There’s an old saying that God protects babies and fools. So He must have been working overtime in recent days with the foolish babies who attend or are part of Penn State.
Penn State is a mess. And it continues to be a mess despite the 11th hour attempt to smooth things over, wrap it up in a neat package and make it all seem OK. It is not.
Last week it was discovered that Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky sexually molested several young boys. One such boy was 10-years-old, who was raped in the shower of the Penn State locker room, which was also the scene of several more molestations of 8 more young boys. A graduate assistant just so happened to stumble upon the scene to witness the rape while it was in progress, but he did not intervene to stop it. Instead, he reported the rape to the head football coach, the legendary and revered Joe Paterno. So what did Paterno do when he heard that his top assistant football coach had raped a 10-year-old boy in the locker room he controls?? Absolutely nothing! He didn’t call police. He didn’t approach his assistant coach regarding the crime. Nothing! In fact, the one thing he did do was cover it up so as to “protect” the good ol’ boy network and the fabled Penn State football program.
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| Jerry Sandusky is arrested |
When word leaked about the molestations, Sandusky was fired and immediately arrested. When word leaked that Paterno could have done something earlier to prevent the molestations but didn’t in an attempt to protect his coach, he cockily waived it off and announced that for the sake of the all-important football program, he would stay on as coach, but resign at the end of the year. To Paterno, he was omnipotent and could dictate his own terms. To the Penn State Board of Directors, he was sadly mistaken. They fired him!
When news of the firing of Paterno became public to the Penn State student body, they took to the streets in angry protest. Thousands of students overtook the streets of State College, Pennsylvania, even turning over a news van to register their protest of the heinous act. Except the heinous act they were protesting against was not that several young boys had been sexually molested on school property by an assistant coach, then covered up in a secret veil of protection by the head football coach. These students were protesting that the university had the audacity to fire their beloved and omnipotent coach only days before the “big game.”
Foolish babies!
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| Crowd supporting Joe Paterno |
As news cameras from around the world rolled, students took their turn in front of the cameras: “I’m here to support my school,” exclaimed one student. “This weekend’s game is too important. It won’t hurt anything to let JoPa (Paterno) coach just one more game,” shouted another. “They better not cancel the game over this,” cried yet another. Cameras then switched to a scene outside of the Paterno home, where Paterno himself stepped outside to the boisterous cheers and chants of supporters who had gathered by the droves on his lawn. Paterno played the victim, encouraging students to study hard, but assuring them he (the victim) would be OK and that he was hopeful they’d win the “big game” on Saturday. His words brought roars of excitement from the students, who had all somehow fooled themselves into believing their strength in numbers could get Paterno his job back in time for the “big game.” The mood on campus was, “Damn the victims… we’ve got a game to win!”
Foolish babies!
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| Penn State hooligans destroy streets |
Not once did anyone mention the young male victims who must now live the rest of their lives with the stigma that they were raped and molested by an adult man they once looked up to as a hero. Not once did anyone discuss the psychological trauma these victims must certainly feel, or the years of psychological counseling it will cost them and their families just to get their minds back to a remotely comfortable level of sanity. As the victims and their families watched news channels from all over the world cover the riots that overtook the campus, they didn’t see ANYONE take their feelings into account or ANYONE support the long road to recovery they now face. Instead, they witnessed a sea of immaturity: a collective ignorance by a stupid student body that was brainwashed, and thousands who all drank the kool-aid and put football ahead of feelings, sports ahead of a sexual crime, and made up football heroes ahead of innocent little boys.
Foolish babies!
By the time the “big game” rolled around on Saturday, much of the student body was like a group of drug addicts who were just coming down from a 3 day high of cheap booze, quaaludes and hallucinogens, as the ramifications of their spontaneous protests began to come into focus. Penn State had a huge P.R. problem and they were starting to rethink what they had done. Slowly, students began to at least appear to realize that there were real victims involved here, who were not named Sandusky or Paterno. A candlelight vigil was hastily arranged for Friday night in honor of the victims. The football team took to the field in prayer before the “big game” on Saturday. And the entire student body all took a great big chill pill, opting to lay low and quiet instead of rowdy and obstreperous as they had appeared only days before. Ironically, Penn State lost the “big game” to Nebraska by 3 points. Can anyone spell K-A-R-M-A??
Perhaps the hooligans of Penn State are embarrassed they actually put football ahead of a sexual crime of enormous proportions. Perhaps they visited the Wizard of Oz over the weekend, got a heart and recognized the ramifications of their actions and the pain it caused the innocent victims. Or perhaps there is a much bigger problem at Penn State that is being glossed over, where priorities seem extremely out of order and where most students seem clueless or to just not know any better.
As the victims of the sexual molestations receive professional psychological help, it appears the student body of Penn State should be next in line to lay on the proverbial psychiatrist couch. They too are in desperate need of help. For they have proven themselves — before a watching world — to be a collective sea of foolish babies!
SMART QUOTES:
“You’re not getting it. You just don’t get it. This is just stupid youthfulness. The kids up there [at Penn State] just don’t understand what this does. Stop thinking of the adult and start thinking of what happens to a child that goes through this. You love the adult, you may not know the kid. Start thinking of the kid and the horror they go through, because it’s hell.”
– Dave Lorenz, sexual abuse survivor
“That’s the first thing people look at — that their football team is without their head coach that’s been there so many years. Nobody looks at the eight children. The rioters are never going to be in those children’s shoes. It’s not about football. It’s about eight children who are never going to get back their lives back. They’re going to live with this the rest of their lives. They might not get over that.”
– Kayla Garriott, sexual abuse survivor
“I have talked to people all over the country who have dealt with their abuse. This is bringing it all back. It’s so upsetting. They were crying. They were angry. It’s a horrible statement that a winning football team is more important than the safety of the children.”
– Barbara Dorris, outreach director at Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
“This just shook my beliefs and a big part of my identity to the core.”
– Jerry Needel, a Penn State alum
This whole thing is a hot mess. So much blame to go around I don't know where to begin. LOL but the video was funny as h*ll. That guy spoke truth. Glad people are coming to there senses.