Posted on 11/11/2011 6:47:52 PM PST by Hoodat
How does a survivor of sexual abuse respond to students rioting at Penn State?
"You're not getting it. You just don't get it," said Dave Lorenz who was abused by a priest as a teen.
"It's just stupid youthfulness."
Earlier this week, legendary head football coach Joe Paterno was removed in the midst of a scandal involving sexual abuse allegations against a former defensive coordinator, Jerry Sandusky.
-snip-
Watching footage of Penn State students rioting in the streets Wednesday night, Lorenzo shuddered, then hung his head.
What bothered Lorenz is that students "rallied around (Paterno's) house, cheering him up."
"The kids up there just don't understand what this does," he said.
"Stop thinking of the adult and start thinking of what happens to a child that goes through this. You love the adult, you may not know the kid. Start thinking of the kid and the horror they go through, because it's hell."
-snip-
Kayla Garriott, a 22-year-old college student who was sexually abused as a child, said the open support for Paterno was disrespectful to survivors.
"That's the first thing people look at -- that their football team is without their head coach that's been there so many years. Nobody looks at the eight children."
The rioters are "never going to be in those children's shoes. It's not about football. It's about eight children who are never going to get back their lives back. They're going to live with this the rest of their lives. They might not get over that."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
I’m wondering about that too. I just started trying to read more on this story, but it sure seems like there was an actual abuser and an actual observer of the abuse that are getting a lot lighter treatment than this old guy. Was he calling the shots so as to condone this abuse? Shouldn’t we have a trial in a court of law with witnesses and evidence before we string him up? Could this be why the students are upset? I just watched the media trying a GOP candidate in the media with accusations and innuendo the past couple of weeks. Is this the new normal for us in the US? No need to go to a court of law, just try it in the media? He may be guilty as hell, but why are people on FR forming a lynch mob instead of supporting constitutional rights?
There in lies the problem. Paterno was at Penn State too long, he had developed a cult following. Sure, Paterno's football team was a great force for rallying alumni school spirit, afterall, he was a constant, something to remind the alumni of the good old college days and open their wallets. But, Paterno should never have reached the height of reverence and following that put him above all Christian moral ethics and the law.
If what you say is true, then why did Joe not confront them, even if it meant he would no longer have his job? If Joe truly was the kind of man as you suggest, it would seem logical he would put up with dealing with them.
that should be “it would seem logical he wouldn’t put up with dealing with them”.
I thought the abuser had been arrested and charged with 40 counts..............
I’m just going on intuition here, but Paterno wouldn’t have any reason to have any day-to-day dealings with any of those people. The Board of Trustees ultimately controlled his fate (as you saw) and they have been looking to get rid of him for years. This simply provided a convenient excuse to do so.
Mighty convenient they waited until he got the record.
Who held this information until he broke the record?
“but that is a problem that rests with those who fired Paterno and let the guilty off the hook”
Huh? Who’s been let off the hook? I don’t see anyone free and clear of this outrage at this juncture. True, some are not yet in jail, but they will all suffer the extreme losses attendant to a civil lawsuit or two at a minimum. I just hope they go after the University president and leave him and his staff penniless! Oh, and how is it that Paterno is not an abuser? He allowed it to be covered up. He is, therefore a moral co-conspirator. It was more important for him to salvage his “legacy” than protect some helpless children. He hasn’t yet suffered enough in my view!
That is NOT TRUE. The majority of the Trustees and Board loved him because he was bringing in 30-40 Mill a year. How do you think Joe had so much power all of these years? Simple, the $$$$ he was bringing in while he would only take 1 Mill a year salary.
Ole Mr. Beaver is resting well in his grave. If he could talk, "There not gonna change my stadium name after this clown".
There are more than one victim. Many more. It is the precise inaction of those who had direct, or even some degree of peripheral knowledge or suspcision led to the continued victimization of this predator. Even if Sandusky is the only actual child raper here (which I doubt), his enablers and protectors are at least partially culpable for the later molestations.
Please, don’t use character and Paterno in the same sentence. This guy is a disgrace. So you may be a “sports nut,” but you can’t sweep Paterno’s role under the rug “ for the good of collegiate sports.” It just isn’t going to wash. It is very telling that the accounts coming out of Penn State are to the effect that everyone knew about these acts, and knew about them for a decade or more. LIke Al Pacino said in The Scent of a Woman, “someone needs to take a flamethrower to this place!”
How about letting the presentation of evidence go forward in a court of law before you string up those you think had “peripheral knowledge”.
Joe had an obligation every time stories of this came up to see if the source were credible, and if so report it to law enforcement.
Every time, no matter where the incident had occured.
Joe wasn't just the legendary coach at the university. Paterno was also on the board of The Second Mile, the charity from which the at risk boys were obtained. You can quit whining about poor old Joe.
Wow - thanks for the link. Jerry Sandusky got away with way too much.
Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were one of those people who equates, "legal" with "moral." There may be some overlap, but they are not the same thing. As I don't have the power to try or sentence McQueery, I needn't worry about rendering a legally sufficient opinion. I can base a personal judgment based on my own morality, and for that, I'll go off of McQueery's own Grand Jury Testimony, in which he freely acknowledges having witnessed a grown man raping a child, and walking away from it.
Similarly, I'll form a personal judgment from Paterno's own statement that he, "should have done more". In that, all I'm doing is agreeing with Paterno.
Anyone who witnesses that involving anyone, put ESPECIALLY a child, and does not take action, has no soul!
ESPN commentators are probably members of NAMBLA.
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