Edmund Burke said, ‘The only thing necessary for the triumph [of evil] is for good men to do nothing.’'
Can anyone involved in witnessing or knowing of the acts in this case and not moving heaven and earth to get them stopped still claim to be in any way good? Does not speaking up, or backing down in the face of authority after speaking up, destroy any claim to 'goodness' for ever after? Is there a path to redemption or forgiveness for anyone involved?
The comment sections of articles all over the web are filled with people who are crystal clear on whatthey would have done if they had witnessed the act or learned about it. I like to think I also know what I would have done. I'm the father of 4 and 5 year old boys and I think my reaction would have been influenced by that. But I don't know what I would have done if I was Mike McQueary or Joe Paterno or any of the other people involved. I, like most of the commentators, like to think of myself as morally upstanding person willing to stand up for what I believe in.
I do find it weird that there seems to be more outrage at the perpetrators of the inaction than there is with the perpetrator of the act itself. The bulk of my anger is directed at Jerry Sandusky. I can accept he is sick but that doesn't excuse what he has done.
But a lot of people knew or suspected what he was doing and either all those people are morally bankrupt and evil or there is another force at work here.
Time and time again we see examples of people who don't want to intervene. Who back away from confrontation. Who justify in their own head why they should or shouldn't act. I did it once in a night club when I saw a woman knocked to the ground in front of us. There was a group of us standing stunned in the VIP lounge. The woman, obviously drunk, approached one of the high rollers in the area who was drinking with friends. They seemed to know each other pretty well. They had some kind of argument and he punched her and knocked her to the ground. Violence against women is not okay for me. My initial reaction was to immediately intervene but no one else was moving and I hesitated. It was long enough for the voices in the head to get started. There were 30 or more people who had seen it with me and none of them were moving. None of us was moving. The "if I go over there what will be the consequences" analysis started. We liked our access to the VIP and this guy was a regular and high roller. He had a lot of friends with him. How many of mine had my back? Conversation broke out again with many of my friends acknowledging what we had all seen as well and we all spoke in hushed outraged tones. She was crying and the bouncers, who had also seen it occur, picked her up off the ground and physically escorted her off the premises while she called insults back at the guy. The guy and his friends laughed and went back to their drinks. To this day I carry guilt for not doing something. She wasn't badly hurt but I still saw something that was morally reprehensible to me and did nothing. Am I evil? Am I a good man who did nothing? Did I let evil triumph that day? Am I flawed for thinking it isn't okay for a man to hit a women short of self defense or to prevent a greater evil?
What I experienced was an effect called the diffusion of responsibility. It is more pronounced the bigger the group and more pronounced in heirachy based organizations or cultures.
Wiki on Diffusion_of_responsibility
Is this in part how you explain Nazi Germany and other examples of ethnic cleansing around the world? How do you explain cultures and religions that still now allow 8 year old girls to be married to old men? Are all individuals involved in those situations evil? Or are some of them good people who stood by and let it all happen?
There's another effect called the bystander effect where in a crisis situation people stand and watch or move on rather than doing anything to help.
I'll leave you with a final thought and a chilling video link of the bystander effect in action. Don't be a Mike McQueary, a Joe Paterno, a parent of one of the early victims, the police officers involved in the 1998 complaint of him showering with two children where he allegedly confessed, the children and youth services employees who closed the case, or any of the many others who knew or suspected and ultimately let it go on.
Be a hero, help those who need it, and be true to yourself. If you won't do it for the victim then do it for yourself. Otherwise you might find yourself remembering a punch thrown in a bar 11 years after it happened and still second guessing and berating yourself.
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