UNITED STATES
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
By the Editorial Board
The one thing that all sexual assault cases have in common — whether perpetrated within the military, the Catholic Church, the Boy Scouts or by Jerry Sandusky or an unknown predator — is a victim.
Or victims.
What they don’t all have in common is an institution that covers up, conspires, countermands and contradicts findings that would help the victim.
Or prevent there being victims, emphasis on the plural.
In the cases of the church, the military, the Boy Scouts and Mr. Sandusky, an all-powerful institution churned into overdrive to protect itself.
What was ignored in each case — pushed aside and denied for so long that the numbers and the horror became staggering and could no longer be ignored — were the victims.
It was disappointing, but not surprising, that the military, Penn State University and the Boy Scouts tried to sweep the problems away, wanted to pretend that military officers are men of character; that football gods are unimpeachable; and that Boy Scout volunteers just want to show kids how to build campfires. None of them claim the direct ear of God.
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