6811375 responses to “Voices From The Classroom”http%3A%2F%2Fwww.worldinconversation.org%2F2012%2F01%2F26%2Fvoices-from-the-classroom-92%2FVoices+From+The+Classroom2012-01-27+00%3A09%3A22Lana+Taylorhttp%3A%2F%2Fwww.worldinconversation.org%2F%3Fp%3D6811
As a freshman at Penn State, my first year of college has truly contained some events that put me in shock. Growing up in a huge Penn State family, I guess I thought that Penn State was the best university the country has to offer. I never would have thought that a huge scandal would occur and that people would have so many negative comments to make whenever Penn State is mentioned in a conversation. However, despite the negative associations people may now have about our university, I still remain a loyal Penn Stater. One thing I can say, as well as every other Penn State student, is that these past few months have caused us all to grow up very fast. Not one of us would have thought that a scandal this horrendous could happen at our second home. But it did, so in response, we all have to deal with the consequences in some way.
If asked what all of these events have taught me, I would say that I have learned all bad actions will always have a consequence. Maybe Sandusky thought that he got away with his disgusting actions, and that he would never have to serve jail time. But his bad actions caught up with him and in the end, he was brought down. The sad part is, that along with his reputation being scarred forever, Penn State’s reputation is scarred forever as well. I have also learned that people need to take responsibility for their actions. That sounds like something our elementary school teachers have taught us many years ago, and yet the majority of adults in our world do not follow it. I have mixed feelings on how Joe Paterno was involved in the situation, and I also have mixed feelings on the Board of Trustee’s decisions. But my personal opinion is beyond the point. When looking at the whole picture, it is very obvious that something went wrong. People who may have known about Sandusky’s action failed to put a stop to them instantly. In this case, I learned that not only should everyone take responsibility for their actions, everyone should always make moral decisions. The moral decision would have been to contact the correct authority and put the terrible child abuse cases to a stop right away. However, people got caught up in the situation (as many people do), and were incapable of making the moral decision.
I believe that there are many details in the Sandusky allegations that the public doesn’t know about. Possibly, we will never know the full truth. It is safe to say that throughout these past couple of months, all the Penn State students have experienced some of the most tragic and unthinkable events in our university’s existence. I think that these events in the end have caused us all to mature and stick closer together as a Penn State family.
I have learned a lot from this whole issue involving the scandal at Penn State. For starters, I’ve been a Penn Stater since I was born. I grew up in State College, and I think that being from the area, I have a different perspective than some of the students who come here and have only been here a short amount of time. I have learned that the media can change a lot of things, and how much power the media actually has. Whenever I would read something in the paper, I just automatically assumed, blindly, that what I was reading was the unbiased truth. I may not have thought that completely, but it never occurred to me that what I was reading may actually be very twisted and different from the truth. I’ve learned not to be so judgmental when I read things like that, because that may be the whole purpose of it; to make people believe what they are writing, because it’s more exciting than the actual truth.
I’ve also learned that people take this to their advantage. I know that a lot of blogs, forums, and posts have been written about this issue. Some anonymous, and some not. However on the anonymous ones, people are outrageous. I’ve read some posts that JoePa was actually the Sandusky in this so-called drama, and people take that and run with it. Because it’s anonymous, people don’t feel like they will be judged and that it will be on them, and therefore they can say whatever they want.
I’ve also learned how deceiving the world around me can be. As I have said before, I’ve grown up in State College, been on campus when I was younger, and grew up with “down-town” as the place to go hang out in middle school. After hearing about Sandusky and his “scandal,” I was originally very upset and disturbed. At first I couldn’t get it out of my mind, and it sickened me. These alleged events occurred in buildings I’ve visited, at events that I’ve attended. After looking back on it, it sickens me to think that I’ve been in places at the same time as some of the incidents. At first, it corrupted my whole childhood experience; thinking about these alleged acts, and the way that people I looked up to handled them. I took this whole issue to heart, and couldn’t get past it to forgive and move on. As the media twisted more things, and plastered it everywhere, I realized how hard things can be to let go. The purpose is to keep it in your mind and keep reminding you of it, but once I recognized this, I was able to let this distressing burden down.
This whole experience from november till now has had a great change of perspective to me. I am from new york and I came to penn state specifically for the love loyalty and pride that i had invisioned here. I turned down athletic scholarships in order to fufill my childhood dream of coming to penn state, and the legacy of joe paterno was a large part of that. I was sickened to my stomach after reading the grand jury report and to even hear that something of such a sick nature could happen here. Im from a big city and I have had my fair share of misjudgements so ive always tried to look at the bright side, what could have been going on. but in this instance in the case of jerry sandusky i can not fathom or understand the illness that causes a man to do things like he did. I have always and still do love joe paterno reguardless of people who have thrown slander on him for his accusations but i also felt heart broken because this big scandal was not just about one sick man it carried out to the whole university. Also considering the fact that graham spanier knew the whole time as well was like what the fuck because it shows that its not about integrity but loyalty. I find loyalty pretty important and it is a main cause of why i came here but it was just turned from a good thing to a bad thing. It also brings attention to me the things outside of penn state where this is going on constantly, a reason for our economic crisis. People feel loyal to their friends or people that they network with over the intergrity of a hard worker so they will ( in a higher employer position) hire a friend over that hard worker because their loyalty. There will always be a behind the scenes. In the media how they tried to manipulate all these peoples opinions to their own, if you just tell the story is as the truth people can take what they want from it instead of it being a bias story. I also see this in politics. I hate politics but ive noticed over the years it hasnt been about content but just one big fucking show for stupid americans to buy into a vote for the one that appeals to their eyes as the best candidate. Or like what sam said in class that the fact of a presidental candidate being bilingual hurts then in a race, because it demonstrates they arent loyal to their country. BULLSHIT!. its called intelligence, americans really need to wise up because when united states goes down in the shits and crumbles ( which it will its just a matter of time) nobody is going to know their head from their ass because theyve believed every lie theyve been told. And it hurts us it really does because how are we supposed to be good people as a whole when everyone is getting the wool pullen over their eyes left and right? People complain about how these horrible crimes go on but its karma in a sense, not to the individual but to the nation as a whole. I myself try to give the benefit of the doubt but in the end i dont want something to break my heart that i strongly believe in so i have to be protective of myself. In that i can only go on based on my own opinions, experiences, and values but how am i to know what is really right or what the best outcome is when you invest in something or someone. I honestly do go crazy with questions and i have no sense of security except my parents.
Personally i have learned a lot of life lessons from being a Penn State student these past few months. When i first heard of the scandal it was in a very subtle and hear say type of way. No one really knew what was going on, they just heard that one of our ex assistant coaches had been molesting children. i remember one of the first questions that was asked was about Joe Pa and whether he was involved or not. the conversation was short and we all went on with our day. little did we know that this scandal was going to change our lives as Penn Staters forever. When the scandal broke out in a big way a few days later, i felt heartbroken. Seeing people's posts on twitter, mostly strangers, made me feel like a place that i had loved whole heartedly for a year and a half was an institution that i should be embarrassed of. I called my parents hysterical crying telling them how upset i was because my school had been such a respected place and now these strangers were making me question whether or not we would ever be the same. My reaction to all of the criticism made me realize that although i consider myself a leader not a follower, i really do care a lot about what other people think of me. Even though this situation had absolutely nothing to do with me and the students of Penn State, i was afraid of the judgement i was going to face in the future. This also made me realize how much i really do love this school and that we are Penn State, not just a football team. A few days later when Joe Pa was fired and everyone ran to to beaver to "riot" i decided not to go because i knew that there was absolutely nothing to be riot for. My opinion was that Joe Pa was a great man, and he didn't deserve to be fired the way that he had been after all he had done for this school, but he was known to be a humanitarian and a man of great moral standards and he did not live up to those standards all those years when he let Sandusky go unpunished for the lives that he had ruined. When i told my mom how i felt and why i didn't go, she was very proud of me. I then realized that half if not all of the students at that riot probably only went because their friends were going, not because they felt they wanted to riot. This made me realize that you shouldn't do something just because everyone else is doing it, you should think about the big picture of the situation instead of following everyone else. If most of my student body had done that then we would have saved ourselves a lot of criticism and embarrassment. From these past few months i have learned that you must stand up for what you believe in, but you must also look at every aspect of the situation and not be blinded by the intense Penn State pride that most of us possess.
