Why Abuse Gets Covered Up: Penn State & The Dangers of Being Starstruck

Posted on November 10, 2011 by elizabeth

Some Penn State students are wrongly protesting the firing of their beloved, “legendary” football coach–a man who covered up pedophilia for years. It’s always difficult for us to believe that someone we love and admire is capable of gross negligence and massive moral failure.

But we must realize that legendary men are not made by football wins. Legendary men are made by their willingness to defend the defenseless.

Joe Paterno could have done the right thing years ago. As one of the most powerful men on that college campus, he could have easily and swiftly brought justice to bear upon the egregious rapist in his midst. Instead, he chose to look the other way–engaging in the equally devastating complicity of silence.

This is why Paterno deserves no pity.

Penn State students do well to remember that celebrity status, extraordinary accomplishments and all the accolades in the world cannot make up for massive moral failure–especially as it concerns the welfare of helpless children.

We ALL do well to remember that.

This entry was posted in Current Affairs. Bookmark the permalink.
  • biglsusportsfan

    Its unpopular to say and of course to say what I am about too get me accused of not caring for victims but I think its too early to make some determinations of what Paterno knew and did not know based on a Grand Jury Testimony that had no benefit of corss examination.

    I know that might sound cold and legal but in the real world one finds that the Grand Jury report is not the Final Gospel.

  • http://www.likeawarmcupofcoffee.com Sarah Mae

    Amen.

    Penn State is my alma mater…it’s all so so sad, and so so sick.

  • http://onceuponatruth.wordpress.com/ Brenda

    “The complicity of silence.” When will we ever get this right? It’s a heartbreaking story on so many levels and I agree, it sure looks like Joe Paterno missed an opportunity to do what’s right. 

  • Anonymous

    If this is true, then why did Paterno himself say that he didn’t DO enough with what he DID know?

    Clearly, he knew something.

    The moral failing is what he did NOT do with what he knew.

    In other words, he failed to do that which he should have done.

  • Anonymous

    Thank you for this comment. I think it’s important to Penn State students and alumni to speak up. Thank you. xo.

  • Anonymous

    It’s complicated, isn’t it? There are so many reasons why we remain silent in the face of evil: fear of rejection, not wanting to lose a relationship, not wanting to rock the boat, if we have too much to lose by speaking up, if we’re so invested in the situation that we can’t see it clearly…..still, for the sake of children, we MUST do the right thing. Thank you, Brenda.

  • biglsusportsfan

    I think in many cases like this WE FORGET the generally true deceiving  nature of the pedophile. I have done some work with these folks and they are dangerous because they are the most charming and can literally convince you the sky is green and the grass is purple.

    Get Religion gets into that with this excellent article today

    http://www.getreligion.org/2011/11/false-idols-at-penn-state-and-elsewhere/

    What Joe Paterno said was in hindsight he would do things differently. That could mean a variety of things including oh my goodness how could I have not seen that. Again see the article.

    The problem is and continues to be is we put this situation in preconceived memes. The current one wanting to protect the program at all cost, lack of courage , etc. EXCEPT as we have seen , or for those that examine many of the cases, like life it a lot more complicated. That might be the case here. Or it might not.

    As I was explaining to a reporter this morning a good part of this outrage could and should be directed at asking State Universities , which have thousands upon thousands  of kids coming to numerous summer camps ,what their child protection policies are. It is all well and good for Coaches to say “well children” come first. But do they have the safe guard systems to make sure that would happen even against their best intentions.

    I guess what I am saying is that jumping to put everyone assoicated with this in neat little boxes before we have an more orderly examination of what happened is likely to produce more victims not less.

    Again I have no investment in Penn State or Joe Paterno. But I am concerned that AGAIN loud crys of outrage and demanding a resolution of this in 72 hour news cycle is going to give bad results on many levels.

    Maybe I am wrong but that is how I have seen this play out before.

  • http://profiles.google.com/louisemcampbell Louise Campbell

    Thank you for writing this, Elizabeth. I live in State College (my husband is a grad student at PSU) and have read countless opinions over the last few days on the scandal.  This one really hits the nail on the head!

  • Anonymous

    Such and important point about the masterful deceptive practices of pedophiles. Thank you for pointing that out. I appreciate your perspective and agree that the long-term solutions will not be hashed out in a 72 hour news cycle—but exposure and awareness are also important. Let’s hope advocacy of victim’s rights is not lost in the process. Thanks for your input.

  • http://twitter.com/psychologysarah psychologysarah

    My whole life was changed because people were complicit surrounding the issue in my own life. In my own case, it was because others did not want to “rock the boat”, or get involved, or perhaps because  it was even occurring in an upper middle class Bible Mecca of a community. I suffered for close to twenty years because no one was strong enough to stand up and say something is very wrong here. Silence and not wanting to “rock the boat” is like gasoline on that fire. 

    In regards to the students themselves, with the rioting and the overturning satellite news vans, do they know what they are really representing and protesting?  How about the cover up of pedophilia?  Where is the rioting in the streets over the horrible pain and violence done to a 10 year old boy?  I want to riot in the streets over that!

    Thank you, Elizabeth, for providing this space to share. 

  • KatR

    I’m betting he knew enough to keep his grandkids away from Sandusky.

  • http://imagineangie.blogspot.com Angela

    Sheesh, Elizabeth! There are so many nuggets in your comment above it seems like a post within itself.

