I note David’s post, Pervert State University with large chunks of agreement, particularly where he closes with…
Evidently, building character is not included in the curriculum at Pervert State.
True, but I’m not so sure we can aver that Penn State is anything unique, in this.
I note with some interest a similar post over at OTB:What Ever Happened To Courage?
One of the common questions I keep hearing people ask about the Penn State child rape scandal is how so many people could have stood by and done nothing for so long. Many of those comments center on the person of Mike McQueary, former star Quarterback for Penn State, professional football player for the NFL’s Oakland Raiders, and NFL Europe’s Scottish Claymores. How could this 28 year old man have witnessed an old man raping a ten year-old boy and, instead of trying to stop it, go back to his office and call his father? (All of this is in the Grand Jury Report [PDF])
Doug is quite correct in that courage seems have have been lacking in the person who walked in on that scene. But, think seriously, now… what conditions in society would have caused this lack of response? I suggest the fear of legal and social reprisals against the accuser is the largest of the motivations.
That fear is driven by the domino effect, as one moral bulwark after after falls to legal challenges. Don’t expect the morality to be upheld when morality suffers one defeat after another as they have for generations.
And don’t tell me that the lack of courage Doug correctly notes isn’t caused at least partly by the direction we’ve been traveling, morally, the last 40 years or so, as driven by the challanges to our morality in the courts has gone on apace.
Look at is this way; As has been pointed out elsewhere, the initial reponse 40 years back would have been to kick the moron’s ass.
After 40 years of moving away from that morality as driven by the claim of “rights” in our legal system , we now see what we get; legality has supplanted morality as our prime motivator… so why are we shocked when morality isn’t a motivator anymore?
Want a parallel? The Occupy Wall Street crowd.
If you think I’m kidding consider the morality of a group calling for the wholesale teft of goods and services as they’ve been doing? I mean, of course, aside from the morality issues we’ve been seeing in the actions of the protesters themselves during their protest .
I consider it part and parcel of the same moral deterioration.
Tags: apace, auto, aver, building character, bulwark, challanges, child rape, chunks, Claymores, domino effect, Draft, Europe, grand jury report, hearing, interest, isn, lack, legal challenges, mike mcqueary, morality, moron, motivations, nbsp, NFL, nfl europe, oakland raiders, OTB, person, pervert, player, professional football player, Quarterback, reponse, report pdf, reprisals, Scottish, scottish claymores, star quarterback, system, University, year
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November 12th, 2011 at 18:48
Mike McQueary while he may stumbled on to the rape as innocent, and sort of reported it, his actions after the incident seem more consistent with a co-conspirator than anything.
Ok, McQueary spots a rape in progress, does not attempt to intervene, but does sort report the crime. He then observed that the perp still has access to children and has not modified his predatory behavior. To which McQueary raises no known objections.
This is what is looks like to to me, when McQueary stumbled onto Jerry Sandusky’s predator operation, Joe Paterno offered him the heir apparent role in exchanged for McQueary continued tolerance Sandusky’s predatory behavior.
Having witnessed one predatory act by Sandusky, McQueary had to assume that Sandusky was continuing the same behavior. McQueary kept his mouth shut, got a paid coaching position and the promise to succeed Paterno.
November 15th, 2011 at 4:55
Been pondering your point for a couple days, David… and what you say strikes me as one possibility. Another is that he felt himself stuck in an impossible situation. He’s trying not to lose his job… something Sandusky certainly had the power to arrange. Such a person might first appeal to a trusted authority figure… a father, perhaps.
I note that nobody including myself is questioning Sandusky’s culpability, here. The main issue in the chatter is invariably the reaction to what certainly was an immoral scene.
I find that interesting and will have something up about it shortly