Ruminating on the Penn State Sickness
Over on the Member Thread, we have some conversations about the Penn State scandal. Member xenoff points to the institutional problems of Penn State, whose administrators take a curious approach to investigations. He notes that this is the same school that exonerated Michael "Hockey Stick" Mann of any wrongdoing. Child rapist Jerry Sandusky was allowed to retire without any blemish on his record, presumably enabled to continue violating vulnerable young victims.
And member Damian Penny notes some rumours about how the scandal could, however improbably, get worse.
Head football coach Joe Paterno has been fired for his failure to handle the situation properly. And the college president is out, too. Kudos to the board of trustees for handling things so decisively, even when the beloved coach tried to ride out the scandal.
I've been wondering about what this whole scandal means and what insights we can learn from it. For one thing, I want to make sure that I don't excuse the sinful behavior of my friends and colleagues. It is sinful to permit friends, family and colleagues to sin against others, even if it's difficult to stand up against wrongdoing. I would hope that all of us would handle revelations about a friend raping a child better than Joe Paterno did, but what else do we excuse or justify among our acquaintances?
The other issue I can't quite get past is how institutions crumble when their inhabitants are corrupt. You think of how our founding fathers emphasized that our republic would only work if the citizens were virtuous. Now, we have almost no standards for what virtue even is. A lowest-common denominator of virtue that does little more than condemn some racism and bullying, never mind what else is going on.
It's easy to point fingers at the sickness at Penn State. But what about our sickness, our high tolerance for sinful behavior, our confusion about what virtue even is. We couldn't have been handed a better morality tale. What do we make of it?
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Jul '10
Re: Ruminating on the Penn State Sickness
If You found out that Yer "friend" was raping boys, would You still call him a "friend?"
May '10
Re: Ruminating on the Penn State Sickness
I asked this in a member feed post, but let me bring this question forward: When we complain about openly gay scoutmasters and teachers and homosexual advocacy in schools what are we told over and over again? "Gay men do not prey on children!" And yet what do we learn from the scandals in the Church and at Penn State? Are these just small aberrations inside a larger aberration?
Oct '10
Re: Ruminating on the Penn State Sickness
Last night, I started reading the indictment which is posted online, and it is as horrifying as anything I have ever read.
Not sure about lessons learned or larger insights just yet.
Aug '11
Re: Ruminating on the Penn State Sickness
Whether it's elected politicians in Washington or officials at a university, this is another example of how the "Power Elite" have their own sets of rules. I'm not sure how you break that power.
It seems every day I read of another three or four incidents where some politician got away with something that would have sent you or me to prison for a dozen years. It leaves me feeling helpless and depressed.
Edited on Nov 10, 2011 at 12:39pmJun '10
Re: Ruminating on the Penn State Sickness
Dennis Prager routinely poses a question--if your own dog and a human stranger were both drowning side by side in front of you, and you could only save one of them, which would you save?--and Dennis is very often told that they would save their pet dog. Dennis is still horrified by the answer, but is no longer surprised. That's what the people at Penn State were doing. They were saving their own dog. The kids were the strangers.
May '11
Re: Ruminating on the Penn State Sickness
This is one of the things that makes it hard to be a Catholic. Whenever I mention my faith, the response has something to do with pedophile priests. One wonders what would have happened if the Church had taken a much stronger stance. Would situations like that at Penn State have gone on as long as it did? The power of example is impossible to measure.
Mar '11
Re: Ruminating on the Penn State Sickness
Uncomfortable rumination of the day: would this case have turned out differently if the victims were little girls?
I can't be sure, but I wonder if action against this predator would not have been swifter.
Jun '11
Re: Ruminating on the Penn State Sickness
Old Scratch is alive and well... and he wasn't whispering only to Sandusky.
