Let me put my biases up front: I’m a Big 10 girl…Michigan fan…went to graduate school in Indiana (so I know and am friends with lots of IU and Purdue people)…and have friends who are Illini and Ohio State people. So all of the attention on Penn St. has gotten my attention.
More biases….I have worked in an emergency shelter for tween-and-teen girls and a child-care center with 3-and-4-year-olds. So I try to always be on alert to signs of abuse.
Final bias…I have been involved in a college campus rape case. (No…I was not raped)
However…the uproar and firing of Joe Paterno is, in my opinion, nothing but self-righteous hypocrisy and misplaced anger.
The investigators have said that Mr. Paterno has been fully cooperative and was not…I repeat NOT…a target of prosecution. At some point we have to look at the facts as they are. The fact is…the grad assistant should have called Penn St. campus police who would have been REQUIRED to call State College, PA police because one of the people involved was under 18. That’s the fact.
But what’s really bothering me is all the self-righteous hypocrisy. As if many, if not most, of us haven’t seen something wrong happening and done nothing. (otherwise all those bullied children are telling tales) And let’s remember that Mr. Paterno didn’t SEE anything; the grad assistant came to him and told. He, in turn, told the person who he was/is supposed to tell–the Athletic Director (who has the power to investigate).
But let’s not forget that all of this could have been stopped had the grad assistant made an anonymous phone call to campus police.
So…be disappointed in Joe Paterno if you feel that’s necessary. But to be angry with him I believe is self-righteous hypocrisy to the n-th degree.
East Of Midnight 