Preview: Nebraska At Penn State

of including a link to that disgusting e-mail?

You’ve made your opinion known – over and over and over again. That’s fine; it’s kinda your blog. I just don’t see what’s gained by trying to throw another pile of garbage onto PSU’s image. That e-mailer is an ass, but he’s not us.

Good grief.

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2011/11/who_knew_what_about_jerry_sand.html

than to make them watch a Penn State offensive drive.

 I get it that you are taking a very strong stance against Child Molestation. I think we all can say WE ALL FEEL THE SAME WAY. But some of us want the full story before we can say Joe got what he deserved. I am not about to hash out the same arguments that have been made ad nauseam in the past few days. But for the sake of your readership please stop putting us down. I am not brainwashed because I believe there is more to the story than what we know, and that I don’t think Joe would have knowingly let children get raped in his showers. His life’s work leads me to believe it cannot be true, and until I find out the whole story I will remain skeptical of the situation. You can call it brainwashing, I call it sensibility.

I have been a State fan since the early 70’s. Was accepted but couldn’t attend because dad got laid off at the mill, so i joined the Navy instead. I never missed a game as a kid and I can still remember waiting outside the radio room on my ship ,while we were off the coast of Libya, hoping to hear the score of the PSU – Miami Fiesta Bowl game. Now I have two boys. Their rooms look like Penn State shrines. The oldest is enrolling next fall. The youngest is 14 and has more game jerseys than the team ! He is so depressed. For the first time he didn’t wear a game jersey to school on the day before a PSU game. Not worth the harassment from the Pitt lovers. I hate the way the media is covering this but as i told my boys, we brought a lot of this on ourselves. I think the BOT did what they had to do under very tough circumstances. More heads will roll before this is over. As for some of the students, they will have kids someday and they will have a little different outlook on what should have been done. Time will pass and Penn State will return to greatness. Of that i am sure. Go State !

Penn State’s been my second team ever since I thought ‘Nittany’ was a shade of blue (early 80s, pre-internet era). Best of luck to you guys and I think you’ll be surprised how many neutrals are pulling for your classy team to show what Penn State’s all about this Saturday.
All I can say about Joe Pa is that it’s been a heartbreaking five days. Regardless, through their class and toughness, the team, tomorrow, next Saturday, and with the positive influence they will have on their respective communities post-graduation, will reflect very well on his tenure. Hook’em and God Bless!

“If we continue to bash witnesses for what they didn’t do, instead of what they are doing, how do you think that will make future witnesses feel?”

People bashing McQuery aren’t thinking it through and may be helping other child molestors get away with it by making death threats and the like against him.

I am relatively new to the SBNation series of blogs and I’ve been slowly collecting my favorite teams: Maryland (I’m an alum), Orioles, Broncos, and now Penn State. It’s been a brutal week for the community and I came here to see how the community was handling it. However, I wasn’t able to contribute because of the extended waiting period (certainly understandable). What I did do was put together my thoughts about Penn State over at a news aggregate website I participate at. I’ve taken quite the beating over there for expressing my opinions, but such is life when you express an opinion online. I apologize for the length of this, but here goes…

Why Penn State

I am not a Penn State graduate or student. I am an alumnus of the University of Maryland. I find it hard to fully comprehend what current Penn State students are going through.

However, I grew up Penn State. My father is a Penn State graduate. During Falls growing up, we would drive up for a weekend of Penn State football. We’d arrive on Friday night and sleep in the truck in the parking lot. On Saturday, we’d walk into town and enjoy the festivities. Sometimes we would buy tickets to the game, sometimes we’d just hang out in the parking lot and tailgate. After the game, we’d go to a women’s volleyball match, then back to sleep in the truck for the night (always wished for an RV). On Sunday, we would drive out to a park where my dad played football with friends, then head home.

And so, I grew up Penn State. I watched the games on television. I read about the team in newspapers and online. Even without attending the school, it was a family thing for me.

The News

When I heard about the allegations, I was appalled. Any human being would be, especially after reading the grand jury report. It’s even more astounding that, of all schools, this would happen at Penn State. I would have been less shocked if the report was about Maryland.

