Am I the only one who finds the cheering crowds at the Sandusky post-trial event to be unnerving? The whole spectacle reminds me of this:
There’s nothing to celebrate here. Nothing. Go the fuck home, you degenerates. It just makes me realize we aren’t so far removed from public executions where people would hope the hanging would be botched and the convicted would either do the jig because there would not be a clean cervical break or hoping the condemned would do be accidentally decapitated to sate the crowd’s bloodlust. The death penalty and capital punishment is obscene on so many levels, but most of all because of the way it promotes this kind of sense of bloodlust and retribution.
It’s just really harder and harder for me to find any redeeming qualities in the human race these days. There is fucking nothing here to celebrate. Period. And anyone standing on the stairs there cheering should really spend some time evaluating their own existence, and whether or not they have gone tragically wrong in their own emotional development. Sick, sick, people. Who spends their nights on the stairs of the courthouse cheering a verdict that confirms dozens of kids were abused and the accused will be brought to justice? Why aren’t you at home reading, playing with your dogs or cats, children, or watching tv?
Such a sick, disgusting culture. The majority of our nation is mentally ill.
Violet
I agree, they were very unnerving. Also shocking to me were the young children in shorts on the courthouse steps. This was a trial for a pedophile. Keep your children far, far away from that. Who brings their kids to something like that?
lamh35
i love the people who actually had their damn kids in that crowd. Who the hell brings their children to hear a verdict about a damn child pedophile like it’s the latest celebrity sighting?
RILnyc
Let them eat bread — and circuses. — Lloyd Blankfein
DougJ
@lamh35:
That is fucked up, I agree.
maven
Families went to the court house? In shorts? For a verdict on pedophilia?
/////?????????????????????????????????????????
Ajay
That is why I haven’t watched TV in years. Gave it up in late 90s and stopped cable altogether 6 or 7 years ago.
Violet
@lamh35: We’re both on the same wavelength. The kids being there upset me more than the cheering. I think in some ways the cheering could be seen as a cathartic kind of thing. I still don’t think it was appropriate, but I can understand that a lot more than the decision to bring your kids to something like that. Bringing your kids requires some kind of decision and forethought rather just an emotional release during the moment the verdict is announced.
Culture of Truth
I feel the same way.
Is there an element of protesting too much, from people from a Commonwealth, a state university, and an esteemed charity, among others, that looked the other way far too long?
hhex65
On the other hand no cars were torched in Miami last night. So that’s something.
Valdivia
Sometimes I wonder about our fellow human beings.
Culture of Truth
I also can’t help but assume the crowds and cheering were both drawn by the tv lights, which by themselves encourage what appear to be unfortunate behavior.
lamh35
So I wonder will anyone have the balls to ask former AG now current governor of PA Corbett if his AG office at the time knew of Sandusky’s incident in ‘98 and if so why wasn’t something done.
Hypatia's Momma
For me, I guess my disgust would depend on how many of those cheering adults were also victims of child abuse/rape. I, for one, wouldn’t be just cheering; I’d commission a god damned ticker-tape parade to celebrate that conviction. Really, the ogling during the OJ Simpson “chase” and subsequent trail was a good deal more sickening than this.
On the other hand, there’s a great line in Dr. John Ciardi’s translation of Dante’s Inferno:
Dante becomes engrossed with an argument between two damned souls and Virgil chastises him, concluding his rebuke with, “The wish to hear such baseness is degrading.” And so it is.
Three-nineteen
Poeple need to know what happens. Does anyone dispute that?
hitchhiker
Alternate view: some of those people were cheering because they were terrified that the testimony of the victims would not be believed, and if they have first hand experience about how that works, I can’t judge them. You’re looking at relief & catharsis, not celebration.
And, yeah, some of them are just demented fuknuts.
MikeInSewickley
As much as I am glad that justice was served, the fact that this has become a Friday Night Event as if it was the Ice Cream Festival in “The Musicman” makes me ill.
My God this country is sick and anyone who thinks we could never fall for totalitarian American Taliban rule, then you don’t believe this was as much a show trial as it was justice being accomplished.