Dec '10
Re: Ruminating on the Penn State Sickness
I would agree, if you are willing to extend the aberration to men in general and not limit it to gays. From my experience of friends and coworkers, the instances of molestation as a child among gay men is significantly higher than it is for the general population. To bolster your point, the GLBT community adamantly denies this. Psychologists have established this significantly increases the likelihood committing that same heinous act as an adult. Put this type of person in a position of trust and the result is almost a foregone conclusion.
However, I widen it to include straight men as well, because so many of the young women of my generation (I'm 27) carry very deep emotional scars because some guy Forced himself on them when they were 16-22. Usually an older guy, if only by a few years, and usually someone they trusted or admired. My sampling may be skewed but this is the case almost more often than not.
I think men are by nature predatory. When that nature is hemmed in with self-restraint it's a tool and a strength. But in a time when there is no little moral guidance available, it frequently becomes a weapon.
Edited on Nov 10, 2011 at 10:13amDec '10
Re: Ruminating on the Penn State Sickness
I thought it might be helpful to describe who my sampling of young women typically includes. Predominantly Christian girls with liberal fathers.
May '10
Re: Ruminating on the Penn State Sickness
And morality is all relative at this point, isn't it? I come from a very Liberal Protestant church where three quarters of all Scripture is ignored as too judgmental and deemed to render the church as noninclusive. When you don't teach that any of this is wrong why are we surprised when it happens?
Dec '10
Re: Ruminating on the Penn State Sickness
EJHill
And morality is all relative at this point, isn't it? I come from a very Liberal Protestant church where three quarters of all Scripture is ignored as too judgmental and deemed to render the church as noninclusive. When you don't teach that any of this is wrong why are we surprised when it happens? · Nov 10 at 10:27am
Amen.
Dec '10
Re: Ruminating on the Penn State Sickness
I think you're right. Whether we acknowledge it or not, clergy do set the bar. It has been interesting for me to see how in Protestant and especially Evangelical churches where clergy belabor the stories of their own struggles to find common ground with their congregations, the congregations tend to respond by lowering their own moral expectation. Not to say we should pretend clergy aren't just as human and fallen as the rest of us, but we all need examples to aspire to.
On a side note, I've never understood the reasoning behind the obligation of priests to be chaste/unmarried? Would you mind shedding some light on it for me? And, do you think it should stay that way?
Sep '10
Re: Ruminating on the Penn State Sickness
Before we judge Joe too harshly I would remind everyone that we don't and won't have the full story of what he was told at the time until we hear his side. I suspect that we will hear it and under oath.
News stories are often dissected in the manner of a football game on Monday morning when the outcomes are known. If he was told that a boy was raped that is one thing. If he was told "I saw inappropriate behavior/fondling" I think that is another. It may seem a distinction without a difference on Monday morning, but all of us have been told at one time or another things which did not pan out to be true. If we reacted to every new piece of information with the same vigor we would run around in circles our whole life.
I don't mean to try and defend anyone here, only to point out that the facts are not all out yet and we should be a little wiser than the press.
May '10
Re: Ruminating on the Penn State Sickness
It is the tradition of the priesthood to try to emulate Christ in every practical way. It is the belief of the Church that Jesus died a 33-year-old virgin, I guess.
May '11
Re: Ruminating on the Penn State Sickness
EJHill
It is the tradition of the priesthood to try to emulate Christ in every practical way. It is the belief of the Church that Jesus died a 33-year-old virgin, I guess.
Actually, the Church considers the priest to be "married" to the Church. The parish priest is expected to be dedicated to his parish first and foremost. As so, he cannot have a family that will demand a divided loyalty. To put it crudely, the priest cannot have any ties that could be used as spiritual blackmail against him in his duty to the Church and thus to God.
The priesthood is a sacrament as is marriage. It is of equal importance to marriage and demands equal fidelity.
Personally, I would like to see women ordained as priests following the same rules of abstinence. If this had been allowed back during the 50's, 60's and 70's when a shortage of priests caused the seminaries to look the other way regarding sexual orientation, I believe many of the issues we see now would not have happened.