Every single blog post and article I have ever read about Joe Paterno was unapologetically critical of his failure to take action and stop a pedophile. I read in those article that some people still defend him and that accolades are heaped on him by fans. I, however, haven’t seen a single piece of writing, tweet or comment trying to excuse him.
This tells us that it’s crucial to pay attention to the quality of sources one adds to one’s blogroll and the kind of people one follows on Twitter. It seems like my blogroll and my Twitter account are populated by people who don’t think that child abuse is an insignificant matter.
And that is very good.
Clarissa's Blog 
I read in those article that some people still defend him and that accolades are heaped on him by fans. I, however, haven’t seen a single piece of writing, tweet or comment trying to excuse him.
What I think may be happening is that “excuse” in this case is being defined as talking about something other than his failure to help those victims. In short anyone that doesn’t bring the abuse is being called an apologist.
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Well at best, Paterno was completely unaware that widespread and extreme abuse occured–which is a failure in and of itself. At worst, he turned a blind eye because the abusers were scoring him wins. And this is the more likely senario. How could such an “aware” coach suddenly become so dense? …I’m not sure I understand your wording up above. If someone does nothing to stop abuse, h/she is indeed an apologist for that abuse. And, Paterno’s failure to help those victims tarnishes his successes. No amount of footballs victories can make up for the pain those victims felt. I don’t want to denigrate the dead so I will stop. But this isn’t an example of people over-reacting. If anything, people under-reacted.
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I am amazed by this story not because a coach didn’t get it but more because all the people in these guys lives didn’t get it and the guys themselves. I don’t condone or support Paterno but also the social dynamic of the community the peers friends and family that couldnt even intuit that something was wrong. Paterno was a failure and a great scapegoat for all the blindness.
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I agree completely!
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Agreed. Yes Paterno failed those boys by not speaking up but with all this outrage you would think that Paterno was the only person that could have been a position to do something about it.
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