Why the hell both sides couldn’t just submit written statements or make short comments is beyond me. Especially our wonderful AG. Christ she talked over 15 minutes, with it finally sounding like a fucking campaign speech.
And, no, I’m not a bleeding liberal on this. Sandusky deserves to be the girlfriend of every convict in whatever prison he lands in, though the general belief is that prison justice causes child abusers to have short life spans.
But the crowds in “Happy Valley”… well, now I know why Stephen King almost always uses small towns for his horror stories…
Culture of Truth
When the court system is privatized these trials will be on pay-per-view
MattR
I look forward to all the jokes and similar comments that implicitly condone the prison rape culture we have.
lamh35
Penn State statement on Sandusky verdict.
progress.psu.edu/resource-library/story/penn-state-releases-statement-on-sandusky-trial-june-22-2012
DougJ
@MattR:
So depressing.
Gemina13
I admit that cheering crowds at courthouses always unnerve me, and have since I watched all the people who showed up to cheer and chant at Ted Bundy’s execution. That said, as a survivor of sexual abuse myself, I cheered when I heard the verdict and started crying.
Yes, there were a hell of a lot of victims who came forward–and you can bet there were plenty who stayed away, certain Sandusky would be acquitted anyway. Yes, it’s confirmation that Sandusky is a monster who well deserves his fate of 23-hour-a-day imprisonment in a PC unit. But I also think what a lot of those people in the crowd were cheering for was the fact that the jury believed the victims. It’s a little bit of hope that maybe the next time a kid is raped by someone that influential, people who are in a position might actually do something–the way Joe Paterno didn’t.
I never brought charges against the one who raped me. I had a feeling I wouldn’t be believed either. So I probably would be in that crowd, cheering this verdict. Or I might have just sat down and cried in relief for the way this ended. It’s actually what I’m doing now, so . . . who knows. I’m not making much sense. I’m just saying that I think there’s more to this than just some sense of ravening bloodthirst.
Gemina13
@MikeInSewickley:
Sandusky will likely go to a PC unit and be confined 23 hours a day, with one hour for exercise in a private space barely bigger than a walk-in closet. And at his age, he would be less likely to be raped, but more likely to be shanked.
At any rate, what the hell–prison rape is nothing to toss around like a fit punishment, either. It’s barbaric on its own.
Xboxershorts
Fuck Sandusky. May he rot in hell.
But I choose to cleanse my soul elseways.
Here’s 1:40:00 of Railroad Earth to cleanse the palate
youtu.be/_O8f0j6kgjk
fubar
No cheering, just thankful that the jury reached the right conclusion (based on my limited legal training and the testimony from the victims).
Really, this may seem to be cheering because we have seen juries / the court / government / SCOTUS render decisions that seem to be at completed odds from reality. I, for one, am just thankful that a ‘predatory pedophile’ has been taken off the street. Nothing more, nothing less.
MikeInSewickley
@Gemina13: I agree it was a bad spur of the moment thing to mention to try and show that I wanted proper justice served.
I apologize for saying it and using a dumb comment to gloss over a serious problem only now getting the attention it deserves.
Sorry.
Hypatia's Momma
@Gemina13:
I’m so sorry. I know how you feel. “Online comfort” may not hold much irl value but I’ll offer it anyway.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
You really think this is exclusively an American thing? Or exclusively a 21st century American thing?
some guy
gemina 13
thanks for your insights. and thanks for being so strong
Ella in New Mexico
And yet, the millions of small, simple acts that occur each and every day in which one human does something kind, or compassionate or completely selfless go on without attention from anyone–I promise.
To restore your faith, you just need to look to THEM, not the horrific acts of someone like Sandusky.
Don’t forget: JUSTICE was manifest here, in this trial and its verdict. Victims became heroes because they didn’t allow their fear of being named to overcome their need to speak the truth. As a result, a warped perverter of “love” will not be able to use his final years on earth to continue his reign of pain and confusion.
I’d call that a victory for the human race, John.
