I just need to get this off my chest.
For the first week after Jerry Sandusky was found guilty, we had the slew of "groundbreaking" articles lauding the need to "talk about it" (as in child sexual abuse.) My editorial in the Syracuse Post Standard was the only piece I'm aware of that explored the entire picture, discussing the need to re-evaluate our billion dollar industry of ineffective "sexual abuse prevention" laws (if you haven't read it: http://blog.syracuse.com/opinion/2012/07/sandusky_case_must_begin_proce.html.)
This past week, it's been all about Joe Paterno and his role in covering up the abuse. There's been talk of suspending Penn State football season. After painting over Jerry Sandusky's image in a mural at Penn State last week, an artist painted over a halo that was previously depicted over Joe Paterno's head a few days ago.
The fact that child sexual abuse is real, needs to be talked about, and dealt with in an effective manner is not something that many would debate about. No one should have to endure it, nor should their families.
But guess what? Removing a halo out of a picture doesn't help those victims. Railing on a dead guy who made a grave mistake in his life - AFTER the perpetrator actually responsible for the acts has been sentenced to life in prison - doesn't help the child suffering alone behind closed doors. Suspending a football season and forcing young men who have no connection to sexual abuse of children whatsoever to miss out on opportunities doesn't protect children. It makes (some of) US feel good, and that's about it.
Can anyone even begin to imagine the impact we could have on sex abuse prevention if just a quarter of all the media attention laser-focused on Joe Paterno in the past week, were instead dedicated to exploring the massive failure of the sex offender registry, sex offender legislation, and the overall ignorance of society and politicians to reality? If for just ONE day, newspapers and reporters and journalists swore off the easy stuff, and exposed all those studies proving "common knowledge" wrong to viewers across the country? "If it saves just one child" could easily become thousands.
But that's just wishful thinking, I guess.
It wasn't that long ago that Paterno was cleared of wrongdoing.
ReplyDeleteThere is more to this story than people realize. You see, for years there has been a push to get Joe Paterno out of Penn State. Paterno has been coach for many years, but in the past two decades, coaches tend to be kept around only as long as they have been waiting. For the past few years, Joe Paterno had not been winning a lot of games, and they were in increasing number of people calling for his resignation as far back as around the year 2000 or so.
There was no degree of loyalty for all the things that he had done. While unrelated to this scandal, you only have to look at another coach, Bobby Bowden, to see the nature of the sport of college football these days. Tenure has little value, only winning. Getting back to Joe Paterno, this scandal created a convenient excuse to get rid of the man, even though he was cleared of any wrongdoing by the NCAA and the police. Personally, I think this is a ploy to try to find some way to prevent having to pay out all that money Paterno earned for all the years he was working there area.
The is a convenient scapegoat for our university hoping they won't get sued.
Another point I would like to make is the fact that the way the media handles these type cases actually discourages individuals from publicly proclaiming abuse, because they know even when they are doing right, they will be seen as villains as well, and would be sued for things that they had no control over. Even if it is true that Penn State covered up allegations of abuse, under the current environment, I don't find it uncommon at all.
Keep your vision on those wishes, Shana. All great things begin with a dream.
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