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Commentary: Westboro Baptist Church shouldn't be so quick to judge in Paterno death

edwards.907@osu.edu

Published: Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Updated: Saturday, June 16, 2012 01:06

paterno

Courtesy of MCT

Former Penn State coach, Joe Paterno, died Sunday after a battle with lung cancer.

On Thursday, former Penn State coach Joe Paterno will be laid to rest after spending half of his life teaching the lessons of life and football in State College, Pa. Thousands will attend to mourn the loss of Paterno as part of a three-day period of public mourning that started Tuesday and runs until Thursday. While most attendees are saying their final goodbyes to the winningest coach in Division I college football history with love and respect, other, less welcome visitors will be trying to disrupt.

The Westboro Baptist Church, a notorious hate group that protests military funerals and often partakes in other acts of stupidity, plans to picket the funeral in protest of homosexuality.

2012 marked the 50th year of marriage between Paterno and his wife, Sue. That seems straight to me.

Margie Phelps, daughter of Westboro minister Fred Phelps, tweeted this week that Paterno is "in Hell" and implied that God took Paterno's life on Sunday morning because he failed to report the child molestation allegations that surround former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky.

This makes sense, because God certainly wasn't aware of Paterno's failure to report Sandusky's wrongdoings when they happened 10 years ago.

As all semi-intelligent human beings, such as Margie Phelps, are aware, God only finds out when people commit awful acts in life once the media gets ahold of the information and reveals it to the general public.

It must have been difficult for God to determine who goes to Heaven and who goes to Hell before media outlets like ESPN, CNN and The Lantern existed. I suppose he just flipped a coin on anyone and everyone who never made the newspapers.

I hope you can sense my sarcasm.

WBC gets away with protesting funerals and events on a regular basis. Thursday might be a bit different. Coming into State College, Pa. and disrespecting Paterno is the equivalent of protesting a king's funeral — and make no mistake about it, in State College, there has never been and will never be a more prominent, iconic and king-like figure than Paterno.

The State College Police Department should quietly arrest the protestors within seconds of them arriving. I'm not a policeman, but this fits the description of "disturbing the peace," right? If PSU students were arrested for protesting Paterno's firing, then an arrest of WBC for protesting his funeral certainly seems appropriate.

Don't make a big deal of it — keep the spotlight on honoring Paterno. Then, get the dirt bags out of the public eye and make sure they never want to come back to State College, Pa., again.

Paterno made an incredible mistake. Not reporting the molestation of anyone, regardless of age or gender, is beyond unacceptable.

I'm not saying Paterno deserves a free pass because of his death. What I am saying is that for more than 60 years, Paterno took thousands of young football players and did all he could to ensure they became men, both on and off the field. His former players' testimonials about him over the past few weeks have been countless and genuine.

When Sandusky goes to court and the facts are unveiled, the psychos that run WBC can have their say, hold up their signs and believe that anyone other than fellow loons and bigots care about their message.

The rest of us sane people can have our opinions as well.

But for now, they should stay away from the situation and allow Paterno's family and friends to let him go in peace. Let's hope the folks who run law enforcement in State College, Pa. make sure of that.

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13 comments

ME
Mon Jan 30 2012 18:35
After reading this article, it would seem that Matt Edwards has a problem with the 1st amendment when he does not like what people have to say, in this case the people from Westboro Baptist protesting a Pedophile enabler. Perhaps he should be reporting on the FACTS instead of trying to throw his little spin on how he see's things.

Mr. Edwards also *hints* that he advocates the use of violence against the Westboro Baptist protesters "Thursday might be a bit different. Coming into State College, Pa. and disrespecting Paterno is the equivalent of protesting a king's funeral". If someone acts on the violence you hint to advocate, rest assured you and your university will be sued. If you don't think it's possible, go ask John Metzger, he was the editor of White Aryan resistance based out of Fallbrook CA. Similar minded postings in their news letter caused an African American kid to lose his life. Needless to say, the owner of this paper (John Metzger) was sued for everything he had. Be careful what you put into print and please try to learn something while you're in school. Writing crap articles like this will get you nowhere in the world of journalism.

