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Title: The Brutal Truth About Penn State
Source:
Grantland
URL Source: http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id ... 04/the-brutal-truth-penn-state
Published: Nov 14, 2011
Author: Charles P. Pierce
Post Date: 2011-12-01 03:27:46 by Rotara
Keywords: yech, disgusting, disappointing, penn state
Views: 1742
Comments: 54
The problem can't be solved by prayer or piety — and it's far more widespread than we think "But you, when you pray, go into your inner chamber and, locking the door, pray there in hiding to your Father …" — Matthew, Chapter 6 It was midway through the pregame prayer session that the gorge hit high tide. There is always something a little nauseating in large spectacles of conspicuous public piety, but watching everyone on the field take a knee before the Penn State-Nebraska game, and listening to the commentary about how devoutly everybody was praying for the victims at Penn State, was enough to get me reaching for a bucket and a Bible all at once. It was as though the players and coaches had devised some sort of new training regimen to get past the awful reality of what had happened. Prayer as a new form of two-a-days. Jesus is my strength coach. Contrition in the context of a football game seemed almost obscene in its obvious vanity. So, when the feeling had subsided somewhat, I dropped by the sixth chapter of Matthew, and then I went on to the Teacher in Ecclesiastes, who warned his people: For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil. And I felt better, but not much. There is solace in Scripture, but there are also too many places where the guilty and the morally obtuse can hide. The crimes at Penn State are about the raping of children. That is all they are about. The crimes at Penn State are about the raping of children by Jerry Sandusky, and the possibility that people lied to a grand jury about the raping of children by Jerry Sandusky, and the likelihood that most of the people who had the authority at Penn State to stop the raping of children by Jerry Sandusky proved themselves to have the moral backbone of ribbon worms. It no longer matters if there continues to be a football program at Penn State. It no longer even matters if there continues to be a university there at all. All of these considerations are trivial by comparison to what went on in and around the Penn State football program. (Those people who will pass this off as an overreaction would do well to remember that the Roman Catholic Church is reckoned to be a far more durable institution than even Penn State University is, and the Church has spent the past decade or so selling off its various franchise properties all over the world to pay off the tsunami of civil judgments resulting from the raping of children, a cascade that shows no signs of abating anytime soon.) There will now be a decade or more of criminal trials, and perhaps a quarter-century or more of civil actions, as a result of what went on at Penn State. These things cannot be prayed away. Let us hear nothing about "closure" or about "moving on." And God help us, let us not hear a single mumbling word about how football can help the university "heal." (Lord, let the Alamo Bowl be an instrument of your peace.) This wound should be left open and gaping and raw until the very last of the children that Jerry Sandusky is accused of raping somehow gets whatever modicum of peace and retribution can possibly be granted to him. This wound should be left open and gaping and raw in the bright sunlight where everybody can see it, for years and years and years, until the raped children themselves decide that justice has been done. When they're done healing — if they're ever done healing — then they and their families can give Penn State permission to start. If that blights Joe Paterno's declining years, that's too bad. If that takes a chunk out of the endowment, hold a damn bake sale. If that means that Penn State spends some time being known as the university where a child got raped, that's what happens when you're a university where a child got raped. Any sympathy for this institution went down the drain in the shower room in the Lasch Building. There's nothing that can happen to the university, or to the people sunk up to their eyeballs in this incredible moral quagmire, that's worse than what happened to the children who got raped at Penn State. Good Lord, people, get up off your knees and get over yourselves. There is something to be said, however, for looking at how it happened. Which is not the same thing as trying to figure out how it "could" have happened. The wonder is that it doesn't happen more often. (How many football coaches out there work with "at-risk" kids? How many shoes are there still to drop? Unfair? Ask one Bernard Law, once cardinal archbishop of Boston, if you can pry him out of his current position at the Basilica of Our Lady of the Clean Getaway in Rome.) It happens because institutions lie. And today, our major institutions lie because of a culture in which loyalty to "the company," and protection of "the brand" — that noxious business-school shibboleth that turns employees into brainlocked elements of sales and marketing campaigns — trumps conventional