Robert,
In any investigation you have to keep an open mind and not overly focus on a particular hypothesis.
Long, long ago, while covering Three Mile Island, screenwriter Mike Gray (“The China Syndrome”) made the point to me that a fatal error of aircraft pilots (and nuclear control room operators, and writers) is to focus on one gauge, and one theory, in a crisis, and in so doing limiting the operator’s ability to look for other signs of trouble in a complex accident.
And so a plane pilot in an out of control airplane will look only at one gauge for insight while his plane is going down, often from causes unrelated to that gauge.
Steroids in the Sandusky case, for example, is certainly one viable theory out there. We know a narcotics agent was either properly or improperly involved in the Sandusky case.
We have to keep this theory in mind, but not to the exclusion of other facts that may come along.
A big contributing factor in the Sandusky case, in my mind, is the automatic, unearned worship many ordinary Pennsylvanians and officials give to authority figures in this state. Pennsylvania officials are automatically called “honorable,” a practice which should stop.
You saw from my sparring with the Anonymous Newslanc commentator who thought it was great that civil rights cases against officials increasingly are quashed by the courts. These folks just love the idea that state insiders can make no mistakes, are born honest, and should never be challenged.
In the end this mentality makes it almost impossible to get an investigation going of any state insider and mugwump. This is certainly a common demominator in the Sandusky, Luzerne County Cash for Kids, and other cases.
Mark Twain wrote a great short story called “The Man That Corrupted Hadleyburg” which every Pennsylvanians should read.
“Hadleyburg was the most honest and upright town in all the region round about. It had kept that reputation unsmirched during three generations, and was prouder of it than of any other of its possessions.”
Twain’s point, however, is that Hadleyburg had become so proud of its supposed honesty that it would brook no challenge to its reputation, and so its honesty had become untested.
It’s easy to corrupt those who refuse to have their resolve and honesty tested, Twain writes. So it is in Pennsylvania. It is the false pride of undeserved honesty and “honorableness,” as much as anything, that is destroying Pennsylvania in the Penn State and other cases.
And then there’s steroids, and other theories …
Bill
EDITOR: The above was in response to:
Bill:
The Catholic Church, Sandusky, Coach Foglietta , Jerry Savile… As you note, the stories all seem to read the same.
Perhaps I am wrong on the steroid angle being the reason for inhibition in the circumstance of Sandusky.
The Brit lady in the Jerry Savile article seemed to encapsulate how public reaction to these assaults has evolved over the decades.
Robert
I was the contributor who challenged Mr.Keisling’s viewpoint on civil rights cases and I take exception to his remarks above. I cannot allow him to put words in my mouth.
Mr. Keisling’s choice for a civil rights issue was a Lebanon man who refused to cooperate with the police who had a warrant for him. A verbal and physical altercation ensued with the man grabbing a gun. The Supreme court has ruled long go that the police have broad authority in such situations given the imminent danger such situations present.
In a nutshell Bill’s piece did not show there is a civil rights problem in mid Pennsylvania. It did show he picked a poor example to prove it.