moragmacpherson (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
moragmacpherson) wrote2011-11-10 05:46 am
moragmacpherson) wrote2011-11-10 05:46 am
No, JoePa, You Don't Deserve Anyone's Respect Anymore
Last night, the Penn State Board of Trustees met and fired University President Spanier and Coach Joe Paterno. effective immediately. Paterno had announced his intention to retire at the end of this season earlier in the day following the indictment of his long-time assistant coach and one-time heir apparent, Jerry Sandusky, on forty felony charges associated with molestation of at least 8 children since 1996. Sandusky's known victims, many of whom were sexually molested and assaulted for years, ranged in age from seven to fifteen during the abuse and were all participants in The Second Mile, a charity that Sandusky founded to assist at-risk youths. Said Paterno on Sunday: "...the nature and amount of charges made are very shocking to me." CBS News reported last night that, "The legendary football coach was said to be stunned by his firing. Said the source, "You give your life to this place, and that's how you're treated."
Yes, Paterno, you miserable piece of slime, that's how you're treated. No, you don't get to leave on your own terms. No, I don't give a shit that you won 409 football games or that you're a "legendary coach". No, I couldn't give two shits about how disappointed your seniors are going to be at the Nebraska game this weekend. You may shut up and go enjoy the remaining time you have left before the Federal government indicts you.
And the worst part is that you're pretending not to understand why. That's what makes you slime. But, for those of you who didn't read last night's post or who tried but could not stomach reading the entire twenty-three page Grand Jury Statement, here's a sampling. Bear in mind, these exerpts, which I've tried to keep as un-triggery as possible while maintaining their meaning, are all drawn from just one of the eight victims reported (the most recent, Victim 1, ended his contact with Sandusky in 2009). Emphasis is mine.
Joe Paterno, this is why you have lost any iota of respect that you may have once merited and why no one should ever speak your name again without thinking "that miserable piece of slime." You are famous for your iron-fisted control over the football program. Half of the incidents described in this report occurred in your facilities. You knew about the 1998 incident wherein Sandusky admitted that he had fondled an eleven year old boy in the showers and that he knew it was wrong. And you testified before a grand jury that in 2002 you informed your superiors that Sandusky had "fondled or doing something of a sexual nature to a young boy."
And then you had the gall to pretend ten years later that "...the nature and amount of charges made are very shocking to me." Oh wait, no: "Regardless, it was clear that the witness saw something inappropriate involving Mr. Sandusky. As Coach Sandusky was retired from our coaching staff at that time, I referred the matter to university administrators.” As the father of six children, including two sons, you felt that was all you needed to do? Oh wait, no: “This is a tragedy. It is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more.”
Well, it certainly wasn't possible for you to do less, you gutless, arrogant hypocrite. If this is a tragedy, then you helped engineer it. You fostered an environment wherein your employees feared that they would be fired for reporting that Sandusky was fucking pre-pubescent boys up the ass in your locker room and so they said nothing.
But in the end, Joe Paterno, you are damned because you don't know Victim 2's name. Or Victim 8's from 2000, also raped in your locker room. You are slime because you never demonstrated any interest in learning their names, much less protecting them from the vile predator whom you allowed free reign in the facilities and community that bowed to your every whim for four decades.
I can sympathize with the students who are upset that their school protected this child molester for decades and as a result, their degrees are tarnished - my school also publicly imploded my senior year, and it made it harder for us to get jobs after graduation. But to the thousands of Penn State students who decided to riot in protest of your University's Board of Trustees doing the right thing and throwing that decrepit piece of shit out on his ass where he belongs: learn to read. Maybe take a moment to think and re-evaluate your priorities in regards to football versus enabling child rape. Then and only then should you make bold statements about exactly who in this situation is an "embarrassment to our school and a disservice to the student population."
Yes, Paterno, you miserable piece of slime, that's how you're treated. No, you don't get to leave on your own terms. No, I don't give a shit that you won 409 football games or that you're a "legendary coach". No, I couldn't give two shits about how disappointed your seniors are going to be at the Nebraska game this weekend. You may shut up and go enjoy the remaining time you have left before the Federal government indicts you.
