Sandusky Scandal

With regards to the Jerry Sandusky scandal the social media has done their job of getting the information out to the people and helping to unravel this very tragic event. The media has helped to shape this story by covering all aspects of the scandal from who was involved, who helped to cover it up, the mixed views of the public and students of Penn State and staying current and up to date with their reports. That being said I do feel that a lot of the reports seem to be more focused on the effects this has on Penn State foodball and Joe Paterno that the actual children who should be the main focus of the stories. In regards to issues concerning the intersection of power, media and deviance from what we know many people knew that Jerry Sandusky had been caught molesting children and yet no one took the appropriate measures to stop him. You can see here how his prestige in the football world and at Penn State allowed for people to ignore or turn their back the allegations about him. Why was his behavior allowed or overlooked? Was it to protect the reputations of the people, Penn State and football? Even the students could see past the power that these men held causing them to protest. Where did we go wrong when we not only accept a cover up of this magnitude but we protest some of its out comes. One sociological framework that might make sense of these crimes and cover ups could be through a functional theorists eyes. A functionalist might believe that the crimes Jerry Sandusky was committing would damage the sport of football and the reputations of many looked up to individuals and the best way to keep the sport of football untainted would be to sweep this big mess under a carpet somewhere and forget about it. My reaction to all this is really just discuss. Fist of all how could anyone in their right mind let someone else rape children? Second is how can people be so blinded that winning football games or keeping your coach supersedes covering up child molestation. This just goes to show how selfish, self centered, wicked, and ignorant people can become.

Jason Trapschuh
Kin332I t/r