Joe Paterno, the legendary Penn State football coach, has died.
I can’t help but wonder if the travesty of the last few months, with his former assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky, being charged with sexually molesting 10 young boys over 15 years, killed him.
I’m not an alumna of Penn State. (I am, however, an alumna of Syracuse University, with its own scandal of an assistant basketball coach allegedly molesting boys.) Still, I hate to see the storied career of Joe Paterno forever blackened by the malevolent behavior of one man, if that proves to be the case.
Some people argue that Paterno had to know what was going on. They argue that Paterno was so concerned about his legacy, the reputation of his football program and Penn State University, that he was willing to turn a blind eye to the behavior of Jerry Sandusky.
I’m not so sure.
Since the scandal broke in November, Joe Paterno has given only one interview, to Sally Jenkins of the Washington Post. The story was published on January 14, 2012. It characterizes Joe Paterno as unable to comprehend what Sandusky may have done, because it was simply too foreign to the way Paterno himself lived his life. Jenkins writes:
He reiterated that McQueary was unclear with him about the nature of what he saw and added that even if McQueary had been more graphic, he’s not sure he would have comprehended it.
“You know, he didn’t want to get specific,” Paterno said. “And to be frank with you I don’t know that it would have done any good, because I never heard of, of, rape and a man. So I just did what I thought was best. I talked to people that I thought would be, if there was a problem, that would be following up on it.”
Is it possible to be that unaware of the existence of evil? Yes, it is, and we all know it.
While I was uninitiated, meaning, before my direct, personal encounter with a social predator, I never in my wildest dreams thought that I would cross paths with evil. I didn’t know that someone who appeared to be so loving and caring could have a hidden agenda. I lived a life of integrity, and I believed that the people who were part of my life were like me.
But, some may argue, sex abuse of children has been in the news for years—look at the stories about the Catholic Church. Well, my cousin was abused by priests. He received financial compensation many years ago—it was probably one of the first cases to be settled. I heard people in my family talking about it. Still, I did not comprehend what he must have experienced.
I didn’t understand the human capacity for manipulation and evil until it happened to me.
So, yes, I can believe that Joe Paterno was clueless. He grew up in a different era, when although the sexual abuse of children probably occurred, it certainly wasn’t talked about. He was inspired by his father. He believed in education. He believed in turning troubled athletes around. His whole life was about winning with integrity.
So for Paterno to realize, at this late stage of his life, that he may have been hoodwinked by someone so close to him must have been a terrible shock. It probably didn’t cause his lung cancer. But it may have sapped Paterno’s strength to fight it.
Read Joe Paterno’s last interview, on WashingtonPost.com.
I find that ‘sweet financial deal’ more than NOT having integrity, and more than turning a ‘blind eye’… For me the pretense of integrity and protecting his buddy Sandunsky together with conning and threatening Penn State out of several million dollars as a buy out when he knew what was about to get national news while the other part at the financial negotiating table new zilch yet A HUGE RED FLAG!
And my stomach churns for everyone here who was raped and had nobody doing something about it, just like Paterno never did a thing for the abused boys.
When Paterno said that he “had never heard of a man raping boys”, that was a huge red flag. WTF?
http://deadspin.com/5876432/joe-paterno-wants-us-to-believe-he-has-never-heard-of-rape-and-a-man-joe-paterno-is-full-of-shit
Was he living in a cave? Furthermore, as it turned out, HE HAD heard of Sandusky raping boys, in the late 90’s. That’s when Sandusky was “retired” from Penn State.
So what we have here is a LIAR.
He’s a convincing liar, apparently, since so many want to believe that a sweet old man like him couldn’t possibly have been so evil. But that’s the thing, he didn’t do it with evil in his heart, HE JUST DIDN’T CARE about the boys. He’s a narcissist who only cared about himself, his reputation, his legacy.
It’s a different type of evil than the one, that many of us have encountered. The one I lived with enjoyed other peoples’ pain. Paterno just couldn’t feel it at all.
He didn’t want the blemish on Penn State. LOL. He got a blemish alright. It’s a disgrace. But then what do you expect from a man who devotes his entire life to a GAME? It’s got to mean he never grew up.
HA! They removed the halo from paterno’s portrait on the mural. It’s a start.
http://deadspin.com/5926053/halo-above-joe-paternos-head-removed-from-famous-penn-state-mural
I particularly like the commenter’s suggestion for replacing the statue of paterno. Scroll down on the linked page to see it.
And here’s another article on what is becoming a favorite site of mine. They TELL IT LIKE IT IS.
http://deadspin.com/5925999/joe-paterno-negotiated-a-3-million-ejector-seat-after-he-was-subpoenaed-for-sandusky-grand-jury
In November of 2011, right before he was fired, Paterno offered to resign at the end of the season:
IT WAS A LIE. He had already negotiated the 5.5 million with an agreement to resign at the end of the season.