After having my recitation class yesterday and discussing everything and anything about the last few months here at Penn State, there was one major idea that really stuck with me for the rest of the day. The idea of categorizing people into one group due to one person’s actions or a few people’s actions. Our TA Ben threw out the comparison of people grouping Penn State students with Sandusky and being “molesters” with Muslim’s being terrorists due to some extremist’s actions. I personally think the two ideas are vastly different but I found the idea of people categorizing a group as something due to one action, really affects everyday lives and is something that is hard to avoid amidst a scandal. I think that the Muslim example and Penn State student example is very different in terms of categorizing. With the Penn State scandal, I think people make these assumptions and throw out these nasty words to us because they are envious of our university. Penn State has a huge celebrity factor, which is that you want to see a celebrity do well yet you love to see them fail. Penn State has such a prestigious connotation to whether its sports or academics or the various philanthropic projects we involve ourselves in. With all that to offer, we are also labeled as a great party school, something that people really thrive on. To put it the best way, we are the best of both worlds in both school and social life. Once we gave people an opportunity to see that we are weak, they immediately bashed and used the only negative thing they had to repeatedly insult us.
Although I find both situations to be extremely ignorant on the side of the judgmental people, I think that the Muslim categorization is different. I think people assume that “all Muslims are terrorists” because of the constant stories you hear in the media, and especially for Americans, the actions of 9/11. They categorize the actions of a group of sick, extremist men and apply that to an entire religion. I think with the increasing death tolls that are reported all over the news as well as people not being exposed to the Muslim religion as much as other religions here in the United States, people are easy to say that all Muslims believe the same thing. I think the religion factor is a huge game changer, therefore people decide that they all think the same if they have the same faith.
This scandal has really taught me how ignorant and quick people are to judge. They hear something bad and they immediately want to agree and lash out according to what the public opinion is. When my friends make Facebook statuses about how “Joe Paterno is probably playing with the kids in heaven,” or “to all my Penn State friends coming home: stay away from my little brother,” I get extremely angry obviously because of how ignorant these people sound. Joe Paterno didn’t do anything to any children and no Penn State student was involved with the scandal whatsoever. All because of Sandusky’s actions, we are now categorized with this monster. This scandal has taught me to be more open and try to be more educated about different situations that happen, before making my own opinion on the matter.
I think a few of the biggest things that I've learned from all the events that have unfolded in the past few months are 1) how quick people are to make judgments, 2) how ill-informed and ignorant most of the judgments are, 3) how people associate a large population of people with few people's actions, and 4) how easily people sit on a high horse and criticize others.
After news broke of the entire scandal, people went absolutely crazy with Facebook statuses. Suddenly, everyone had an opinion on the matter and thought the world wanted to read about it. I would see paragraph or more statuses from people who were ranting about how much Penn State and its students suck or about Joe Pa being the devil and then book long responses back from Penn State students defending their honor. It was so exhausting and I even deleted my Facebook for awhile because I was sick of seeing all these statuses with opinions, judgments, and criticisms. When I went home for break last semester, I had a good friend come up to me and tell me Joe Pa, Sandusky, and Penn State jokes asking if we all thought we were pretty sweet for rioting in a sarcastic manner. What was so frustrating was that he didn't even have his facts right and I calmly explained to him how I didn't riot and how more than twice the amount of people attended the prayer vigil for the victims then riot. I was just amazed at how quick people were to criticize Penn State and I think a big part of it is due to the fact that we have such a unique, proud culture here that people are jealous of and love to see in hard times. I guess that is with everything in life, that when you are proud and held to such a high standard that people love to see you fall and will be the first to criticize should the opportunity come up. Before I deleted my facebook, I would read these comments from people who simply had not read anything about the scandal. The majority had not read the jury report and just sounded ignorant. I had people ask me if Joe Pa touched little boys and watching ESPN it would seem that way. I guess I learned that people are quick to judge, make opinions, and SHARE their opinions before even making sure they have the facts. What blew my mind was that people thought everyone wanted their opinion on the matter. And I think that's what social media does, is make people think that EVERYTHING they are thinking should be published for the world to see—because the world cares. And that was literally the last thing I cared, or probably, anyone cared to read about and its always the well-informed people who keep their opinions to themselves. It's like how loud can the biggest asshole yell to get their opinion heard?So that covers my first two learned points.
The third was how people suddenly associate you with a few people's actions. One instance in particular was I had a good guy friend from high school post something on Facebook about how Penn State students are the biggest jokes in the world and should all be ashamed of themselves for rioting and that we should go back to what we do best-drink nattys. I informed him that we drink natty lite, so clearly his status was discredited. But…it was just crazy how those who rioted were a minority and that so many more people started clubs to raise awareness or attended the candle light vigil. And like we discussed in class, defending joe pa does not mean we do not support the victims. So, I guess the third lesson was just that people are so quick to generalize everyone with the actions of a very few, which is unfortunate. And my fourth point goes with this one, and its just that like the kid who posted that on his status, he was so quick to sit on his high horse like he was better than every penn state student and would never have rioted. This kid rioted when the steelers won the super bowl and I know for a fact he would have been out there had the tables been turned. This goes for people who look down upon Joe Pa, a man who had better morals and values than most people, for not doing more. And I just think, when you're not in the situation and you don't know the circumstances, it is so easy to say "you're wrong, I would have done this". Because quite frankly, who knows what you would do? So I learned that people are quick to point at people and look down on them for their actions, when in reality they may of done the same exact thing had they been in the situation.
The past four or five months here at Penn State have really made me struggle with my beliefs on people, society, the media, and Penn State. The scandal was something that none of us wanted to believe Joe Paterno had taken a part of. From the day my sister enrolled as a freshman at Penn State seven years ago, I was immediately a Penn State proud fan. My pride in Penn State is still everlasting and although this scandal has made me question many things about society and people’s personalities, I still believe in Penn State as a ever- successful academic school with great pride, people, sports, opportunities, etc. Because I am a freshman here, I must admit that I was somewhat disheartened by all this mayhem going on concerning the scandal and the godlike figure of Joepa. I waited four years to finally be a student here, and all I ever wanted was to experience Joepa on the field and the wonderful happiness and excitement concerning the whole football scene and just in the school as a whole. I know that Penn State will literally never stop having as much pride as it does, but I was saddened that my “relationship” with Joepa lasted so shortly. I always read stories and articles about him that made me either cry or smile so widely. I thought he was the cutest man and such a good figure here at Penn Sate. I still hold this belief because of the amount of things he helped for Penn State to prosper. However, after this whole scandal, I did learn many things about people and myself. Firstly, I learned that everyone has flaws, some much bigger than others. Everyone held Joe Paterno on a high pedestal because of the amazing things he did that cannot be denied to this day. But, however great of a figure he was, he still made a large mistake. Yes he could have done more and what not, but that is not the point of my blog. In the end, it is proven that everyone, no matter how religious or of a peacemaker you are, you are capable of making mistakes. This was a large one, but it makes me feel somewhat better about myself that everyone in the world has flaws and is capable of making mistakes. Another thing I learned is that I cannot always find an answer for myself. This scandal has brought about so many questions and I cannot always find a concrete simple answer, such as my view on this scandal. We must not lie to ourselves about the facts, but it is hard to come to a full hard view of the situation. And lastly, I have learned that the media will blow up when they can feed on something so good. Everyone knows Penn Sate and Joe Pa, and its like this scandal was the jackpot for them. I agree it deserves to be on the media and talked about, but the extremities of it were very harsh. Even on social networks the comments were breathtaking because of the harshness of them. In the end, it proves to me that the media, friends, social networks, and anything/one else will talk about our school, and I can do nothing about it but hold my beliefs and know how I feel.
When a person dies, whether famous or not, whether deemed good or evil, once they leave the earth, we must let them go in peace. They should be granted respect, and they should be wished serenity. We can keep them alive in our minds, and we can tell stories, but the family and loved ones of this person should always be taken into consideration. These are the things that are often forgotten when a death is in the midst of scandal, and these are the things that many forgot at Penn State.
Here at Penn State, we must remember the late and great Joe Paterno’s family first, Sue Paterno, Jay Paterno, his 4 other children, and his 17 grandchildren. This is something I’ve wanted to shout at all the media rolling into Penn State the last week. Likewise, we students, who may not be blood related, feel as though Joe Paterno was family to us. He was our figurehead, he was a grandpa like figure, and we all felt personally attached to him. We students respect and love Joe Pa so much, because we owe him everything. This man made our University great, he truly made it what it is today. So, who would expect less from the student body, than to riot his firing? Or send him thousands of letters? Or cry when we heard he was taken off of his respirator? Or bedeck his statue with gifts? Or line the streets for his procession? This man was more than a College Football Coach, he and his wife poured 10 million dollars into our library, he started Paterno fellows, and his most common advice to students is, “to get back to the books.” He funded Penn State, and he brought it fame, he made it the great University it is today. He is the reason that the Penn State Alumni is the largest in the world, and frankly he is the reason that you and I were able to come here. So, who are the media critics to say that WE as students, are WRONG to support him?
