E-Mails Suggest Paterno Role in Silence on Sandusky

[ASTalumna06]

Originally Posted by AXOmom

The rest of this isn't directed specifically at you but at several of the previous posts from those who went to Penn State or live in the state. I have to say I'm a little bothered/concerned about the "Penn State is an experience separate from all others and no one else can understand how special it is to all of us" attitude. I understand it is special to all of you and you are just trying to get that across and you don't mean it to sound this way, but it comes across as a little insulting and provincial.

As Dr. Phil stated, Penn State did not invent the wheel when it comes to the loyalty and love its alums and the state feel for the school. While it's true that unless you live there you don't understand the feelings people have for Penn State, it is equally true that no one from Pennsylvania or Penn State understands the feelings someone from say, West Virginia has for WVU or someone from Nebraska has for well, Nebraska.

Saying "You'd have to live here to understand" is a little like someone coming on and saying, "Hey, I'm sure all GLO's are good, but the XYZ's are a little different. We have an especially strong sisterhood. Our rituals are so touching and so many girls would rather be nothing if they can't be an XYZ. XYZ just means so much to us. It's our everything. We do things differently. You just have to be an XYZ to really understand." Come to think of it- that has happened on this forum before or some version of it and most of you quite understandably view it as an insult.

On a deeper level - I really wish you were all right and that kind of vehement loyalty and school love to Penn State or any other organization was unique. Unfortunately, I doubt it's true. That actually scares me more because while I know that all of you are completely appalled by what happened there and in no way condone it, that prevalent attitude or an extreme version of it, in my view, is what allowed it to continue and caused it to be covered up. It's what typically leads people to the kind of horrific decisions that the Penn State administrators and Joe Paterno made.

It's one step from "We're a little bit special and unique" to "Because we are special and unique, we can do things differently and the rules that apply to everyone else don't apply to us." That sums up the "Penn State culture" that the NCAA and Freeh report denounced because it is so dangerous.

Anytime you let who you are as an individual get that tied into an institution, organization, school, business - even a family you run the risk of putting it before all else and letting your personal sense of right and wrong go out the window. You start justifying wrong behavior for the sake of that group and that's what these men did. It's what several bishops in the Catholic church did. It's what thousands of families across the country do every day.

I think you may have missed my point.

Trust me, I'm not drinking the Penn State Kool-aid. I wear a Penn State shirt from time to time. I attended a couple games while I was in school. And I went to class and graduated. The end.

Your sorority analogy is a little off. I am in no way saying "Penn State is a special and unique snowflake.". I'm not implying that Penn Staters have more pride, dedication.. or whatever.. than students and alumni of other schools. And I'm definitely not saying they can/should get away with anything and everything.

My point is that basically the entire state IS Penn State. I pretty much grew up in Boston, and there are a ton of great schools there, and many students and alumni take great pride in their school (as they should), and I'm sure many of them are more dedicated to their alma mater than Penn State alumni. But what I'm saying is that a huge chunk of Pennsylvanians live and breathe Penn State, even if they never attend the school. It is THE school in PA. That's not to say that other schools in PA aren't great or worth going to.. And I'm not saying Penn State is the best.. it's just that Penn State is a way of life for A LOT of people.

I don't know a better way to describe it than that.

But maybe that's just my perspective. All I know is, I've never experienced anything like it before. And I've thought this way for a long time - long before Sandusky's name hit the papers.

[Greek_or_Geek?]

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

I think you may have missed my point.

Trust me, I'm not drinking the Penn State Kool-aid. I wear a Penn State shirt from time to time. I attended a couple games while I was in school. And I went to class and graduated. The end.

Your sorority analogy is a little off. I am in no way saying "Penn State is a special and unique snowflake.". I'm not implying that Penn Staters have more pride, dedication.. or whatever.. than students and alumni of other schools. And I'm definitely not saying they can/should get away with anything and everything.

My point is that basically the entire state IS Penn State. I pretty much grew up in Boston, and there are a ton of great schools there, and many students and alumni take great pride in their school (as they should), and I'm sure many of them are more dedicated to their alma mater than Penn State alumni. But what I'm saying is that a huge chunk of Pennsylvanians live and breathe Penn State, even if they never attend the school. It is THE school in PA. That's not to say that other schools in PA aren't great or worth going to.. And I'm not saying Penn State is the best.. it's just that Penn State is a way of life for A LOT of people.