Hawes
Here. Try this:
buzzfeed.com/expresident/pictures-that-will-restore-your-faith-in-humanity
freelancer
@Ella in New Mexico:
I linked to this last night, figured it can be of use here too. People are good, basically.
cmorenc
Sandusky’s effective sentence isn’t merely life in prison, it’s life alone in prison, where he will have to be segregated from all the other inmates for his own safety. Inmates imprisoned for child molestation are regarded as the vilest scum by the guards and other inmates, and will not last long in the general population without being savagely brutalized at first opportunity. He will be a pariah among pariahs, rejected as a peer by even the vilest scum among them who is not himself also in prison for child molestation. Even many of the other inmates there for child molestation, the ones who admit to themselves their crimes, will say to themselves “at least I’m not the scumbag Sandusky is”.
Throwin Stones
Open
FEAT
DEAD
Ella in New Mexico
@Gemina13:
Exactly. I feel like for once, all the young ones like you, who were ignored, punished, or disbelieved have has a moment of redemption. I want each and every child who walked away from that “cheering crowd” to remember the lesson that no one has the right to do to you what someone like Sandusky did to these kids, and that someone will believe you when you tell them if it’s happening.
Bless you, sweetie.
lacp
Must not be much happening on Friday night in Happy Valley. Didn’t see anything about a crowd here in Philly when they announced the verdict on the monsignor, but there probably were more than a few down by the justice center.
Ella in New Mexico
@Hawes:
This was WONDERFUL! Thanks for the link.
burnspbesq
@MattR:
No need to look forward. They started hours ago, in the thread about the conviction of the priest in Philly.
Steeplejack
Edited down to nothing.
hilzoy
@Hawes: That was wonderful.
It’s a good thing we don’t have to decide what we think of the human race as a whole. Individuals are enough.
ChrisNYC
I think you’re being way way too harsh.
I think it’s tragic too. Not so much the cheering, tho that’s creepy and I’d not be anywhere near it. The whole package. Including Sandusky. Agree, send him to jail but ACH! jail for the rest of your life with knowledge of WHAT YOU DID. Wouldn’t wish that on my worst enemy. I always feel bad for the convicted and the film of them hearing the verdict.
But this stuff is really intense. Sex, kids, order, chaos, stature, achievement, betrayal, judgment. The notion of a scapegoat has a long history for humans and there’s a good reason for it. May not always be “healthy” but no one gets any guidance as to how to deal with any of these issues so maybe cut them some slack. They may be just regular people who, like the rest of us, just do what they can in making sense of things. And fail a lot of times.
Spaghetti Lee
A couple hundred people (I assume) outside a courthouse = “The majority of our nation is mentally ill”? Really now. I’m also not sure where “bloodlust” enters into it, seeing as how he won’t be executed but instead given life in prison. Isn’t that supposed to be the good alternative to the death penalty?
I don’t know, maybe we are depraved. But I never thought that sitting around tongue-clucking makes anyone less depraved.
Craig
Jesus Christ, settle the fuck down, Sparky. A bunch of people in a small, insulated community expressed their happiness that a monster who tore their community apart will not spend another day outside of a prison cell. Perhaps we can go a little easy on a group of people reveling in some collective catharsis instead of turning them into a sign of the apocalypse. This teeth-gnashing is so very, very unnecessary.
DCLaw1
Penn Stater here. Happy Valley can be a hothouse. This has been an emotional time for them. I’ve had some distance from it all, but there’s a runaway dynamic that can take hold anytime a smallish town gets hit with the national spotlight. We saw that during the “Village” protests a decade or so ago, albeit on a smaller scale. Haven’t seen the video of people cheering, but I’m not so sure it’s cause to lament the downfall of human dignity. We’ve always been f’d up.
I’ve had mojitos.
shortstop
@burnspbesq: Liar. Please produce one comment in that thread that condoned the prison rape culture or even mentioned it.
Mark S.
Of things to be outraged about, this one rates pretty low for me.
ETA: Perhaps I should clarify: the people celebrating, not what Sandusky did.
shortstop
@MikeInSewickley: Well done, Mike, with that apology.
DCLaw1
At the same time, I can relate to Cole’s reaction. Sometimes we see something that strikes us wrong or excessive. Maybe a little bit of dislike for Penn State too, but what do I care.