And the worst part is that you're pretending not to understand why. That's what makes you slime. But, for those of you who didn't read last night's post or who tried but could not stomach reading the entire twenty-three page Grand Jury Statement, here's a sampling. Bear in mind, these exerpts, which I've tried to keep as un-triggery as possible while maintaining their meaning, are all drawn from just one of the eight victims reported (the most recent, Victim 1, ended his contact with Sandusky in 2009). Emphasis is mine.
| On March 1, 2002, a Penn State graduate assistant... entered the locker room at the Lasch Football Building on University Park Campus on a Friday night... It was about 9:30 pm... As the graduate assistant put the sneakers in his locker, he looked into the shower. He saw a naked boy, Victim 2, whose age he estimated to be ten years old, with his hands up against the wall, being subjected to anal intercourse by a naked Sandusky... ... Joseph V. Paterno testified to receiving the graduate student's report at his home on Saturday morning... Paterno called Tim Curley ("Curley"), Penn State Athletic Director... and reported to him that the graduate assistant had seen Jerry Sandusky in the Lasch Building showers fondling or doing something of a sexual nature to a young boy... ... The graduate student heard back from Curley a couple of weeks later. He was told that Sandusky's keys to the locker room were taken away and that the incident had been reported to Second Mile. The graduate assistant was never questioned by University Police and no other entity conducted an investigation until he testified in Grand Jury in December 2010... ... there were similarities between the 1998 and 2002 allegations, both of which involved minor boys in the football showers with Sandusky behaving in a sexually inappropriate manner... ... the University Police or other police agency never sought or reviewed a police report on the 1998 incident and never attempted to learn the identity of the child in the shower in 2002. No one from the University did so. [Senior VP of Finance] Schultz did not ask the graduate assistant for specifics. No one ever did. Schultz expressed surprise upon learning that the 1998 investigation by University Police produced a lengthy police report... ... The records revealed that the 2002 incident was never reported to any officials, in contravention of Pennsylvania law... ... this and other privileges were negotiated when Sandusky retired in 1999... As a retired coach, Sandusky had unlimited access to football facilities, including the locker rooms. Schultz testified that Sandusky retired when Paterno felt it was time to make a coaching change and to take advantage of an enhanced retirement benefit under Sandusky's state pension. Both the graduate student and Curley testified that Sandusky himself was not banned from any Penn State buildings and Curley admitted the ban on bringing children to campus was unenforceable... ... An oral report should have been made to Centre County Children and Youth Services but none was made. Nor was there any attempt to investigate, to identify Victim 2 or to protect that child or any others from similar conduct, except as related to preventing its recurrence on University Property. |
Joe Paterno, this is why you have lost any iota of respect that you may have once merited and why no one should ever speak your name again without thinking "that miserable piece of slime." You are famous for your iron-fisted control over the football program. Half of the incidents described in this report occurred in your facilities. You knew about the 1998 incident wherein Sandusky admitted that he had fondled an eleven year old boy in the showers and that he knew it was wrong. And you testified before a grand jury that in 2002 you informed your superiors that Sandusky had "fondled or doing something of a sexual nature to a young boy."
And then you had the gall to pretend ten years later that "...the nature and amount of charges made are very shocking to me." Oh wait, no: "Regardless, it was clear that the witness saw something inappropriate involving Mr. Sandusky. As Coach Sandusky was retired from our coaching staff at that time, I referred the matter to university administrators.” As the father of six children, including two sons, you felt that was all you needed to do? Oh wait, no: “This is a tragedy. It is one of the great sorrows of my life. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had done more.”
Well, it certainly wasn't possible for you to do less, you gutless, arrogant hypocrite. If this is a tragedy, then you helped engineer it. You fostered an environment wherein your employees feared that they would be fired for reporting that Sandusky was fucking pre-pubescent boys up the ass in your locker room and so they said nothing.
But in the end, Joe Paterno, you are damned because you don't know Victim 2's name. Or Victim 8's from 2000, also raped in your locker room. You are slime because you never demonstrated any interest in learning their names, much less protecting them from the vile predator whom you allowed free reign in the facilities and community that bowed to your every whim for four decades.