What I have learned from living in the midst of one of the biggest scandals, is that the media, critics, and people who are not directly related to the situation, are the ones who are most infatuated with it. The media has been a terror throughout this entire time, and frankly, so have my peers at different Colleges. What I have gathered is that people feed off of other’s sadness, likewise, people skew the truth to get a better story. I’ve never believed that people are inherently evil, however I believe that people have always been infatuated with “evil,” because people have always been infatuated with power. Did everyone forget who is the real evil person in this scandal? It’s as though Sandusky’s name is hardly mentioned anymore. Joe Paterno became his scapegoat, because the media found it more interesting to sacrifice a legendary hero. Frankly, it’s just sad to me that an entire nation will gather together to gossip and persecute an innocent man, just to be “involved.”
Over the past few months the Penn State community has gone through an enormous amount of publicity from the scandal to the recent death of Joe Paterno, this class has made me step back and look at the situation as a whole.
This experience has shown me how much people rely on the media for their information, whether it is correct or incorrect. People feel that what the media posts will be right so when they read news they assume it is correct. The main focus of the media is to catch the reader’s attention so of course when it comes to scandal at Penn State they are going to throw JoePa’s name on the front of any news article. He has the biggest name of anybody that is a part of Penn State and everybody knows who he is. By doing this people that were watching the news or reading the articles automatically assumed that the scandal was JoePa’s fault and not Jerry Sandusky’s. I had people from home texting me saying, “what’s up with that old guy Paterno touching little boys up there at Penn State, that’s gross,” when that was not the story at all. Another thing is that since we are Penn State and we are known all over the world, the media constantly is putting up more and more articles about the scandal in comparison to Syracuse where the same thing happened and you barely hear anything about it. Three months after the whole scandal surfaced, cnn is still posting articles about it. I understand that part of the media’s job is to grab the reader’s attention but they should really focus on the true issue. By now everyone knows the basics, therefore it is time to let it rest and move on. That being said, I use to read articles on cnn and yahoo everyday about events that were happening, I find myself more hesitant now on not knowing whether information is true or if they are just trying to make a mountain out of a molehill.
Another thing I have learned is that as soon as something is released through the news, people feel the need to automatically have an opinion on it and take a side. I don’t understand why people feel the need to jump to conclusions before they know any of the facts first. As of right now nothing has been proven, so technically nobody has the right to take a side since they don’t know the truth. When the truth is revealed, go ahead and take a side, but not before the facts are known. Jumping to conclusions just makes things more difficult and puts people in bad situations especially when what they are saying may not be true because they make assumptions. I found it immature that there were people on Facebook that have chosen to delete me and other Penn Staters. They automatically assumed that we don’t care about the victims just JoePa, when actually we do care about them. I have also made the decision now that I no longer like to speak about the scandal or argue over who is right or wrong in the entire situation.
For me the past few months have left me questioning a lot. Whether it be specific individuals, people in general, or the whole world I feel like I have become a lot more skeptical of everything. I worked at a child development center this summer and I worked with a woman who used to be employed by the Second Mile. She worked as a program coordinator where she supervised and lived in a house with a group of boys that the Second Mile sponsored. One of her main supervisors was Jerry Sandusky. She knew him on a personal level and recalled times that Sandusky would come by the house and bring the boys gifts and take them out on special field trips. The whole time, she thought he was just this amazing philanthropic guy that was trying to better the lives of these under-privileged kids. She had no clue what a horrible, deceitful person he actually was. When she found out about the news, she was dumbstruck. She could not believe that someone who did so much good could do something so bad.
When she told me this, it really got me thinking. How many people that are in my life right now that I consider to be wonderful people will turn out to be someone completely different? Honestly, it scares the living hell out of me. I always think back to the kids. These kids looked up to Sandusky, they thought of him as a role model even. They aspired to be him. Imagine your role model, turning on you like that. Not only is it disturbing and evil but it is the ultimate betrayal. To have someone you trusted and looked up to do something so terrible to you. It is completely tragic.
Another lesson I feel that I have learned from the whole debacle is that the Penn State community is one of the most resilient, strong, amazing communities in the whole world. It was like we were a piece of DNA under a microscope, being judged and watched by millions of people worldwide. From the people who organized the candlelight vigil for the victims that over 10,000 people attended, to the selling of thousands of shirts that supported child sexual abuse victims, to the blue out football game, to over $100,000 dollars raised for RAINN, the Penn State community really pulled together as one to show their support and dedication to the victims and their families. These efforts truly amazed and inspired me. It showed me, and I think it showed the world what a truly unique and wonderful place Penn State is. We showed everyone that when the going gets tough, we fight back. The effort to raise awareness and the support for the cause really makes me proud to say I go to Penn State.
In the past few months there have been a lot things happened at Penn State. I feel like I have learned a lot and I believed that it have taught everyone something too. This is my first year at Penn State and I would have never thought that something like this would ever happen. When I first got accepted to Penn States, I was so happy because Penn State is one of my first choices, and this is the University I really wanted to come to. My parents always showing off their friends that I’m going to a good university, they were so proud of me and I feel so special about it. However, the recent event had made a lot of people think differently that they used to think about Penn State. I have learned when someone had done so many good things in life and had done a lot of amazing things for other people, but when had done something wrong for once and make a wrong decision, people will judging you and forget all about the good things that you had done before. Nobody perfect, everyone make mistake. Joe Paterno is just like another human being too he made mistake like everybody else. I believed that Joe Parterno tried his very best to be a perfect person which is nobody is. In the past 50 years he tried really hard to make Penn State as it is today, and one of the top Universities in the United States. When I first out that Joe got fire, it wasn’t affect me that much because I didn’t know him and I didn’t give too much attention to what he had done for Penn States. However, when I saw so many students go crazy had done so many violent things on the street. I started to step back and think about it again. He is one of the best heroes; he could do everything to keep Penn State alive. And I also believed that if time could go back Joe will do something better school and the community. If I was in Joe’s shoes I really don’t know what to do because I really don’t know what to choose between friendship and community. Furthermore, Joe had changed too many points of views in my life; I have judged people or situations based on a newspaper article or short news clip on TV. But I never sure what is really going on, sometimes you need to put yourself in somebody’s shoes so you can know what is the real purpose of doing the wrong things or wrong decisions. The death of Joe will motivate us as a university or a community to truly move forward.
In the past few months there have been a lot things happened at Penn State. I feel like I have learned a lot and I believed that it have taught everyone something too. This is my first year at Penn State and I would have never thought that something like this would ever happen. When I first got accepted to Penn States, I was so happy because Penn State is one of my first choices, and this is the University I really wanted to come to. My parents always showing off their friends that I’m going to a good university, they were so proud of me and I feel so special about it. However, the recent event had made a lot of people think differently that they used to think about Penn State. I have learned when someone had done so many good things in life and had done a lot of amazing things for other people, but when had done something wrong for once and make a wrong decision, people will judging you and forget all about the good things that you had done before. Nobody perfect, everyone make mistake. Joe Paterno is just like another human being too he made mistake like everybody else. I believed that Joe Parterno tried his very best to be a perfect person which is nobody is. In the past 50 years he tried really hard to make Penn State as it is today, and one of the top Universities in the United States. When I first out that Joe got fire, it wasn’t affect me that much because I didn’t know him and I didn’t give too much attention to what he had done for Penn States. However, when I saw so many students go crazy had done so many violent things on the street. I started to step back and think about it again. He is one of the best heroeshe could do everything to keep Penn State alive. And I also believed that if time could go back Joe will do something better school and the community. If I was in Joe’s shoes I really don’t know what to do because I really don’t know what to choose between friendship and community. Furthermore, Joe had changed too many points of views in my life; I have judged people or situations based on a newspaper article or short news clip on TV. But I never sure what is really going on, sometimes you need to put yourself in somebody’s shoes so you can know what is the real purpose of doing the wrong things or wrong decisions. The death of Joe will motivate us as a university or a community to truly move forward.
