We're all Joe Paterno...

This is a post that'll drive off some followers.

Now the hue and cry over the sexual molestations involving a Penn State football coach are reaching a crescendo. Since the first story broke, right up to the present moment theres been a cry for Paterno's head. The recurring theme is, "He shoulda done more than just notify a university official..."

Noted. Now shut up why don't cha?

Paterno has been exonerated for any culpability under the law. So the legal angle is covered. As for anything beyond that, take a look around and tell me that we all don't do the minimum to cover our butts.

Do you have any young daughters, nieces, granddaughters? Do you think they should mature into sexually obsessed women? Then what do you do to counter the filth they're exposed to? What immediately comes to mind are the "women's magazines" near most food store checkouts. Why should an elementary school girl be exposed to an article titled, "How To Make Him Scream For More" or "Seven Ways Guaranteed To Bring Him To Orgasm"?

How the hell do young girls learn to be skanks? Did they all get born that way? Or over the years did they learn that being sexually active was okay, no matter what lip service "Mom and Dad" gave to the contrary? When we walk our kids through a sewer all day is it any wonder they become accustomed to the stench?

So what have you done to combat it? Have you spoken to the store management about putting covers over the mags? Have you written to the magazines editors? The same thing applies to clothing for young girls. What have you done besides just make them dress a bit different than their peers? Ever heard of the high school girl who keeps a change of clothing in her locker so she'll be able to wear what she wants after getting to school? Do you think it's only "white trash" that experience that?

How about video games? I'm not talking "PacMan", I'm thinking of the likes of "Grand Theft Auto". You know, the ones that glorify unlawful and/or violent behavior. Should our male children/grandchildren/etc. be routinely playing games where the one with the highest body count wins? Doesn't that benumb them some extent to extreme violence?

Back to magazines. How about the flip side, how about "mens magazines" that carry covers just this side of gay porn? Check out the cover of a typical issue of "Mens Health". Then tell me the six pack abs routinely depicted there don't qualify as homosexual erotica. Yeah, gay men aren't the target audience, just as hetero horn dogs aren't those who purchase "Cosmopolitan" with it's scantily clad cover girl. But who gets turned on by what?

Even for straight kids the message is pretty plain, i.e. life is all about being buff and toned. What are the odds a kid will want to be Sally Ride or Steve Jobs when with a little bit of work they could be Ron Jeremy or Linda Lovelace? Doesn't a positive exposure to possible role models have an effect on a child?

Of the four names just mentioned, which ones are our children more likely to recognize?

And what are you doing about it? Just not allowing porn into your home? Telling the children in your life theres more to it than just sex appeal and trying to get your rocks off as often as possible? Well that would be the equivalent of Paterno going to a university official about Sandusky. You're doing the legal minimum. Whoop-dee-due-dah-day.

We're all guilty. Guilty by our silence if nothing else. We all turn a blind eye and walk away instead of getting more involved in cleaning out the toilet of our culture. We do the minimum and call it good.

So why expect anything from an 84 year old football coach, no matter who he is?

The answer is, we SHOULD expect more. But that expectation shouldn't stop with the famous. It should extend to each and every one of us.

You think the television is nothing more than a purveyor of immorality? Don't just turn it off, start firing up the computer and let whoever heads the various studios know just what you think.

You're against abortion so you selectively buy only from those companies NOT supporting Planned Parenthood and it's ilk. Nice start, but keep on going. Let the companies you DON'T buy from know why you take your business elsewhere.

The list can go on and on. You got the idea about ten minutes ago.

Get involved as much as Paterno should have. Exert yourself as much as we call for him to have exerted himself. Get outside the comfort zone. Be a pain in the ass about morality no matter where you go. Because being silent in the face of evil is what Paterno did, it's what we're all doing. Don't just speak to a sympathetic audience, speak out at work, at family gatherings, at social events of all sorts. Be like an Old Testament prophet, call evil by it's name often and loud. Just remember that most Old Testament prophets DID NOT die of old age, in the rapidly putrefying world we live in that thought is worth keeping in mind.

We're all doing the minimum while our nation and culture slide into the cesspool. You do it, I do it. We all suck.

Our nation and culture reek to Heaven, we try staying uninvolved and call it good. Whatever happened to "...be in the world, not of it..."? Doesn't following that entail some involvement to make things better?

When you get right down to it, we're all Joe Paterno.