“Our most saddening and sobering finding is the total disregard for the safety and welfare of Sandusky’s child victims by the most senior leaders at Penn State,” Louis Freeh report.

Louis Freeh’s report on the Sandusky investigation brings to light yet again a truth as old as communal living:  those in positions of power attach to that power and will rarely risk losing it, regardless of who or what is at stake.

We have seen this over and over again, most recently in the Catholic Church in Ireland, where bishops and others covered up for priests abusing young boys.  We see it in schools, where predators like Harold Banks who molested over 100 children and diarized his deeds, was not fired but transferred from school to school until he was finally charged and convicted.

People in hierarchical power,  whether it’s in a religious, political or educational institution, tend to protect that power at the cost of all else.  Marx recognized this principle when he said that laws were created solely to maintain the power and position of the upper classes.

Paterno and his bunch, like the hierarchy of the  Catholic Church, and many private and public schools, claim they denied the victim and allowed the predator free rein in order to protect to the reputation of the institution that empowers them.

Think about that.  They allow predators free rein within their institution to protect the reputation of the institution?  I say no.

I say the real reason prominent people are willing to let helpless children be victimized is because they don’t want to lose the salary cap, the social position, the title that now precedes their name, the lifestyle they have finally achieved.

Any excuse is good enough to desist from risking that position.   That’s why they are easily convinced to keep quiet; to not step up and speak out and put a halt to acts that corrupt their programs and institutions at the deepest level.

The reputation of their institution is an excuse, not a reason, and any excuse is sufficient to convince these people to protect the privileged lifestyle they enjoy.  To do so, they must at some level, accept the social disenfranchisement of the children who are suffering.  They must accept the fact that the perpetrator knows that no-one in his social circle is ever going to do anything about it–that for all intents and purposes?  He operates with their approval.  With impunity.

Let’s take the kid gloves off and tell it like it is.  Sandusky’s a predator.  But he’s not the only guilty one at Penn State.

Yours truly,

Margaret Jean.

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