>>Good.
>>
>>But this is not a Joe P issue....not even close.
>>
>
>I agree here. But I can't watch TV without having his name
>being presented as the main event of the story. Its the big
>name to drop and folks are barking all up the wrong tree. The
>problem is clearly that a dude with a problem did a lot of
>stuff to a lot of minors. On the fringe is the fact that he
>put a lot of people (Joe Pa included) in terrible spots and
>forced the issue on having someone involve the hell out of
>themselves to get him dealt with. It ain't like every victim
>is going to freely and quickly come forward on something like
>that. Say the word 'Catholic' and go down that street, and
>things get even more crazy...that's right...I went there too.
>
>I just don't know enough particulars to hang the whole thing
>on Joe. I just know that without that gig as a part of his
>world, I give dude 2 years to live..tops. Even if I don't
>necessarily 'feel sorry' for him, I feel bad for that and I
>loathe the coverage..if you're foolish, you'd think Joe Pa is
>the main person who could've told on the dude/got him stopped.
>And when people go into morality mode, I just clock out.
>Almost everyone's moral compass is wonky depending on what the
>situation is. For instance, cats KNOW girls at school and
>women at their jobs out there getting beat up by their dudes
>and you and I both know that folks aren't going to the hoop on
>getting that stopped. Hell, some cats have females in their
>family going through that.
>

True.

Paterno has to go and is legally, could face charges. But life is more complicated than people are playing it here or no pedophiles, date rapists or wife beaters would be able to get away with what they do.

When family or loved ones or trusted colleagues are involved, people don't want to believe they are capable of stuff like that. The guy probably told Joe, hey it wasnt what it looked like, it was all a mistake, never gonna happen again...and it worked.

Fucked up? Yes.

Does that excuse Paterno? Not in the least.

But this is the reality of human beings and society. I had a friend who had a very volatile relationship with his longtime girlfriend and one time pushed her down the stairs during a fight. I was not there but other closer friends of his were and it was told to me. Nobody did anything in terms of contacting the authorities. It was generally thought of as "fucked up" but "their problem".

When I was at Howard there was a domestic violence and possible sexual assualt that happened in a room on my floor, where this girl fled a guys room screaming in the middle of the night. No one I know did anything or attempted to investigate what happened. To my knowledge, no one said anything to the guy and he continued to live in the dorm the rest of the year.

I knew cats in the hood, who openly fucked with and impregnated 14, 15, 16 year old girls. No one said anything and that includes some of these girls "parents". While I always expressed my disgust at such activities, I never called the authorities.

I mean, shit, if you lived in the hood you might have known someone who murdered someone else. I witnessed a murder on my block years and years ago, knew who did it and never even thought of going to the police.

I say this just to point out that for all the moral indignation, I bet most people can find lapses in their own life. Whether on this scale or not, times where looking back, you can honestly say you might have failed to do what was morally right. Or excused yourself by saying you didn't know all the details, or it was not any of your business, or whatever.

Joe Paterno deserves what he gets but let's not pretend that this shit is limited to college athletics. People turn blind eyes all the time and I am willing to bet that most people in here have as well. Maybe it wasn't to homosexual rape of a child...but that doesn't make it better.