Too bad I didn't, either. And I'm guessing that applies to most of this board.
Mike McQueary should not be able to look himself in the mirror for his own failure in this. At 28, he is old enough and supposedly schooled enough in Joe Paterno's so-called morals that he should have known right from wrong; he is large enough to be able to break up the act and immediately protect the 10-year-old. How he was allowed to remain on staff is puzzling. Did he get a promotion to buy his silence? Seems to be the Penn State way.
He should be fired, too. He does not belong on the sidelines, nor in the coach's box.
I can understand his inaction on the spot. I'm sure if you'd asked him in 2001 (or hell, even 5 minutes before he witnessed the crime), he would have said that in a situation like that, he'd have beaten the hell of a guy who was doing that. Anyone would. We want to believe we'd do the right thing.
In that moment, it's usually not a matter of knowing what the right thing is. It's a matter of having the guts to do it. And a lot more people don't have the guts for it...even if they'd like to. A lot more people would freeze than those people would care to admit/believe. I've not faced anything even remotely like this, so I don't know to a certainty what I would do in that moment. I hope I wouldn't freeze. But I don't know that I wouldn't.
But as far as NEVER going to the cops, and looking Sandusky in the eye for 9 years and knowing what he did...that's completely unconscionable.
I can understand his inaction on the spot. I'm sure if you'd asked him in 2001 (or hell, even 5 minutes before he witnessed the crime), he would have said that in a situation like that, he'd have beaten the hell of a guy who was doing that. Anyone would. We want to believe we'd do the right thing.
In that moment, it's usually not a matter of knowing what the right thing is. It's a matter of having the guts to do it. And a lot more people don't have the guts for it...even if they'd like to. A lot more people would freeze than those people would care to admit/believe. I've not faced anything even remotely like this, so I don't know to a certainty what I would do in that moment. I hope I wouldn't freeze. But I don't know that I wouldn't.
But as far as NEVER going to the cops, and looking Sandusky in the eye for 9 years and knowing what he did...that's completely unconscionable.
Well said, tm...I can see a few maybe freezing, but if I'm in my prime at 28 and some old guy is doing that to a kid, the only freezing that should be taking place is in that split second when you decide "do I just stop it or do I beat this mother f*cker to death on the spot"...
Well said, tm...I can see a few maybe freezing, but if I'm in my prime at 28 and some old guy is doing that to a kid, the only freezing that should be taking place is in that split second when you decide "do I just stop it or do I beat this mother f*cker to death on the spot"...
There aren't many things I'd never not want to see more in that. Truth is, you can say what you would do but you don't know until it happens.
However, I think any moral person that isn't somehow for their own interest knows exactly what they'd do afterwards.
This. What truly defines him as a coward is what he did after the fact.
It doesn't matter who the pedophile is, you get the kid away from him or die trying.
It doesn't take any superhuman powers to remove a 10 year old from harms way in this situation in the shower or to walk to the nearest phone and dial 911. The point is not to beat the 60 year old man to death, it is to remove the 10 year old from harms way. The fact that some can understand why McQueary froze or walked away is just sad.
It doesn't matter who the pedophile is, you get the kid away from him or die trying.
The fact that even the best people can freeze in that situation is all I need to know in order to understand why he did. But, the "best people" who freeze in that moment, go straight to the cops after the shock wears off. McQueary didn't do that, which is why he is just as guilty as anyone.
You continue to separate McQueary's incident into two (in)actions. Why?
Is it so difficult to look at the incident in one fluid sequence and draw a conclusion about McQueary from the entirety??
Trying to force a divider between McQueary not intervening (and giving him a pass) and only telling his dad and paterno and doing nothing more is a logic fail.
The sequence happened as it happened, and at no point in it did McQueary react correctly. He's a total failure as a human and I hope he suffers for the rest of his days.
What about the people who freeze, but then follow up that shock by doing the right thing after that, on their own accord? Those people aren't total fails of human beings. They're human. Which is why I separate the in-actions. It's his inaction after the shock wore off that I condemn him for. Good people don't do nothing for 9 years. Plenty of good people would freeze and make the wrong choice on a snap decision.
For all we know Sandusky killed the kid and disposed of his body somewhere that night. Would you consider McQueary a total failure as a human being if this were the case?