Michael Bérubé writes a stunning article for the Chronicle, "Why I Resigned the Paterno Chair." It's a long article that covers many angles of the Jerry Sandusky scandal. Michael has been bottling up a lot of emotions and he's gotta get it out.
He recognizes that locals who complain loudly on national TV look like assholes. He repeatedly brings his essay back to the victims of the abuse. But he also points out that there may have been a rush to judgment when it came to Paterno's culpability in the matter. He also says that the critics have gone too far and actually believe that Paterno himself was a child abuser.
He responds to anti-football critics. He points out that more elitist sports play a huge role in selective colleges.
"No one complains—hell, no one even cares—that some of America's small, elite, liberal-arts colleges have student bodies one-quarter of which are made up of athletes in those sports, even if those athletes have grades and SAT's considerably lower than those of their fellow students."
I love essays that take a black-and-white issue and make it grey. A delight to read.