The Jerry Sandusky Sex abuse scandal infuriates me. I no longer have the same pride in being a Nittany Lion that I once had and dreamed of having as a child. In the future, I'm going to have to deal with all kinds of people and even employers who's first thought when hearing the name Penn State is: "That place where those kids got molested." So that should be a blast to deal with. If there is anything I learned from this whole situation, it's that people hate change, and struggle to deal with immensely. Joe Paterno was so synonymous with Penn State that people in this area did not understand how to separate the two VERY different entities. It got to the point where people started blatantly skewing the facts to make it look like Joe Paterno was the "good guy" in all of this. I may have been guilty of it too, to some extent, but at least I was aware enough to recognize the injustice to reason happening all around me. Joe Pa messed up. He messed up bad. I don't think he was a bad person, but NO ONE is too big to fall. I'm not sure if I'm using this in the correct context, but the death of Joe Paterno always made me think of the Dark Knight quote: "You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become a villain. I think about that, and all I can think to myself is "damn…" because Joe Paterno is one man who truly did both. Getting back to the lesson i learned though…It's hard cope with something that not only affects you, but dramatically affects those around you. I saw a bandwagon effect emerge in the midst of the "crisis". A lot of people who never gave two shits about JoePa decided they were now a huge fan, and he inspired them. It only added to the madness. I never felt as though I was seeing sincere sorrow over his death. It always seemed as though people just didn't want to be left out. I really bothered me, because it made it difficult to tell what the "true" impact of his death was. Looking past the insincerity, I feel bad for those people who aren't capable of coping with the loss of someone who meant so much to them. I also sympathize with the denial they display, in some cases. But no matter what, it is important that Joe Paterno is remembered for EVERYTHING he did or didn't do. To remember, purely, the positive things he did isn't fair. This what I think we should take away form the death of Joe Paterno and the Jerry Sandusky Scandal that loomed over the end of his life,
I feel that I’ve come to learn a lot about life and about how we as humans act from everything that has happened to Joe Paterno, may he rest in peace. First of all, let me say that Joe Paterno is a man that deserves a lot of respect. He took this school to such a high level of excellence. Without him, Penn State would not be half of what it is today. He not only brought us excellence in football, he brought a new standard of academics, not only for football players, but for everyone. I feel that this school owes him so much, and that we treated him unfairly with everything that happened with the scandal.
So one thing I learned about our society, is how the media centers around people of great standards and accomplishments, like Joe Paterno, and as soon as something happens that in some way soils their name, like the scandal, the media focuses on that person. The scandal was about the horrifying acts of Jerry Sandusky, but all you ever saw in the news was Joe Paterno, and how Joe Paterno screwed up. Sure, Joe Paterno did screw up, I hate to think that he did, but it is what it is. What Sam said in class really shed a lot of light on the topic for me. It grouped all of the thoughts I had floating in my mind and compressed them into one thought that I always had but didn’t really realize. And what Sam said is what I’ll always remember and what I’ll always recite when someone asks me about the issue. Joe Paterno was thought of as someone that was above everyone else, someone not human, but of higher status. But the truth is Joe was human, and humans make mistakes. I think it’s horrible how the media portrayed him in his last weeks of life, and ultimately, like a lot of people, I think it played a big role in his death. In my opinion, the media killed Joe Paterno. But as soon as he passed away, all the stories took a turn and honored him for all of his accomplishments. It shouldn’t have been like that. The media should have yes, acknowledged the mistake that Joe made, acknowledge that he actually did tell his superiors, and also acknowledge the great contributions he made to millions of lives, not wait until they killed him to acknowledge all the great things that he did. I know that I’ll always see Joe Paterno for the great man that he was. I’ll remember the huge positive effect he had on so many people. And I’ll always strive to be like him. I’ll try to promote academic excellence. I’ll try to promote success with honor. I know that I’m not the only one that will take these lessons from Joe, and by promoting them, Joe will live on. And I’d like to think that Joe can see us from where ever he is, and see that what he taught made an impact on many people. And I also hope, but know that it will not be likely, but I’ll still hope that the media sees what kind of damage they can do to a person’s reputation, and see that the stories they publish can kill people, and I hope that they change how they pick what to focus on when they publish stories.
The first thing I learned from the Sandusky Scandal was that we have to be able to judge people as a whole – to see their entire lifetime and all of their accomplishments. A person’s life should not just be concentrated on a single bad thing that happened. A life can’t be viewed with blinders on, the whole picture has to be seen and understood. Unfortunately, with all of today’s technological advances, it is so easy to cover a news item immediately and dig up every little thing that may or may not have had anything to do with the initial problem. Joe Paterno had done many great things for the Penn
State community. He funded the library, supported students in their liberal arts studies, mentored countless men while they played on the team and for many years even when they were off the roster. Many of these facts were omitted during the articles and obituaries that were aired and written. There would be few short sentences about the first 84 years of his life and a few paragraphs about his last 5 months of life. It is as if people put their hands in a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle box, pulled out a single piece and put together the whole story from that.
In the heart of evil, also known as 9/11, where a deplorable act made whole communities across the country come together to support each other, innocent people who obviously had nothing to do with the terrorist acts were automatically ostracized due only to their names and physical appearances. This was based on the naïve and uneducated belief systems that the majority of the American public place their beliefs on. This type of uneducated, jumping to conclusions situation is like what happened in Pennsylvania recently. Wanting to convict someone without evidence to back it up is the same stupid mentality that has been seen many times before. No one wants to give the accused a minute to explain their side of the story. Everyone is only interested in getting the dirt out and ignoring what is of no interest to them and perhaps even the truth. If it doesn’t make the entertainment news headlines, that information seems to get lost and only the few people who take the extra step to look further are the ones who are rewarded with the whole story.
During the times of scandals, it also brings awareness to situations that have previously been swept under the rug. These types of situations have happened to others and the people shouldn’t be terrified to bring it out in the open. The Sandusky Scandal has allowed people from all across the country to share their stories with others, to let them realize that they are not alone in their private battles anymore. Sadly when a child is sexually abused, it is done by someone who the child knows and trusts, perhaps a family member, teacher or clergy member. They are told repeated not to tell anyone, and ultimately there is no safe outlet for the child to take advantage of.
The events concerning the cover up have taught me that people are very unforgiving and will form an opinion and stick to it no matter what. Despite their lack of information, or their accumulation of false information, people have a hard time changing their views on a particular subject, whatever it may be. Not long after the scandal was exposed to the public and the media had infiltrated the campus, I went canning with a group that I am in. The signs that we wore and the cans we had made it very clear that we were students of the Pennsylvania state University. Throughout the 2 days that we were there, we received a variety of comments in relation to the scandal. Some people refused to give us money, and on top of that made it clear that it was due the fact that we came from Penn State. I just think it is a little that people were refusing us to give us money to help children based on an incident that involved a relatively small amount of people. It just showed ignorance in my opinion on the part of those who tried to justify keeping money from these children who really need it on the principle of a situation they really knew nothing about. Some of these very people believed that Joe Paterno was the one who committed the heinous acts. They refused to be swayed on their position when we tried to tell them otherwise. In retrospect it was probably just as ignorant on our part to even entertain their foolishness. It was like even when people began to realize that the scandal was not a reason not to donate money, they still refused to give in. Another example of how stubborn people can be is a letter my professor showed us in English class. The letter was to the editor and appeared in the collegian. An employer from a company in Texas basically stated that he would never again hire and 0planned to fire all Penn State alumni that worked for his company. His reasoning was that the riot that ensued following Paterno’s removal as coach showed support of the incidents involving the young boys. He seemed extremely set in his ways and took the most drastic of measures. In my opinion it seems, once again, ignorant to take such actions. The current employees of that company were not present at the riot, and neither was a large percentage of the student body. I also feel that by him saying the riot was in support of the activities shows a lack of knowledge of the whole story. He was making very significant decisions with only a little bit of information.
I would say that I have learned that the world is a pretty tough place. In light of the whole scandal it’s pretty sad and horrible what has gone on here and just truly very unfortunate. There were some terrible, wretched acts occurring on this campus that we live, love and support. It just shows that no matter where you are, there are sick, disturbed people in this world, and it kind of steals your innocence. Even though it is the Sandusky scandal, all the attention from this horrible thing is not on the kids, not on Jerry Sandusky himself, but on Joe Paterno. I’ve also learned that the media is a terrible, fucked up thing too. They bring ALL the attention on him because he was the God of this university, and the most victorious coach in all of college football, so why not put it on him? But that’s what disgusts me. I know I’m not supposed to choose a position in this blog but it’s going to come out to an extent anyways so my apologies. But the media has to blow up this entire scandal in Penn State’s face, so it is a top news story and the entire nation knows about it. The best part is…. anyone who is not at Penn State is like man how about Paterno? And I’m just so saddened that after everything that man has done for this school, and students for decades, this is how it had to end. And it’s not about Paterno. It’s about Sandusky seeing justice, it’s about the victims who had a more traumatic experience than any child or human being should ever have to experience. Yet, it was all about Joe. Now I’m going to speak my mind a little bit. People have their opinions whether you’re a Penn Stater or not, and many times people not from this school will ask me “So what do you all think? Joe had to go right??” I have very mixed feelings on the situation. I’m not going to go into detail, however I just feel sad for him, for the kids, and for the university for having to go thru with this. I guess I’m saying I have learned the world isn’t as nice as we hope it would be. People go to work, come home, watch television, day after day. For weeks this horrific news was on every station for hours. I guess I could also say I lost tons of respect for the media. Not that I really respected it to begin with but I felt terrible how they put it all on Joe Pa. It’s all about the money in this world is what it seems, and the biggest thing this scandal has taught me is the world is not all cute and cuddly, it’s a bitch.