The man was a master manipulator. Then he took the easy way out by dying. He’s sounds more and more like a spath by the minute. They always get away scott free, always plotting, planning, looking at all the angles.
My spath is pure evil and nobody knows or believes it either.
Skylar……LMAO!!!
But, hold on a second…..seriously. Was there actually a halo on this mural around Paterno’s head? Seriously?
This is precisely what I was trying to convey, earlier. Once a mortal human being has been deified, game’s over – they have now been pronounced “A God.”
Criminy crissmass, even Mother Theresa had to die before she was canonized! Sheeeeesh…….
Truth,
the halo apparently is painted on everyone who dies. The rest still have theirs, but Paterno had his removed because people complained.
After all, you don’t get a halo… IN HELL!
Another link, this time from the washington post.
The same journalist blasted by one of the links above, now eats crow and admits she was duped by Paterno.
Then she wrote an excellent article on it.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/colleges/joe-paterno-at-the-end-showed-more-interest-in-his-legacy-than-sanduskys-victims/2012/07/12/gJQAMUX9fW_story.html
Wow, the more I read about his lies, the more he reminds me of my spath. His ability to make people listen, to make people love him and think he’s such a sweet and innocent person –all while lying through his teeth, is exactly like my spath.
One time spath said, “some guy at the airport today said I was a phony.”
I replied, “YOU?! A PHONY?! You’re the LAST person I would call a phony. There are very few people as real as you.”
Yeah, he was that good. His persona is one of modesty and humility with a heart of gold.
Sky, I’m seeing a lot of sociopath red flags about Paterno as well. And I think you’re right, not a sadistic sociopath like Sandunsky, but one with a perfected mask of being an upstanding citizen, but not really caring.
Skylar, what you wrote about someone pegging the spath as a “phony” and your supporting him gave me literal CHILLS up my spine……the exspath is precisely the same. He has the ability to mask something so dark and so vile that it’s simply astounding.
I agree about the red flags – the more I’m reading about Paterno, the more he’s fitting the profile. Like I keep saying, deify ANYone, and it’s a carte blanche to the worst in human beings.
And, ohdeargodalmighty, to simply LOOK at Sandspathsky curdles my blood. Looking at photo images of his eyes is like looking through windows that lead to a bottomless pit. The lights are on, but nobody’s home.
And, the one guy that stepped forward was fired without ANY severence deal!!! Now, what the fark does THAT say?
Sorry to keep harping with more articles, but now that the truth is REALLY coming out, I can’t get enough of it.
Turns out there were people who had seen through Paterno, 25 years ago. One guy said, “He’ll do anything to win.”
http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/8162972/joe-paterno-true-legacy
This is the type of spath we need to be studying, the kind that controls himself and doesn’t commit crimes. This kind of spath has figured out how to get his need to “win” met without ever showing up on the radar as being inhumane.
Why should we study these? Because they are the true fence sitters. They’ll do what is most expedient.
Whoever said, “all it takes for evil to win is for good men to do nothing, ” didn’t get it. Those good men aren’t all that good.
Good people naturally do the right thing.
Thank you Joe Paterno for advancing my study of spaths, you’ve opened my eyes quite a bit wider today.
Skylar,
Thanks for the many articles. I really appreciated them.
My experience with most of the Ps in my life is they are more like Joe Paterno than the violent, nasty ones. Always holding themselves up as so holy, so concerned about others, and not understand how yours truly can think ill of them. Certainly, I am the crazy one. 😉
This BS about not knowing about “rape and a man.” Seriously? A cosmopolitan man with his reputation and feting? Never came across the subject once in his life?
Bet he never heard about spousal rape either. A great school like Penn State didn’t have any sexual abuse programs in place that the staff were required to take?
Where was Joe Paterno during the child sexual cases that came out about the Catholic Church and all those cover-ups? Hiding? In a sound-proof, media-proof room? Didn’t hear a thing about that then? Maybe he only read the sports sections in the newspapers?
I can see one good coming out of this – the questions.
People are going to start asking, “How could we have been fooled? What kind of person does this sort of thing? How could he be so callous and calculating when so many children were harmed? How could he be so selfish? How could so many people back him up?”
And then the really dark questions, e.g., how did one person get so much power? What does that kind of power do to a person’s mind?
Donna, use your creditability on the subject to start talking about this. Now is the time to get your articles out there. Talk about psychopathy. Tell them how Joe Paterno is fitting the bill.
You’ve got your connections. Please use them.
This kind of P is the most insidious. Look at how many people he fooled. He has a whole community thinking that he is a saint.
Donna, write another book.
What Sandusky did was beyond horrible, but the deepest hurt, betrayal, and outrage is going to be over Paterno.
Mark my words on this one.