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Penn State Goings-On

Started by jimmy olsen, November 06, 2011, 07:55:02 PM

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The Brain

I've developed a callus btw. :blush:
Women want me. Men want to be with me.

Neil

Quote from: merithyn on November 18, 2011, 02:03:42 PM
Quote from: Barrister on November 18, 2011, 01:57:19 PM
And to excuse the child rapist, but blame the witness just causes me to shake my head.
Let me be clear: I am not excusing the child rapist. As I've stated, he is beyond comtempt and should be anally raped every day for the rest of his life.
I think you're overstating matters a bit.  I mean, he did something bad, but it's not like he killed anybody.
I do not hate you, nor do I love you, but you are made out of atoms which I can use for something else.

Barrister

Quote from: merithyn on November 18, 2011, 03:24:15 PM
Quote from: Barrister on November 18, 2011, 03:01:37 PM
Funny - I think Sandusky should be jailed for the rest of his life.  I don't know why you'd make the leap to him being raped.  :mellow:

Eye for an eye and all that.

Quote
And maybe I'm okay with 'doing nothing' because I see it all the time.  It is the exceptional person who speaks out in such circumstances, not the ordinary.  Very few people talk about domestic violence, drug abuse, sexual abuse, petty thefts, wyou name it - when it is conducted by someone you know or are related to.

I'm glad that that is a callous I have not developed because I would be afraid that it would make it easier for me to walk away, something I cannot do easily.

"an eye for an eye" is not something we practice in the West though. :mellow:

How is that being callous on my part?  I'm just telling you whatI've experienced through 7 1/2 years of prosecuting.
Posts here are my own private opinions.  I do not speak for my employer.

alfred russel

Quote from: Barrister on November 18, 2011, 01:57:19 PM

And to excuse the child rapist, but blame the witness just causes me to shake my head.

I'm not excusing the child rapist in any way shape or form. I think Malthus said it best. I think I can see where McQuery is coming from, and I find his actions deplorable. Obviously child rape is deplorable, but I find it much harder to understand Sandusky's actions.

Assuming of course all the allegations are true, and McQuery never went to the cops.
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.

There's a fine line between salvation and drinking poison in the jungle.

I'm embarrassed. I've been making the mistake of associating with you. It won't happen again. :)
-garbon, February 23, 2014

garbon

Quote from: Capetan Mihali on November 18, 2011, 02:57:08 PM
What about the possibility that he simply decided to stop snitchin'?   :huh:

I don't see how that has any relevance.
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

grumbler

Quote from: Neil on November 18, 2011, 12:42:28 PM
Quote from: merithyn on November 18, 2011, 12:39:12 PM
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.
That's not humanity.  That's maudlin.
Meri is a moron and I hope we hear of her suicide very soon now.
The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain.   -G'Kar

Bayraktar!

Jacob

Quote from: merithyn on November 18, 2011, 03:24:15 PMI'm glad that that is a callous I have not developed because I would be afraid that it would make it easier for me to walk away, something I cannot do easily.

I'm curious, what's the most high-stakes situation where you've done the morally correct thing in the face of power structures and authority figures saying it's alright not to?

Razgovory

Quote from: grumbler on November 18, 2011, 03:35:05 PM
Quote from: Neil on November 18, 2011, 12:42:28 PM
Quote from: merithyn on November 18, 2011, 12:39:12 PM
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.
That's not humanity.  That's maudlin.
Meri is a moron and I hope we hear of her suicide very soon now.

Uh, okay. :huh:
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

grumbler

Quote from: alfred russel on November 18, 2011, 01:55:11 PM
I agree with Meri on this. Sandusky I can at least rationalize as someone who has something wrong in his head. Assuming he didn't call the cops, McQuery seems to have acted either with extreme cowardice or indifference to abuse he knew was occuring.

You didn't report it either, and I know you knew about it.








Not really, but I can as easily make up facts as you can.

McQueary did something.  He reported the incident to the people he believed he should (and was advised to) report to.

Now, it is easy and cheap for people to claim that he should have known that nothing was happening and gone to the police, but that, as far as I can see, is just a rationalization made by people who want to hate, and are too cowardly to reject the temptation to hate.  In fact, McQueary didn't know that the abuse was continuing, didn't know that the investigation of Sandusky was scuttled, and didn't know that no real cops knew about what he had reported to a guy in charge of the cops.

