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I WONDERED ABOUT THIS MYSELF

What to do About Joe Paterno's Statue?

I have stayed away from the Paterno part of the child abuse case. I never understand how anyone gets a statue before they are dead.

There is a lesson and perhaps an answer to the Paterno question in the statues of Mayor Curley, the corrupt father of Rose Kennedy. A master of the dark political arts.

Curley stands there with his pot belly and you know his story. It is a great sculpture. He was a funny, greatly beloved man, almost because of his faults. And you can see it. The rascal and the people's hero. (He is the only man elected to be Boston Mayor while he was in jail).

Venal. But beloved.

I used to sit on the bench with him from time to time.

Paterno got the statue while he was alive and a lot of money sort of twisted out of Penn State. A matter of another kind of corruption. Hero worship. The corruption of greed. Even at the end he got mega bucks. For what?

Then the scandal. The kids. Clay feet.

I like Ta Nehisi-Coates suggestion. Let the statue stand and put the full story around it. Also a pot belly if there was one.

I have not put an image of Paterno's statue here. Just the Mayor. A rascal who never covered up for a serial child molester. As far as we know.

Of course, this means that I put a grade on evil doing. I guess I do.

But there are limits.

Labels: criminal behavior