Dead again?

[Slim]

Is Joe Paterno dead or not?

I will remember him as man who led others to victory.  A great man.  A man who was not responsible for instigating a crime, but who passively allowed someone to hurt others.  He was a man who made tough choices, and just as a pilot who is responsible for a plane full of others,  one error in judgement caused irreparable damage to many families.

He died in shame.  I think that is punishment enough and prefer to think of him as someone who brought out joy and passion in hundreds of players and millions of fans.

How will you remember him?

[P.A.]

I think he is really dead this time. I agree with you that he was a great man who made one very serious and unforgiveable mistake. I hope he is remember for all the good he did but that one mistake will probably never be forgotten.

[CWO3ROBBIE]

I will remember him as a great Football Coach , who as far as I am concered did not make the mistake he is being accused of.

As a former military officer and a senior level manager in defense contracting. I handled, or was involved in situations that included sexual harassment, child abuse, espionage, and other crimes of conduct. 

When you are the one on the hot seat of pursuing justice and protection of the innocent, you have to weigh the facts as you know them. You have to always keep in mind the fact that some conduct is viewed by society as being so reprehensible that just being accused puts a stigma mark on the accused that can never be erased, no matter what the final judgement by the organization.

I suppose that in this case it could be judged  that even if innocent of the accusation, ruining Sanduskey's life would be more acceptable than the possible damage that could be the result, if the accuation was true.  

 I think that is what Paterno concluded in hindsight.

However, Paterno did not witness the act. He did what the organization determined should be done in these cases.

What do you think would have happened if Paterno persued the accusation outside the rules for handling the situation, and it turned out that McQuery had made up the story, for any number of possible reasons.

McQueary witnessed the act. He is the one who should have persued the investigation.

[CWO3ROBBIE]

I know very little about the inner workings of Penn State. Therefor I am not trying to tell anyone how things should be handled in that community.  Paterno himself said that he should have been more involved. Moral Obligation is a nebulous term. I just find a lot of what has been said in this situation to be what I would call "Monday Morning Quarterbacking".

   

[Slim]

I recall the Pete Rose scandal, but on a much smaller scale.  The question went around, "Do you remember a man for his great contributions? Or for his fallacies? 

How to our founding fathers stand-up to this question?

[Maricel Evasco]

"The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones..."- William Shakespeare- Julius Ceasar

The quote is grim, but for the most part true. Paterno's goodness will be shadowed by the scandal.

From Elie Wiesel's Nobel Peace Prize sppech:

I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.

Indifference, to me, is the epitome of evil.

• • US News & World Report (27 October 1986)

[CWO3ROBBIE]

Unfortunately, If someone is accused of  a henious crime, the taint is always there, even if proven innocent. I have seen it happen more than once in my lifetime. Not to me thankfully, but to people that I knew. That is why, when in a position of authority that requires you to make judgements about others activities, you always have to weigh the consequences. And know that if you make the wrong judgement you will ruin someone else's life as well as your own. It is a responsibility that does not rest lightly.

[Slim]

Couldn't this be an example of shifting the responsibility of the crime from the criminal to someone else?  Shouldn't all this media hype be directed at Sandusky?