Lojasmo
@burnspbesq:
No joke. I hope they are both raped repeatedly. Should be formally built into the penal system.
Child rapists are the vilest scum on earth.
ETA burnsBQ and Derf can cry me a river of tears to bathe in.
stinger
@Hawes: Thank you! I’ve bookmarked that for future reference (expect I’ll need it).
Hypatia's Momma
@Lojasmo:
I’m pretty sure that official rapists on the state and federal payrolls is a horrible idea. It’s also a horrifying one; the unofficial rapists are trauma enough.
DCLaw1
Who else has been drinking. I’ll fight you. C’mon.
shortstop
@DCLaw1: Ernest, is that you?
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Lojasmo: So, you’re a torture advocate?
Ash Can
The media-circus aspect of this trial certainly didn’t help matters, and I’d bet the ranch that was the reason the majority of the spectators showed up, children in tow. It’s sad that this is evidently the social highlight of their community.
And in other news, apparently Darrell Issa told Eric Holder he’d let him off the hook if Holder brought him Lanny Breuer’s scalp. Breuer is the head of the (apparently fairly effective) financial fraud division of the DoJ. Now, I’m not one for wild-ass conspiracy theories, but when something smells funny, I can’t help but notice. (H/t Brother Holy Cruise Missile of Mild Acceptance @ LGF)
DCLaw1
@shortstop: A bit more like Begbie from Trainspotting.
Tractarian
Am I the only one who finds the MOUNTAIN of attention everyone is heaping on this common criminal to be unnerving?
shortstop
@Lojasmo: Yeah, what we need more of in this country is blind reactionary vengeance. Courts and judicial remedies are for losers who use parts of their brains other than the reptilian portions, amirite?
shortstop
@DCLaw1: Can I mesh the two of them? I’m hopped up on sushi and iced coffee and I won’t be sleepy for a while.
Joey Maloney
I thought the cheering was unnerving but not unexpected. It’s catharsis. We’re sexual beings and we all have inappropriate sexual thoughts. Whether it’s that guy on the street that’s way hotter than your husband, or the tarted up teen at the mall, or the endless barrage of sexualized youth in commercial culture, we’re wired to notice. We don’t act on those thoughts, most people rigorously suppress them.
Then when we find someone who did act he or she becomes the subject of our horrified titillation. He or she must be destroyed in order to expiate the part of ourselves we don’t admit to. What you saw on the courthouse steps was catharsis and relief.
Anyone who would like to read a book that expands the above eight sentences into a couple of hundred pages of closely argued social history and psychology, by all means pick up Professor James Kinkaid’s Erotic Innocence: The Culture of Child Molesting.
satanicpanic
I’ve got a million things better to do that go cheer some asshole’s conviction, but I was happy to read the news that he was convicted.
Tractarian
@Hawes:
So, turns out most of the things that are supposed to restore our faith in humanity are related to humanity saving cute little furry cuddly creatures.
Great.
Tractarian
Am I the only one who finds Joey Maloney‘s post to be unnerving?
Hypatia's Momma
@Joey Maloney:
Except, no. I’ve never had “inappropriate sexual thoughts” about children. Ever.
DCLaw1
I wanna be rich so I can install in my house a 100-foot-deep tunnel of creepy catching-and-talking-then-dropping hands like in “Labyrinth.” We will throw guests that have taken too many drugs down there. Nothing but darkness and damp pillows at the bottom.
Mark S.
@Joey Maloney:
Eh, there’s a big difference between being sexually attracted to other adults and being sexually attracted to children.
Hypatia's Momma
@Tractarian:
No, I think his (?) post is creepy as hell.
Joey Maloney
@Hypatia’s Momma: DId I say that (that your inappropriate sexual thoughts were about children)? I don’t think I did.
Few people do. But what I said was, nearly everyone has some kind of sexual thoughts they themselves consider inappropriate. They don’t have to be illegal and immoral. It could be something that another person would find utterly unexceptional.
satanicpanic
@Tractarian: No, I thought it was pretty damn creepy myself. But I partly wrote it off as more Kola Noscopy (or whatever that dude is commenting under) NAMBLA ravings.