I don't know a better way to describe it than that.

But maybe that's just my perspective. All I know is, I've never experienced anything like it before. And I've thought this way for a long time - long before Sandusky's name hit the papers.

I think you need to get out more then. Start with maybe visits to Alabama and Mississippi. Then you might be able to comprehend how spectacularly commonplace Penn State's relationship to its public is.

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by Greek_or_Geek?

I think you need to get out more then. Start with maybe visits to Alabama and Mississippi. Then you might be able to comprehend how spectacularly commonplace Penn State's relationship to its public is.

You don't even have to leave PSU's half of the Big 10 to get nearly-identical situations ...

[AXOmom]

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

I think you may have missed my point.

Trust me, I'm not drinking the Penn State Kool-aid. I wear a Penn State shirt from time to time. I attended a couple games while I was in school. And I went to class and graduated. The end.

Your sorority analogy is a little off. I am in no way saying "Penn State is a special and unique snowflake.". I'm not implying that Penn Staters have more pride, dedication.. or whatever.. than students and alumni of other schools. And I'm definitely not saying they can/should get away with anything and everything.

My point is that basically the entire state IS Penn State. I pretty much grew up in Boston, and there are a ton of great schools there, and many students and alumni take great pride in their school (as they should), and I'm sure many of them are more dedicated to their alma mater than Penn State alumni. But what I'm saying is that a huge chunk of Pennsylvanians live and breathe Penn State, even if they never attend the school. It is THE school in PA. That's not to say that other schools in PA aren't great or worth going to.. And I'm not saying Penn State is the best.. it's just that Penn State is a way of life for A LOT of people.

I don't know a better way to describe it than that.

But maybe that's just my perspective. All I know is, I've never experienced anything like it before. And I've thought this way for a long time - long before Sandusky's name hit the papers.

The sorority analogy wasn't actually directed at anything you said - it was directed more at what several PSU posters in this thread and another on this same subject have said over the past few months. I don't think this means any of them or you condone the actions taken by Penn State's administration - I'm just saying that on some level - the "it's just different here" or "our relationship to our school is special" can be dangerous and can lead to those actions.

I think you have been generally more even-handed in your perspective on your experience at Penn State than some, but the bolded is one example of my point.

It makes sense that there would be less of a "following" for one particluar school when there are loads of outstanding schools whose focus is more academic and less athletic, and since this is what you knew before going to Penn State, I can see how you would believe that Pennsylvania's relationship to it is unique in some way.


As Greek or Geek suggested, you need to spend some time in a state where the opposite of your Boston experience is true - a state where the university and specifically the university's football program is pretty much all there is for many reasons (once again I offer up Nebraska). Or they're raised in a culture where college football qualifies as a religous belief system (Texas). What seems unique and unusual to you would seem expected and standard for them.

[thewasher418]

Originally Posted by ASTalumna06

I think you may have missed my point.
My point is that basically the entire state IS Penn State. I pretty much grew up in Boston, and there are a ton of great schools there, and many students and alumni take great pride in their school (as they should), and I'm sure many of them are more dedicated to their alma mater than Penn State alumni. But what I'm saying is that a huge chunk of Pennsylvanians live and breathe Penn State, even if they never attend the school. It is THE school in PA. That's not to say that other schools in PA aren't great or worth going to.. And I'm not saying Penn State is the best.. it's just that Penn State is a way of life for A LOT of people.

I don't know a better way to describe it than that.

But maybe that's just my perspective. All I know is, I've never experienced anything like it before. And I've thought this way for a long time - long before Sandusky's name hit the papers.

May I introduce you to my home state (Louisiana), where people who have NEVER SET FOOT in Baton Rouge, never went to ANY college or went to another one (like I did), live and breathe LSU football. This is not unique.

[AOII Angel]

Originally Posted by thewasher418

May I introduce you to my home state (Louisiana), where people who have NEVER SET FOOT in Baton Rouge, never went to ANY college or went to another one (like I did), live and breathe LSU football. This is not unique.

I didn't know you were from LA! Amen! LSU is Mecca no matter where you went to school or even I'd you didn't (which applies to most people) and is one of the ties that binds the citizens of the state.