July 21, 2016
Mel Gibson
Source: Bigstock
For John Ziegler, the quest for redemption following a “rape, racism, or Republican” public shaming is personal. For the past five years, Ziegler has fought a lonely battle to rehabilitate the image of the late, legendary, and these days quite disgraced Penn State football coach Joe Paterno. It’s Ziegler’s contention that Paterno had no knowledge of any improprieties regarding assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, who was convicted in 2012 of a variety of charges regarding child sexual abuse. Like Gibson, Ziegler is fighting for redemption. Unlike Gibson, he’s not trying to rehabilitate himself, but rather a dead man with whom he had no personal connection.
As Gibson continues to use standard misdirection tricks in his quest to repair his image, I thought it might be edifying to speak with Ziegler about his quest, and why he’s pursuing it. And while I”ll confess to having no interest in college sports, and no detailed knowledge of the Sandusky case beyond what I read in the papers at the time, because of my own backstory I can”t help but be fascinated by the subject of redemption quests. And heaven knows Ziegler’s is a humdinger. In Gibson’s case, if he can overcome his past disgraces, a lot of people”studio heads, producers, writers, costars, and worthless sycophants and toadies”will stand to make a lot of money from his future projects. So he has people in his corner. But Paterno? Even Paterno’s own family has been outspokenly disapproving of Ziegler’s efforts. Everyone, including Penn State itself, has everything to gain by spitting on a dead man’s corpse, and absolutely nothing to gain by repairing his image.
So why does Ziegler persist?
“The allegations [against Paterno] are farcical. They”re baseless,” Ziegler told me during a phone chat last week. “Joe Paterno was a star prosecution witness. The attorney general’s office praised him on the first day of the story. If the media had wanted to make him the hero of the case, they absolutely would have. In fact, they tried for about a day, and then they realized they got a better narrative when they were able to start blaming him instead of Sandusky.”
Why was the new narrative better? “Paterno is the perfect target. He’s a conservative white male celebrity who’s dead. You can”t get anything better than that. Everyone knows his name, and no one’s going to rush to his defense because it’s toxic to be seen as somehow defending a pedophile protector. If Joe Paterno happened to have been black, or liberal, I think he would have been the hero in all this.” Ziegler likens the Paterno case to the infamous Duke lacrosse team false rape accusation scandal, but he points out two key differences. First, the falsely accused Duke players were still alive, and they were able to mount an effective defense. And second, Duke is a private university whereas Penn State is publicly funded. Penn State decided to settle with any and all complainants, because why not pay your way out when it’s not your money? “The reality is, this is all a money grab, an obvious money grab. A liberal academic institution gave away other people’s money simply to make a story go away, and obviously it backfired enormously.”
Ziegler laughs off widely reported “new” allegations that Paterno knew about Sandusky’s behavior. He points out that the “new” allegations come from some of the oldest claims”claims that cannot be pursued due to Pennsylvania’s statute of limitations regarding child sex crimes. In other words, the older claims will never have to be tested in court. “If you”re [currently] over the age of 30, you have very little legal claim against Penn State. The only leverage you have is negative publicity, so it’s not a coincidence that these older claims involve Paterno and the newer ones don”t.”
Ziegler, who did not attend Penn State and had no previous connection to the school, says he’s undertaken this task purely to cut through the media’s “lies and misrepresentations” in order to uncover the truth. And while I”m in no position to judge the rightness or wrongness of his cause, it’s clear that he pursues it with honorable intentions. If Joe Paterno’s tarnished image is ever rehabilitated, it”ll be because of the sincere tenacity of John Ziegler. If Paterno is rehabilitated, it”ll be an honest redemption.
Mel Gibson, his “people,” and the lapdogs in the entertainment news media could learn a thing or two from Ziegler’s efforts. Whereas Ziegler is looking to uncover facts, Team Gibson is looking to hide them.
Not all redemption crusades are created equal, nor are all equally deserving of success.
