 10 years compared to nearly 10,000,000 Germans in 5 years)
To some the numbers are so horrific; no amount of justifying will suffice. Others look at the numbers and conclude we’re showing mercy or, “Well, that’s what you get when you Mess with Texas.”
(Make your point Chris)
The bottom line is that the action or inaction of leaders has tremendous implications and fall-out of all the people under them. There is a ripple effect that passes through dozens, hundreds, even millions of people.
The evil deeds of one man, the inaction of another, and the cover-up of a select few has ruined the lives of dozens, possibly shutdown a university, and harmed untold hundreds, even thousands more.
O my people, plundered by your rulers, enslaved by your creditors! O my people, your leaders deceive you and lead you astray. (Isaiah3:12)
and it’s not just at that University either.
chris
To learn more about the deaths in Iraq: http://www.iraqbodycount.org/
To read a timeline of events in the Penn State Abuse Case: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/penn-state-scandal-timeline-sex-abuse-scandal-rocked-happy-valley-article-1.976843
The legal system will have to sort this out. I fault Paterno for not following up on his initial action with more fervent action, but he did act. I fault the University for doing the same - after their 1998 investigation they and the now missing/presumed dead DA failed to press charges, or do anything to stop further abuse. I find it hard to fault the student athletes, and am OK with your option for them to be allowed to transfer without penalty (which is not unprecedented). This is a horrible, tragic, high-profile story, but no matter what they do it will do little to protect the thousands of children being victimized in homes across the country. The one good thing is having light shone on this issue may save a few potential victims from years of anguish. Question - what penalty is justified if the allegations result in multiple guilty verdicts?
ReplyDeleteI have a background in corrections and have worked with serial sex-offenders in the past. (I've lived a colorful life) What I predict will happen is that the DA will cut a deal with the defense limiting the number of "provable" cases to a few and Sandusky will plead to those. The rest will not be pursued criminally and he'll get a load of time. Then all the victims will pool together in a class-action civil lawsuit against the university and the university will pay out millions. However, the Sandusky's defense lawyer may be an idiot after watching what he let his client do Monday night in that interview with Bob Costas. Stupid.
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