There were so many other topics that I had planned on writing about today: The Second Line parade Cat and I had stumbled upon in New Orleans last weekend - Rick Perry's brilliant performance during last night's Republican debate - The International Chocolate Show that I covered last night. But, of course, none of that seems too pressing now. I feel compelled to add my voice to the thousands in a blogosphere gone wild and write about this whole, sordid Penn State Affair.
However, I don't want to talk about the incident itself. Please take note that I didn't say alleged innocent. The legal issue of guilt or innocence is not the point of this post. And I'm not trying to judge someone by the so-called "court of public opinion". But, it is painfully obvious that SOMETHING terrible happened to children at The Pennsylvania State University. As Stella always tells me, Frankie, where there's smoke, there's fire. Well, the shit was burning down Penn State! Besides, the shameful details are being exposed by many media outlets. There are thousands of other venues devoting vast amounts of resources debating the relative merits of how The Board of Trustees at Penn State handled the whole affair in general and the dismissal of legendary coach Joe Paterno in particular. What I'd like to address here is the aftermath - the reaction by the students at Penn State to the firing of Coach Paterno, the almost mythical Joe Pa.
I was working at CBS last night when we were alerted that a press conference had been called by the Board of the University for about 9:30 p.m. Shortly after the Board announced its decision to dismiss Paterno, the campus filled with students, the great majority of them angry about the board's actions. We had footage coming in of the mob (and from what I witnessed from the video, it could be very accurately called A MOB) gathering at one of the old campus buildings. The crowd chanted Paterno's name over and over again and damned the School Administration. Banners were overwhelming in favor of Paterno and anti-administration. I did not see A SINGLE BANNER in support of the victims. The students, as I saw it, got drunker and drunker and nastier and nastier. When they couldn't find anyone from the administration to vent their anger on, they turned on the media. A news van was destroyed. A cameraman I know personally was struck with a rock. About a dozen interviews conducted by our crew in the field were being sent in and I watched them in our recording room. I was shocked and appalled by what I saw. The student's lack of knowledge on the consequences of what was happening around them was only exceeded by their complete absence of ANY empathy with the VICTIMS! Of all the young people interviewed, only ONE had any clue as to what had really happened. The rest (some of them "buzzed" enough to be mostly unintelligible) couldn't see past this Saturday's freakin' football game! It was enough to want me to try to locate the parents of the kid's interviewed and send them copies of their children's interview and just say, WTF?! What are you teaching your children.
I am the stepfather of 3 boys. Well, they are really men now, ages 26-30. I helped to raise them since they were young teenagers. It's been my pleasure to watch as they have developed a sense of right and wrong. I sincerely hope that I was an influence in that department. But, because I was there, I understand how, and, mostly, why they raged when they were younger. So much of it was irrational. Young men can be plagued with misplaced rage. I never raised a girl, but I do have a wife and I know that young women can have their own rage as well. But this is where the teaching moment comes in. It's not too late to, somehow, teach these kids that their behavior was wrong and, in too many cases, downright abhorrent. Empathy can be created by increasing awareness. We need to find a way to make these kids understand that the REAL victims here are not JOE PA or the college president, but rather those young men who were abused!!
We have to help our young people to recognize what is truly important and what is not. I rail about this on the blog all of the time. Our society is placing too much emphasis on the shallow things like fame and celebrity. All I need to do is mention the names Kardashian and Lohan to prove my point! And college football has gotten TOO DAMN BIG! It was always meant to be a brotherhood, a sacred bonding led by a mentor that you were supposed to trust with all your heart and soul. Now, players and coaches are given so-called Rock Star status. Joe Paterno was easily the most recognizable figure on the entire campus! I'm sure that most people could trip over the school's president without ever knowing who he was. Players hold press conferences to discuss their next opponent every week. They are featured on TV's Sports Center and the covers of magazines like Sports Illustrated. Simply put, figures like Joe Paterno are worshipped and it's misguided. Andy Borowitz, in his most excellent blog The Borowitz Report, using his great, acerbic wit, put it best when he said, Yes, Penn State students, the real people to blame are the 10 year-old boys who are wrecking college football.
Well, Penn State students, get your shit together or be ashamed, very ashamed.
No comments:
Post a Comment