Dangers of Hero Worship

By Shawn Johnson

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As you have probably heard by now Penn State University long-time head coach, Joe Paterno passed away today.  There are very mixed feelings about the former coach, and I personally believe that he should be loathed, rather than celebrated, for the horrific cover up of child molestation committed by Jerry Sandusky.  The only reason there are mixed feelings about his passing is because he has been a great football coach, and in the United States sports, and even more so, money in sports really reigns king. 

Joe Paterno meant winning to Penn State for over thirty years, which in turn meant millions of dollars floating Penn State's way each and every year.  People from the organization are praising and revering this terrible bastard in a way they would not had he just been your average CEO.  They are placing football above morality and human decency.  There are many things that are forgivable in life.  Covering up child rape is not one of them.

Praising someone like Paterno engages you in the dangerous world of hero worship.  Dismissing and making excuses for a great athlete or coach because you perceive them to be in life how they are on the field, is childish behavior, and furthermore, it is dangerous behavior.  How far are you willing to go?

Now, hero worship is not limited to football or even sports by any means.  Hero worship resides in politics, work, religion, and almost every walk of life.  People who are great at what they do, fool you into believing that the part of them you do not see is exactly like the part that you do see.

Why is hero worship dangerous, you ask?  Because, it allows us to justify the morally wrong.  For example, it is morally wrong to take a gun and shoot someone in the head.  But, if you put the shooter in uniform and call him a soldier, then he is a "hero."  Reality becomes distorted.

Students, alumni, and officials at Penn State are making non-stop excuses for Joe Paterno's actions.  They are deflecting criticism and actively spitting in the face of Sandusky's victims.  They cannot understand why the rest of the country does not see the Joe Paterno that they see.  Their vision is so clouded that they actually thought going to the Penn State game wearing the same color to support the victims was a positive thing.  How about boycotting the game?  Did that ever cross your mind?

The university, the NCAA, and the Big Ten are criminally negligible in engaging in the same hero worship that the Penn State student body has actively participated in.  There are no penalties for Penn State.  Nobody is outraged.  They are only "saddened."

Let's explore hero worship with regards to the Democratic Party and the President.  Liberals have been guilty of dangerous hero worship towards the Democrats which have caused us to lose focus.  We treat the President like he is our boyfriend instead of our President.  Liberals have not held Obama accountable for continuing many of the hated policies of the Bush Administration.  Liberals have not held Obama accountable for cozying up to big business.  Liberals have made excuses for the President's failure to increase taxes on the top one percent, while providing help for those who are now homeless due to no fault of their own. 

I have no problem with liberals praising the President for the few liberal accomplishments he has, but let's not lose focus simply because he is a Democrat.  The Democrats are asking for our vote in the upcoming election.  That vote should come with some stipulations.  Remember, these men and women are not heroes.  They are human.  They are every bit as human as Joe Paterno.

Liberals cannot afford to trust the Democrats again.  We fell asleep at the wheel for three years.  We thought that just having Barack Obama in the White House would be the answer to our problems.  Obama had us fighting in about six different countries when he received the Nobel Peace Prize.  Giving him a Nobel Peace Prize meant that you had to completely dismiss the fact that he is not a peaceful president.

As liberals, we can learn so much from the Penn State scandal.  We can learn that most people, even "heroes," are only as good and moral as they are forced to be.  It is the reason we have laws in the first place.  We have allowed the Democratic Party to take millions of dollars from corporate donors, like Goldman Sacchs, without ever demanding that they hold Goldman Sacchs accountable for their crimes.  The Democrats let us down and got away with letting us down.  They shouldn't be allowed to do it again.

Now, what the Democrats have done does not equate with the Sandusky scandal, and I am not trying to make that comparison.  I am merely suggesting that we saw a hero in Obama rather than a man.  Men are flawed, heroes are not.  At some point we are going to have to face the fact that we are turning a blind eye to the injustices committed by this administration.  We are going to have to stop doing it.  Yes, I know the Republicans are worse.  That really isn't a valid excuse either. 

This Tuesday, the President will give a vanilla State of the Union laying out very moderate, mediocre plan for his last year in office before reelection.  After the speech, polls will show an eighty to ninety percent approval rating of the speech.  They won't show those numbers because of content, rather they will show those numbers because of the speaker.  Liberal voices will fall in line like they always do, and we will have more of the same over the course of this year.  The poor, working class, and middle class will continue to be shitted on, while the rich will continue to prosper.  Hero worship will once again be the death of justice in the United States.