morality, traditional ethics, civil liberties, and even adherence to the rule of law. It is better to protect "the brand" than it is to protect free speech, the right to privacy, or even to protect children. If Mike McQueary had seen a child being raped in a boardroom or a storeroom, he wouldn't have been any more likely to have stopped it, or to have called the cops, than he was as a graduate assistant football coach at Penn State. With unemployment edging toward double digits, and only about 10 percent of the workforce unionized, every American who works for a major company knows the penalty for exercising his personal freedom, or his personal morality, at the expense of "the company." Independent thought is discouraged. Independent action is usually crushed. Nobody wants to damage the brand. Your supervisor might find out, and his primary loyalty is to the company. Which is why he got promoted to be your supervisor in the first place. It is not a failure of our institutions so much as it is a window into what they have become — soulless, profit-driven monsters, Darwinian predators with precious little humanity left in them. Penn State is only the most recent example. Too much of this country is too big to fail. Further, the institutions of college athletics exist primarily as unreality fueled by deceit. The unreality is that universities should be in the business of providing large spectacles of mass entertainment. The fundamental absurdity of that notion requires the promulgation of the various deceits necessary to carry it out. The "student-athlete," just to name one. "Amateurism," just to name another. Of course, people involved in Penn State football allegedly deceived people when it became plain that children had been raped within the program's facilities by one of the program's employees. It was simply one more lie to maintain the preposterously lucrative unreality of college athletics. And to think, the players at Ohio State became pariahs because of tattoos and memorabilia sales. By an order of magnitude, the Penn State child-raping scandal is miles beyond anything that ever happened with the Ohio State football team over the past five years, miles beyond anything that happened with the SMU football team in the 1980s, and miles beyond anything that happened with the point-shaving scandals in college basketball. It is not a failure of our institutions so much as it is a window into what they have become — soulless, profit-driven monsters, Darwinian predators with precious little humanity left in them. Penn State is only the most recent example. Too much of this country is too big to fail. On July 20, Enda Kenny, Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland, rose before the Dail Eireann and excoriated the Vatican and the institutional Roman Catholic Church for the horrors inflicted on generations of Irish children, horrors that they both committed and condoned. This was an act of considerable political courage for Kenny. The influence of the Church had been a deadweight on Irish politics and the secular government since the country first gained its freedom in the 1920s. Nevertheless, Kenny said: "Thankfully … this is not Rome. Nor is it industrial school or Magdalene Ireland, where the swish of a soutane smothered conscience and humanity and the swing of a thurible ruled the Irish-Catholic world. This is the Republic of Ireland, 2011. A Republic of laws … of rights and responsibilities … of proper civic order … where the delinquency and arrogance of a particular kind of 'morality' will no longer be tolerated or ignored … as taoiseach, I am making it absolutely clear that, when it comes to the protection of the children of this state, the standards of conduct which the Church deems appropriate to itself cannot, and will not, be applied to the workings of democracy and civil society in this Republic." He did not drop to his knees. He did not ask for a moment of silence. He did not seek "closure" but, rather, he demanded the hard and bitter truth of it, and he demanded it from men steeped in deceit from their purple carpet slippers to their red beanies. Enda Kenny did not look to bind up wounds before they could be cleansed. And that is the only way to talk about what happens after the raping of children. Charles P. Pierce is a staff writer for Grantland and the author of Idiot America. He writes regularly for Esquire , is the lead writer for Esquire.com's Politics blog, and is a frequent guest on NPR. Poster Comment: after one read it seems like he nails this pretty good. i'm going back through it.
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 52.
#11. To: Rotara (#0)
It no longer matters if there continues to be a football program at Penn State. It no longer even matters if there continues to be a university there at all. All of these considerations are trivial by comparison to what went on in and around the Penn State football program. This bears repeating. It is the kind of thing normal decent people have trouble confronting because it is so evil, so foul, so perverse, that they do want to look, that it is so stomach turning and soul wrenching that they turn their face and hide so that they can pretend they do not see it. That changes nothing, and foulness still lives.
