diatribe

I gotta say that this Penn State debacle is an epically miserable demonstration of the really shitty side of human beings. So Paterno was "a legend." A figurehead was shown to be fallible. Is it somewhat pitiable that these students - current and former - are being forced to confront some ugly truths that might shatter something they believed in? I guess. But looking at the photos of these kids in hoodies and jerseys rioting in the streets - smashing property and smiling widely - it makes me ill.

The headmaster of my insular, conservative, elite private school was ousted when I was 15 or so, having been accused - twice - of sexual harassment. This guy was a legend. He was a physical manifestation of the school itself: pompous, intellectual, and too big (literally) for his britches. But he had spirit and pluck and stamina and he was, in many ways, a damn good headmaster. The women who accused him were pretty loony. That wasn't contested. And the accusations, such as they were, could very well have been false. But you know what? That doesn't fucking matter. If you are in a position of power, a position that gives you access to children, and you are accused of conduct that could harm those children - you're gone. The way the Board and many students and parents rallied around this man was the one thing that got me close to being pulled out of that school (something I had lobbied for without success for years). I can remember a friend of mine crying the day his resignation was announced. I still can't understand why.

I worked for three years at an organization in which I was daily confronted with the ramifications of sexual abuse, of institutionalized ignorance, of people willfully turning their backs on the most vile sort of human behaviour simply because they were afraid to rock the boat. These men at Penn State bore physical witness to abuse - actually watched it happen, watched a grown man rape a 10-year-old boy - and turned a collective blind eye. And now we take to the streets to do more violence in their names. I'll make sure my next post is of a pretty shirt or nail polish or something, but for now - let's all just hang our heads.