This bastard was complicit by his silence. Keep calling him a hero, Trump.
I get sick to the stomach when I am reminded of these people, what they did, how they covered it up for years – all to stay in the glorious limelight and keep getting that money.
Here in Central Pa Paterno is one step above God.
His fans will tell you he knew everything that was happening on campus until Sandusky was outed.
When were pressured on the fact that he had to know the answer was, “but look at all the good he did.”
To all of you who have not been informed ,Penn State Main is the moral capital of the world.
Insurance corporations are not known for their outlandish behavior. Very conservative, in the old definition, of making sure their ducks are in proper alignment.
Let’s see where this goes before jumping on the bandwagon.
Right. Because there’s clearly no reason to believe that Paterno wouldn’t have used all of his influence to ensure that Sandusky’s depredations were ended and his victims given justice, even if that meant damaging the holy Penn State football program.
Look at how many people still minimize sexual assaults just as long as they happen to people who don’t matter or involve behavior that’s doesn’t qualify as “legitimate” rape. It’s easy to imagine Paterno would have forgotten the whole thing by the time he testified. Except that it almost certainly kept happening. And kept getting forgotten.
Sick MotherF’ers. Sounds like aiding and abetting. Everyone Sandusky abused from 1976 forward, Paterno abused as well.
Football and $$$$$$ speaks volumes about ethics and character of all involved.
Paterno was guilty of an extreme lack of curiosity, - of disingenuously taking cover behind “I never saw it with my own eyes” - of assessing the negative fall-out that any exploration of the matter would create - & choosing to view the situation as lacking ‘hard proof’ to pursue… essentially criminal neglect.
Paterno ruled almost all at Penn State - but he knew that there were always powerful groups in other parts of Pennsylvania that were thirsting for a way to de-throne him. This was not just groups of oppositional sports fans & media (yes, there were a few sports columnists who made careers out of being Paterno -detractors) - it was also factions within Pennsylvania state politics. So you could say that Paterno had his antenna up & was able to detect things that might blow a huge hole in his armor… Paterno knew a messy expose of the pervert Sandusky would give those who wanted to take away much of Paterno’s powers, the ideal foothold. So Paterno took cover in the nuances & the gray zone & kicked it down the road …and hoped it would go away - or at least not get visibility.
Now, another element in this may be that Paterno, born in the 1920’s was a product of a different era - a time when some would say ‘keep you nose outa other people’s business … if you didn’t see it with your own eyes, then shut up’ … but sorry Joe … you knew better … this was on your watch … you needed to address this with the same level of thoroughness that you prided yourself in bringing to all other things (both inside & outside you direct area of responsibility)
I don’t think Paterno was instinctively a bad man…
I’ve got a strong feeling that if Paterno himself had walked into the empty locker room & in to a face-to-face scene of Sandusky right in the middle of gruesome molestation of some 10 year old … Paterno would probably have picked up the nearest solid object send Sandusky to the hereafter… but that is not what happened here - that would be simple - and it would have been snap instinctive reaction to something very wrong… but many right/wrong instincts were lost in this mess ( most powerful instinct to be working was maybe Paterno’s survival instinct.)
- where Paterno failed was in an area where he had to utilize his reasoning and his judgment and place his values on the line & stand up for right & wrong - even when doing the right thing might have come at a risk to his power and prestige… and in his failing he effectively became an enabler for Sandusky.
And this is news or a surprise?
@jinjj
That is some assumption you are making there. Here’s mine. He looked the other way - he liked his job too much to get involved. Sorry no excuses here
And this was the crux-- of why former PSU QB and then-coach Mike McQueary
kept from going straight to an authority higher than Paterno.
That in McQueary’s eyes? There was no higher authority.
PSU’s apple was appetizing; the core rotten.
jw1
" Penn State Main is moran capital of the world " FTFY 
They should accept that he may have known and stop defending him on this.
I cannot be more emphatic - there are NO EXCUSES - but the context is worth examining - factors of context do not exonerate - & they do not diminish culpability - but factors of context may reveal the critical logic flaws / value flaws that contribute to the downfall.
- and know this - Paterno is most definitely not “mine” ( for various reasons - never was a fan - simply never)
I think the one of the lessons here is that yes, there are
(A.) bad people, twisted people - people who have broken loose from morality and commit heinous acts
… and then there are
(B.)people who are not categorically, comprehensively “bad” - but through their extended failure to act, their turning of a blind eye, willful neglect become the enablers.
Sandusky is in the former and Paterno is in the latter .
Society will be pretty unanimous in condemning those in
(A.) because it is simple & obvious
and society will break into factions over the ones in
(B.) because there will be some who intimately know the person and will refuse to see any evil - - and then there will be some who refuse to see any humanity - and then it become an endless argument - like in this case - between those who wish to enshrine Paterno as St Joe of Happy Valley and those who wish to see every aspect of his being, every drop of his blood - to be declared pure undiluted evil
Sandusky is a pathological, twisted, sick, sick man - a calculating, child molesting predator - he had an unrelenting appetite for sex with young boys - he convincingly put forth a facade - fooled some and betrayed all of those around him for years and years.
Paterno failed - he willingly failed to recognize/explore what was right in front of him - so clearly he is definitely not purely infallibly good - nor is he purely toxically pathologically evil - to try to distill it down to absolutes - is an oversimplification that comes at the cost of failing to recognize that everyone - even (especially) those put up on a pedestal can screw up - nobody is infallible - and thus everyone has a responsibility to constantly assess their own motivations & if needed - course correct toward what is right - - and society has a responsibility not to issue “passes” to idols.
let it be clear - Paterno totally, emphatically, extensively unequivocally morally failed - failed in his initial responses , failed in any effort to correct course, and he comprehensively failed the victims of Sandusky
Agreed, Chammalamma dingdong.
This is a simple case of “if I say something, this all comes crumblin’ down! If i ignore it, maybe it will just go away!”
Penn State was Paterno’s life’s work. He chose it over the Sandusky victims. Plain and simple.
I am a huge sports fan, but it has NEVER sat well with me how highly we regard the football coach, in this country. I get it, to those born without a father, he fills that void for some, and that’s probably the most admirable part of his job. However, we elevate him for what else? Winning football games? Seriously? That’s it? This fact has always been troubling to me. We regale them like we do generals, and players like we do war heroes. It’s…it’s disconcerting.
Anyway, this comes as zero surprise to me. There is a great documentary on the whole Sandusky-Paterno dilemma on Netflix called “Happy Valley”. I highly recommend it, for those interested.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, nobody knew nothing…right.