  • http://imagineangie.blogspot.com Angela

    Sheesh, Elizabeth! There are so many nuggets in your comment above it seems like a post within itself.

  • Anonymous

    i actually thought that myself when i finished writing it. i was like: dude! I just did pre-writing for a new post!

  • Anonymous

    Once again, you said it so well. Including the comments. This is a conversation that must happen over and over. No, it isn’t all black and white but there is an ultimate truth here and we are all in danger of being relativists at times in the face of an ultimate but personally painful truth. Talking to each other helps us build the ability to be courageous. Counting on being part of a bigger whole will support us in being courageous. Talking together will help us see clearly the real ultimate truths that the world and ourselves throw a cover over to hide ugliness.

  • Julie

    Thank you for putting words to my thoughts.  Silence is SO much of the reason these heinous acts continue.  How could they sleep at night knowing the rapist still had freedom to attack more helpless children?  I will never understand this kind of thinking.  The loss of any job pales in comparison to the loss of a boy’s innocence and the pain which those boys will live with all of their days. 

  • http://openmindsandopenhearts.blogspot.com Amy

    I agree with you so much here. I wrote on that very subject today and how our priorities are all messed up when football is chosen over the life of a child. I have a friend whose daughter was recently victimized and feel so bad for her and the future this little girl is going to have.

  • http://openmindsandopenhearts.blogspot.com Amy

    I agree with you so much here. I wrote on that very subject today and how our priorities are all messed up when football is chosen over the life of a child. I have a friend whose daughter was recently victimized and feel so bad for her and the future this little girl is going to have.

  • Nancy

    The thing that’s very sickening to me is how many victims a pedophile often has before he or she is caught.  We may know about a handful in this situation, but if he was so bold as to sodomize a child in a locker room shower, you can bet he’d had many victims previously to escalate to that level of brazenness.  I am afraid to find out how many more children have been violated, in part because no one stopped him in 2002. 

  • Naomi’s mom

    We were just talking this morning about how this could be your next platform.  We/you certainly could put forward the cause against sexual abuse of the vulnerable.  There is such imbalance of power and cover up of power in these situations.  It makes me ill to think of it.

  • http://www.downtoearthwomen.blogspot.com Tracey

    In the very least, at least JoePa acts like he has some regret. At least he has said he wished he had done more. At least, at least. 

    Even Chuck Phelps won’t go that far. 

  • Claire

    So true.  I understand that most of the protestors are college-age students who might not have the maturity to see the big picture, but their outrage should be channelled toward the abuse taht these victims have suffered.

  • Maggie

    All those things are very true.  When a victim is no longer a shamed child and does speaks up they do get rejected, they do rock the boat, and they lose a lot because some people just do not want to believe that evil does actually exist within their ranks.  They would much rather think it was surely a one time incident or wasn’t that bad or…(fil in the blank).  Because after all the person is very sorry and can’t we all do the “Christian” thing and forgive so we can all sit at the same table eating turkey together?

  • joy

    I think the cover-up is also related to the general culture of ignoring or hushing up sexual assault, especially at universities, and even more especially at universities with major sports programs.  This is not just about pedophilia–it’s about sexual abuse and assault generally, and about the unwillingness or sheer disinterestedness of people in power (usually men) to do anything about it.

  • Rachel

    Something no one has touched on here is money. A good sport
    program, and football in particular will make large amounts of money for the
    school. In the case of a legendary program like Penn State, it makes millions.
    The football program also makes lucrative careers for a good coach. There is a
    heady combination of influence and money for a winning coach. To have a sex
    abuse scandal in any way associated with a program (even if it does
    self-report) carries with it the potential for a loss in revenue from alum
    contributions, booster contributions, corporate sponsorship (notice that there
    are Nike and Addias schools).

    Given my personal experience with the world of youth sports
    and the unethical things that I see coaches do in that world to have a winning
    and desirable program, I am shocked but not surprised by the accusations
    against Paterno.

    I think this is a clear case of follow the money. Paterno
    didn’t want a stain on his impressive career. He had told Sandusky that
    Sandusky wouldn’t receive the top coaching position in 1999 after a 1998 police
    investigation into allegations of child molestation against Sandusky. Sandusky
    retired as assistant coach almost immediately afterwards to “commit more time
    to his charity for at-risk kids”. Sandusky continues to teach at Penn State,
    bringing kids to games there. I find that a telling turn of events.

    I think the actions of the graduate assistant speak volumes
    to the culture at Penn State. In 2002 at 28 years old, the former quarterback
    (big guy) walks in (according to his own testimony) to the locker room to find the
    accused in the act of sex with a boy he thought was 10 years old. Not
    inappropriate touching, not just showering together, actual sex and McQueary’s
    (Graduate Assistant) response was to walk out and call his dad. His father
    tells him he needs to go to police… no his father tells him to go to Paterno. He
    waits until the next day to go to Paterno. Afterwards, the graduate assistant,
    whose name is McQueary, continues to associate with the man he saw having sex
    with a child. He plays in golf tournaments to support the charity of the man he
    saw having sex with a child and plays in a football bowl game where the accused
    was a coach. The only thing I can imagine is the McQueary saw his career path
    being impacted if he upset the apple cart. By the way, McQueary is now the wide
    receiver coach at Penn State.

    Again, there was something very wrong in the culture of the
    football program at Penn State. Unfortunately, I don’t think it is an unusual
    culture.