Penn State Goings-On

[Grey Fox]

Not everyone feels empathy at every moment of their life. Especially when they are not parents themselves.

Who's you hero Meri? Would you be able to destroy their life if you knew something very wrong about them?

[Valmy]

It's a crime that they can't punish.  All they're doing is doing some freebie investigation work for somebodies 'me too' multi-million dollar lawsuit.

Why can't they punish it?  Besides how many man hours are they really devoting to this?  I am pretty sure they just have some guy reading up on it and writing a report.  They are not putting a task force on it or anything.  The reporting of it is probably more evidence of the hysteria than the actions of SAPD.

[Valmy]

So easy. And I wasn't even aiming at Val. 

Liar!  You posted right after me.  This was a Valmy condemning post admit it!

[Barrister]

But he did do something - he told Paterno (who as everyone mentioned, was like a God on that campus).  Then he told school administrators.

But then as days, then weeks, go by, he realizes that nothing is happening.  The university (which he works for) is doing nothing.  And McQ isn't some kid, but he's still pretty low on the totem poll.  It takes a lot of guts to go over the heads of your bosses and report this incident to police independently (when by law it was administrators who had that responsibility).

No, it takes a lot of humanity. It takes thinking of how many other kids could be going through what that boy - that he saw - went through. I'm sorry, but I have little sympathy for him. I hope he feels badly. I hope he feels immense guilt. He deserves to.

It's really bizarre - you've posted far more vitriol directed at McQ than at Sandusky.

[merithyn]

Who's you hero Meri? Would you be able to destroy their life if you knew something very wrong about them?

Would that person continue to be my hero after I witnessed them doing what McQueary saw? Not only wouldn't he, but it would be damn hard not to confront him personally before I called the police.

Nine years. He had nine years to go to the police and say, "I saw this." He chose not to because it was easier not to. Easier for him, easier for Penn State. Sandusky is the real monster, but McQueary isn't far behind because he knew - saw it with his own eyes - and did nothing.

[merithyn]

It's really bizarre - you've posted far more vitriol directed at McQ than at Sandusky.

Sandusky is known to be a monster. No one questions that. No one says, "Well, you know, he did what he thought was the right thing." No one is apologizing for Sandusky, because no one doubts for a moment that that... thing.. is not worth the breath to do so. But McQueary... for some reason he gets a pass, and that I just can't fathom.

Do you forgive the mother when the father is doing this to his kids and she does nothing? Do you find reasons why it's okay for her to keep quiet? Or do you put nearly as much blame on her for not stopping it, not saying something, not doing anything to protect her kids?

[Neil]

Sandusky did the right thing.  He had a dream, and he made it come true.

[Barrister]

Do you forgive the mother when the father is doing this to his kids and she does nothing? Do you find reasons why it's okay for her to keep quiet? Or do you put nearly as much blame on her for not stopping it, not saying something, not doing anything to protect her kids?

You perhaps forget that I do a great deal of work in prosecuting domestic violence.

I completely understand why the mother says nothing, and don't spend much time 'blaming' her.  There are plenty of understandable reasons why mom would keep quiet.  To report it would immediately tear apart her family.  It would bring enormous police and social services scrutiny.  It may well bring extreme poverty as they suddenly lose the main breadwinner in the home.  She may well believe she can get him to stop on her own.  She may have her own faults or personal demons that she is afraid will come out.  She is probably scared of personal violence at herself if she goes to authorities.

I want to encourage people to come forward.  When they do come forward 'blaming' them for not doing more to stop it seems entirely counter-productive.

[Barrister]

Sandusky did the right thing.  He had a dream, and he made it come true.

[DontSayBanana]

Sandusky did the right thing.  He had a dream, and he made it come true.

*golfclap* Well trolled, sirrah.

[The Minsky Moment]

It takes a lot of guts to go over the heads of your bosses and report this incident to police independently (when by law it was administrators who had that responsibility).

Especially when the police are either formally or informally answerable to those same administrators.

State College, PA, as the same suggests, is basically a modern-day Company Town.

[merithyn]

You perhaps forget that I do a great deal of work in prosecuting domestic violence.

I completely understand why the mother says nothing, and don't spend much time 'blaming' her.  There are plenty of understandable reasons why mom would keep quiet.  To report it would immediately tear apart her family.  It would bring enormous police and social services scrutiny.  It may well bring extreme poverty as they suddenly lose the main breadwinner in the home.  She may well believe she can get him to stop on her own.  She may have her own faults or personal demons that she is afraid will come out.  She is probably scared of personal violence at herself if she goes to authorities.

I want to encourage people to come forward.  When they do come forward 'blaming' them for not doing more to stop it seems entirely counter-productive.

McQueary had none of those to worry about, and still you stand ready to say, "Well, you know, he did what he thought was right." Sorry, no. Not okay, to my mind. He had a responsibility to those kids that he completely blew off. Sure, he felt guilty. BFD. He should feel guilty. He should feel ridiculously guilty.

[Neil]

Sandusky did the right thing.  He had a dream, and he made it come true.

*golfclap* Well trolled, sirrah.

I couldn't help it.  She said that nobody said that he thought that he was doing the right thing, so I decided to fill that gap.  That's how the free market works.

[Barrister]

You perhaps forget that I do a great deal of work in prosecuting domestic violence.

I completely understand why the mother says nothing, and don't spend much time 'blaming' her.  There are plenty of understandable reasons why mom would keep quiet.  To report it would immediately tear apart her family.  It would bring enormous police and social services scrutiny.  It may well bring extreme poverty as they suddenly lose the main breadwinner in the home.  She may well believe she can get him to stop on her own.  She may have her own faults or personal demons that she is afraid will come out.  She is probably scared of personal violence at herself if she goes to authorities.

I want to encourage people to come forward.  When they do come forward 'blaming' them for not doing more to stop it seems entirely counter-productive.

McQueary had none of those to worry about, and still you stand ready to say, "Well, you know, he did what he thought was right." Sorry, no. Not okay, to my mind. He had a responsibility to those kids that he completely blew off. Sure, he felt guilty. BFD. He should feel guilty. He should feel ridiculously guilty.

No, buthe had a completely different set of worries.  Just speculating here, but he was probably worried that by going over his bosses heads he'd not be hired back, that he'd be blackballed and never get another job in college football, and that for all of that he wouldn't be believed and nothing would happen to Sandusky anyways.  All pretty rational concerns.

I'm not saying it was right.  I'm saying it was understandable, and I wouldn't be so quick to judge if you haven't been put in a similar position yourself.

And I'm also saying that as a matter of sheer pragmatism I will applaud anyone who comes forward about these kinds of offences, no matter when they do it.  Because talking about sexual abuse is hard.

[Ideologue]

It takes a lot of guts to go over the heads of your bosses and report this incident to police independently (when by law it was administrators who had that responsibility).

Especially when the police are either formally or informally answerable to those same administrators.

State College, PA, as the same suggests, is basically a modern-day Company Town.

St. Peter doesn't call because they can't go.