Only One of Many

This week's Penn State University's report brought verification of the involvement of the football coach and university administrators in the cover-up of the sexual crimes of Jerry Sandusky. This type of "image and power at any cost" is typical of many people who feel they must do anything to maintain their hierarchies.

We pass on the comments made by our local sports columnist, George Schroeder, as a reflection of what can happen when we are living in a hierarchy.

"We should all consider, again, whom we’ve placed on a pedestal, and the potential for moral corruption inside any closed culture. If we’re being honest, the culture that allegedly allowed Sandusky to operate unchecked for years exists at other places.
           "We put our heroes on a pedestal. They’re considered irreproachable, and sometimes unapproachable, and too often unassailable. And it’s in that atmosphere that the culture can become corrupted, and morality becomes relative.
           Paterno’s power was consolidated over almost a half-century in a very isolated atmosphere. Penn State is perhaps a special case. Let’s hope so. But let’s not kid ourselves. It could happen anywhere else."

This scandal illustrates how the people who live and thrive on the top of hierarchies are working towards goals that are opposite to a vision of equality, fairness, and justice for all. We've gotten a glimpse inside the Penn State hierarchy. From our experience, it would be equally as shocking to learn what atrocities, personal and financial, are keeping numerous other powerful hierarchies intact.

http://www.registerguard.com/web/sports/28377985-41/state-penn-paterno-sandusky-football.html.csp