Football is the Opiate of the Masses

In the United States, people are learning of the cover up the Penn State Football Team made for Jerry Sandusky, a man who abused his position of power with the team to molest and rape young boys. The Penn State University board of directors took decisive action in sacking the head coach, Joe Paterno, who is likely to have known of Sandusky’s actions for over a decade, but who failed to ever report of these activities to the proper authorities.

There are many tragedies to this scandal. One and the most important, is the fact that Jerry Sandusky managed to commit acts of pedophilia for so long. Another is the inaction or ‘blind eye’ that Joe Paterno cast regarding these crimes. Even if he did not have proof, he must have suspected what Sandusky was doing all these years. The final injustice I will mention here is the Penn State students taking to the streets in protest, not for the rights of the victims and their families, but for anger over the firing of Joe Paterno, a man who certainly has an ugly role in this affair. Despite what actions the students take in extending their sympathies to the victims and their families in this tragedy, their actions speak clearly. Their priorities lie with football and sports over the protection of human rights. It is sad state of affairs when college students, many who are part of America’s future, take protesting, a collective action that is commonly used in creating positive social change, and warp it for their own self interests. I say, “Shame on them and all those who place football above the rights of human beings.”