As a freshman at Penn State, my first year of college has truly contained some events that put me in shock. Growing up in a huge Penn State family, I guess I thought that Penn State was the best university the country has to offer. I never would have thought that a huge scandal would occur and that people would have so many negative comments to make whenever Penn State is mentioned in a conversation. However, despite the negative associations people may now have about our university, I still remain a loyal Penn Stater. One thing I can say, as well as every other Penn State student, is that these past few months have caused us all to grow up very fast. Not one of us would have thought that a scandal this horrendous could happen at our second home. But it did, so in response, we all have to deal with the consequences in some way.
If asked what all of these events have taught me, I would say that I have learned all bad actions will always have a consequence. Maybe Sandusky thought that he got away with his disgusting actions, and that he would never have to serve jail time. But his bad actions caught up with him and in the end, he was brought down. The sad part is, that along with his reputation being scarred forever, Penn State’s reputation is scarred forever as well. I have also learned that people need to take responsibility for their actions. That sounds like something our elementary school teachers have taught us many years ago, and yet the majority of adults in our world do not follow it. I have mixed feelings on how Joe Paterno was involved in the situation, and I also have mixed feelings on the Board of Trustee’s decisions. But my personal opinion is beyond the point. When looking at the whole picture, it is very obvious that something went wrong. People who may have known about Sandusky’s action failed to put a stop to them instantly. In this case, I learned that not only should everyone take responsibility for their actions, everyone should always make moral decisions. The moral decision would have been to contact the correct authority and put the terrible child abuse cases to a stop right away. However, people got caught up in the situation (as many people do), and were incapable of making the moral decision.
I believe that there are many details in the Sandusky allegations that the public doesn’t know about. Possibly, we will never know the full truth. It is safe to say that throughout these past couple of months, all the Penn State students have experienced some of the most tragic and unthinkable events in our university’s existence. I think that these events in the end have caused us all to mature and stick closer together as a Penn State family.
I have learned a lot from this whole issue involving the scandal at Penn State. For starters, I’ve been a Penn Stater since I was born. I grew up in State College, and I think that being from the area, I have a different perspective than some of the students who come here and have only been here a short amount of time. I have learned that the media can change a lot of things, and how much power the media actually has. Whenever I would read something in the paper, I just automatically assumed, blindly, that what I was reading was the unbiased truth. I may not have thought that completely, but it never occurred to me that what I was reading may actually be very twisted and different from the truth. I’ve learned not to be so judgmental when I read things like that, because that may be the whole purpose of it; to make people believe what they are writing, because it’s more exciting than the actual truth.
I’ve also learned that people take this to their advantage. I know that a lot of blogs, forums, and posts have been written about this issue. Some anonymous, and some not. However on the anonymous ones, people are outrageous. I’ve read some posts that JoePa was actually the Sandusky in this so-called drama, and people take that and run with it. Because it’s anonymous, people don’t feel like they will be judged and that it will be on them, and therefore they can say whatever they want.
I’ve also learned how deceiving the world around me can be. As I have said before, I’ve grown up in State College, been on campus when I was younger, and grew up with “down-town” as the place to go hang out in middle school. After hearing about Sandusky and his “scandal,” I was originally very upset and disturbed. At first I couldn’t get it out of my mind, and it sickened me. These alleged events occurred in buildings I’ve visited, at events that I’ve attended. After looking back on it, it sickens me to think that I’ve been in places at the same time as some of the incidents. At first, it corrupted my whole childhood experience; thinking about these alleged acts, and the way that people I looked up to handled them. I took this whole issue to heart, and couldn’t get past it to forgive and move on. As the media twisted more things, and plastered it everywhere, I realized how hard things can be to let go. The purpose is to keep it in your mind and keep reminding you of it, but once I recognized this, I was able to let this distressing burden down.
This whole experience from november till now has had a great change of perspective to me. I am from new york and I came to penn state specifically for the love loyalty and pride that i had invisioned here. I turned down athletic scholarships in order to fufill my childhood dream of coming to penn state, and the legacy of joe paterno was a large part of that. I was sickened to my stomach after reading the grand jury report and to even hear that something of such a sick nature could happen here. Im from a big city and I have had my fair share of misjudgements so ive always tried to look at the bright side, what could have been going on. but in this instance in the case of jerry sandusky i can not fathom or understand the illness that causes a man to do things like he did. I have always and still do love joe paterno reguardless of people who have thrown slander on him for his accusations but i also felt heart broken because this big scandal was not just about one sick man it carried out to the whole university. Also considering the fact that graham spanier knew the whole time as well was like what the fuck because it shows that its not about integrity but loyalty. I find loyalty pretty important and it is a main cause of why i came here but it was just turned from a good thing to a bad thing. It also brings attention to me the things outside of penn state where this is going on constantly, a reason for our economic crisis. People feel loyal to their friends or people that they network with over the intergrity of a hard worker so they will ( in a higher employer position) hire a friend over that hard worker because their loyalty. There will always be a behind the scenes. In the media how they tried to manipulate all these peoples opinions to their own, if you just tell the story is as the truth people can take what they want from it instead of it being a bias story. I also see this in politics. I hate politics but ive noticed over the years it hasnt been about content but just one big fucking show for stupid americans to buy into a vote for the one that appeals to their eyes as the best candidate. Or like what sam said in class that the fact of a presidental candidate being bilingual hurts then in a race, because it demonstrates they arent loyal to their country. BULLSHIT!. its called intelligence, americans really need to wise up because when united states goes down in the shits and crumbles ( which it will its just a matter of time) nobody is going to know their head from their ass because theyve believed every lie theyve been told. And it hurts us it really does because how are we supposed to be good people as a whole when everyone is getting the wool pullen over their eyes left and right? People complain about how these horrible crimes go on but its karma in a sense, not to the individual but to the nation as a whole. I myself try to give the benefit of the doubt but in the end i dont want something to break my heart that i strongly believe in so i have to be protective of myself. In that i can only go on based on my own opinions, experiences, and values but how am i to know what is really right or what the best outcome is when you invest in something or someone. I honestly do go crazy with questions and i have no sense of security except my parents.
Personally i have learned a lot of life lessons from being a Penn State student these past few months. When i first heard of the scandal it was in a very subtle and hear say type of way. No one really knew what was going on, they just heard that one of our ex assistant coaches had been molesting children. i remember one of the first questions that was asked was about Joe Pa and whether he was involved or not. the conversation was short and we all went on with our day. little did we know that this scandal was going to change our lives as Penn Staters forever. When the scandal broke out in a big way a few days later, i felt heartbroken. Seeing people's posts on twitter, mostly strangers, made me feel like a place that i had loved whole heartedly for a year and a half was an institution that i should be embarrassed of. I called my parents hysterical crying telling them how upset i was because my school had been such a respected place and now these strangers were making me question whether or not we would ever be the same. My reaction to all of the criticism made me realize that although i consider myself a leader not a follower, i really do care a lot about what other people think of me. Even though this situation had absolutely nothing to do with me and the students of Penn State, i was afraid of the judgement i was going to face in the future. This also made me realize how much i really do love this school and that we are Penn State, not just a football team. A few days later when Joe Pa was fired and everyone ran to to beaver to "riot" i decided not to go because i knew that there was absolutely nothing to be riot for. My opinion was that Joe Pa was a great man, and he didn't deserve to be fired the way that he had been after all he had done for this school, but he was known to be a humanitarian and a man of great moral standards and he did not live up to those standards all those years when he let Sandusky go unpunished for the lives that he had ruined. When i told my mom how i felt and why i didn't go, she was very proud of me. I then realized that half if not all of the students at that riot probably only went because their friends were going, not because they felt they wanted to riot. This made me realize that you shouldn't do something just because everyone else is doing it, you should think about the big picture of the situation instead of following everyone else. If most of my student body had done that then we would have saved ourselves a lot of criticism and embarrassment. From these past few months i have learned that you must stand up for what you believe in, but you must also look at every aspect of the situation and not be blinded by the intense Penn State pride that most of us possess.