It occurs to me that they are going to have a hell of a time getting a new head coach. After all what decent coach is going to want to be associated with this program? Legendary Joe Paterno will now be remembered not for his coaching but for the raping of children under his watch and his lack of character. And there will be an odor hanging over this program for many, many years to come. I said early on that the only way for them to mitigate the damage would be total, open, and brutal honesty pursuing the rot to whatever extent it went. Instead they hired Louis Freeh for a cover-up and whitewash. Pedd State has been tried in the balance and found wanting. Their options now shrink to existing coaches already tainted by the scandal or offering an obscene amount of money with all sorts of post employment guarantees. (Although, as I've mentioned previously, recruiting of players is going into the toilet as well. Most parents outside the State of Denial are going to tell Pedd State Recruiters and Coaches exactly where to stick their scholarship and likely in very definite terms. I know I would.) Penn State is finished as Football power. That is just.
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Given that there is litigation and prosecutions holding this in the news for at least the next 5 to 10 years I don't think it will pass quite that fast. I do agree that there will be a good many fatuous expressions of forgiveness and Pedd State is going to put on a PR blitz to save the Cash Cow, but they are going to take a hit, and coaches, that is the top rank, are not going to want to go there without some very substantial inducements.
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Records law could change amid scandal espn.go.com/college-footb...penn-state-nittany-lions- school-exemptions-pennsylvania-open-records-law-disappear By MARK SCOLFORO Associated Press HARRISBURG, Pa. -- Penn State won't release information that could shed light on the child sex abuse case involving a former assistant football coach because the state open records law gives the school special status. That may soon change, as lawmakers question those protections while the university denies requests for records showing what key figures knew about the allegations before Jerry Sandusky was charged last month with molesting children. The school has long had a reputation for guarding its secrets closely and zealously, and when the state attorney general announced the charges against Sandusky, she said their investigation -- by a grand jury with subpoena power -- had been hampered by an uncooperative atmosphere among unnamed school officials. Penn State has cited its exemption from the law in the past month in denying requests by The Associated Press for documents related to a 1998 investigation into Sandusky that began when a woman complained he had showered with her son; a copy of his severance agreement; and emails among top administrators about Sandusky. All it provided was a "police services activity report" that said an officer in June 1998 "requested an incident number for an ongoing investigation." The school cited its Right-to-Know Law exemption in declining to release more, but added that even if the law did apply fully to the school, other provisions would prevent disclosure of the records. Sandusky is accused of abusing eight boys, some on campus, over 15 years, allegations that were not immediately brought to the attention of authorities even though investigators say high-level people at Penn State apparently knew about at least some of them. The scandal has resulted in the ousting of school President Graham Spanier and longtime coach Joe Paterno, and has brought shame to one of college football's legendary programs. Athletic Director Tim Curley has been placed on administrative leave, and Vice President Gary Schultz, who was in charge of the university's police department, has stepped down. Schultz and Curley are charged with lying to the grand jury and failure to report suspected abuse, and Sandusky, 67, is charged with child sex abuse. All maintain their innocence and await preliminary hearings later this month. Penn State and the other three "state-related universities" -- Pitt, Lincoln and Temple -- together are collecting $560 million in state government subsidies this year. Unlike similar institutions in most other states, they function independently and do not have to produce the records required of state government agencies. "You would think at least now they should understand why they should be bending over backwards in being more forthcoming in releasing information," said state Rep. Eugene DePasquale. The York County Democrat has signed up 31 co-sponsors for a bill he will introduce Monday to put the four schools completely under the Right-to-Know Law. Other lawmakers "think this is a no-brainer," DePasquale said. "It should have been done years ago." The state Senate majority leader, Dominic Pileggi of Delaware County, who sponsored the 2009 rewrite of the law, wants to extend the law to Penn State's university police force and has asked the State Government Committee to hold a hearing on a broader application of the law. At a news conference on a different topic Wednesday, state Auditor General Jack Wagner said the real value of the state's support of the state-related schools extends beyond their annual cash subsidy to the cost over time to fund building projects and participation in the state-sponsored retirement system. "I think some changes need to be made by the General Assembly," Wagner said. "In particular, going forward, as it relates to transparency." Before 2009, the weaker version of the Right-to-Know Law did not apply at all to state-related institutions. When The Patriot-News of Harrisburg wanted to learn Paterno's salary, it sought the information from the state retirement system. The battle went to