Chaotic Fringe

When my mother got real angry she used to say I'm so mad I can spit fire. Well, I'm at that point now.

Since the start of the #Occupy movement conservatives have warned violence could occur. They said that the people at the protests were lazy kids, good for nothing freeloaders who should get a job. They joked about urine and destroyed public places. They said their was no message to the protests; just a bunch of people griping for no reason. They did everything to paint a picture of unruly unwashed hooligans. The only time any violence occurred was when the police provoked demonstrators, and the violence was aways on the police side except for a few instances.

Yesterday, Penn State fired Joe Paterno, head football coach, because of an investigation that showed the coach had knowledge of one of his former assistance sexually assaulting at least 9 underage boys and in one instance the sodomy of a 10 year old boy was observed and reported to the coach. While the coach did report the event to his superior, he never called the police and continued to work with the assistant coach for years.

So, just to be clear, we have a case of a revered football coach turning a blind eye as one of his assistants was reported by an eyewitness account of sodomizing a ten year old boy and other that reporting it to his superior the revered coach does nothing, not even making an anonymous call to the police.

What was the reaction by the enlightened students on campus? They were so upset that the COACH WAS FIRED they rioted. Here is part of an article by Nate Schweber of the New York Times of the event -

After top Penn State officials announced that they had fired Joe Paterno on Wednesday night, thousands of students stormed the downtown area to display their anger and frustration, chanting the former coach’s name, tearing down light poles and overturning a television news van parked along College Avenue.

The demonstrators congregated outside Penn State’s administration building before stampeding into the tight grid of downtown streets. They turned their ire on a news van, a symbolic gesture that expressed a view held by many that the news media exaggerated Mr. Paterno’s role in the scandal surrounding accusations that a former assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky, sexually assaulted young boys.

“I think the point people are trying to make is the media is responsible for JoePa going down,” said a freshman, Mike Clark, 18, adding that he believed that Mr. Paterno had met his legal and moral responsibilities by telling university authorities about an accusation that Mr. Sandusky assaulted a boy in a university shower in 2002.

Demonstrators tore down two lamp posts, one falling into a crowd. They also threw rocks and fireworks at the police, who responded with pepper spray. The crowd undulated like an accordion, with the students crowding the police and the officers pushing them back.

“We got rowdy, and we got maced,” Jeff Heim, 19, said rubbing his red, teary eyes. “But make no mistake, the board started this riot by firing our coach. They tarnished a legend.”

An orderly crowd first filled the lawn in front of Old Main when news of Mr. Paterno’s firing came via students’ cellphones. When the crowd took to the downtown streets, its anger and intensity swelled. Students shouted “We are Penn State.”

Some blew vuvuzelas, others air horns. One young man sounded reveille on a trumpet. Four girls in heels danced on the roof of a parked sport utility vehicle and dented it when they fell after a group of men shook the vehicle. A few, like Justin Muir, 20, a junior studying hotel and restaurant management, threw rolls of toilet paper into the trees.

“It’s not fair,” Mr. Muir said hurling a white ribbon. “The board is an embarrassment to our school and a disservice to the student population.”

When we have people protesting the government, banks and the rich, they are hooligans, bums and irresponsible. When they are interviewed they are ridiculed as being naïve. A football coach is fired because of some very serious accusations and the student, supposedly respectable students, go to the streets to vent their anger, turn over a van, cause damage to vehicles, tear down tax paid for utilities, shout and toilet paper building, and there is silence from the conservative media and pundits. The students feel justified in 'venting their anger' by destroying things, blaming the administration for firing the coach, not taking into account the coaches, by their actions, tarnished the image of their precious school. One called the board an embarrassment but probably doesn't think the destruction of property might be looked on as an embarrassment.

Even when the board voted to fire the coach, the news conference after the event had some reporters asking seemingly hostile questions to the board, wondering why they would fire the coach in such a harsh way. In the minds of some, it seems the sodomy of children isn't such a big deal. A cover-up of the incident by administration officials isn't a big deal. In a slap in the face of the victims, just recently Joe Paterno won a game that allowed him to become the most winning coach in college football. It has been suggested by some that the investigation results were held back so the coach could achieve the milestone and seems to have been substantiated since after his win the results were released after a three year investigation. It sickens me that peaceful demonstrators are considered a danger to the fabric of the nation but marauding college students destroying property to vent their anger disappointed with the removal of corrupt administration that supports child molesters is considered OK.