Allow me to start by stating the obvious: Jerry Sandusky is a monster. This is morally irrefutable. I mean, his actions and descent into despicable infamy is a story tailor-made to be an episode of Law and Order: SVU. Enough said.
However, as horrifying as Sandusky's actions are, what disgusts me the most is how Joe Paterno and the leadership of Penn State handled the entire situation for the past 15 years. And by "handled" I really mean "blissfully ignored." As the Freeh investigation has damnably reported, Paterno and some of the other most important decision-makers at Penn State were made aware of Sandusky's actions as early as 1998 when there were reports made to the school and police of his indiscretions. Yet, no actions were made to remove Sandusky from a position where he had the contact with and chance to prey on more innocent boys. Nor was there any effort made to call Sandusky out and report him to the police for the allegations against him.
In effect, what happened was that the heads of Penn State decided that the reputation of the school was more important than the safety, innocense, and well-being of young boys. As such, they covered up the allegations against Sandusky by doing their best to ignore anything he was doing in the showers. I find this cover up far more horrifying than anything Sandusky did, and for good reason.
My explanation is this: as incredibly abhorrent as Sandusky's actions were, there is more than likely something wrong with him that he cannot help but abuse young boys. His actions are probably by compulsions that he cannot handle, as is the case with many serial rapists (I'm not trying to say that this makes it okay. My point is simply that he probably physically cannot help himself). This is not the case with the people who covered up Sandusky's sexual abuse of the kids he worked with. They, for the most part, are normal human beings with capable decision-making abilities. Unlike Sandusky, they are not sexual predators, but like him they are monsters too. What excuse did they have in knowingly ignoring what horrible things were happening to those kids?
The answer is none. There is no excuse for their inaction, and I truly believe it to be more unbelievable and terrifying that a group of such well-respected, educated, important people of power could choose to risk clinging to their power and reputation as opposed to exposing a sexual predator and preventing a number of Sandusky's consequent rapes. And to be honest, reporting Sandusky - the right thing to do - would have been by and large the easier thing to do. Covering up sexual abuse isn't simple, and as we've seen, is disastrous and will inevitably be uncovered.
I just don't understand how these people could justify protecting Sandusky. Claiming that they were protecting the school's reputations is unacceptable. Had they reported Sandusky's actions in 1998, Paterno and the school would have looked like heroes for being so honorable as to admitting Sandusky's actions happened in their presence. Especially so, because they would have done the right thing and turned him in before worse could (and did) have happened. No, the heads of the school protected Sandusky to protect themselves - at least in their own minds - and this was the fallacy of Penn State.
But what is important about the Sandusky/Penn State defamation is how telling it is of society. This is yet another example of the ramifications of the relationship between power and reputation, one in which greed, paranoia and moral bankruptcy become the rule rather than the exception. This is another Nixon lying about Watergate, another Bill Clinton lying about a blowjob, another Tiger Woods lying about doing everyone except his wife. People with power are too afraid of losing their power from damage to their reputation, and thus cover up their illicit actions rather than coming clean and repairing their image.
What's more important is that you can take the power out of the equation, and the result is the same. I'm talking about those little white lies we all tell (and I cannot exclude myself from this) to save face. Many humans tend to lie about/ ignore/ cover up rather than 'fess up and potentially look like an ass (albeit ans honorable ass) for the foolish thing we did.
So why not take a lesson from the Penn State/Sandusky disaster? Jerry Sandusky, Joe Paterno and the leaders of Penn State covered up Sandusky's serial rape of young boys instead of doing the right thing and turning him in. Look at what happened. Sandusky is in prison for the rest of his life, Paterno has given in to lung cancer, everyone else who was involved could still be investigated and charged not to mention that any credibility they had is forever gone. Plus, the reputation of Penn State is utterly destroyed and will take years and years to rebuild.
Next time you think you have to do the wrong thing to save face, think of them, and ask yourself if it's worth it.