the state Supreme Court, which ultimately ruled in the paper's favor. Penn State fought against being included at all in Pileggi's bill, and the Paterno case was still on the mind of Spanier when he testified about the bill before a committee in June 2007. Spanier warned of a blow to morale once workers found out what others were making, a loss of leverage in bidding, harm to intellectual property, new reluctance for donors to come forward and "a further erosion in privacy rights." "This bill does far more than feed the prurient interests of newspaper editors who are looking for a headline about how much Coach Paterno makes," Spanier said at the time. Some of Penn State's competitors have to disclose much more information and manage to thrive, said Melissa Melewsky, a lawyer with the Pennsylvania Newspaper Association. "They are able to compete with Penn State and other universities for top faculty, administration and grants -- and successfully compete," she said. The law requires the four schools only to submit a report by the end of every May that includes a tax filing, salaries of all officers and directors and a list of the 25 largest salaries. The law stated specifically they did not have to disclose information about individual donors. Penn State's exemption from most provisions of the law means much of what it releases is information it wants to get out, said Anne Danahy, who covers the school for the Centre Daily Times in State College. It also gets released on Penn State's timetable, not the specific schedule laid out in the Right-to-Know Law. "What they think should be public information and what a reporter thinks oftentimes are not the same thing," she said. This week the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote that Penn State had denied its requests for its contract with a public relations and marketing firm, its contract with a law firm, and records related to the departures of Paterno and Spanier from their posts. Temple University spokesman Ray Betzner said that in the wake of the Penn State scandal, Temple was willing to consider possible revisions to the exemptions. "We understand the concerns that are being raised, and we look forward to seeing the legislation that legislators are bringing forward, and working with them to address their concerns," Betzner said. Lincoln University lobbyists have started discussing exemptions with state legislators, said spokeswoman Cherie Amoore, and the school wants to know what information would have to be disclosed if the law changes. "There's no formal decision on whether school will support or oppose changes," Amoore said, adding there are concerns that releasing donor details or other information might make the university less competitive. A Pitt spokesman declined to comment. Alaska and Delaware are the only other states that have comparable disclosure laws for large universities, said Frank LoMonte, executive director of the Student Press Law Center in Arlington, Va. "The downside is, you've got incredibly powerful institutions, spending tens of millions in government money, with very little opportunity for the taxpayers to exercise oversight," LoMonte said. "The situation is going to be a real eye- opener for the Legislature, and you're going to have a gut check as to whether your law still makes sense." One of the first student questions for Penn State administrators during a public forum on the scandal Wednesday night in State College was whether their new commitment to transparency meant the school should be fully covered by the Right-to-Know Law. President Rodney Erickson, named to the top job after Spanier left in the wake of the arrests, said the school already posts considerable budget detail online. He said it should be presented in more understandable form. "Right to know doesn't mean right to know everything," Erickson said, "because there still will be things that people won't get to know," including health and student records. "Overall, this context is changing," he told the students. "We have to see what kinds of discussions take place in Harrisburg. We will obviously comply with whatever decisions are made and hope that there is a reasonable kind of protection of sensitive sorts of information from those that the public really should (know)." --- Associated Press writers Kevin Begos in Pittsburgh, Marc Levy in Harrisburg and Genaro C. Armas in State College contributed to this report.
#53. To: All (#52)
they maybe should cease to exist as a university.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/LatestThe crimes at Penn State are about the raping of children. That is all they are about. The crimes at Penn State are about the raping of children by Jerry Sandusky, and the possibility that people lied to a grand jury about the raping of children by Jerry Sandusky, and the likelihood that most of the people who had the authority at Penn State to stop the raping of children by Jerry Sandusky proved themselves to have the moral backbone of ribbon worms.
The crimes at Penn State are about the raping of children. That is all they are about.
The crimes at Penn State are about the raping of children. That is all they are about.
The crimes at Penn State are about the raping of children. That is all they are about.
#16. To: Rotara, christine, ambi, Eric Stratton, All (#11)
(Edited)
#44. To: Original_Intent (#16)
#46. To: Eric Stratton (#44)
I agree on most of your points, but pending NCAA sanctions of some sort, I expect the the shortness of the memory of ADD laden Duhmerikans on mind-numbing drugs will be two seasons after which it'll be all about foooootball again, unfortunately.
#47. To: Original_Intent (#46)
#48. To: Eric Stratton (#47)
#49. To: Original_Intent (#48)
#50. To: Eric Stratton (#49)
#51. To: Original_Intent (#50)
#52. To: ALL (#51)
Replies to Comment # 52.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 52.