Decanonized Mythologized Disgraced Ped State Monster Coach Joe Paterno (Zombie Icon)

[sepia5]

 

[localyokel]

Joe Paterno Now Has a Halo on State College Mural



I highly recommend the rest of their PSU related stories. Deadspin doesn't pull punches.

Thank you! Not being up to speed on Ped State lore, I was mystified about the origin of that painting.

So, they just re-paint the mural as it suits them? Hmmm...that feels about right given what we know about the inner workings of the average State College mind. Seem to recall Mr. Orwell had people doing similar things to historical records in his imaginary future world.

We ARE...Penn State, where we don't just make history, we re-make it, and sometimes even re-paint it.

 

[Jake]

I suppose they could leave the body on permanent display at the stadium so all could come and worship...

This guy approves.

 

[BB73]

(copied from another thread)

I watched the entire 2+ hours of the JoePa memorial service today, which BTN (to their credit) showed without any commercials.

I watched the Paterno family and their chosen speakers speak about his legacy, as they chose to define it. I listened to Nike CEO Phil Knight talk about how JoePa was his hero for the last 12 years, and that he still was his hero throughout the last few months since he told his superiors what he had heard. Knight said that if there was a problem, it was with the investigation, and not with Joe Paterno. That line received the loudest ovation of the entire service, because it was what that crowd wanted to hear.

I listened as former players and the dean of PSU's Liberal Arts College talked about him, all speaking fondly and lauding his accomplishments, his concern for others, and his support of PSU as an educational institution. His love of the classics was mentioned by the dean.

I saw the memorial service as a mechanism to allow those that fondly remembered Paterno to grieve and to look back on their memories of him, which is fine.

But I also saw it as a concerted attempt to define JoePa's legacy, since many close to him feel that his legacy has been unfairly damaged over the last couple of months. Phil Knight and Jay Paterno both made statements indicating that Joe had done what he needed to do recently, although the name Jerry Sandusky was never mentioned during the service.

Joe Paterno led an impressive life. He built Penn State into a football power, and he helped the University grow and improve academically. He mentored hundreds of student-athletes over several decades. Those were significant accomplishments, and are deservedly a large part of his legacy.

But his legacy has been forever tarnished by his role in the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Those stating that he was involved in so many lives at PSU, and that nothing of significance occurred related to the football program without his knowledge, want to have it both ways by absolving JoePa of any responsibility in PSU allowing Jerry Sandusky to entice and abuse young boys by using his association with the football program and access to its facilities, even after JoePa was aware that Sandusky had privileges such as access to the facilities revoked in 2002.

Joe Paterno, in his own words, said "I wish I had done more." But Joe was also disingenuous when he recently acted like he wasn't familiar with male-on-boy sexual acts. As a practicing Catholic in March of 2002, he had to be familiar with the extensive media coverage of the widespread issues that the church had with pedophile priests and their dismal record of allowing the abuses to continue (early 2002 was at the height of that scandal). As an avid supporter of "The Classics", he had to be aware of many references to man-on-boy sexual activities referenced by multiple Greek authors. Pretending to be unaware of possible man-on-boy sexual abuse appeared to me to be a weak attempt at deflecting personal responsibility.

The Paterno family apparently believes it is unjust that JoePa's legacy has been tarnished. But it deserves to be tarnished forever. Because if anyone in the future is thinking about not reporting possible sexual abuse of children in order to: (avoid negative impact on their business or institution/preserve their legacy/whatever reason); and their memory of Paterno having his legacy damaged by not doing enough to ensure a proper investigation and care for any alleged current and future potential victims, and that prompts that person to take action that may prevent some future abuses, then whatever tarnishing that occurred will be worth it.

Because the important aspect of the overall situation is that any children that were victimized receive whatever justice and/or compensation they can; and that everybody realizes in the future that whenever there is a suspicion of someone abusing children, the overriding concern should be for the welfare of the children. To do otherwise is immoral, unethical, and/or criminal depending on the knowledge and level of responsibilities involved.

JoePa has passed on. He's been mourned and eulogized. But nothing will ever take away the tarnish on his legacy; since his awareness of the situation in 2002 (and probably also in 1998/99), his power over what happened to anything related to the PSU football program in those years, and the terrible damage inflicted on boys by a predator who was allowed to function within the confines of the PSU football facilities, can simply never be forgotten by those who wish to minimize the amount of victims in the future.

 

[Jake]

So did the Westboro nuts show up at his funeral?

 

[BuckeyeBill]

(copied from another thread)

I watched the entire 2+ hours of the JoePa memorial service today, which BTN (to their credit) showed without any commercials.

I watched the Paterno family and their chosen speakers speak about his legacy, as they chose to define it. I listened to Nike CEO Phil Knight talk about how JoePa was his hero for the last 12 years, and that he still was his hero throughout the last few months since he told his superiors what he had heard. Knight said that if there was a problem, it was with the investigation, and not with Joe Paterno. That line received the loudest ovation of the entire service, because it was what that crowd wanted to hear.

