The Penn State affair

Be they columnists, talking heads, deejays, beat reporters, internet uploaders, you name it -- it seems everybody's always in a rush to judgment when a scandal breaks.  They want to convict or exonerate some person or persons before they have the faintest idea of what really happened. Sadly, a lot of us regular folks get caught up in the rhetoric before we know the facts either, and become polarized. It appears this is the case in the Penn State snafu. Though I don't expect it to be popular, yours truly offers an alternative way of considering this mess.

Jerry Sandusky, the former defensive coordinator at Penn State under Joe Paterno, is front and center as being the alleged perpetrator of some very sordid acts. Did he commit them? I don't know. At this point, neither do you. Even assuming he did, Joe Pa is caught up in all this. Yet consider:  What did Joe Pa do when notified of possible wrong-doing by Sandusky? Sandusky had already resigned from his football position, therefore he didn't report to Paterno anymore. Paterno forwarded the information to his superiors at the university. Many are of the opinion that Paterno was under some sort of "moral obligation" to report it to police. Perhaps, but so-called moral obligations can be a slippery slope -- as in -- where does it end?

If one witnesses the likes of a horrific car accident, a mugging, a rape, an armed robbery, or even a shooting -- then what happens? One can go home and hope others charged with solving such matters figure it out, or they can come forward to the police and prosecutors with their information. If they choose the former, their life goes on as usual. If they choose the latter, they can look forward to being interrogated, subpoenaed, likely being grilled on a witness stand eventually, and their names splashed all over the media in the meanwhile. If the case involves a noteworthy person and a big enough crime, one's entire history will be put under a magnifying glass for all to see. This is not meant to defend Joe Pa in any way, or anybody else for that matter, but I can certainly understand why some people turn a "blind eye" to such things anymore. Without alluding to biblical passages, yours truly thinks sometimes being an upstanding citizen might get you crucified in the end. It's easy for people not involved in such a situation to kick back and throw out opinions. OK, the crosshairs are a phone call away -- and you have a choice -- what would YOU do?

Just a crazy idea, but how about we wait until all the facts are in before jumping to any conclusions?

Here's a shout-out to Raoul for tearing them up on "the ticket" again. In my opinion, you're absolutely right on the money. Keep after em.