# Flags at half-staff for child-molestation enabler? I don't get it. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [January 23, 2012, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flags-at-half-staff-for-child-molestation-enabler-i-dont-get-it/610417 "2012-01-23T18:29:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Snow\_Pea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@Snow\_Pea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snow_Pea)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flags-at-half-staff-for-child-molestation-enabler-i-dont-get-it/610417/1 "2012-01-23T18:29:23Z")
> **[Paterno funeral set for Wednesday | CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2012/01/23/us/penn-state-paterno/?hpt=hp_c1&hpt=hp_c2)** > > Legendary Penn State football coach Joe Paterno will be buried Wednesday in a private family service, with a public memorial service to follow the next day. I don’t get it. With his silence, this guy undoubtedly enabled a child molester to continue abusing children - now he gets honoured with the flags being flown at half-staff all week? 😕:mad: ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flags-at-half-staff-for-child-molestation-enabler-i-dont-get-it/610417/2 "2012-01-23T18:36:22Z")
Hello. May I introduce you to the 40-some-odd page long Pit thread addressing your very concern. [Enjoy](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=630580). ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flags-at-half-staff-for-child-molestation-enabler-i-dont-get-it/610417/3 "2012-01-23T18:39:18Z")
> [@Snow\_Pea](#): > > With his silence, this guy undoubtedly enabled a child molester to continue abusing children I’m inclined to agree with you, but I think there’s some doubt about that. And the flags are at half-staff because of his almost-50 years of coaching and the good he did as a coach, not for the child molesting thing. ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2012, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flags-at-half-staff-for-child-molestation-enabler-i-dont-get-it/610417/4 "2012-01-23T20:30:33Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I’m inclined to agree with you, but I think there’s some doubt about that. And the flags are at half-staff because of his almost-50 years of coaching and the good he did as a coach, not for the child molesting thing. There’s probably a serious debate to be had regarding how “a lifetime spent turning a cow college in nowhere into a powerhouse of football that stayed clean and academically-focused (at least by NCAA standards, _cough_)” balances against “turned a blind eye to a pretty heinous child-molester late in his career”. I’m not sure I’ve yet seen the venue where that debate can sanely take place. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flags-at-half-staff-for-child-molestation-enabler-i-dont-get-it/610417/5 "2012-01-24T01:03:54Z")
It’s the same principle as saying “boys will be boys” when some college football star is caught committing sexual assault or beating on people; sports are put on this ridiculous pedestal and as long as you enable sports victories people make excuses for you and ignore your crimes. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flags-at-half-staff-for-child-molestation-enabler-i-dont-get-it/610417/6 "2012-01-24T01:22:54Z")
Forget turning a blind eye to molestation- why does **any** coach merit flags being flown at half-staff statewide for four days? [This](http://dailyflagstatus.com/6.htm)lists only three coaches, and two of them died in a plane crash along with a state senator. Not a single professor is listed , nor are any doctors or social workers or teachers. Except for one baseball coach, the list is composed of service members, police , firefighters and correctional officers who died in the line of duty, elected officials and judges, and on a few occasions people who died in an incident where an elected official or judge also died (such as the Jan 2011 shooting in Tucson). The Pennsylvania service members and police officers who died in the line of duty were often honored for a single day and in only one or two counties and the Capitol Complex. ---
**Author:** ![Eonwe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eonwe/32/240_2.png) [@Eonwe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eonwe)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flags-at-half-staff-for-child-molestation-enabler-i-dont-get-it/610417/7 "2012-01-24T03:15:04Z")
For better or worse, we idolize athletes, and college athletics, above and beyond all else. Why does the Sports Coach get adulations from staff, students and alumni, many of whom have probably never met him in any meaningful way, while the English Professor or the Math Professor come and go basically unknown except to a select few? We worship sports in our society (which is certainly not a modern phenomenon), and so these people matter more. We pretend that we worship police, firefighters, and other service persons, but they play a second fiddle to athletes. Never mind the thinkers, philosophers, and poets. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flags-at-half-staff-for-child-molestation-enabler-i-dont-get-it/610417/8 "2012-01-24T03:24:32Z")