I listened as former players and the dean of PSU's Liberal Arts College talked about him, all speaking fondly and lauding his accomplishments, his concern for others, and his support of PSU as an educational institution. His love of the classics was mentioned by the dean.

I saw the memorial service as a mechanism to allow those that fondly remembered Paterno to grieve and to look back on their memories of him, which is fine.

But I also saw it as a concerted attempt to define JoePa's legacy, since many close to him feel that his legacy has been unfairly damaged over the last couple of months. Phil Knight and Jay Paterno both made statements indicating that Joe had done what he needed to do recently, although the name Jerry Sandusky was never mentioned during the service.

Joe Paterno led an impressive life. He built Penn State into a football power, and he helped the University grow and improve academically. He mentored hundreds of student-athletes over several decades. Those were significant accomplishments, and are deservedly a large part of his legacy.

But his legacy has been forever tarnished by his role in the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Those stating that he was involved in so many lives at PSU, and that nothing of significance occurred related to the football program without his knowledge, want to have it both ways by absolving JoePa of any responsibility in PSU allowing Jerry Sandusky to entice and abuse young boys by using his association with the football program and access to its facilities, even after JoePa was aware that Sandusky had privileges such as access to the facilities revoked in 2002.

Joe Paterno, in his own words, said "I wish I had done more." But Joe was also disingenuous when he recently acted like he wasn't familiar with male-on-boy sexual acts. As a practicing Catholic in March of 2002, he had to be familiar with the extensive media coverage of the widespread issues that the church had with pedophile priests and their dismal record of allowing the abuses to continue (early 2002 was at the height of that scandal). As an avid supporter of "The Classics", he had to be aware of many references to man-on-boy sexual activities referenced by multiple Greek authors. Pretending to be unaware of possible man-on-boy sexual abuse appeared to me to be a weak attempt at deflecting personal responsibility.

The Paterno family apparently believes it is unjust that JoePa's legacy has been tarnished. But it deserves to be tarnished forever. Because if anyone in the future is thinking about not reporting possible sexual abuse of children in order to: (avoid negative impact on their business or institution/preserve their legacy/whatever reason); and their memory of Paterno having his legacy damaged by not doing enough to ensure a proper investigation and care for any alleged current and future potential victims, and that prompts that person to take action that may prevent some future abuses, then whatever tarnishing that occurred will be worth it.

Because the important aspect of the overall situation is that any children that were victimized receive whatever justice and/or compensation they can; and that everybody realizes in the future that whenever there is a suspicion of someone abusing children, the overriding concern should be for the welfare of the children. To do otherwise is immoral, unethical, and/or criminal depending on the knowledge and level of responsibilities involved.

JoePa has passed on. He's been mourned and eulogized. But nothing will ever take away the tarnish on his legacy; since his awareness of the situation in 2002 (and probably also in 1998/99), his power over what happened to anything related to the PSU football program in those years, and the terrible damage inflicted on boys by a predator who was allowed to function within the confines of the PSU football facilities, can simply never be forgotten by those who wish to minimize the amount of victims in the future.

GPA!

 

[buxfan4life]

I didn't watch the 2+ hour special on the pedophile enabler since I don't think it is right to honor someone who allowed such behavior on his watch. Joe's legacy was tarnished for me long before I found out he was looking the other way so his friend and colleague of many years could ruin the lives of many young men. The whole Sandusky thing just solidified my distaste for the old man.

I might get neg rep here, but Fuck Joe Paterno the pedophile enabler. He deserves all the vitriol thrown his way.

 

[Best Buckeye]

I agree that his legacy has been tarnished but even more that he was a straight up guy his whole life except for this instance.
The teachings he gave for years and years cannot be taken away.

 

[NFBuck]

I agree that his legacy has been tarnished but even more that he was a straight up guy his whole life except for this instance.
The teachings he gave for years and years cannot be taken away.

That's one way of looking at it. Another would be if he was willing to treat the fact that he had a pedophile running amok on campus so lightly, what the hell else was he willing to look the other way about to protect his program and preserve his precious "legacy". Hearing this whole sordid tail leads me to believe the catchy "success with honor" mantra was bull[Mark May] for the most part.

 

[matcar]

That's one way of looking at it. Another would be if he was willing to treat the fact that he had a pedophile running amok on campus so lightly, what the hell else was he willing to look the other way about to protect his program and preserve his precious "legacy". Hearing this whole sordid tail leads me to believe the catchy "success with honor" mantra was bull[Mark May] for the most part.

Maybe...on the other hand there are 1000+ young men who went through that program for 40+ years and they and their families tell a tale of someone who did help them. While there's NO WAY one can ignore the Sandusky part, I don't believe in ignoring the other very positive impact he obviously had.