There is so much that happens in the world that is horrible. Famine is affecting millions in Africa and North Korea. Children are being used as bomb delivery devices and human shields in the Middle East. Children are being trafficked for sex in every nation in the world, including the United States. Gangs kidnap children and seniors in China, maim them, and force them to beg on the street. It is a horrible world.

Yet, it is somehow still “over there”. Even the things that we know are wrong in the United States are often just statistics. Prince George’s County, Maryland had a crime wave at the start of 2011 resulting in a dozen murders in a dozen days. Of course, the victims and their friends, family, and coworkers are affected. Nothing ever affects a person as much as being the victim of a horrible crime. But, for our own psychological health, we almost have to build a wall around our hearts and our minds to the massive suffering shown in the statistics.

One day, you see it. Horrible events happened in a building you have walked past. It’s possible that you were just a couple hundred yards away when those horrible things happened. It’s a feeling in the pit of your stomach that you just can’t even put words to.

What Would You Do?

The event that defines this scandal occurred in 2002. Ironically, tragically, and stupidly, the failures of 1998 are being almost completely ignored. I will put that aside for now. But imagine you walk into that horrible scene in 2002. What do you do?

An endless line of internet and media cowboys have jumped all over themselves to proclaim that they would have beat the perpetrator (who I will not even name here, because I simply feel ill every time I write those letters). They would have pounded the perpetrator, they yell at the top of their lungs. It is impossible to not step in.

I think that we all want to feel that way. But it isn’t true.

I work for a company that does statistical research for the federal government. One of the studies which I have done some work on is the National Crime Victimization Survey. Now, I am very far down and do “grunt” work on the study. I have no access to data that is not publicly available. I am not a statistician. I work very far down on the survey preparation side of this study. I do not in any way claim to be an expert. However, working with this survey has encouraged me to look at the Penn State issue from a different perspective.

    The US Department of Health and Human Services reported 83,600 substantiated reports of sexually abused children in 2005.144145 Including incidents which were not reported would make the total number even larger.146

Here’s what we know:

    The number of minors who are sexually abused every year is staggering.
    The number of sexual abuse incidents which are not reported is staggering and greater than zero.

If the response to Penn State is to be believed, the rate of people who would have stepped in and interrupted that crime in 2002 is 100%. Yet, we know from the statistics that is not the case. If the response to Penn State is to be believed, the rate of people who would have run to the police and pounded on the desk until the perpetrator was arrested is 100%. Yet, we know from the statistics that is not the case… not even close.

There is a very, very vocal group right now declaring multiple people morally reprehensible for responding… exactly how millions of Americans have responded to similar incidents. Serial sexual abuse, such as what the perpetrator at Penn State is alleged to have engaged in, does not occur in a vacuum. There are not signs witnessed by one person, as the Penn State case clearly shows. For every single incident, there are multiple people that could have raised questions. In serial sexual abuse situations, it is rare that there are not dozens of people who will, with hindsight, say that they thought something was off with the situation or that there were isolated signs that they overlooked.

It is extremely easy to type out the words, sit in front of a television camera, or say at the water cooler how courageous one would be if witnessing a terrible crime or becoming aware of a terrible crime. The statistics show that actually responding isn’t that easy.

Influences on Response to a Traumatic Event

Why do people respond the way they do? The factors are infinite.

There are absolutely people who do not respond to or do not report an incident because of criminal or malevolent intentions. The athletic director and another administration official appear to have made a conscious decision to place the public relations of the university above the safety of children. In these instances, prosecutors should attempt to present evidence of such a decision to a jury and seek a conviction.

There are instances where the witness is a victim him or herself. A parent may witness his or her child being abused, or become aware of it, but be unable to act because the perpetrator is victimizing the witness physically or mentally.

Witnesses can be affected by post-traumatic stress disorder. While typically associated with the physical and psychological trauma of war, victims of terrible crimes and witnesses can also be subjected to this. What’s important is that PTSD will alter the way the afflicted person responds to stimuli. An example of this is on display in the West Wing episode “Noël”. Josh Lyman, shot by an assassin the previous year, responds to the sound of music by mentally reliving his shooting. I am not a psychology expert. I am simply putting forward the idea that PTSD can result from witnessing a traumatic situation and can alter the way a person responds to that situation or even in the future.

Witnesses and those who learn of horrible events may enter a state of denial. While we typically see this represented at Newsvine in political debates, denial is a psychological condition and that comes with a variety of significant and serious alterations to normal behavior.