Simple explanation: Corbett’s an ass. ---
**Author:** ![Paralogic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Paralogic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paralogic)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flags-at-half-staff-for-child-molestation-enabler-i-dont-get-it/610417/9 "2012-01-24T03:30:07Z")
> [@Snow\_Pea](#): > > [http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/23/us/penn-state-paterno/?hpt=hp\_c1&hpt=hp\_c2](http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/23/us/penn-state-paterno/?hpt=hp_c1&hpt=hp_c2) > > I don’t get it. With his silence, this guy undoubtedly enabled a child molester to continue abusing children - now he gets honoured with the flags being flown at half-staff all week? 😕:mad: $$ talks, morality walks. Why do you think so many _men_ would prefer watching his team play football on a Saturday evening rather than think if their children are safe from abusers? He’s a creation of society’s preference to entertainment and instant gratification, rather than wanting to keep our children safe from abusers. ---
**Author:** ![David42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@David42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David42)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flags-at-half-staff-for-child-molestation-enabler-i-dont-get-it/610417/10 "2012-01-24T03:44:28Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > We pretend that we worship police, firefighters, and other service persons, but they play a second fiddle to athletes. Never mind the thinkers, philosophers, and poets. Well, to be fair we also so elevate musicians and actors. A very few of which are also thinkers, philosophers and poets. Well, particularly the musicians. But I’ll not argue with your main point. ---
**Author:** ![David42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5f9b8f/32.png) [@David42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/David42)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flags-at-half-staff-for-child-molestation-enabler-i-dont-get-it/610417/11 "2012-01-24T03:49:54Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > Forget turning a blind eye to molestation- why does **any** coach merit flags being flown at half-staff statewide for four days? [This](http://dailyflagstatus.com/6.htm)lists only three coaches, and two of them died in a plane crash along with a state senator. Not a single professor is listed , nor are any doctors or social workers or teachers. Except for one baseball coach, the list is composed of service members, police , firefighters and correctional officers who died in the line of duty, elected officials and judges, and on a few occasions people who died in an incident where an elected official or judge also died (such as the Jan 2011 shooting in Tucson). The Pennsylvania service members and police officers who died in the line of duty were often honored for a single day and in only one or two counties and the Capitol Complex. I live across the street from a National Historic Site. Occasionally I’ll ask them why the flag is at half staff, who died? They never know. Now I know why. All this time I thought it was only done for the very most respected government officials or maybe high ranking military, you know, a president or a Supreme Court Justice. It doesn’t seem to fly at half-staff that often. ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flags-at-half-staff-for-child-molestation-enabler-i-dont-get-it/610417/12 "2012-01-24T05:08:00Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > Why does the Sports Coach get adulations from staff, students and alumni, many of whom have probably never met him in any meaningful way, while the English Professor or the Math Professor come and go basically unknown except to a select few? This has an annoyingly practical answer, supplied by a prof at PSU: JoePa’s successes at football directly translate to academic dollars. The PSU Athletics Department is a net contributor of revenue to Penn State’s academic side, therefore a lot of people continue to respect his legacy of basically single-handedly building the program into something that’s supplied a cumulative several hundred million in academic dollars. ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flags-at-half-staff-for-child-molestation-enabler-i-dont-get-it/610417/13 "2012-01-24T05:55:07Z")
I don’t think I’d go so far as to call him an enabler but as a Catholic, he was a bloody idiot to trust the university to do their jobs, even if the law said he could. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flags-at-half-staff-for-child-molestation-enabler-i-dont-get-it/610417/14 "2012-01-24T18:02:20Z")
