I understand you. :)

I was a bit harsh earlier, though it's really hard not to be at these times.

Maybe for you. For me it is essential that I'm able to retain some sense of identity without a wholesale invalidation of my existence.

Am I Penn State? No. But as an individual I sure as hell have nothing to be ashamed about. I am NOT defending the actions of culpable parties in this tragedy, but I WILL defend my clear conscience in this matter to my dying breath. The reparations we are making as a community, therefore, need to be individually driven and NOT rule-governed.

This is why I take such offense at other people conjecturing about matters they really haven't thought much into. Do you want to turn Penn State into a police state? Do you want to enact a law which will make it difficult for parents to leave their children unattended in the care of authority figures? Can you even fathom the negative consequences that would arise out of governmental intervention?

The point I am trying to make is that moral outrage is useful, but only to where it governs your OWN decisions. When you broadcast those views indiscriminately, you risk causing more harm to the institution than that initial circumstances that "gut" reaction was derived from.

I read the grand jury report. Not with a sense of morbid curiosity and moral outrage as some have certainly done, but with abject horror. It scared, and still scares the living shit out of me that ANYONE could witness these atrocities and not put forth the effort and sacrifice personal well-being for the welfare of a child.

This is our burden, and ours alone. So please, stop pretending like your moral high ground is a compass to tell others what and where they went wrong. Be patient, an investigation will certainly shed light on those responsible people and they will certainly be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. However, I will say one thing entirely speculative here...

History will vindicate Joe Paterno.

Are you directly involved with the scandal in some way? If not, I guess I don't quite understand what you're getting at the with sentences I've bolded. Why would some reprehensible crap pulled by a small number of the staff at your school invalidate your existence?

This is literally the response equivalent of a moral troll.
I'm going to prefer to think of you as misinformed rather than an idiot, but that doesn't seem like a far bridge to cross. Read my prior post please.

And to clarify, the protesters or rioters or whatever you want to call them were not necessarily angry that JoePa got fired. They were angry because
a) the way in which the university dismissed him after 61 years of service. A phone call and press conference. Nice.
b) the public attention that's been levied towards abnegation rather than reparations. See above.
c) the ignorance of public media in ACTUAL fact. Read the grand jury report, not CNN!
and most of all...
d) using Joe Paterno as a scapegoat for such a devastating tragedy.

But I want to stress that I CAN'T SPEAK FOR EVERYONE. I didn't participate solely on the grounds that Joe wouldn't have wanted it to happen. I was just as pissed as everyone else, but I managed to exercise enough self-control not to be an additional burden to the university.

This whole week has been such a roller coaster ride and wreaked havoc on my emotions. The way in which football fans conducted themselves yesterday (even in the face of such adversity) affirms my belief in the wealth of compassion found at Penn State. I think I broke down in tears after the game.

Well, let's take a look from a different perspective.

If I disavow some connections to the Penn State community... I no longer attend football games because I associate the program with paedophilia & child abuse.

What happens on a large scale: private funding from alumni is cut, putting an additional burden on students to pay their way through college. Students currently enrolled can transfer (at an additional cost) or continue attending PSU (at an additional cost). The ones that DO transfer deplete intellectual and economic resources for the community. As a result, the academic programs suffer and their reputations fall short accordingly.

Even if I leave the school, I'm still tied by my identity as an engineer. The credibility of my work will likely establish whether I am a successful one years down the road, but getting there, getting a job, finding an entry-level position in an industry I can stomach, and growing there all while not having a credible background to come from. And what's the first question people ask?

"Where did you go to school?"
...and the next...
"When did you graduate?"

Granted, some of this will happen anyways and there will be backwards moralists out there who judge me from association despite it. Allowing those people to influence your perspective of me is absurd, and that's something you've certainly recognized. Which I am definitely happy to see. :)

yeah this is kinda off topic but woww i caint believe how much i miss evrybody on here!!!! =) its been like 4 or 5 months since the last time i posted... i think lol

where did you go? I miss you so, it's been forever since you've been gone

went on a short vaca. and then came back 2 school and have been too tied up 2 post!!

i'm quoting a song, actually, but it is actually fitting

where did you go for the vaca?

yeah i realized that its by fort minor called where did you go =) and i went to maui and to palm springs!!!