Social media has assisted in making the PSU scandal bigger. When news of the scandal came out the case began to build, revealing who was involved, and who the victims were. There are even more victim's coming out saying they were molested by Sandusky. It was believed that the molestations were happening as early as 1990, but the new accusations reveal that it may have been happening as early as 1970, around the beginning of Sandusky's career at PSU. As the scandal unfolds the more coverage it gets. The coverage made it easier for more accusations to come out, people become more comfortable adding to the story or creating new ones. Right after this story came out a new accusation against a basketball coach from Syracuse molested the ball boy for 12 years.
Power, media, and deviance intersect because of how long this scandal has been hidden. For this tragedy to go on for 21 years, but now possibly 41 years is ridiculous. Those who witnessed Sandusky molest those boys, those who knew he was doing it and let it happen, and those who assisted and made it possible for him to continue kept it under wraps because they knew it would jeopardize their careers. They did not want to put their positions of power at risk by not revealing Sandusky, and they only dug themselves a deeper hole the longer they kept it a secret.
There is no excuse for the actions committed by Sandusky and for those who kept it a secret. A job is not an excuse to cover up for someone who commits a crime as serious as molestation. If people like Paterno were worried about their job or the money, or reputation, they could have saved face by turning in Sandusky when it was first learned that he was molesting boys. They could have avoided all that is happening now, but hind sight is 20/20. There is no defending any of the men associated with this case.
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