UNITED STATES
The Worthy Adversary
Posted by Joelle Casteix on January 23, 2012
Joe Paterno’s death last weekend came as a bit of a shock and a huge disappointment. I knew he was sick, but my disappointment did not come from grief. My upset was quite different: The man at the center of the biggest child sex abuse scandal of 2011 is gone, and we will never know exactly what he knew and when he knew it.
Some may say that I am overly critical to demand full truth and disclosure about the past of a man who is gone. As a culture, we are trained to “never speak ill of the dead.” In fact, I have been told by more than a few people, “Paterno’s gone now. Can’t we focus on the good he did?” Some news outlets have even wondered if Paterno died of a broken heart. (If anyone broke Paterno’s heart, it was Paterno. And I think that it was his ego, not his heart, that truly suffered. If he had a heart that could break, I think he would have done more to help the kids.)
Paterno’s supporters want us to redeem a flawed hero. They want us to honor the outward good deeds while ignoring the destruction that his actions caused.
And that reminded me of something ….
In the ten years since the Catholic Clergy Sex Abuse Scandal broke, experts such as Tom Doyle have aptly discussed the phenomena of “Bella Figura” (literally beautiful figure or good image). The term describes the desire of the Catholic hierarchy to maintain outward appearances and the best possible presentation, despite the ugliness, crimes and cover-up going on behind the scenes. (Think if it as a global “ignore the man behind the curtain” philosophy.)
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