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Penn State shitstorm
Jul. 24th, 2012 01:52 pmI know exactly as much about organized sports as you would expect me to know, which is to say not a whole lot. The news about Penn State has made me wonder several things, to wit:
1. I'm guessing the ostensible reason for "erasing" the football team's victories under the former coach was to send a message to other universities that covering up crimes should not take precedence over a winning season. (I did say "ostensible;" you're all free to have your darker "follow the money" theories since they may be more correct, but I don't know what they are.) As to why this is the end of the world for former players ... I admit I don't understand the hair-pulling quite like I should. I would presume that anyone who was going to use their college record to play pro ball is already doing so, and isn't going to lose their job over this - and anyone else, who just has the record as a point of pride, can tell others, "Look, I did play for them, we had this record - it was in the news, remember That Thing That Erased It? Yeah, it sucks, but my playing and those wins DID HAPPEN, they did exist, it's easily provable."
2. I'm really not trying to bait anyone or play the Oppression Olympics, but I honestly wonder: Would the smackdown have come as hard on Sandusky and Penn State if it had been adult women, or even little girls, who had been molested/raped? Or is it that it was little boys, and this case speaks to the horrified homophobe who is convinced that "gay = pedophile" in our culture? I suppose I'm allowed to wonder, but I do feel bad about wondering such a thing, since it makes me look even more cynical than I know I am.
3. I wonder if any of these people who covered for Sandusky are truly sorry they did it, even now. (I refuse to believe any of them felt THAT bad at the time they were doing it. If they felt THAT bad, they wouldn't have participated in covering it up.)
Off-topic, but speaking of abused children: There have been at least four news stories in the past month in my area about small children or babies found in smoking-hot enclosed vehicles while the parent was gone, or shopping, or off sticking their thumbs up their asses somewhere (i.e., all the same thing). The answer is always either "I didn't intend to be that long" or "I forgot they were in there."
WOULD SOMEONE TELL ME HOW IN THE BLUE FUCK YOU FORGET YOU LEFT A BABY IN THE CAR? It isn't possible. It just isn't. I've babysat several children in the past 20-some years, and there hasn't been one yet that was forgettable or quiet enough to be fucking FORGOTTEN in the car when I parked it. I don't even really like kids and I can't forget they're there. HOW STUPID ARE WE SUPPOSED TO BE TO BELIEVE THIS EXCUSE?
I've said it before, so I'll repeat it now - having a child does not mean you want to keep it or take care of it. Adoption and its processes and expenses surely provides more incentive to keep the kid and presumably weeds out the vast majority of neglectful parents, so I won't harp on that; I'm talking about squirting out some sperm or the infant itself from your nether regions. Women who get abortions or men who finance them are seen as evil by a lot of people, but this somehow suggests that everyone who chooses to have and keep a baby is a good person and by extension, a good parent. It isn't always so, and among the bad apples, you just know there HAVE to be those looking for ways to permanently get rid of the kid (since it's not legal to outright kill it once it's past a certain developmental stage - but if they can engineer something that looks merely like an accident or forgetfulness, well ...).
1. I'm guessing the ostensible reason for "erasing" the football team's victories under the former coach was to send a message to other universities that covering up crimes should not take precedence over a winning season. (I did say "ostensible;" you're all free to have your darker "follow the money" theories since they may be more correct, but I don't know what they are.) As to why this is the end of the world for former players ... I admit I don't understand the hair-pulling quite like I should. I would presume that anyone who was going to use their college record to play pro ball is already doing so, and isn't going to lose their job over this - and anyone else, who just has the record as a point of pride, can tell others, "Look, I did play for them, we had this record - it was in the news, remember That Thing That Erased It? Yeah, it sucks, but my playing and those wins DID HAPPEN, they did exist, it's easily provable."
2. I'm really not trying to bait anyone or play the Oppression Olympics, but I honestly wonder: Would the smackdown have come as hard on Sandusky and Penn State if it had been adult women, or even little girls, who had been molested/raped? Or is it that it was little boys, and this case speaks to the horrified homophobe who is convinced that "gay = pedophile" in our culture? I suppose I'm allowed to wonder, but I do feel bad about wondering such a thing, since it makes me look even more cynical than I know I am.
3. I wonder if any of these people who covered for Sandusky are truly sorry they did it, even now. (I refuse to believe any of them felt THAT bad at the time they were doing it. If they felt THAT bad, they wouldn't have participated in covering it up.)
Off-topic, but speaking of abused children: There have been at least four news stories in the past month in my area about small children or babies found in smoking-hot enclosed vehicles while the parent was gone, or shopping, or off sticking their thumbs up their asses somewhere (i.e., all the same thing). The answer is always either "I didn't intend to be that long" or "I forgot they were in there."
WOULD SOMEONE TELL ME HOW IN THE BLUE FUCK YOU FORGET YOU LEFT A BABY IN THE CAR? It isn't possible. It just isn't. I've babysat several children in the past 20-some years, and there hasn't been one yet that was forgettable or quiet enough to be fucking FORGOTTEN in the car when I parked it. I don't even really like kids and I can't forget they're there. HOW STUPID ARE WE SUPPOSED TO BE TO BELIEVE THIS EXCUSE?
I've said it before, so I'll repeat it now - having a child does not mean you want to keep it or take care of it. Adoption and its processes and expenses surely provides more incentive to keep the kid and presumably weeds out the vast majority of neglectful parents, so I won't harp on that; I'm talking about squirting out some sperm or the infant itself from your nether regions. Women who get abortions or men who finance them are seen as evil by a lot of people, but this somehow suggests that everyone who chooses to have and keep a baby is a good person and by extension, a good parent. It isn't always so, and among the bad apples, you just know there HAVE to be those looking for ways to permanently get rid of the kid (since it's not legal to outright kill it once it's past a certain developmental stage - but if they can engineer something that looks merely like an accident or forgetfulness, well ...).
