I tend to agree with AlCheez here.   It takes courage to stand up when seeing a wrong being committed.  Especially if you don't believe what you're seeing.  Even moreso if the person committng the wrong is someone you admire/respect.  The shock value had to be tremendous.   This doesn't excuse him for doing nothing but, if nothing else, I can envision a scenario where he's thinking "What did I just see?"    He replays it over in his head a couple of times and finally accepts the fact. 

Anyone saying "I'd have punched the old man in the face and took the kid" is probably just lying to themselves.   They beileve that but they don't know it.    Unless, of course, you have a history of being a street vigilante. 

Posted by moranis on 11/9/2011 12:51:00 PM (view original):

Posted by AlCheez on 11/9/2011 12:45:00 PM (view original):

Posted by moranis on 11/9/2011 12:39:00 PM (view original):

Posted by AlCheez on 11/9/2011 12:37:00 PM (view original):
And, in your mind, to what end is he embellishing the story now?

I have no idea, but it just doesn't make sense that anyone would let a child be raped.  

I think it makes more sense that he would fail to act due to one or a combination of any number of fears than it does that he would start lying about what he saw in front of a grand jury 7-8 years later.

If your son told you he saw someone raping a 10 year old boy, what would you do?  I mean seriously, it just isn't credible that that many people, including McQueary's father, wouldn't have called the police if they had been told of a child rape. 

It just doesn't make sense. 


Perhaps McQueary is embellishing now because Victim #2's family spoke to him and need corroboration, maybe he felt bad about how he handled it so he is being over zealous now, maybe his memory is fuzzy but he heard of a rape and thinks that is how it happened, etc.  Plenty of reasons people embellish stories after the fact.

I certainly hope I would call the police, or rather, persuade him to make the call.  But if I thought it might ruin my son's life/career to do so, maybe I wouldn't.  It's easy to talk big about what we would do in a specific situation, but people are largely cowards about doing the right thing when it comes with risk to themselves/their family.  Again, none of this justifies or excuses the inaction, but you're talking about a State College family.  You've got one eyewitness to a crime being committed by a guy who, at the time, was second only to Paterno in terms of his stature at that university and in that community.  You don't see any way they might reasonably be concerned about it going very, very badly for him if they go straight to the cops with the info?  I go back to what I said before, I believe that these football programs (especially in a place like State College) become their own little kingdoms, and there are things that go on inside and in the name of them that won't make sense to someone outside of them.

He could be lying - I don't know.  The grand jury obviously found him to be credible while finding others involved less so. 

People hate confrontations.   Most people will walk away from a situation if a potential confrontation is in front of them.  Especially if the confrontation could have  a bad ending for them.

Anyone saying "I'd have punched the old man in the face and took the kid" is probably just lying to themselves.   They beileve that but they don't know it.   

I'd put the face puncher at @10% of society.
However, I believe that another @40% would have at least done something as a distraction to stop it. Grab the kid, yell, throw a chair, knock over a trashcan some sort of distraction.
As for the other 50%......

I'd put face puncher at a much lower percentage.   As I understand it, the pedophile saw the GA, stopped and ran off with the kid.  Getting the kid would have had to result in a confrontation of some sort.   Throwing a chair wouldn't get it done.

my biggest issue is why was Sandusky still allowed there? the school knew he was under investigation and the school knew he had confessed to improper behavior in the past.......what was he doing using the facilities to work out in as recently as last week (granted, it was with a 'stay away from children' anchor)?

they enabled this guy by providing him a safe haven to conduct his business



Joe Paterno gets off easy here by 'retiring' at the end of the year...that makes it seem so cozy, and he probably would have walked away anyhow........forcing him out right now would have been the right play by the school, I don't care how big he is in that pointless town....

I agree Mike, people do hate confontations. And that fear/hate will cause alot to shy away. In this instance it would have been about confronting a legend and as one of the accusers was qouted as saying "you just don't say no to jerry".

What I am saying is at least grab a trashcan and throw it in the shower and run, then go tell someone?

That said, if he believed what he saw, he should have done something.   If an immediate confrontation just wasn't happening, the call should have been to authorities and not his father.  That alone tells me he was putting his future ahead of the situation. 

the GA is a coward...there is no way to sugar coat his actions as 'human nature'

I think he's probably on par with most of society.   You don't have to look hard to find examples of people who "didn't want to get involved". 

Posted by edsortails on 11/9/2011 1:38:00 PM (view original):
the GA is a coward...there is no way to sugar coat his actions as 'human nature'

People are largely cowards these days, it seems.  Doesn't make it okay, or mean he shouldn't have to answer for his cowardice.  It's just true.

Define "most"?

a child being sodomized is an event that demands more response than going home, calling daddy, and going to tell somebody about it the next day.....no matter who you are, no matter what else you are doing

Most is a majority.   I think those who'll walk past a situation that doesn't affect them, could put them in danger but they should help anyway is way more than 51%. 

again...you see a domestic dispute, maybe you walk on by (as we know, putting yourself into one of these situations can end up with two people that were at odds joining forces to turn their anger on you)....you see a 10 year old boy being forced into sexual slavery, you at least call 911 right then and there if not jump in and slam your foot a mile deep up the perverts runway