Criminal bystanders enable Sandusky
Posted: June 17, 2012 Filed under: Psychopaths in charge | Tags: bystanders, Sandusky, whistleblowers 15 CommentsI don’t mean McQueary. I mean everybody who makes this necessary:
And also everybody who makes this necessary: Sandusky trial sketch artists offer a blurred view of accusers.
The people who can’t show their faces have withstood wrongs and are even fighting against them. That’s the definition of heroism. Why would they want to hide? They should have nothing to expect but admiration and praise, right?
(By the way, that image has been pulled from the web, as far as I can tell. Only the thumbnail is left. Everywhere, it’s been replaced with pictures of Sandusky’s smiling mug. What does it say when shame about the shame is so strong we’re ashamed even to see it?)
There is something wrong here, and it’s not Sandusky, vomit-worthy as he is.
The people who want to be invisible aren’t hiding from him. They’re hiding from everyone else. They’re hiding from the millions of “innocent” bystanders. From those who did nothing, which allowed him to do everything.
It’s bystanders who provide the air for predators.
It’s the millions of kids on playgrounds who don’t stop the bully, the guys at frat houses who don’t stop the rapists, the voters who re-elect leaders that sign off on torture.
In my world, those millions aren’t bigger criminals than the perp. But just being anonymous doesn’t make them that much smaller either.
There are many articles out and about just now, wondering how predators keep escaping notice when we ought to have learned by now. How many powerful pedophiles does it take? How many celebrity athlete rapists? How many executive sharks?
It’s pretty obvious, I think. As many as it takes for bystanders to leave their safe anonymity, to suffer the embarrassment of calling out the high or mighty, and to stop committing the crime of going along.
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
ecocatwoman
mablue2
peggysue22
quixote
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
Hear, hear – I’m applauding madly between keystrokes. You’ve hit the proverbial nail on the head. Why should those who have been abused feel that they are imperiled by testifying – because there are a whole lot of people in this world who feel it’s okay to threaten and use any means necessary to get what they want. It’s sickening.
When I was abused, my family refused to address the subject – it was supposed to go away if we just pretended it didn’t happen. I often wonder how many other children my perpetrator went on to abuse because no one stood up.
“It was supposed to go away if we just pretended it didn’t happen.”
Exactly. That horrible thread is in every single exploitative predatory nastiness out there. It’s never missing. That’s why I’m so convinced it’s an essential component of all abuse. And I suspect it’s a much weaker link in the chain than trying to reform the monsters themselves. We could actually change the behavior of innocent bystanders if they’d recognize how important they are.
So sorry to hear you had to deal with the whole situation.
It was a long time ago quixote, (I was 5 years old) I’ve come to terms with it – or perhaps I haven’t. Funny thing, I’ve never had a successful intimate relationship. That is what abuse does to children – it’s not just the physical – it’s the mental and emotional damage. I wish more people would recognize that. Full disclosure, I was raped at 21. Something about being born blonde, blue and skinny.
{{{Hugs}}}, HT.
(For what it’s worth, surviving evil is an accomplishment. Doing it is the cancer.)
Oh HT, I’m so sorry to read about what happened to you. quixote’s point is an excellent one. Maybe we need to be addressing the enablers as well as the predators.
For what it’s worth, HT, I have a tiny inkling of what you experienced. I remember telling my mom, years after it happened, that my younger brother had a vague memory of being sexually abused by a cousin of ours and that I believed him because I remember that same cousin saying inappropriate things to me when I was eleven. He didn’t touch me, but he made me feel very uncomfortable. My mother just said, “What can I do about it now? What good would it do? What about my family? (It was her sister’s son)”
The feeling that you are completely worthless, that your feelings are expendable, is overwhelming. What you went through HT, was many times worse. I’m so glad you came through it and can share your wisdom and experience with us. You matter a lot.
Janicen, your mother’s reaction was typical of the time – sweep it under the carpet, stifle the kids and carry on regardless. I wish it were not so, however it’s happening today as we interact. Nothing has changed. Witness this farce with Sandusky – witness the Catholic Church reaction to widespread paedophilia within it’s own ranks. Why do you think that they went after the nuns? It wasn’t because the nuns changed their way of helping, it was because they needed to deflect attention from their own disgusting behavior and reassert their authority. There are still abuses taking place as we interact. Nothing has been done to stop them. Everything has been done to cover them up.
Anyway – considering my own past, I suspect that your brother was telling the truth. Kids don’t make up stories about that sort of behavior – not in my experience anyway. It’s a terrible thing for any child – and most children will not spill the beans because they feel that they were to blame and are being punished. Your mother’s reaction is typical – much like my mother and father’s reaction. Frankly, I doubt that either of my children would ever tell me about sexual abuse because they fear I would be incarcerated for the remainder of my life – I’d kill any SOB who touched one of my kids.
Quixote, righteous post.
I am so sad, HT, that this hideous abuse happened to you as a child and young adult. It had nothing to do with being blond or skinny — that’s the abusers trying to escape by blaming the victims.
So many cowardly people who don’t want to get involved, or don’t want to see reality, or — damnit, they are lazy cowards. How can they live with themselves? If even a fraction stood up, and spoke up, this abuse would be far more rare.
I’m so, so sorry those things happened to you, HT. I’m sure in some ways we’ve progressed as a society, but in others it’s like we’re devoted to celebrating cruelty and ignorant, shallow judgmentalism, if that’s a word. There’s a lot of passive, lazy, avoidance enabling, but there’s a lot of active enabling, excusing, and victim blaming as well. It’s like we spend all our time searching for the one victim we’re allowed to believe and sympathize with and not burden with our ugly, stereotypical snap judgments, trying to avoid all the conclusions about what our lack of sympathy and our mean-mindedness says about our culture.
Not much has changed.
In this case the media is treating Sandusky as the victim — all breathlessly reporting about the faux psychology testify for a fee about the “personality” disorder. Are we going to hear another twinkie defense?
Barf.
Head on over to Huff Po for a story about a mother cat taking a bullet for her kittens.
Mom & kittens doing well — thanks to helpful humans.
Huff Po generally has great animal stories. BBC is good for reporting animal behsvior research.
The BBC is always good for interesting and heartwarming animal stories. Often they’ll have “human interest” stories about moggies (Brit-speak for regular, non-purebred cats) or other critters like hedgehogs.
A helpful break from the never-ending bad news that makes up 80% of MSM.
OT, but as I read the local MSM this am, I see Darcy Burner, a Democratic candidate for Congress, get lambasted for being too…. too…. Democrat.
OMG. Sounds almost FDR-ish. I could support her campaign. I dislike the ProgCongress association, but I may be too reactive to Prog used when what’s meant is Liberal.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/text/2018461685.html
“Virtually every Fortune 500 corporation is discriminating economically against women,” … “Real choice is between insurance companies and government. Insurance companies kill people when it’s profitable.”
Perfect. And both just plain facts. So she’ll get crucified for them. Facts are the new Unmentionables.