When Scalzi called it “Omelas State University” he was being generous

18 November 2011

A columnist for The Nation quotes a Penn State student defending Joe Paterno, the football coach who allegedly shielded a child rapist from the law:

If not for Paterno…Pennsylvania State might still be an agriculture school and [the city of] State College might be lucky if there were a Wal-Mart within a 30-mile radius.

To paraphrase A Man For All Seasons: it profits a man nothing to give his soul for the whole world. But for a Wal-Mart?

• Later: Two cheers for government debt
• Earlier: Putting the financial system in the red