It's always interesting to me to see what it takes for one of our superiors to actually condescend and say something on this site. It's usually to take a jab at me (usually through private message).
I am well aware of what McQ supposedly did. Everyone is asking how he could just walk (run?) away in the moment. Sure, I wonder that as well. I try to put myself in his shoes. I hear a noise, I walk into a shower, and I see Thomas Monson raping a boy. How would I react to seeing someone I respect and look up to, doing something so heinous? Even this example is not so good, because President Monson does not hold that much sway over my life/world/job. Let's suppose I worked at Church HQ. I would hope I would do the right thing, stop it immediately, call the police. The context of what happened was 1) shock as to the perpetrator, and 2) that the perpetrator held a lot of power in that world.
I do believe that McQ's actions very well were guided by self-interest. Why not go to the police? Going to Paterno smells like "this is a complicated situation, I feel like someone needs to know, I'll let Paterno figure out what should be done." I.e. the Godfather.
The thing that is most difficult to understand, is how McQ could have come to work everyday, seeing that nothing had been done, that Sandusky is still hanging out, etc. It's one thing to have your courage fail you in the heat of the moment, it's another to stand idly by week after week, year after year. This is the greatest condemnation of McQ.
On to the legal situation. We know a good deal about the 98/99 situation, in that it went all the way to the DA. So the real scandal is 2002, and the keystone to it is McQ's testimony/witness.
I am merely suggesting that McQ may have had a belated moment of courage. Maybe not, as Levin and Archaea suggest. I grant that as well. Because it is his testimony that has essentially brought down everyone above him. How did the 2002 incident become known to the authorities? That's the question in my mind. Maybe it's in the grand jury report, I'm not sure.
We've all seen the movies where the really bad guy does something right at the end. Maybe that is McQ. Is that too hard to consider?
|