THE AMERICAN TRAGEDY OF JOE PATERNO

 

 

By Frosty Wooldridge
November 14, 2011
NewsWithViews.com

This past week, one of the icons of college football fell hard, fell deep and fell forever in the eyes of the American public. He fell from something that occurred outside his boundaries, but within his responsibilities. Joe Paterno led great teams at Penn State also known as “Linebacker U,” but he didn’t stop his pedophile assistant coach Sandusky from allegedly raping 10 year old boys in the college shower rooms.

It reminds me of Macbeth’s famous line, “To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; and all our yesterdays have lighted fools, the way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing. — Macbeth (Act 5, Scene 5, lines 17-28)

Sexual molestation of children continues as a routine aspect of life in America. With the Internet porn sites and fatherless families, molestation accelerates beyond anyone’s imagination or comprehension.

Gays, straights and other characters play on the fears and insecurities of children. Fathers rape their 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15 year old daughters more than most Americans realize. A huge percentage of men cheat on their wives with regularity. Increasingly, millions of women cheat on their husbands.

As much as it pains me, my brother and I were molested by our 5th and 6th grade teachers, both homosexuals. Thankfully, we stopped them from doing their damage beyond initial advances. In college, a number of homosexuals preyed on my brother and me. We rebuffed them because we were too big to handle.

Across this nation, straight and homosexual (gays) men prey on children. It’s a matter of new adventures for their sexual proclivities.

Joe Paterno didn’t report the attack, or at least didn’t follow up on the attack by Sandusky, so Paterno forever, after 46 years of exemplary coaching, takes the long dive to ruination.

But it calls into question our civilization or humanity’s culpability. With so much child rape and molestation in America in our schools, in the workplace and on the Internet, what drives it, what causes it, what allows it and why has it proceeded at such high levels in this seemingly moral society?

We have suffered presidents like Kennedy having sex with multiple women while married and presenting himself as the moral standard for our country. President Bill Clinton engaged a 21 year old Monica Lewinsky. Senator Teddy Kennedy sported a reputation for womanizing greater than Tiger Woods. That New York House member with the big nose sent Internet pictures of his manhood to other women while married. I personally know of a preacher who raped his two sons and daughter regularly until both boys committed suicide and the daughter tried to kill herself four times. I could fill in a football field of men who have sexually dallied.

If you look out across media land, the television kingdom and advertising—you may observe a hint at the hypersexual focus on breasts, on overtly suggestive shows, on “Sex in the City”, “Desperate Housewives” and on sexual innuendoes that dominate television programs. When you understand that Americans watch 15 years (in eight hour stretches as reported on NPR) of television in their lifetimes rather than going outside and participating in sports, hobbies or other life-giving activities—you can see what they do with their pent up hyper-sexual drive.

Additionally, as a culture, we have lost any sense of moral and ethical behavior. Religion has been relegated and deregulated out of the public domain. Millions of teens become pregnant before marriage and without any form of self-support. Unwed mothers have become the norm. If you think such children having children can rear a child to be moral and ethical in their choices and actions, you have another reality check coming.

What can we do as a society to bring about more self respect, more personal responsibility, more understanding of moral and ethical behavior?

• Instead of our hyper-war activities where we carry on 10 year combat and spend trillions of dollars, we might spend money on our schools, libraries and jobs for the poor that give self-respect along with a decent home and community.
• We might engage in rearing our children with sports, community responsibilities and healthy personal behaviors fostered by fathers and mothers.
• We might attempt to teach husband and wife relationships in our high schools to give our young some kind of understanding of what it means to become responsible and productive human beings in our civilization.
• Work with TV, radio and other media as to sexual content, ethical behavior, language, respect and personal accountability.
• Offer young viewers learning TV programs that de-emphasize violence, sexuality and aberrant behavior seen on so many programs.
• Inject ethics, personal accountability, personal responsibility and community involvement into our schools.
• Fill video arcades with positive games, programs and other content to reflect a healthy future instead of the obscene violence and war games that dominate.
• Parenting and relationship classes must be passed before two people can gain a license for marriage. Our children deserve two parents and loving support that can only be learned through education.

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Will we embark on such a path?

It’s really up to leaders, parents and communities to take action on the local level. If not, we will continue to lead the world in hyper-sexual media sensationalism and watch as more and more victims suffer the results. As a society, if we keep watching 15 years of television as our main form of living, we will disconnect from our children and they will suffer disconnection from life—which will create more aberrant sexual behavior in adults and children. We all become victims much like Joe Paterno.

Listen to Frosty Wooldridge on Wednesdays as he interviews top national leaders on his radio show "Connecting the Dots" at www.themicroeffect.com at 6:00 PM Mountain Time. Adjust tuning in to your time zone.

� 2011 Frosty Wooldridge - All Rights Reserved