Has PSU outrage jumped the shark?

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

In my opinion it has ...

Mike Bianchi suggest all of Paterno's post-2002 wins be vacated.
Big Ten removes Paterno's name from trophy.
Franco Harris is taken to task by Pittsburgh mayor and asked to step down as Promise Chairman for standing by Paterno.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11322/1190817-455.stm


Mr. Harris, who played football under Mr. Paterno decades ago, said university trustees were wrong to fire the famed coach last week because Mr. Paterno did what he was legally required to do in 2002 by informing a superior about allegations that assistant coach Jerry Sandusky had sexually assaulted a boy in a campus shower.
Mr. Ravenstahl apparently chafed at that opinion.
"I had to re-read it several times to fully comprehend the callous disregard and indifference for the victims of sexual abuse at Penn State," he stated in the email sent Wednesday evening to the Promise board.
"To so adamantly and vocally defend one man while maintaining silence for those powerless to defend themselves, shows me that you are the wrong man to represent the Pittsburgh Promise and the ideals it embodies.
"When I personally asked you to join the Board of the Pittsburgh Promise, I had every confidence that you would exercise sound judgment in your public life. Sadly, these statements show no regard whatsoever for the well-being of the young victims of sexual abuse and have led me to question your position of trust with the Pittsburgh Promise as Board Chairman.
"It is my ethical and moral responsibility to recognize that you are no longer a suitable representative for any organization, let alone ours."



Harris' stance shouldn't be mistaken as disregard or indifference to the real victims in this. He was offering support for Paterno.
I think the mayor is grandstanding here, plain and simple.

 

[outofplace]

Mayor Steelerstahl does have a real fondness for meaningless grandstanding, doesn't he?

 

[Steak Snabler]

I dunno, but the number of Penn State threads on this board certainly have ...

 

[RickStain]

In my opinion it has ...

Go PSU!

You weren't exactly on board with the outrage from the beginning.

 

[Mizzougrad96]

Onward State! Onward State!

I don't agree with Bianchi at all on that one...

 

[BTExpress]

In these kinds of things there is always some twisted competition to show the most outrage . . . and/or to proclaim how much "worse and worse and worse" the story inevitably will get.

 

[Gator]

Not until Joe Paterno is given the death penalty and Mike McQueary is forcibly castrated.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

In my opinion it has ...

Go PSU!

You weren't exactly on board with the outrage from the beginning.

Yeah... Not waiting to break out the pitchforks and Paterno dolls to hang in effigy just yet.

 

[Dick Whitman]

I think that there is something else that should be explored. I think that, on some level, Penn State's love of Paterno is condescending to the man. Particularly the love from current undergraduates. I think he's a mascot for them at this point. A harmless, lovable, doddering old man that they can squeeze and play with.

 

[playthrough]

In other words, not unlike a grandparent. Students will back him blindly today, then when they're older perhaps learn that he was really a very flawed man. Like some of us with our own family.

I'm a supporter of the death penalty (as in two-year suspension of the program) if the widespread cover-up is brought to light. But I completely disagree with vacating wins.

 

[JC]

In my opinion it has ...

Go PSU!

You weren't exactly on board with the outrage from the beginning.

Yeah... Not waiting to break out the pitchforks and Paterno dolls to hang in effigy just yet.

Were you ever outraged?

 

[Dick Whitman]

In other words, not unlike a grandparent. Students will back him blindly today, then when they're older perhaps learn that he was really a very flawed man. Like some of us with our own family.

Very apt comparison.

At some point, it seems, we decide that our elderly are not really people any more, but mascots for us to rally around for the fun of it. One transition that always particularly strikes me is that of Keith Richards. Today, he is the lovable, grandfatherly, wonderfully eccentric guitarist for the Rolling Stones, that band our parents listened to. You look at any picture of him before about 1980 or so, he looks scary as hell. Dangerous. I don't think he learned how to smile until about age 40. Now we just want to hug him.

