Well, last night, we got to see the Drunk Frat Boy Vote* exercised somewhat differently--rioting to protest the firing of a football coach who did the bare minimum when he heard about molestation. I am pretty sure the rioters were not protesting the firing of the university's president.
* As the article makes clear, there were young women doing stupid things as well.
Ok, Paterno did not do nothing. He did next to nothing. He informed his superior and then went about his business. He did not check to see if the allegations were followed up. He let his superiors cover up the situation. Paterno should have gone to the cops, perhaps not immediately but certainly after he saw that the folks at Penn State were letting a child molester benefit from the institution's fears of embarrassment.“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Edmund Burke
“But make no mistake, the board started this riot by firing our coach. They tarnished a legend.”NYTSorry, but Paterno and his "superiors" did the tarnishing. Had "Joe Pa" done the right thing in 2002 (and probably actually earlier than that), then he would have been a hero. Now, he is a bum.
And, yes, this entire event makes it clear how twisted priorities can become in the world of big college sports. Students end up identifying with their school and their coach, rather than the kids who had been abused.
1 comment:
It is unfortunate that the actions of a few are being used to characterize the entire Penn State student body. But not surprising. Generalization is much easier than objectivity and the Twitter-verse was ripe with ignorant statements about Penn State students as whole. Most students likely wandered outside simply to see what was happening because hey, riots are interesting.
The board of trustees made the right choice and they made it quickly. If he wants to save face and protect the university's rapidly declining reputation, Paterno would be wise to condemn last night's "drunk frat boy" violence...
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