After having my recitation class yesterday and discussing everything and anything about the last few months here at Penn State, there was one major idea that really stuck with me for the rest of the day. The idea of categorizing people into one group due to one person’s actions or a few people’s actions. Our TA Ben threw out the comparison of people grouping Penn State students with Sandusky and being “molesters” with Muslim’s being terrorists due to some extremist’s actions. I personally think the two ideas are vastly different but I found the idea of people categorizing a group as something due to one action, really affects everyday lives and is something that is hard to avoid amidst a scandal. I think that the Muslim example and Penn State student example is very different in terms of categorizing. With the Penn State scandal, I think people make these assumptions and throw out these nasty words to us because they are envious of our university. Penn State has a huge celebrity factor, which is that you want to see a celebrity do well yet you love to see them fail. Penn State has such a prestigious connotation to whether its sports or academics or the various philanthropic projects we involve ourselves in. With all that to offer, we are also labeled as a great party school, something that people really thrive on. To put it the best way, we are the best of both worlds in both school and social life. Once we gave people an opportunity to see that we are weak, they immediately bashed and used the only negative thing they had to repeatedly insult us.
Although I find both situations to be extremely ignorant on the side of the judgmental people, I think that the Muslim categorization is different. I think people assume that “all Muslims are terrorists” because of the constant stories you hear in the media, and especially for Americans, the actions of 9/11. They categorize the actions of a group of sick, extremist men and apply that to an entire religion. I think with the increasing death tolls that are reported all over the news as well as people not being exposed to the Muslim religion as much as other religions here in the United States, people are easy to say that all Muslims believe the same thing. I think the religion factor is a huge game changer, therefore people decide that they all think the same if they have the same faith.
This scandal has really taught me how ignorant and quick people are to judge. They hear something bad and they immediately want to agree and lash out according to what the public opinion is. When my friends make Facebook statuses about how “Joe Paterno is probably playing with the kids in heaven,” or “to all my Penn State friends coming home: stay away from my little brother,” I get extremely angry obviously because of how ignorant these people sound. Joe Paterno didn’t do anything to any children and no Penn State student was involved with the scandal whatsoever. All because of Sandusky’s actions, we are now categorized with this monster. This scandal has taught me to be more open and try to be more educated about different situations that happen, before making my own opinion on the matter.
I think a few of the biggest things that I've learned from all the events that have unfolded in the past few months are 1) how quick people are to make judgments, 2) how ill-informed and ignorant most of the judgments are, 3) how people associate a large population of people with few people's actions, and 4) how easily people sit on a high horse and criticize others.
After news broke of the entire scandal, people went absolutely crazy with Facebook statuses. Suddenly, everyone had an opinion on the matter and thought the world wanted to read about it. I would see paragraph or more statuses from people who were ranting about how much Penn State and its students suck or about Joe Pa being the devil and then book long responses back from Penn State students defending their honor. It was so exhausting and I even deleted my Facebook for awhile because I was sick of seeing all these statuses with opinions, judgments, and criticisms. When I went home for break last semester, I had a good friend come up to me and tell me Joe Pa, Sandusky, and Penn State jokes asking if we all thought we were pretty sweet for rioting in a sarcastic manner. What was so frustrating was that he didn't even have his facts right and I calmly explained to him how I didn't riot and how more than twice the amount of people attended the prayer vigil for the victims then riot. I was just amazed at how quick people were to criticize Penn State and I think a big part of it is due to the fact that we have such a unique, proud culture here that people are jealous of and love to see in hard times. I guess that is with everything in life, that when you are proud and held to such a high standard that people love to see you fall and will be the first to criticize should the opportunity come up. Before I deleted my facebook, I would read these comments from people who simply had not read anything about the scandal. The majority had not read the jury report and just sounded ignorant. I had people ask me if Joe Pa touched little boys and watching ESPN it would seem that way. I guess I learned that people are quick to judge, make opinions, and SHARE their opinions before even making sure they have the facts. What blew my mind was that people thought everyone wanted their opinion on the matter. And I think that's what social media does, is make people think that EVERYTHING they are thinking should be published for the world to see—because the world cares. And that was literally the last thing I cared, or probably, anyone cared to read about and its always the well-informed people who keep their opinions to themselves. It's like how loud can the biggest asshole yell to get their opinion heard?So that covers my first two learned points.
The third was how people suddenly associate you with a few people's actions. One instance in particular was I had a good guy friend from high school post something on Facebook about how Penn State students are the biggest jokes in the world and should all be ashamed of themselves for rioting and that we should go back to what we do best-drink nattys. I informed him that we drink natty lite, so clearly his status was discredited. But…it was just crazy how those who rioted were a minority and that so many more people started clubs to raise awareness or attended the candle light vigil. And like we discussed in class, defending joe pa does not mean we do not support the victims. So, I guess the third lesson was just that people are so quick to generalize everyone with the actions of a very few, which is unfortunate. And my fourth point goes with this one, and its just that like the kid who posted that on his status, he was so quick to sit on his high horse like he was better than every penn state student and would never have rioted. This kid rioted when the steelers won the super bowl and I know for a fact he would have been out there had the tables been turned. This goes for people who look down upon Joe Pa, a man who had better morals and values than most people, for not doing more. And I just think, when you're not in the situation and you don't know the circumstances, it is so easy to say "you're wrong, I would have done this". Because quite frankly, who knows what you would do? So I learned that people are quick to point at people and look down on them for their actions, when in reality they may of done the same exact thing had they been in the situation.
The past four or five months here at Penn State have really made me struggle with my beliefs on people, society, the media, and Penn State. The scandal was something that none of us wanted to believe Joe Paterno had taken a part of. From the day my sister enrolled as a freshman at Penn State seven years ago, I was immediately a Penn State proud fan. My pride in Penn State is still everlasting and although this scandal has made me question many things about society and people’s personalities, I still believe in Penn State as a ever- successful academic school with great pride, people, sports, opportunities, etc. Because I am a freshman here, I must admit that I was somewhat disheartened by all this mayhem going on concerning the scandal and the godlike figure of Joepa. I waited four years to finally be a student here, and all I ever wanted was to experience Joepa on the field and the wonderful happiness and excitement concerning the whole football scene and just in the school as a whole. I know that Penn State will literally never stop having as much pride as it does, but I was saddened that my “relationship” with Joepa lasted so shortly. I always read stories and articles about him that made me either cry or smile so widely. I thought he was the cutest man and such a good figure here at Penn Sate. I still hold this belief because of the amount of things he helped for Penn State to prosper. However, after this whole scandal, I did learn many things about people and myself. Firstly, I learned that everyone has flaws, some much bigger than others. Everyone held Joe Paterno on a high pedestal because of the amazing things he did that cannot be denied to this day. But, however great of a figure he was, he still made a large mistake. Yes he could have done more and what not, but that is not the point of my blog. In the end, it is proven that everyone, no matter how religious or of a peacemaker you are, you are capable of making mistakes. This was a large one, but it makes me feel somewhat better about myself that everyone in the world has flaws and is capable of making mistakes. Another thing I learned is that I cannot always find an answer for myself. This scandal has brought about so many questions and I cannot always find a concrete simple answer, such as my view on this scandal. We must not lie to ourselves about the facts, but it is hard to come to a full hard view of the situation. And lastly, I have learned that the media will blow up when they can feed on something so good. Everyone knows Penn Sate and Joe Pa, and its like this scandal was the jackpot for them. I agree it deserves to be on the media and talked about, but the extremities of it were very harsh. Even on social networks the comments were breathtaking because of the harshness of them. In the end, it proves to me that the media, friends, social networks, and anything/one else will talk about our school, and I can do nothing about it but hold my beliefs and know how I feel.
When a person dies, whether famous or not, whether deemed good or evil, once they leave the earth, we must let them go in peace. They should be granted respect, and they should be wished serenity. We can keep them alive in our minds, and we can tell stories, but the family and loved ones of this person should always be taken into consideration. These are the things that are often forgotten when a death is in the midst of scandal, and these are the things that many forgot at Penn State.
Here at Penn State, we must remember the late and great Joe Paterno’s family first, Sue Paterno, Jay Paterno, his 4 other children, and his 17 grandchildren. This is something I’ve wanted to shout at all the media rolling into Penn State the last week. Likewise, we students, who may not be blood related, feel as though Joe Paterno was family to us. He was our figurehead, he was a grandpa like figure, and we all felt personally attached to him. We students respect and love Joe Pa so much, because we owe him everything. This man made our University great, he truly made it what it is today. So, who would expect less from the student body, than to riot his firing? Or send him thousands of letters? Or cry when we heard he was taken off of his respirator? Or bedeck his statue with gifts? Or line the streets for his procession? This man was more than a College Football Coach, he and his wife poured 10 million dollars into our library, he started Paterno fellows, and his most common advice to students is, “to get back to the books.” He funded Penn State, and he brought it fame, he made it the great University it is today. He is the reason that the Penn State Alumni is the largest in the world, and frankly he is the reason that you and I were able to come here. So, who are the media critics to say that WE as students, are WRONG to support him?