 

[NFBuck]

Maybe...on the other hand there are 1000+ young men who went through that program for 40+ years and they and their families tell a tale of someone who did help them. While there's NO WAY one can ignore the Sandusky part, I don't believe in ignoring the other very positive impact he obviously had.

That's fair, but I take issue with his supporters making him out to be some saint.

 

[buckeyesin07]

I agree that his legacy has been tarnished but even more that he was a straight up guy his whole life except for this instance.
The teachings he gave for years and years cannot be taken away.

I don't know if I'm willing to agree that this whole Sandusky thing was the only instance that he wasn't a straight up guy, as your post suggests. There were more than a few reports of his players getting in trouble with the law later in his career, and Joe "taking care of it" by having them clean up the stadium.

And serious question--what do you mean by these "teachings he gave for years and years?"

 

[Tlangs]

I don't know if I'm willing to agree that this whole Sandusky thing was the only instance that he wasn't a straight up guy, as your post suggests. There were more than a few reports of his players getting in trouble with the law later in his career, and Joe "taking care of it" by having them clean up the stadium.

And serious question--what do you mean by these "teachings he gave for years and years?"

taught guys how to block, throw, and tackle.

 

[localyokel]

I didn't watch the 2+ hour special on the pedophile enabler since I don't think it is right to honor someone who allowed such behavior on his watch. Joe's legacy was tarnished for me long before I found out he was looking the other way so his friend and colleague of many years could ruin the lives of many young men. The whole Sandusky thing just solidified my distaste for the old man.

I might get neg rep here, but [censored] Joe Paterno the pedophile enabler. He deserves all the vitriol thrown his way.

I stopped in to post a link, and this is as perfect a place for it as any. The woman (a molestation survivor) who wrote the Daily Kos piece from earlier this week, the one entitled "[censored] Joe Paterno", decided there should be an alternative to Thursday's memorial for Joe, who departed this life hauling an over-flowing larder stocked with the world's Cracker Jack toys of fame, wealth, adulation and plastic glory. She invited her readers to write memorials for themselves, and for their friends and loved ones, who had been raped by pedophiles. Some, the first people listed in the memorial, did not survive the abuse. Some were murdered by their abusers, and some, soul-murdered, took their own lives, unable to endure the wounds inflicted by the beasts who victimized them.

One memorial is for a young man who killed himself within days of his marriage after revealing his childhood abuse. What Rabbi Micheal Leo Samuel wrote in response certainly applies to the discussion we have had here since November.

The Sages point out that in biblical and in rabbinic times, it was considered unsafe to let a guest leave a host's home without being escorted for at least part of that person's journey. The judges of a community are to some degree indirectly accountable for allowing a murder to occur on their watch, "The victim did not come to us hungry and we sent him away without any food. He did not come to us alone and we offered him no protection." The American legal system has a category of law termed, "accessories after the fact." This would include people who aid or abed a criminal after he does something wrong. Judaism teaches that there is another category "accessories before the fact" - this would include decent people who are good and respectable. Biblical ethics demands that each leader and citizen do his part in preventing a crime from taking place; silence or apathy is akin to complicity. In the final analysis we are our brother's keeper. This past week, a tragic incident occurred in Brooklyn that pertains to the message of this particular ritual and its wisdom. A young man named Motty Borger, two days after his marriage, commits suicide by jumping to his death from the motel [where] he and his young bride were staying. Evidently, the young man felt tortured by memories of being molested while he was in yeshiva...The sexual exploitation of children by clergy is not just a problem that occurs in the Catholic community; it is a Jewish problem as well. Haredi rabbis are more interested in "looking good" than they are in helping their students learn to overcome the tragedy of their lost innocence. Rather than bring such matters to the attention of the police, the tendency of these closed communities is to bury the problem and hope it will go away-but it won't. I really must wonder: Can the rabbinic leaders honestly say, "Our hands did not shed this blood, and our eyes did not see the deed"? Not really.

I would suggest, if there is ever yet another change-of-title to this thread, you consider:
Former Penn State Coach and Accessory Before the Fact, Joe Paterno.

http://http://treeclimbers2.blogspot.com/

 

[NFBuck]

I don't know if I'm willing to agree that this whole Sandusky thing was the only instance that he wasn't a straight up guy, as your post suggests. There were more than a few reports of his players getting in trouble with the law later in his career, and Joe "taking care of it" by having them clean up the stadium.

And serious question--what do you mean by these "teachings he gave for years and years?"

There's also the statements from faculty members about how Joe said that he would "handle" the disciplining of his team. Sounds an awful lot like he was taking an active effort to keep things quiet. I think academic fraud, booster issues, etc. happen pretty much everywhere. Penn State is no different. Seems like they just did a better job of keeping that stuff "in house" than most schools.