I can sympathize with the students who are upset that their school protected this child molester for decades and as a result, their degrees are tarnished - my school also publicly imploded my senior year, and it made it harder for us to get jobs after graduation. But to the thousands of Penn State students who decided to riot in protest of your University's Board of Trustees doing the right thing and throwing that decrepit piece of shit out on his ass where he belongs: learn to read. Maybe take a moment to think and re-evaluate your priorities in regards to football versus enabling child rape. Then and only then should you make bold statements about exactly who in this situation is an "embarrassment to our school and a disservice to the student population."
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Other things available on the web that I won't be linking to: there's a Sports Illustrated article that profiled Sandusky and his noble charity work. One of the victims is pictured along with Jerry and eight other kids - some of them adopted or foster children of the Sandusky's. The victim stands out in the picture: he's the one who's holding himself furthest away from his attacker, he's by far the youngest, and he's the only one not smiling. His facial expression and his body language are haunting. Contrasting the look on his face with the text of the article which proclaims that residents of Happy Valley would canonize Sandusky if they could (no mention of the 1998 police investigation)...
He's been abused enough, otherwise I'd be papering that picture all over: Apologists, behold a child whose abuse Joe Paterno, the University administration, the police of State College and the DA of Centre Country could have prevented; but they all chose to cover up the problem instead. This kid got raped in the showers of the house that Joe built.
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I'm just. I really don't understand the mindset that allows this to happen.
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This was a systemic failure. Sandusky kept bringing the kids into the locker room and sauna to molest them for at least six years and everyone turned a blind eye. EVERYONE. Ignoring the child molester (who just loves mentoring children, isn't it wonderful how much time he devotes to them?) became the default setting for the entire community - and if you're all alone and everyone else is insisting that you're accusing a saint? When an ex-employee has so much power that the janitorial staff is too scared of being fired for reporting that he was raping kids in the showers, there's something wrong with the power dynamics at the University. When a man admits to fondling a ten year old and rubbing up against him naked in the shower but the D.A. decides that he's not going to press charges? Then you have something wrong with the power dynamics in the entire city.
There's something rotten in State College. Fixing this is going to be incredibly difficult. How many characters live to the end of Hamlet?
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I just donated to RAINN. It did make me feel a little better.
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Call up Mark Emmert: the NCAA president has chosen to let law enforcement have first dibs but he's an active enforcer type. Have him give the scholarship players an open invitation to transfer without penalty. And then raze the program, rebuild from scratch (avoid any and all Paterno proteges) and beg for forgiveness.
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This whole deal is just *fucked up* and revolting and makes me *rage*. Jayzus.
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I would happily engage in *physical violence* on these people. God's *teeth*.
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/With ~80,000 students, assuming the baseline 27% crazification factor, if fewer than 21,000 of Penn State students side with Paterno, we're actually doing well as a society.
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And then, there's *this* little gem.....
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2011/11/10/anti-gay-activist-uses-penn-state-scandal-to-claim-that-sexual-abuse-causes-homosexuality-says-homosexuals-rape-boys/
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Oh, and we have a brand new leader in the "worst thing" yet race: an investigation by Mark Madden, the Pittsburgh hockey journalist who broke the news on the Sandursky grand jury back in April. He appeared on NESN today to report that he's looking into allegations that The Second Mile (Sandusky's
charityvictim pool) may have been pimping out more at-risk and under-privileged children to its donors as well. Former Second Mile board members and high money donors are scrambling to remove their names from the website, but apparently have forgotten that archive.org, Google caching, and the Wayback Machine exist. Celebrities whom I have respected in the past but who should be left to the ravening wolves if it turns out they were paying to diddle children include Cal Ripken Jr., Mark Wahlberg, and Arnold Palmer.... but I may have spoken soon, because: yes, it seems that an attorney claiming to represent several of the Sandursky victims has chastised the Board of Trustees for firing Paterno last night because they didn't consult the victims who "may not want to be associated with the downfall of Mr. Paterno." Because victim blaming is acceptable when the victims do it to themselves? Boy, did all seven of my therapists have it backwards!
For one last bit of raeg: FUCK YOU, AUTHOR OF FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS. This Isn't a Football Scandal No, THIS is not a football program: it's a criminal organization that systematically harbored, abetted, and concealed the rape of dozens of children across multiple decades and it needs to be dismantled. Now.
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And yeah - Friday Night Lights dude- fuck you very much, and the horse you rode in on. So sorry if your pwecious football games are canceled. Suck it up.