There are moral absolutes in life, and one of them is this: If a man comes across a child rape in process, he should do whatever he can to stop the rape and protect the child. There should be no reasonable debate about this, and the relevant question is not whether that standard is correct but whether we have the individual courage to meet that standard.
Those two sentences should be among the least controversial ever written in the pages of NRO. Indeed, there should be no need to even write them, but in the aftermath of my Friday posting about cowardice at Penn State, I was surprised at the number of individuals — both in the comments and via e-mail — who admonished me for my rush to judgment of the young graduate assistant who failed to stop Sandusky and failed even to call the police. “His career was at risk” some said. Others noted that Sandusky was likely a “father figure” to the young coach. Still others said that telling Joe Paterno many hours later was “enough.” But what does all that say about the inherent selfishness of the rationalizer? How important is your career? How much will you allow perceived authority to intimidate you? Do you respond to a crisis by asking what is “enough,” or what is right?
Friday night I had dinner with a fellow Iraq vet, a guy who served as a critical-care doctor at Balad Air Base, where he treated soldiers with horrific wounds. He noted how people in crisis, particularly people facing crises they’ve never experienced, almost always go through a moment of denial — a “this can’t really be happening” moment where they process the events around them and make, sometimes in less than a second, that most basic human choice: Fight or flight. I saw the same thing in my time downrange. I saw that moment of shock — and went through it myself — when events accelerate beyond experience or reason. We can try to prepare ourselves and we can imagine how we’d react, but you never know with metaphysical certainty until you’re there, until the moment strikes, what you will do. In fact it is that very uncertainty that makes the moral declaration all the more important, a vital anchor as the waves of fear, confusion, and doubt wash over you.
And believe me, in those times moral expectations do matter. There are soldiers who have stood and fought when every single cell in their body was screaming for them to run because they would rather die than abandon their brothers. The moral expectation was the difference between courage and cowardice, between victory and defeat. In fact, our nation’s very existence depends on the willingness of brave men and women to toe that moral line and utterly abandon self-interest in the face of mortal danger. And while we understand why some tiny minority of soldiers have run, we don’t condone it. Cowardice is still cowardice even if the conditions are extreme.
It is a sad irony that a graduate student who was part of the fake military culture that pervades football could not summon even a fraction of the warrior ethos when confronted not with mortal danger but danger to his career and reputation. If you read the grand jury report and honestly take from it that you would have responded the same way when confronted with the reality of child rape, you shouldn’t question the moral imperative of intervention. Instead, question yourself.
I read the report and was horrified. I would also like to say that we should all thank God that those who reacted this way are NOT in the military, in fact, I can't think where would be a good place for them. They certainly do not deserve to be in a position for under privileged boys to look up to them. Shame, shame, shame.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseDavid and momiss, Now our "warrior culture" is a homo culture. Obviously can't control our behavior, can we? Pleasure first. Shame? What's that? The concept requires some sort of moral framework. We have none now. If it feels good, do it. If it looks like we're losing a battle, run. That's the future of our military, the only public institution that was both Constitutionally mandated and trusted by the public. Couldn't have that, could we? In the name of "freedom" we have made Judeo-Christianity illegal in the armed forces. Try making a sexual harassment complaint against the homo-pagan-atheist-Ivy League alliance. The "under privileged boys" you are worried about are now their servants. Basic training should start with how to fill out personal effects inventories for all the dead.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseBravo David. There is nothing controversial about expecting a man to stop a child rape when witnessing it and it is beyond pathetic to see people try and make excuses for the guy. If he is suffering and if his career is destroyed he deserves every bit of it.
SMU got the death penalty from the NCAA for paying Eric Dickerson (and others) to play. PSU should get the same or worse.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWithout question. There was no excuse for McQuery's cowardice.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAbsolutely right and excellently stated. On this reasonable men cannot disagree. Cordially, Bill
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWhat is your life worth to turn your back on a child being hurt like that? People go all through their lives looking for a sense of fulfillment. Is being an assistant coach at Penn State worth more than saving a little boy? Is worth more than the shame you would feel knowing that child saw you and watched you do nothing to save him?
Why is this even a matter of debate?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseExactly right, Mr. French. A moral man would've left Sandusky out cold on the floor while he saw the child to safety, and the authorities on their way.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI could not agree more.
I would only add, however, that if McQueary was NOT the witness to this horriffic episode, but instead was a Graduate Assistant in some other university program reading about it in shock like the rest of us, I am nearly 100% certain that his response would be just like ours. He would boldly assert that he would have pulled Sandusky off the boy, he would have grabbed a helmet and pounded the guy, he would have whisked the boy to safety. But in the event…he did not. Instead he took a path we all recognize as cowardly. While I’m sure that tells us something about McQueary, I suspect it also says something about ourselves, our own weaknesses, and our need to find scapegoats. We all have moments when we should stand and deliver. And we all fail. Hopefully few will fail as spectacularly as McQueary did (and his father, who gave him cowardly advice as well). But we all will. All that is required for evil to prevail in the world is for good men to do nothing. Sadly, good men continue to do nothing. It was ever thus.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSMS - Good point. It is difficult to remember but at 28 I was still - like a lot of "men" today - an overgrown adolescent. Given my upbringing, I like to think my former punk self would have done the right thing but I can't say with 110% certainty.