What I have learned from living in the midst of one of the biggest scandals, is that the media, critics, and people who are not directly related to the situation, are the ones who are most infatuated with it. The media has been a terror throughout this entire time, and frankly, so have my peers at different Colleges. What I have gathered is that people feed off of other’s sadness, likewise, people skew the truth to get a better story. I’ve never believed that people are inherently evil, however I believe that people have always been infatuated with “evil,” because people have always been infatuated with power. Did everyone forget who is the real evil person in this scandal? It’s as though Sandusky’s name is hardly mentioned anymore. Joe Paterno became his scapegoat, because the media found it more interesting to sacrifice a legendary hero. Frankly, it’s just sad to me that an entire nation will gather together to gossip and persecute an innocent man, just to be “involved.”
Over the past few months the Penn State community has gone through an enormous amount of publicity from the scandal to the recent death of Joe Paterno, this class has made me step back and look at the situation as a whole.
This experience has shown me how much people rely on the media for their information, whether it is correct or incorrect. People feel that what the media posts will be right so when they read news they assume it is correct. The main focus of the media is to catch the reader’s attention so of course when it comes to scandal at Penn State they are going to throw JoePa’s name on the front of any news article. He has the biggest name of anybody that is a part of Penn State and everybody knows who he is. By doing this people that were watching the news or reading the articles automatically assumed that the scandal was JoePa’s fault and not Jerry Sandusky’s. I had people from home texting me saying, “what’s up with that old guy Paterno touching little boys up there at Penn State, that’s gross,” when that was not the story at all. Another thing is that since we are Penn State and we are known all over the world, the media constantly is putting up more and more articles about the scandal in comparison to Syracuse where the same thing happened and you barely hear anything about it. Three months after the whole scandal surfaced, cnn is still posting articles about it. I understand that part of the media’s job is to grab the reader’s attention but they should really focus on the true issue. By now everyone knows the basics, therefore it is time to let it rest and move on. That being said, I use to read articles on cnn and yahoo everyday about events that were happening, I find myself more hesitant now on not knowing whether information is true or if they are just trying to make a mountain out of a molehill.
Another thing I have learned is that as soon as something is released through the news, people feel the need to automatically have an opinion on it and take a side. I don’t understand why people feel the need to jump to conclusions before they know any of the facts first. As of right now nothing has been proven, so technically nobody has the right to take a side since they don’t know the truth. When the truth is revealed, go ahead and take a side, but not before the facts are known. Jumping to conclusions just makes things more difficult and puts people in bad situations especially when what they are saying may not be true because they make assumptions. I found it immature that there were people on Facebook that have chosen to delete me and other Penn Staters. They automatically assumed that we don’t care about the victims just JoePa, when actually we do care about them. I have also made the decision now that I no longer like to speak about the scandal or argue over who is right or wrong in the entire situation.
For me the past few months have left me questioning a lot. Whether it be specific individuals, people in general, or the whole world I feel like I have become a lot more skeptical of everything. I worked at a child development center this summer and I worked with a woman who used to be employed by the Second Mile. She worked as a program coordinator where she supervised and lived in a house with a group of boys that the Second Mile sponsored. One of her main supervisors was Jerry Sandusky. She knew him on a personal level and recalled times that Sandusky would come by the house and bring the boys gifts and take them out on special field trips. The whole time, she thought he was just this amazing philanthropic guy that was trying to better the lives of these under-privileged kids. She had no clue what a horrible, deceitful person he actually was. When she found out about the news, she was dumbstruck. She could not believe that someone who did so much good could do something so bad.
When she told me this, it really got me thinking. How many people that are in my life right now that I consider to be wonderful people will turn out to be someone completely different? Honestly, it scares the living hell out of me. I always think back to the kids. These kids looked up to Sandusky, they thought of him as a role model even. They aspired to be him. Imagine your role model, turning on you like that. Not only is it disturbing and evil but it is the ultimate betrayal. To have someone you trusted and looked up to do something so terrible to you. It is completely tragic.
Another lesson I feel that I have learned from the whole debacle is that the Penn State community is one of the most resilient, strong, amazing communities in the whole world. It was like we were a piece of DNA under a microscope, being judged and watched by millions of people worldwide. From the people who organized the candlelight vigil for the victims that over 10,000 people attended, to the selling of thousands of shirts that supported child sexual abuse victims, to the blue out football game, to over $100,000 dollars raised for RAINN, the Penn State community really pulled together as one to show their support and dedication to the victims and their families. These efforts truly amazed and inspired me. It showed me, and I think it showed the world what a truly unique and wonderful place Penn State is. We showed everyone that when the going gets tough, we fight back. The effort to raise awareness and the support for the cause really makes me proud to say I go to Penn State.
In the past few months there have been a lot things happened at Penn State. I feel like I have learned a lot and I believed that it have taught everyone something too. This is my first year at Penn State and I would have never thought that something like this would ever happen. When I first got accepted to Penn States, I was so happy because Penn State is one of my first choices, and this is the University I really wanted to come to. My parents always showing off their friends that I’m going to a good university, they were so proud of me and I feel so special about it. However, the recent event had made a lot of people think differently that they used to think about Penn State. I have learned when someone had done so many good things in life and had done a lot of amazing things for other people, but when had done something wrong for once and make a wrong decision, people will judging you and forget all about the good things that you had done before. Nobody perfect, everyone make mistake. Joe Paterno is just like another human being too he made mistake like everybody else. I believed that Joe Parterno tried his very best to be a perfect person which is nobody is. In the past 50 years he tried really hard to make Penn State as it is today, and one of the top Universities in the United States. When I first out that Joe got fire, it wasn’t affect me that much because I didn’t know him and I didn’t give too much attention to what he had done for Penn States. However, when I saw so many students go crazy had done so many violent things on the street. I started to step back and think about it again. He is one of the best heroes; he could do everything to keep Penn State alive. And I also believed that if time could go back Joe will do something better school and the community. If I was in Joe’s shoes I really don’t know what to do because I really don’t know what to choose between friendship and community. Furthermore, Joe had changed too many points of views in my life; I have judged people or situations based on a newspaper article or short news clip on TV. But I never sure what is really going on, sometimes you need to put yourself in somebody’s shoes so you can know what is the real purpose of doing the wrong things or wrong decisions. The death of Joe will motivate us as a university or a community to truly move forward.
In the past few months there have been a lot things happened at Penn State. I feel like I have learned a lot and I believed that it have taught everyone something too. This is my first year at Penn State and I would have never thought that something like this would ever happen. When I first got accepted to Penn States, I was so happy because Penn State is one of my first choices, and this is the University I really wanted to come to. My parents always showing off their friends that I’m going to a good university, they were so proud of me and I feel so special about it. However, the recent event had made a lot of people think differently that they used to think about Penn State. I have learned when someone had done so many good things in life and had done a lot of amazing things for other people, but when had done something wrong for once and make a wrong decision, people will judging you and forget all about the good things that you had done before. Nobody perfect, everyone make mistake. Joe Paterno is just like another human being too he made mistake like everybody else. I believed that Joe Parterno tried his very best to be a perfect person which is nobody is. In the past 50 years he tried really hard to make Penn State as it is today, and one of the top Universities in the United States. When I first out that Joe got fire, it wasn’t affect me that much because I didn’t know him and I didn’t give too much attention to what he had done for Penn States. However, when I saw so many students go crazy had done so many violent things on the street. I started to step back and think about it again. He is one of the best heroeshe could do everything to keep Penn State alive. And I also believed that if time could go back Joe will do something better school and the community. If I was in Joe’s shoes I really don’t know what to do because I really don’t know what to choose between friendship and community. Furthermore, Joe had changed too many points of views in my life; I have judged people or situations based on a newspaper article or short news clip on TV. But I never sure what is really going on, sometimes you need to put yourself in somebody’s shoes so you can know what is the real purpose of doing the wrong things or wrong decisions. The death of Joe will motivate us as a university or a community to truly move forward.
