Bernstein: You Must Read The Grand Jury Report
By Dan Bernstein-
CBSChicago.com Senior Columnist
(CBS) The Devil is in the details.
They hurt to read, I won't lie to you. You cannot un-know them or un-see them. You will stop multiple times in the 23 pages of the grand jury report, needing to avert your eyes or shudder.
But you have to do it. You have to read every word, every sickening description and every name involved in the institutionalized evil at Penn State. Your opinion about anything going on is invalid if you have not yet done so.
You are simply not allowed to say "I don't want to," or "I can't handle it." Jerry Sandusky's victims and their families endured – and continue to endure -- unspeakable horror.
The least you can do is be as informed as possible about the hideousness in Happy Valley. It will sear your soul, and it's your obligation to confront the truth at its most real and painful. Relying on watered-down characterization of the acts is a cop-out.
This is not a Sex Scandal, as TV graphics scream. This is not a college football scandal, to be compared and contrasted with point-shaving, cash to recruits or swag traded for tats. This is a deep, ongoing conspiracy to conceal and abet child abuse by a state-run university.
Read about the victim-farm Sandusky created in 1977 (!) under the veil of charity, cultivating vast fields of potential prey. See with your own eyes what he did and how he did it, then have a thought.
Do not dare to call a radio show, send an email, post on social media, or comment at the conclusion of this column until you have taken the time to read every word. Until you do, nothing you think or say matters one iota.
Familiarize yourself with the unimaginable cowardice of Mike McQueary. Know what Joe Paterno knew, and had to know. Learn about standard operating procedure at the school's highest levels, and the sway held by football. Inhumane crimes were occurring deep in the hills of Pennsylvania, and merciless men ensured that they would continue unchecked.
Most importantly, we must stop with comfortable euphemisms that ease the pain of confronting these brutal crimes. This is not "horseplay," or "inappropriate acts," or even "sodomy." It's worse. We have a solemn responsibility to expose these infections to sunlight, trying as hard as we can to understand as much as we can.
You will not think as you did before. You saw the idiot students chanting football cheers last night on Paterno's lawn, and have heard from the cult of apologists. You will want to kill all of them.
You will want Sandusky torn to shreds by animals behind bars.
You may feel as I do, wishing you actually believed in Hell.
More Coverage:
Hoge: If True, Big Ten Should Kick Penn State Out
Baffoe: Paterno Shattered A Dream By Contributing To A Nightmare
MORE: Penn State Committee To Investigate Scandal
DiNardo: Everyone Involved Must Pay
Photo Gallery: Joe Paterno Through The Years
Dan Bernstein has been the co-host of "Boers and Bernstein" since 1999. He joined the station as a reporter/anchor in 1995. The Boers and Bernstein Show airs every weekday from 1PM to 6PM on The Score, 670AM. Read more of Bernstein's columns here. Follow him on Twitter @dan_bernstein.
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