Hypatia's Momma
@Joey Maloney:
Then my point still stands. I’ve never had “inappropriate sexual thoughts”, unless you’re some insane fundie who thinks women shouldn’t have sexual thoughts at all because, ew, gross.
DCLaw1
Appropriate sexual thoughts are not very sexy at all.
Hypatia's Momma
@Joey Maloney:
Why, no, what you said was:
Mark S.
@Joey Maloney:
Yeah, but what we’re saying is that fantasizing about fucking that guy or gal at work is different than fantasizing about fucking that kid on your daughter’s soccer team.
moderateindy
@Xboxershorts: Railroad Earth is really a fabulous band. The whole jamgrass genre has so many talented musicians, and Bands like RE and Cornmeal have so much energy when playing live that it really has to be experienced to get what it’s all about.
Cole, I don’t know if you have checked out any shows from this genre, but basically every Deadhead I know enjoys this type of show. It was basically spawned by the Dead, there’s more of a bluegrass influence than Phish or Widespread, but it really is a ton of fun.
Check out Trampled by Turtles out of Duluth, I love this clip because the tall dude in the tie-dye reminds me of soooo many really white guys (including myself) trying to dance at Dead shows
youtu.be/ZQabjljqhbo
Linda Featheringill
Don’t know if I can express this, but I’ll try.
Jesus Christ, John. You’re disturbed because people like to see monsters get their comeuppance?
Or are you disturbed because people like to see monsters in the athletic industry get their comeuppance?
What has Sandusky done that he should enjoy dignity and respect?
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Linda Featheringill: I fail to see where Cole said anythng about Sandusky deserving dignity or respect.
Mark S.
@Linda Featheringill:
I agree.
Silver
Americans are bloodthirsty amoral assholes? Surprise, surprise. Nothing at all in the last 50 years would have tipped me off to that…
shortstop
@Linda Featheringill: No one has said that Sandusky should have dignity and respect. But there’s a difference between being glad that he’s been convicted and treating this as a sports victory. There are no winners here. Many children were horribly damaged and will carry that all their lives. An institution circled wagons to protect and enable a rapist of children–for money and status. A sick and twisted man going to jail will not undo any of that. Everything about this situation is grief- and horror-inducing.
I also suspect, though I don’t know for sure, that a lot of bystanders who brought the kids and picnic dinners are the same folks who love, love, love the death penalty, are enamored of vigilante justice and enjoy talking about bombing other countries back to the stone age. There’s so much joyous bloodlust in that crowd that it’s pretty much a given it’s not a one-off.
Marcellus Shale, Public Dick
i really didn’t think about the crowd up there.
Linda Featheringill
@The prophet Nostradumbass:
Then why not cheer the verdict?
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Linda Featheringill: Read shortstop’s reply to you for your answer.
bargal20
I’ve always suspected people who congregate at courthouses to jeer at defendants are employing a classical Freudian defense mechanism to cover up the fact that they and the defendants are uncomfortably similar.
hhex65
@Tractarian: yeah, that’s off, it’s trollnificent stuff
Hypatia's Momma
@The prophet Nostradumbass:
Neither you nor shortstop get to tell victims of rape/abuse how they should (or should not) react to a rapist actually being convicted.
Jennifer
It’s just really harder and harder for me to find any redeeming qualities in the human race these days.
I think this is what is generally known as “being over 40.”
shortstop
@Hypatia’s Momma: Okay. Are you arguing that everyone in that giant crowd is a victim of rape/abuse? Or do you think that some of them might have been treating this like a sports event for other reasons?
rb
@Culture of Truth: You know, that’s a reasonable point. The blade itself incites to violence, as they say.
The prophet Nostradumbass
@Hypatia’s Momma: I’m not dictating to victims of abuse how they should feel about it. I’m talking about people who act like their team won a goddamn sporting event.
Hypatia's Momma
@shortstop:
I’ve no idea and you don’t either.
Linda Featheringill
@Hypatia’s Momma:
I agree with you on this statement.
Yes, the crowd probably was a little bloodthirsty but I derived comfort from their little exhibition.