There are many more influences. I am not an expert. I am simply trying to demonstrate that what in hindsight appears completely indefensible may have, at the time, been the only response possible for witnesses or those aware of a situation. I do not know if any of these apply to every person involved in the Penn State situation. I do not know what other possible influences existed. I strongly suspect that some of those influences and motivations will become known as the trial of the perpetrator moves forward and as the emotion of the revelations gives way to the analysis of what happened, when it happened, and why.

“I wish I could have done more.”

This statement was made by Jim Palmer during the pregame show of the first Baltimore Orioles game after the suicide of his colleague and friend, Mike Flanagan. This statement is the response that I had after my roommate’s girlfriend committed suicide in June of this past summer. This is the response that all caring people have when we learn of a victim of a crime who we personally knew.

As I touched on above, hindsight is important. We judge all past events through hindsight. We assume hindsight is perfect, but it also isn’t. There is much known about what happened at Penn State, via the grand jury report, but there is more to be learned as well. It is entirely possible that what is left to be learned will absolutely validate the harshest critics of Paterno, McQueary, and others involved. It is also possible that what is left to be learned will shed some light on what the motivations for certain responses were.

As of now, Coach Paterno is the only person to in any way state that he believes he made a mistake. I think that some of that is tied into that human response to a traumatic situation. I think that some of that is that Paterno knows that if he knew then what he knows now, he absolutely would have worked harder to ensure that no more children were harmed by the predator. I think that it says a lot about Paterno’s character that he has stepped up and admitted a mistake.

And therein lies the question: what is the appropriate response to a mistake? As has been repeatedly stated (and contrary to Sports Illustrated’s slanderous front-page article, more below), law enforcement officials have cleared Paterno of any legal concerns. There are ethical and moral concerns. Should these be judged based on hindsight? Should these be judged based on internet cowboyism? Should these be judged based on the events at the time? Ethics and morals are personal and will be judged based on each individual’s own criteria.

I, for one, have not yet seen any evidence that McQueary or Paterno acted with malice. I have seen evidence that a horrible situation occurred and these men made a mistake. As a result of that mistake, further horrible actions occurred. These men will have to live with that, forever. This brings me to…

Public Reaction

I am appalled at the reaction of the news media to Penn State.

ESPN is running a completely unprofessional campaign to slander Joe Paterno and is attempting to use its clout to have him removed. I watched an hour of SportsCenter tonight and it was infuriating. If one only watched ESPN’s coverage, one would think that Paterno himself had committed the crimes. Every comment allowed on air was editorial in nature and devoted to the sole purpose of demanding Paterno never coach again. There was no sports journalism or news reporting; there was only a clear and inappropriate agenda.

Sports Illustrated has been just as bad. All day yesterday, the front page of their website was an editorial entitled “Paterno Must Go Now”. Today, there has been an article on their front page stating that Paterno may still face legal consequences, which the state’s attorney has unequivocally ruled out.

There has been absolutely no attempt to report the facts of the situation. There has been every attempt to sensationalize and bastardize the coverage.

For example, much has been made of the grand jury investigation and report. This is an important document. It does not, however, close the book on the case. A grand jury is not a fully trial. It determines whether a criminal indictment will be issued. The evidence to be presented in the perpetrator’s trial, including testimony, will dwarf the 25 pages of the grand jury report. I haven’t seen a single media source discuss exactly what the role of a grand jury is in the process. It has been presented as the sum total of all possible evidence.

This article at Black Shoe Diaries conveys the media situation better than I ever could. I encourage you to read it to get a true understand of just how disgusting the media coverage of Penn State has been.

Conclusion

I am obviously upset that this issue even exists. It’s horrible and no child should ever be subjected to what happened.

The administration at Penn State failed in ensuring that information got to appropriate officials.

I do not fault McQueary or Paterno. Both reported what they knew to a superior and I believe that was appropriate. Yes, either one could have called the police themselves (although in 1998, that didn’t exactly do any good). As above, I need more information before I determine for myself whether I find fault with them on a moral level.

ESPN and Sports Illustrated are two of the largest and most popular sports media sources in the United States. Both have failed, horrendously, at covering this story. Both should be completely and utterly embarrassed at the product they have produced over the past five days.