Anonymous
Mon Jan 30 2012 06:58
Unfortunately, WBC DOES have the right to protest, just as they have the right to be tasteless, unfeeling, unforgiving, and judgmental. However, they forget a very important Biblical lesson I was reminded of yesterday...judge NOT, lest YOU be judged. Couple that with a line from the Lord's prayer...forgive US OUR trespasses, as WE forgive those who trespass against us.
Michael Ejercito
Sat Jan 28 2012 21:40
To be technical, the criticism is not that JoePa did not report the molestation himself. Indeed, he could NOT, for he was not a first hand witness, nor did he hear it directly from the victim. It was Mike McQueary who allegedly failed to report the molestation, and Paterno who allegedly failed to ensure McQueary reported the molestation, and tacitly affirmed or tolerated McQueary's failure to do the same.
Anonymous
Fri Jan 27 2012 00:08
The man coached grown men how to throw and catch a ball. Most people have mastered basic morality by years 8 to 12 and they learn it from their parents, not sports coaches. If you're 19 years old and you don't know basics of life by that point, an aging sports coach isn't going to help your sorry self. But sports-culture isn't exactly known for it's deep thinking or morality.

The reality is a grown man had knowledge of despicable crimes that will have lasting and deeply impacting effects on many people until they die and chose to do next to nothing.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

Anonymous
Fri Jan 27 2012 00:06
The man coached grown men how to throw and catch a ball. Most people have mastered basic morality by years 8 to 12 and they learn it from their parents, not sports coaches. If you're 19 years old and you don't know basics of life by that point, an aging sports coach isn't going to help your sorry self. But sports-culture isn't exactly known for it's deep thinking or morality.

The reality is a grown man had knowledge of despicable crimes that will have lasting and deeply impacting effects on many people until they die and chose to do next to nothing.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

Anonymous
Thu Jan 26 2012 14:47
I loathe WBC as much as any sane person, but for once, I'm actually okay with them doing their little protests.
Anonymous
Thu Jan 26 2012 14:27
This clown must be a Republican - free speech is a right guaranteed only to those he agrees with. Any person or group he disagrees with MUST be muzzled and arrested.
Anonymous
Thu Jan 26 2012 13:54
* What I am saying is that for more than 60 years, Paterno took thousands of young football players and did all he could to ensure they became men, both on and off the field. *

Probably not the BEST way to put that, given the situation...

Anonymous
Thu Jan 26 2012 13:48
* What I am saying is that for more than 60 years, Paterno took thousands of young football players and did all he could to ensure they became men, both on and off the field. *

Probably not the BEST way to put that, given the situation...

Anonymous
Thu Jan 26 2012 12:25
Matt,

Excellent piece. We all know Joe Pa wasn't perfect by any means.... but he helped see to it that countless young men and women got a good education at PSU. As for the cult known as WBC, they will eventually go the way of other cults like in Jonestown and Waco. Not saying in such a dramatic way, but they will fold from within. The only people who believe in their rhetoric are those who have been brainwashed to know no better. There is adultery, abuse of children etc. going on inside the WBC cult, yet they try and hide that. Hypocrites is the exact term for WBC.... not to mention out of touch with the mainstream.

Reality Check
Thu Jan 26 2012 10:54
He is an idol because of the life lessons his players learned, not the football games he won. Why don't you reserve your high and mighty judgement for the university officials, including the head of university police, instead of projecting for ingnorance toward an exceptional human being.
Anonymous
Thu Jan 26 2012 10:46
You're clearly missing the whole point of this article. The author is NOT excusing Paterno for his actions regarding the sex scandal, he states, "Paterno made an incredible mistake. Not reporting the molestation of anyone, regardless of age or gender, is beyond unacceptable."

That being said, Westboro Baptist Church has no right to protest anyone's funeral. It is beyond disrespectful and should be prohibited.

Anonymous
Thu Jan 26 2012 09:24
Why should the fact that he was a football coach earn him any more respect than any other normal person. The idolization of JoePa simply because he was a college football celebrity is disgusting, and is what bred the culture of invulnerability that allowed this bullsh*t to happen in the first place. Nobody should be excusing what he did, everyone who does should consider how they would feel if one of their sons were one of the victims.




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