 

[Johnny Dangerously]

I want to live long enough to be a mascot.

 

[Dick Whitman]

In other words, I'm not 100 percent buying the outrage of the Support Joe crowd, either. I think it seems like a fun thing to do. Rally around the cute old fart.

 

[heyabbott]

I'm a supporter of the death penalty (as in two-year suspension of the program) if the widespread cover-up is brought to light. But I completely disagree with vacating wins.

Sandusky's serial acts of child sexual abuse, Joe Paterno's knowing and gross indifference to preventing child sexual abuse and a University's apparent cover up of child sexual abuse have nothing to do with football. Sports is merely the common denominator for how these people were put together.

This is a University problem and a criminal problem, first and foremost.

If you want to get to the heart of the matter, blame the near deification by the media of a man paid tens of millions of taxpayer dollars to coach a game. If a drama professor's choreographer sexually abused children on campus, would it be covereda tenth as much? No. Would it be allowed to happen if it was in the drama department? No. They would have fired everyone after the first report. But because Paterno can coach'em up and win, he was, for the last 25 years, THE most important person at PSU. And if he didn't open his mouth last week, he'd still be employed today.

BTW, Sandusky is the real villian, and his victims are the REAL victims.

 

[Evil ... Thy name is Orville Redenbacher!!]

In my opinion it has ...

Go PSU!

You weren't exactly on board with the outrage from the beginning.

Yeah... Not waiting to break out the pitchforks and Paterno dolls to hang in effigy just yet.

Were you ever outraged?

At Penn State officials NOT named Joe Paterno, YES.

I have never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever said Paterno should stay. I said from, Go Joe had to go; either fired or resigned.

I stand by my original thoughts on this matter: There is a Lot of guilt and blame to go around in this whole affair, but Paterno is pretty far down the list, compared to Sandusky, McQueary, Curly and Schultz and even Spanier. Yet he has become target No. 1

 

[Dick Whitman]

In my opinion it has ...

Go PSU!

You weren't exactly on board with the outrage from the beginning.

Yeah... Not waiting to break out the pitchforks and Paterno dolls to hang in effigy just yet.

Were you ever outraged?

At Penn State officials NOT named Joe Paterno, YES.

I have never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever said Paterno should stay. I said from, Go Joe had to go; either fired or resigned.

I stand by my original thoughts on this matter: There is a Lot of guilt and blame to go around in this whole affair, but Paterno is pretty far down the list, compared to Sandusky, McQueary, Curly and Schultz and even Spanier. Yet he has become target No. 1

He's the only person anyone has ever heard of.

 

[MrHavercamp]

Franco Harris said some stupid stuff. There were consequences. Some people didn't want his words to be associated with their business. Where's the outrage in that?

The Big Ten didn't want its championship game tarnished by this debate over Paterno's involvement in the scandal. The conference also did not want the Stagg family pulling their name off the trophy. Is that outrageous? No, not really.

As for Bianchi? He's a columnist. He has opinions. He writes them. Again, not seeing much outrage there either.

You know what's really outrageous? That a known child molester was allowed to roam freely on a college campus, where he was allowed to assault kids for decades.

 

[BitterYoungMatador2]

Mayor Steelerstahl does have a real fondness for meaningless grandstanding, doesn't he?

For Ravenstahl to question anyone's moral character is a ****ing joke. This is a guy who stole a police vehicle so his redneck ass could use it to tailgate at a Toby Keith concert. Problem is that it was bought with DHS funding and could have been taken away by the Feds for misuse. And how many physical altercations did he get in at Steelers games before becoming mayor? Guy's a spoiled little ass.What Franco SAID was stupid, whereas ravenstahl simply IS stupid.

 

[Lugnuts]

If you think outrage over this scandal has jumped the shark, PLEASE tell the information that keeps coming out everyday to STOP being so horrifying.