That of Which I Am Proud.

So.  This Penn State ugliness.  

Hubster and I have been going round and round, and we vary only slightly in our opinions concerning the levels of responsibility of these men for the actions of others in their spheres of influence.  And as more details come to light, such as the dates of Grand Jury investigations and original allegations, our opinions align more closely.

And in light of the near riots, the candle light vigils, and the media hoopla and analysis, I've come to a conclusion.

The United States of America makes me proud to be a citizen thereof.  More precisely, the way we gnash things out in the United States of America makes me proud.  There are 10 letters to the editor in the New York Times this morning, all expressing varying degrees of chagrin at the firing of Joe Paterno, at the handling of the allegations of child molestation, at the general nastiness of the situation.  Half of them were written by men, half by either women or people whose name doesn't give away their gender (Chris for instance).  More than half agree that Joe Pa should have done more than just what was required of him because he's such an influential man.  

The letters reflect the divergent opinions being argued in households across the country.  Something heinous was done by a man to someone over which he had power.  Ugly, ugly, ugly.  And we're discussing it in a very public manner.

As opposed to this, (a link to DigitalJournal.com with some very disturbing footage -- don't push play unless you're really ready to watch evil stuff).  In Afghanistan, last week, an widow and her daughter were dragged from their home and stoned in their door yard by Taliban officials and then shot dead because the widow supposedly committed "adultery".  No forthcoming definition or explanation -- certainly no trial.  Just murder in the door yard.

Men with power over weaker human beings committed this and other heinous acts.  No one in Afghanistan can discuss this however, because the acts are shrouded on Sharia law, and officials claim that Western influence (discussion, supposedly) will pollute their culture.  

For some reason, these two stories of atrocities are linked in my head.  Both happened inside of bastions of male influence (Hubster doesn't like this reference, but I stand by my assertion that both Penn State's football program and the Taliban have that one thing in common -- they're bastions of male influence.)  Both things have gone essentially un-punished or have taken a looonnnggg time to get any light shed on them.  Both have finger pointing:  Penn State employees, including Joe Paterno kicked the allegation upstairs; the Afghan government accuses neighbors of complicity in the murders because they didn't report the incident while it was happening.

The difference?  In our fair country, we can howl about the injustice.  We can squabble about who should be fired.  We can protest and hold candle light vigils without the fear that we'll be dragged into our door yards and flogged or stoned or worse.  

The United States of America is a miracle of humanity.  God bless us, ... every one of us.

Comments

[Carole]

You did a great job of putting this situation in perspective.

[Joy]

Very well put!

[Bridgett]

You're right--bastions of male power--and you're right, the mere fact that we can debate this is really something we take for granted each and every day.