> [@Zeriel](#): > > This has an annoyingly practical answer, supplied by a prof at PSU: JoePa’s successes at football directly translate to academic dollars. The PSU Athletics Department is a net contributor of revenue to Penn State’s academic side, therefore a lot of people continue to respect his legacy of basically single-handedly building the program into something that’s supplied a cumulative several hundred million in academic dollars. True at Penn State, but not true at many (most?) other colleges: > [@](#): > > [Penn State football is a money-maker: 2010 Department of Education figures show the team spending $19.5 million and bringing in almost $73 million, which helps support 29 varsity sports. Still, only about half of big-time programs end up in the black; many others have to draw from student fees or the general fund to cover expenses. And the gap between top programs and wannabes is only growing with colleges locked into an arms race to attract the best coaches and build the most luxurious venues in hopes of luring top athletes, and donations from happy alumni.](http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/education/edlife/how-big-time-sports-ate-college-life.html?pagewanted=all) ---
**Author:** ![Zeriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/58956e/32.png) [@Zeriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeriel)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flags-at-half-staff-for-child-molestation-enabler-i-dont-get-it/610417/15 "2012-01-24T19:54:15Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > True at Penn State, but not true at many (most?) other colleges: It’s true–and that only serves to make the JoePa fanaticism more comprehensible. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flags-at-half-staff-for-child-molestation-enabler-i-dont-get-it/610417/16 "2012-01-24T19:54:52Z")
JoePa was more than just a football coach and more than just a winning fottball coach. I can see this being a puzzlement if your knowledge of him was “what I heard about him 2 months ago.” For most people the issue is a little more complicated than that. Saying that he was an enabler or that he turned a blind eye is a debatable characterization. It is inarguable to say that he did not do enough. So, what is the calculus for evaluating a lifetime of integrity with an instance of horribly insufficient action? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flags-at-half-staff-for-child-molestation-enabler-i-dont-get-it/610417/17 "2012-01-24T20:28:04Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > JoePa was more than just a football coach and more than just a winning fottball coach. I can see this being a puzzlement if your knowledge of him was “what I heard about him 2 months ago.” For most people the issue is a little more complicated than that. > > Saying that he was an enabler or that he turned a blind eye is a debatable characterization. It is inarguable to say that he did not do enough. So, what is the calculus for evaluating a lifetime of integrity with an instance of horribly insufficient action? Absolute bull. I know many people that have lived a lifetime of integrity and none of them are going to get the honor of having flags flown at half-staff. The _only_ reason it is happening now is because he was a winning college coach. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flags-at-half-staff-for-child-molestation-enabler-i-dont-get-it/610417/18 "2012-01-24T21:01:40Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Absolute bull. I know many people that have lived a lifetime of integrity and none of them are going to get the honor of having flags flown at half-staff. The _only_ reason it is happening now is because he was a winning college coach. If my post could somehow be construed so as to imply that all people of integrity would be honored in this fashion, I must apologize. On the other hand, if you think that what Joe Paterno meant to the state of Pennsylvania was that he won a lot of football games, you are not in a position to comment intelligently on how the state mourns his passing. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flags-at-half-staff-for-child-molestation-enabler-i-dont-get-it/610417/19 "2012-01-24T21:09:00Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > If my post could somehow be construed so as to imply that all people of integrity would be honored in this fashion, I must apologize. > > On the other hand, if you think that what Joe Paterno meant to the state of Pennsylvania was that he won a lot of football games, you are not in a position to comment intelligently on how the state mourns his passing. I understand the football fanboy mentality well enough to know that, given a sufficient winning streak, _anything_ will be forgiven…if not swept under the rug entirely. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2012, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flags-at-half-staff-for-child-molestation-enabler-i-dont-get-it/610417/20 "2012-01-24T21:12:11Z")
Quick quiz: How many of the dozens of Nobel Prize winners that came from Pennsylvania were given the same honor when they died? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/flags-at-half-staff-for-child-molestation-enabler-i-dont-get-it/610417.md?page=2)