Happy Valley : The larger a crowd gets, the creepier and stupider they get

The larger a crowd gets, the creepier and stupider they get

The most creepy part of the doc is the sheer delusion of the Penn State fans. I was shocked that so many insist this was some kind of conspiracy because everyone was jealous of their success (which if you know anything about college football is itself b.s. because they've been mostly irrelevant in their own conference since the late Nineties). The one interview subject even said that Paterno didn't get his due benefit of doubt, but when evidence came out that strongly implied Paterno's role in the cover-up still nobody in Happy Valley gave a crap.

If that douchey kid in the dorm room was right about anything, it is that the university's concern for child sex victims was forced. That was damage control to repair their reputation.

Anytime people coalesce around mythology this strong and invest so much of their identity into it, you know it isn't going to end well. When people are chanting in unison you know the critical faculty part of the brain is switched off.

And in the end the NCAA sanctions were lifted early and Paterno's wins and the lost scholarships were reinstated. Another team got a one-year bowl ban and lost their coach for covering up players trading trinkets for free tattoos a year before, and Penn State only got two years for the four most power people at the entire university covering up a prolific sexual criminal. Penn State lucked out.

Re: The larger a crowd gets, the creepier and stupider they get

I agree. Thousands of people supporting a man who knew of a peodo in their midst and did next to nothing about it, letting the abuse continue. Thousands! They should have been rioting that it was covered up! Not supporting him! Idiots. Everyone supporting Paterno in this doc should be embarrassed.
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