My opinion....Call him a coward if you want....but you are wrong !... McQueary was a cult member.

[RagAss]

Study the phenomenon and you will understand just how deep and sick this went.

You have all made assumptions for the past week that he was driven away by fear. There was no fear here.
There was only devotion and protocol.

I am old enough to remember Jonestown. Only the crime is different. The cause is the same.

This will become clear in the coming weeks.

Again, this is my opinion only.

[pnwmom]

1. Maybe you're on to something. There's a very authoritarian relationship

between coaches and team. Maybe that was part of what was going on here.

What I don't get is McQueary's FATHER being in thrall to Paterno, too.

[RagAss]

3. I believe that whole community was....

They all knew each other for decades.

[Bluenorthwest]

2. And cult members can not be cowards?

They are exempt? Why?

[pnwmom]

He could be both. n/t

[alcibiades_mystery]

4. Oh fer gawd's sake

:eyes:

[Major Nikon]

6. Dead horse....must beat....

[RagAss]

8. Dead Brain...Must put on Ignore List.

[Major Nikon]

12. Losing such a deep thinker is such a crushing loss

Whatever will I do?

[Poll_Blind]

5. +1 As absurd as that allegation may sound on the face of it, you might have a point there.

Although I don't think our traditional definition of a cult might apply. Maybe cult-like is a more accurate term. I was discussing with another DU-er about whether or not McQueary was in shock and that's why he didn't immediately stop the child from being anally raped. I didn't think the kind of shock we typically think of could have kicked in that quickly although the point is arguable.

In my mind, there's an immediate reaction that a person has to events like that. We read about them more-frequently in the sense of a bystander stopping a crime, like a mugging. Just forgetting all concern for their own safety and doing something which is later deemed "heroic" but which the bystander usually attributes to a spur of the moment reaction. A reaction without deep thought or consideration.

What troubles me is that this McQueary fellow's immediate reaction was not the usual one- where the focus would be to intervene in some fashion to rescue a child from being physically assaulted.

There apparently was some kind of thought process in play. Although, like I said, explanations of shock and disbelief are arguable, I think your explanation hits a little closer to the truth as I look at the situation.

I would say a cult-like mentality as an explanation for this other-than-expected reaction is not out of the realm of possiblity.

Again, we think of cults and we think of Jim Jones or North Korean assassins- heavily brainwashed individuals. But in reality there are many more shades of gray to this sort of thing.

PB

[RagAss]

7. Yes...there is a cult mentality in some corporations too....

People scoff when you use the term cult. But the phenomenon does not always imply mass suicide or devotion until death. It is the unusual elevation of the importance of a personality. A divine projection onto another human being. Think of the kids turning over the truck in State college the other night. And the haunting sign a young girl held up that said "We are JOEPA"

[SharonAnn]

9. I think it's more like alcoholism, where everyone around the alcoholic is co-dependent.

All relationships revolve around the alcoholic. Everything else is shoved aside and not dealt with.

"Dysfunctional families are dictatorships and the dictator is the most dysfunctional person."

Perhaps that's true of sports teams.

[RagAss]

10. Yes...and in this case the team was the centerpiece of a community.

[mzmolly]

11. A cowardly, cult member.

Sorry.

[Maraya1969]

13. Cult members are defined, in part, by cowardice. And I am begining to think

the OP has a point. This sort of thing happened all the time in Warren Jeffs cult and no one ratted him out. It took years and some women escaping to get to a point where they had enough evidence to convict him of something he was doing right in front of hundreds of peoples eyes!

[RagAss]

14. Cowardice by design...without shame...

All resposibility is "kicked up" to the leader....but fear...no...all is well and resolved as long as the leader knows.

[godai]

15. Agree it was like a cult but also, there was fear.

Primarily fear of retribution by isolation or loss of employment. There was a part time maintenance man who reported another assault to his boss, and he was shaking in fear of losing his job.

[RagAss]

16. Agreed.

[riderinthestorm]

17. What if he had been the victim of sexual assault himself? Perhaps even by Sandusky, as a child?

He grew up in that area. Was a promising football star - it's entirely possible he was mentored by the Penn State people in youth leagues.

If he had been sexually assaulted as a child it would explain his "freezing up", his phone call to Dad. It would explain why the grand jury found him very credible (and not criminal). It would also explain why he hasn't been fired, and may even explain how he got his own coaching job.

Just another thought.

[RagAss]

18. You may have something there...and he would go from Villian to Hero in less that 60 seconds.

[Gold Metal Flake]

19. How many other universities are involved?

Don't tell me this is just one tiny little cell.

[RagAss]

20. What???? ...Probably none...these folks have been together for decades.