Hello, and welcome to another installment of What Really Chaffs
My Nutts. This topic is something that I find particularly despicable due to
the apathetic reaction that it received. So before I go any further here is a
blurb that sums up the situation.
So, basically the players of a high school football team decided
that since they were a team, what better way to unify the team than to hold
down the new members, and sodomize/penetrate them to the point at which they surrender their undying loyalty and trust. After all, the
foundation of fidelity is built upon rape and humiliation. That what makes winning teams;
gang rape. In reality it's fucking disgusting, but that's not what chaffs my
nuts. What chaffs my nuts is how the community reacted. That reaction was one
of apathetical callousness to the news of these crimes. When it was announced
that the football season would be cancelled, and that the schools football
program was even in jeopardy the community saw it as over kill. Many residents
thought that despite the viciousness of the assaults, and the fact that the
majority of the team either participated or knew about it, they still believed
that the school should be allowed to continue their season. The school itself
had made that belief very clear, and openly. The students at the Sayreville War Memorial High School only seemed to care about one thing, finding the snitches.
One 16-year-old student had tweeted "If they thought we hated them before
we sure as hell hate them now. Another girl posted a picture of two trash bins
exclaiming that they were the real freshmen team. It appeared that once again
due to status there was an acceptable application of leeway for those who were
seen as talented. Now I get some peoples objection to the cancellation of the
schools football season. However, what happened in the locker room was
unacceptable. It was rape, and that type of behavior should in no way be
tolerated.
Here is a link to an article about the Sayreville football
hazing. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/20/nyregion/in-new-jersey-young-players-recall-hazing.html
It is important to note that when faced with the facts of the
case some residents of the community did reconsider their objections. Still
when news of hazing came to light the allegations they should not be have been
taken as joke. The terrible thing was that a few days later another school had
to face the same situation.
Central Bucks West High School which is located in Doylestown, Pennsylvania has a football program that had been ranked as one of the top ten
school football teams by USA Today. In the 1990's they had won the state
championship four times. As you might guess football there is a big deal. It
was a respected program that was highly regarded, that is until allegations of
hazing had come to light as well. The hazing there hadn't been quite as
brutally sexual, but still the actions of the upper class men went above and
beyond joking, or playful "harassment" that might be considered
excusable. With action such as mock "water boarding, the incidents were
anything but that. Yet the announcement of the cancellation of the season was
met by many as over kill as well. Students and parents alike saw it as the
actions of a few being taken out on the many. There was some truth to that.
The whole team wasn't in on it. The coaches, who had all
been fired, hadn't ordered the abuse. They hadn't order a "code red"
if you will. Still that didn't excuse the fact that many knew of the attacks
and did nothing. It could be seen in a lesser extent as a Penn State style
reaction. There the cover-ups were on such a massive scale it was sickening.
Here there weren’t any cover-ups, but more minimizing the situation, which was
just as sickening. I've provided a link for an about the CB West hazing
scandal ://m.espn.go.com/general/story?storyId=11751534&src=desktop
The reason I say that is for instance in the Sayreville
case what was reported was that before the upper class men would assault their
newer teammates they would turn off the lights and howl. The upper classmen
openly call it "takin' that ass". That's not exactly keeping
the behavior on a down low is it?. That's drawing attention to yourself plain
and simple. Now I get the logic behind not getting involved someone
else's problem, I do, but if you were an under class men on that team wouldn't
you be worried that if you weren't already a victim you might be next? I would
think that might motivate you to do something to protect yourself. Instead in both
Sayreville and Central Bucks West incidents many saw it as just this small
thing that required discipline for those few, and not the majority of the team
who had some idea as to what was going on, hence the Penn State reaction. When
it was revealed that people of power knew about the abuse and sexual assaults,
people like Joe Paturno, many didn’t regard it as a disgrace. Penn State
students came out to protest the removal of his statue at Beaver Stadium. In
fact before that when Joe had been fired the students rioted in the streets.
The point is that the incidents that had occurred at both of those high schools
(just like Penn State) were cruel, but what was disgusting was how excusable the
incident was by others. That in my opinion is disgraceful.
Until the next
rash,
Lou Ford
FIN
