Friday, November 11, 2011

The Blizzard of Lies

There's a reason for having redundancy in an institution's checks and balances: to overcome individuals' lack of courage to do what is required of them. I think both at the individual and insitutional level there's plenty of blame to go around for cowardly, self-serving behavior. But at the end of the day, I place more responsiblity (and consequences) at the feet of the institution.

Like they say about most scandals - it's not the crime, it's the cover up. Paterno and the Penn State administrators all had a responsibility to protect the children, to uphold the university's own code, and to follow the state's law. They failed in all three.

I guess what I'm saying is that a sexual predator might be able to strike once successfully, but when he is able to do so repeatedly and with impunity, he's had some help, either by acts of commission or ommission. For me, the failure is a systemic and not just a personal one.

Enjoy the cartoon, which I would title, "The Blizzard of Lies."

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