ETA:
Yes, I am a survivor. And I still have a reservoir of anger that would probably curdle your blood.
rb
@Gemina13: Good comment Gemina13. I hadn’t thought of it that way, and I appreciate your adding that perspective.
Hypatia's Momma
@The prophet Nostradumbass:
As I said in an earlier post, I’d throw a goddamned parade if the sick fuck who raped me when I was ten was finally fucking convicted. Maybe every one of those people cheering is a jerk enjoying the downfall of a public figure/being on tv but maybe more than a few of them are themselves survivors of abuse/rape (or relatives or friends of survivors).
Hypatia's Momma
@Linda Featheringill:
I think of it as “a bit of closure”.
kamalokitty
Word.
kamalokitty
Word.
Gemina13
@MikeInSewickley:
I know it’s an impulse to want a shitheel like Sandusky to suffer the way he made those kids–and, apparently, even his own adopted son–suffer. And I appreciate that you walked this back so openly. Thanks.
MacKenna
I agree with the crowd depiction, but in this case, Sandusky doesn’t have a fake witch nose that somebody put on him. He is in fact “a witch”.
On the other hand, without the public’s support and idealization of this man, his pedophilia wouldn’t have carried on as long as it did. Sandusky had a lot of friends who knew and kept quiet about it. And we’ll never know what his wife knew.
Sandusky is a one man Catholic Church and there are still many people who support the Catholic Church.
InternetDragons
I can’t say I would have gone to that courthouse to hear the verdict. But I might have.
As a survivor, I can say it put tears in my eyes. I can say that I cheered when I heard. I can say that I completely get where at least some of those folks are coming from.
It’s about being heard. Finally. And believed. Finally. And seeing the right thing happen. Finally. Especially since the right thing, when it comes to child abuse, almost NEVER FUCKING HAPPENS. Not even these days, when most are oh-so-open about declaring what a Bad Thing it is.
Maybe that makes me a “degenerate”, John. I hope it doesn’t. I try not to cave in to the shitty side of humanity that we all harbor.
I understand and agree with the disgust over a circus atmosphere at the conclusion of a tragic trial, but…like so many things in this messed-up, complex world, it just isn’t that black-and-white. Welcome to the grey areas where we humans abide and struggle most of the time.
Anne Laurie
@Culture of Truth:
That was my first thought as well. Yes, some of those people were cheering in support of the victims & some of them were probably abuse survivors themselves. And some of them were cheering because, as Joey Maloney pointed out, they’re happy that their own little sexual fantasies & sins don’t seem quite as horrible in comparison. But there are definitely too many people who make a beeline for the tv cameras, because “gettin on the teebee” is the highest aspiration they can imagine.
You think the parents bringing their kids to this freakshow are skeevy? The ones that I’d nominate for a call from Child Protective Services, assuming such services hadn’t become a standing joke, are the “caring moms” who drag young children to the memorials that appear whenever a child disappears or is found murdered. Nothing says “good parental instincts” like hauling a toddler in front of the local newsfeed and explaining, at length, exactly what terrible things might’ve happened to the missing kid (“just the same age as my little girl, and her middle name is the same as this precious angel’s too!”) and how the monster responsible is no doubt planning new horrors for other little girls.
Elizabelle
The details you learn from local papers. Checking in with State College’s daily on their reporting on the crowd scene, post-conviction.
Read more here: centredaily.com/2012/06/23/3239370/crowd-outside-centre-county-courthouse.html#storylink=cpy
Sandusky published an autobiography in 2001.
Entitled “Touched: The Jerry Sandusky Story”
You cannot make this stuff up.
amk
Kinda of hypocritical isn’t it cole when you and BJ’ers cheer the verdict on the internetz with two posts ?
Linda Featheringill
@amk:
The members of that crowd probably don’t have blogs with a built-in means of expression.
HeartlandLiberal
Having grown up in Alabama in the fifties and sixties, in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement, I recalled this cartoon, which I tracked down on the InnerTubes to share:
Link to the article and cartoon:
jonathanbogart.tumblr.com/post/293536319/click-through-for-a-clearer-picture-another
Maude
People gathered at the courthouse to hear an important verdict. This wasn’t a hanging crowd.