I am now past 40 and have three kids of my own. Nothing would prevent me from saving the kid. I have no doubts about that.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI am a woman of little physical prowess, and so I cannot say with confidence that I would have physically or verbally intervened. I cannot say that the shock wouldn't have interfered with my ability to act for a few minutes.
But I CAN say with confidence that a 911 call would have happened, and soon. That takes no courage at all.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"fake military culture that pervades football could not summon even a fraction of the warrior ethos when confronted not with mortal danger but danger to his career and reputation."
Mr. French,
Love that line because it is soaked in truth. My only comment is that you could replace football with business, politics, etc. I have noticed lately that the people who seem to most profusely "thank a vet" are often able-bodied men who chose the career path to material success over service and now appear to want to be brave in a vicarious kind of way. The next time I hear some CEO or executive use military jargon to explain how he is going to capture market share, I will scream (and if possible, ask him to be quiet).
Those of us who want to be counted as men who are proud to be defenders and protectors should contemplate how we would hope to react in similar situations. In fact, we should fantasize about the opportunity to correct such a wrong. It is one thing to crash into a line of huge men for the sake of your team and your personal reputation, quite another to risk life, reputation or material gain for another's interest. The latter does not require a thick neck, just a stout heart.
Keep writing, You are now my favorite writer at NRO and it gives me hope that you can pull it out of the Yuppie Prison or the superficial covering of weak, materialistic-minded men with a false machismo that has plagued it for some time now.
God bless,
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseDan Hoffman
Bingo! Perfect line to describe so much of what we see in our culture of self-obsessed chest thumping. Not to mention the baggy shorted, soft hanging belly, couch bound society of video gamed "Call to Duty" in the Man Cave, that pervades our culture as supposed masculinity.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseDave65
Your comments hit on a major problem today; sissies hiding behind macho exteriors. This is a topic for Mr. French to build upon since the story at PSU is an extreme example of what happens when men become self-interested materialists. Be careful Mr. French, 'cause this cuts across liberal and conservative lines. Ha!
Dan
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseGood stuff.
Let us also not forget that this "graduate student" was, at the time, a 28 year old 6'4" 230lb grown man.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseTo be clear - it is a sad irony that Conrad's Lord Jim abandoned ship and his duties, only to have nobody but himself suffer. If only such irony where present here.
Instead, there are collection of victims here; first, the child, and much more secondarily Mr. McQueary and the PSU hierarchy, and don't doubt that he knows it. There's the denial of the event itself, and the denial of nine years of no consequences.
The unresolvable moral irony now becomes his reporting in light of all others active ignorance.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseI think the greeks covered this in detail.
Please don't call Mcqueary or PSU victims. They are most assuredly not and to call them that diminishes the children who were raped.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAgree 100%
Let's not forget about the janitor who *also* witnessed a separate rape. Neither he, nor the coworkers he told about it contacted *anyone* in authority, let alone the police. Not one of them did *anything* to assist the victim.
Standing by passively while witnessing a rape - because you are worried about your job, or for whatever reason - is shameful, cowardly and unacceptable.
Any "man" who would do so is not any kind of a man. And not much of a human being, either.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHouston, TX - That's it in a nutshell. A kid is being raped. Man up and do what you need to do to stop it. Career et al be damned. I have 3 kids, a mortgage, etc. and my job is important to me. But to tolerate something like that to keep my paycheck? Hell no. I've never been so thankful to my dad for raising me right. God almighty these people need your help...
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWell I suppose that Sandusky could have been just as good a "father figure" as Coward McQueary's cowardly real father.
And I don't believe Coward McQ was worried about his "career". Rather I think Cowards McQ, pere and fils, saw this as an opportunity to "make" his career by not telling the police and using this as leverage for a real job. At the end of the day, I bet we'll see that keeping his mouth shut garnered that full time coaching job.
Every single child the pervert Sandusky raped after Coward McQ saw him in the shower and did nothing, is just as much on the coward as it is on Sandusky. Sandusky did the deed, the coward gave him carte blanche to do it.
My only remaining question is, why has the coward not been fired?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYou wrote, "At the end of the day, I bet we'll see that keeping his mouth shut garnered that full time coaching job."
I can't help but think that you might be right. The cynic in me says you are dead on right. But, why and how was he eventually brought in front of the grand jury? It wasn't until December, 2010. The horrific incident he testified to was in 2002. Sandusky left coaching in 1999.
I think you are on to something, but I don't get it.
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