The Jerry Sandusky Sex abuse scandal infuriates me. I no longer have the same pride in being a Nittany Lion that I once had and dreamed of having as a child. In the future, I'm going to have to deal with all kinds of people and even employers who's first thought when hearing the name Penn State is: "That place where those kids got molested." So that should be a blast to deal with. If there is anything I learned from this whole situation, it's that people hate change, and struggle to deal with immensely. Joe Paterno was so synonymous with Penn State that people in this area did not understand how to separate the two VERY different entities. It got to the point where people started blatantly skewing the facts to make it look like Joe Paterno was the "good guy" in all of this. I may have been guilty of it too, to some extent, but at least I was aware enough to recognize the injustice to reason happening all around me. Joe Pa messed up. He messed up bad. I don't think he was a bad person, but NO ONE is too big to fall. I'm not sure if I'm using this in the correct context, but the death of Joe Paterno always made me think of the Dark Knight quote: "You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become a villain. I think about that, and all I can think to myself is "damn…" because Joe Paterno is one man who truly did both. Getting back to the lesson i learned though…It's hard cope with something that not only affects you, but dramatically affects those around you. I saw a bandwagon effect emerge in the midst of the "crisis". A lot of people who never gave two shits about JoePa decided they were now a huge fan, and he inspired them. It only added to the madness. I never felt as though I was seeing sincere sorrow over his death. It always seemed as though people just didn't want to be left out. I really bothered me, because it made it difficult to tell what the "true" impact of his death was. Looking past the insincerity, I feel bad for those people who aren't capable of coping with the loss of someone who meant so much to them. I also sympathize with the denial they display, in some cases. But no matter what, it is important that Joe Paterno is remembered for EVERYTHING he did or didn't do. To remember, purely, the positive things he did isn't fair. This what I think we should take away form the death of Joe Paterno and the Jerry Sandusky Scandal that loomed over the end of his life,
I feel that I’ve come to learn a lot about life and about how we as humans act from everything that has happened to Joe Paterno, may he rest in peace. First of all, let me say that Joe Paterno is a man that deserves a lot of respect. He took this school to such a high level of excellence. Without him, Penn State would not be half of what it is today. He not only brought us excellence in football, he brought a new standard of academics, not only for football players, but for everyone. I feel that this school owes him so much, and that we treated him unfairly with everything that happened with the scandal.
So one thing I learned about our society, is how the media centers around people of great standards and accomplishments, like Joe Paterno, and as soon as something happens that in some way soils their name, like the scandal, the media focuses on that person. The scandal was about the horrifying acts of Jerry Sandusky, but all you ever saw in the news was Joe Paterno, and how Joe Paterno screwed up. Sure, Joe Paterno did screw up, I hate to think that he did, but it is what it is. What Sam said in class really shed a lot of light on the topic for me. It grouped all of the thoughts I had floating in my mind and compressed them into one thought that I always had but didn’t really realize. And what Sam said is what I’ll always remember and what I’ll always recite when someone asks me about the issue. Joe Paterno was thought of as someone that was above everyone else, someone not human, but of higher status. But the truth is Joe was human, and humans make mistakes. I think it’s horrible how the media portrayed him in his last weeks of life, and ultimately, like a lot of people, I think it played a big role in his death. In my opinion, the media killed Joe Paterno. But as soon as he passed away, all the stories took a turn and honored him for all of his accomplishments. It shouldn’t have been like that. The media should have yes, acknowledged the mistake that Joe made, acknowledge that he actually did tell his superiors, and also acknowledge the great contributions he made to millions of lives, not wait until they killed him to acknowledge all the great things that he did. I know that I’ll always see Joe Paterno for the great man that he was. I’ll remember the huge positive effect he had on so many people. And I’ll always strive to be like him. I’ll try to promote academic excellence. I’ll try to promote success with honor. I know that I’m not the only one that will take these lessons from Joe, and by promoting them, Joe will live on. And I’d like to think that Joe can see us from where ever he is, and see that what he taught made an impact on many people. And I also hope, but know that it will not be likely, but I’ll still hope that the media sees what kind of damage they can do to a person’s reputation, and see that the stories they publish can kill people, and I hope that they change how they pick what to focus on when they publish stories.
The first thing I learned from the Sandusky Scandal was that we have to be able to judge people as a whole – to see their entire lifetime and all of their accomplishments. A person’s life should not just be concentrated on a single bad thing that happened. A life can’t be viewed with blinders on, the whole picture has to be seen and understood. Unfortunately, with all of today’s technological advances, it is so easy to cover a news item immediately and dig up every little thing that may or may not have had anything to do with the initial problem. Joe Paterno had done many great things for the Penn
State community. He funded the library, supported students in their liberal arts studies, mentored countless men while they played on the team and for many years even when they were off the roster. Many of these facts were omitted during the articles and obituaries that were aired and written. There would be few short sentences about the first 84 years of his life and a few paragraphs about his last 5 months of life. It is as if people put their hands in a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle box, pulled out a single piece and put together the whole story from that.
In the heart of evil, also known as 9/11, where a deplorable act made whole communities across the country come together to support each other, innocent people who obviously had nothing to do with the terrorist acts were automatically ostracized due only to their names and physical appearances. This was based on the naïve and uneducated belief systems that the majority of the American public place their beliefs on. This type of uneducated, jumping to conclusions situation is like what happened in Pennsylvania recently. Wanting to convict someone without evidence to back it up is the same stupid mentality that has been seen many times before. No one wants to give the accused a minute to explain their side of the story. Everyone is only interested in getting the dirt out and ignoring what is of no interest to them and perhaps even the truth. If it doesn’t make the entertainment news headlines, that information seems to get lost and only the few people who take the extra step to look further are the ones who are rewarded with the whole story.
During the times of scandals, it also brings awareness to situations that have previously been swept under the rug. These types of situations have happened to others and the people shouldn’t be terrified to bring it out in the open. The Sandusky Scandal has allowed people from all across the country to share their stories with others, to let them realize that they are not alone in their private battles anymore. Sadly when a child is sexually abused, it is done by someone who the child knows and trusts, perhaps a family member, teacher or clergy member. They are told repeated not to tell anyone, and ultimately there is no safe outlet for the child to take advantage of.
The events concerning the cover up have taught me that people are very unforgiving and will form an opinion and stick to it no matter what. Despite their lack of information, or their accumulation of false information, people have a hard time changing their views on a particular subject, whatever it may be. Not long after the scandal was exposed to the public and the media had infiltrated the campus, I went canning with a group that I am in. The signs that we wore and the cans we had made it very clear that we were students of the Pennsylvania state University. Throughout the 2 days that we were there, we received a variety of comments in relation to the scandal. Some people refused to give us money, and on top of that made it clear that it was due the fact that we came from Penn State. I just think it is a little that people were refusing us to give us money to help children based on an incident that involved a relatively small amount of people. It just showed ignorance in my opinion on the part of those who tried to justify keeping money from these children who really need it on the principle of a situation they really knew nothing about. Some of these very people believed that Joe Paterno was the one who committed the heinous acts. They refused to be swayed on their position when we tried to tell them otherwise. In retrospect it was probably just as ignorant on our part to even entertain their foolishness. It was like even when people began to realize that the scandal was not a reason not to donate money, they still refused to give in. Another example of how stubborn people can be is a letter my professor showed us in English class. The letter was to the editor and appeared in the collegian. An employer from a company in Texas basically stated that he would never again hire and 0planned to fire all Penn State alumni that worked for his company. His reasoning was that the riot that ensued following Paterno’s removal as coach showed support of the incidents involving the young boys. He seemed extremely set in his ways and took the most drastic of measures. In my opinion it seems, once again, ignorant to take such actions. The current employees of that company were not present at the riot, and neither was a large percentage of the student body. I also feel that by him saying the riot was in support of the activities shows a lack of knowledge of the whole story. He was making very significant decisions with only a little bit of information.
I would say that I have learned that the world is a pretty tough place. In light of the whole scandal it’s pretty sad and horrible what has gone on here and just truly very unfortunate. There were some terrible, wretched acts occurring on this campus that we live, love and support. It just shows that no matter where you are, there are sick, disturbed people in this world, and it kind of steals your innocence. Even though it is the Sandusky scandal, all the attention from this horrible thing is not on the kids, not on Jerry Sandusky himself, but on Joe Paterno. I’ve also learned that the media is a terrible, fucked up thing too. They bring ALL the attention on him because he was the God of this university, and the most victorious coach in all of college football, so why not put it on him? But that’s what disgusts me. I know I’m not supposed to choose a position in this blog but it’s going to come out to an extent anyways so my apologies. But the media has to blow up this entire scandal in Penn State’s face, so it is a top news story and the entire nation knows about it. The best part is…. anyone who is not at Penn State is like man how about Paterno? And I’m just so saddened that after everything that man has done for this school, and students for decades, this is how it had to end. And it’s not about Paterno. It’s about Sandusky seeing justice, it’s about the victims who had a more traumatic experience than any child or human being should ever have to experience. Yet, it was all about Joe. Now I’m going to speak my mind a little bit. People have their opinions whether you’re a Penn Stater or not, and many times people not from this school will ask me “So what do you all think? Joe had to go right??” I have very mixed feelings on the situation. I’m not going to go into detail, however I just feel sad for him, for the kids, and for the university for having to go thru with this. I guess I’m saying I have learned the world isn’t as nice as we hope it would be. People go to work, come home, watch television, day after day. For weeks this horrific news was on every station for hours. I guess I could also say I lost tons of respect for the media. Not that I really respected it to begin with but I felt terrible how they put it all on Joe Pa. It’s all about the money in this world is what it seems, and the biggest thing this scandal has taught me is the world is not all cute and cuddly, it’s a bitch.