In a perfect world, McQueary would have set some deadline for the arrest of Sandusky, after which he would have gone to some different police and tried again to get someone to investigate what he saw.  In that perfect world, though Sandusky wouldn't have existed, so the point is moot.
The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain.   -G'Kar

Bayraktar!

garbon

Quote from: grumbler on November 18, 2011, 03:46:45 PM
Quote from: alfred russel on November 18, 2011, 01:55:11 PM
I agree with Meri on this. Sandusky I can at least rationalize as someone who has something wrong in his head. Assuming he didn't call the cops, McQuery seems to have acted either with extreme cowardice or indifference to abuse he knew was occuring.

You didn't report it either, and I know you knew about it.








Not really, but I can as easily make up facts as you can.

McQueary did something.  He reported the incident to the people he believed he should (and was advised to) report to.

Now, it is easy and cheap for people to claim that he should have known that nothing was happening and gone to the police, but that, as far as I can see, is just a rationalization made by people who want to hate, and are too cowardly to reject the temptation to hate.  In fact, McQueary didn't know that the abuse was continuing, didn't know that the investigation of Sandusky was scuttled, and didn't know that no real cops knew about what he had reported to a guy in charge of the cops.

In a perfect world, McQueary would have set some deadline for the arrest of Sandusky, after which he would have gone to some different police and tried again to get someone to investigate what he saw.  In that perfect world, though Sandusky wouldn't have existed, so the point is moot.

:huh:

Wouldn't he know nothing (of any note) had happened as Sandusky wasn't put away and kept being seen on campus?
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

The Minsky Moment

Quote from: Malthus on November 18, 2011, 02:07:43 PM
McQ's best defense is that he thought his bosses would do the investigating and reporting ... but at some point he had to be aware that the only action they took was to take away his shower key, and "report" to the charity (who in turn did nothing).

Sure it is understandable why he didn't report - presumably he didn't want to rock the boat because it could cost him his job or even get him blacklisted. Anyone can understand that, but to understand is not to condone. It isn't very admirable to allow a rapist to walk free to rape again just because you are worried about your career prospects.

It may be more than that though.  He may have concluded with some good reason that further action would be futile and only place himself in danger, including danger more serious than a mere firing.  Keep in mind that he has received death threats for his role in providing evidence against Sandusky.
The purpose of studying economics is not to acquire a set of ready-made answers to economic questions, but to learn how to avoid being deceived by economists.
--Joan Robinson

Malthus

Quote from: The Minsky Moment on November 18, 2011, 04:07:21 PM
Quote from: Malthus on November 18, 2011, 02:07:43 PM
McQ's best defense is that he thought his bosses would do the investigating and reporting ... but at some point he had to be aware that the only action they took was to take away his shower key, and "report" to the charity (who in turn did nothing).

Sure it is understandable why he didn't report - presumably he didn't want to rock the boat because it could cost him his job or even get him blacklisted. Anyone can understand that, but to understand is not to condone. It isn't very admirable to allow a rapist to walk free to rape again just because you are worried about your career prospects.

It may be more than that though.  He may have concluded with some good reason that further action would be futile and only place himself in danger, including danger more serious than a mere firing.  Keep in mind that he has received death threats for his role in providing evidence against Sandusky.

I dunno, is he getting death threats for 'squealing' on Sandusky - or, as here in this thread, for allegedly helping to 'keep it in the coaching family' until the grand jury?

The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane—Marcus Aurelius

Jacob

Quote from: Malthus on November 18, 2011, 04:14:34 PMI dunno, is he getting death threats for 'squealing' on Sandusky - or, as here in this thread, for allegedly helping to 'keep it in the coaching family' until the grand jury?

Or both?

merithyn

Quote from: Jacob on November 18, 2011, 03:38:36 PM
I'm curious, what's the most high-stakes situation where you've done the morally correct thing in the face of power structures and authority figures saying it's alright not to?

I have called the police on a friend for abusing her son and daughter, for neglect, and for being a drug addict. I didn't risk losing my job, but I did risk losing a friend and all those who felt that I was wrong to interfere. I knew that her son would be put back into the system, something he deplored as he'd been there before, but it was the best option under the circumstances.

When the smoke cleared, my friend thanked me, the boy was angry with me, and everyone else melted into the woodwork. I don't feel proud for having done this; it still saddens me that it had to be done. But it did have to be done and no one else was doing it.
Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn't there
He wasn't there again today
I wish, I wish he'd go away...

Malthus

Quote from: Jacob on November 18, 2011, 04:17:26 PM
Quote from: Malthus on November 18, 2011, 04:14:34 PMI dunno, is he getting death threats for 'squealing' on Sandusky - or, as here in this thread, for allegedly helping to 'keep it in the coaching family' until the grand jury?

Or both?

Well, then there's a fine calculation in cowardice. Which will get him the most trouble in the form of hatred and abuse - reporting, or not reporting?
The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane—Marcus Aurelius