They wanted to be together when they heard the news. The kids found out that someone is paying a price for attacking kids.
It was hot yesterday evening and that’s why they were in shorts.
I see them as members of the community there in support of the victims.
amk
@Maude: Bingo. This navel gazing from cole is stupid.
AHH onna Droid
without justice, the innocent suffer. shall we forsake the weak and helpless because a righteous androsterodenous display of anger is unseemly? Some days polite is another word for protecting the powerful. Calling the cops or worse screaming rape when you walk in on a man raping a young boy is quite rude. Think of how the perp must feel to be embarrassed like that.
AmyFarr
I offer the perspective of a lawyer who represents plaintiffs in discrimination cases: we are so accustomed to seeing rich corporate defendants and rich criminal defendants buy their way out of justice that it was a cheerable event to simply see justice done. I wouldn’t have been in the crowd, but I have no problem with the cheering.
Jay
@shortstop:
“There are no winners here.”
I disagree. Sandusky was a serial child molester. Had he walked, who’s to say he wouldn’t have attacked more kids? I’d say alot of at – risk kids and their families in that chunk of PA won out because they won’t have to worry about this guy.
Nutella
Maybe some of the crowd wanted to make up for that other PA crowd that demonstrated rowdily in favor of Paterno, to show that everyone in the neighborhood of Penn State is not in favor of powerful football coaches getting away with rape and enabling rape.
shortstop
@Jay: I wouldn’t call that winners so much as no additional losers. But I take your point.
Liberty60
I used to be in favor of the death penalty, until I witnessed the cheering crowds outside the execution of Ted Bundy.
Although of course a serial killer deserves death, or far worse, what appalled me is what vengeance and bloodlust does to us; as John notes, it makes us into modern versions of the crowds who cheered lustily as a man was being disembowled in an Elizabethean square.
LAC
Maybe the cheers were due to relief about this long overdue verdict. Maybe the children were there to know in some way that no one has the right to do that. Maybe there were survivors there. . Maybe you should sometimes get off your self righteous soapbox and hit the shtfup button once in a while. I am never going to feel bad for clapping over the verdict.
Hypatia's Momma
@Liberty60:
Why would that change your mind? Ted Bundy was an unrepentant rapist/torturer/murderer/necrophiliac; of all the types of people who decidedly needed to be removed from this earth he is on that list. It is very rare for me to concur with the “he needed killing” sentiment but that was one of those times.
MacKenna
@Elizabelle:
Sandusky’s 2001 autobiography is “Touched: The Jerry Sanduski Story”.
Whoever writes this story? Please call it THAT.
John Weiss
Old words, perhaps wise words: “Judge not lest you be judged”.
Caz
An evil, dangerous, insidious monster is off the streets forever and the community is safer. Of course that’s worth cheering. I mean, you probably cheer over Steelers football games; this is real life. You have a perverse view of the world.
Caz
@lamh35: So they brought their kids to the courthouse. It’s not like the verdict was delivered to the crowd by a nude Sandusky. All the kids got was a partial idea of how the justice system works, and a good view of the courthouse. There was nothing improper there for the kids to hear or see, so big deal. And if parents wanted to go and couldn’t get a babysitter, what option did they have?
You BJtards sure have an odd view of the world. You don’t have a problem with gay couples adopting kids, but you have a problem with them being at a courthouse to hear a criminal trial verdict. Which one do you think is more damaging to the children???
Hypatia's Momma
@Caz:
Eh, I can only give you a 3.5/10 for the troll post, mostly because of the lack of creativity and the obvious low effort.
maus
@Lojasmo: Way to immerse yourself in rape culture you sick fuck.
mrdestructo.tumblr.com/post/25699616364/so-youve-decided-to-make-a-sandusky-prison-rape
mclaren
As one of my best friends put it, “This would be a nice planet without the human infestation.”
If you removed all homo sapiens from the earth tomorrow, all other species on the planet would thrive. If you got rid of all the insects, though, or all the bacteria, most of the life on earth — including humans — would disappear within a decade.
Oh well. Maybe when horseshoe crabs evolve intelligence they’ll do a better job of maintaining a civilization.