Penn State rioters should be ashamed

Penn State students rioted last Wednesday after legendary football Coach Joe Paterno was fired as part of the fallout from the terrible child abuse scandal at the school. More than a thousand rioters filled the streets as they tore down streetlights, tipped a news van and threw rocks at police.

Many seemed to have lost all focus about what is important in this situation. It’s certainly a sad end to the tenure of the greatest coach Penn State ever had, and the board’s choice to fire him via phone call isn’t going to make fans happy, either.

What was most confusing about so-called riot was what the participants were saying to reporters. One Penn State student told a reporter that she felt “absolutely disgusted. From a student’s perspective, it’s like, where do we go from here?”

Seriously? Where do you go from here? You should go home.

Paterno being let go isn’t disgusting; what happened to those boys is disgusting. Acting as if anyone else deserves to be called a victim in this situation is disgusting because it takes the focus away from the real issue.

As with every riot, there are those who are simply along for the ride and want to be a part of it. It’s hard not to think most of the kids out there could be classified as such when news cameras capture so many smiles in the crowd.

What those kids failed to realize was how bad their good time made their school look. The students who took part in the riot should be embarrassed about how they represented their school while at its lowest point.

But, in staying with the theme of keeping perspective, it is important to realize that the rioters don’t represent the entire Penn State community. Not every student has been a blubbering idiot in the streets screaming about Paterno being a legend.

Many students and alumni have expressed their sadness and embarrassment about the situation without furthering the damage to the school. Those are the people who will facilitate the healing process and ultimately restore the university to its former standing.