Silence Equals Death?

Sometimes -- for all those big men out there like James Fallows* (The graduate assistant, himself a strapping former Penn State varsity football player in his 20s, did not intervene to stop a then-58-year-old man whom he saw raping a little boy.), who seem to want to blame Mike McQueary for not getting personally involved in stopping the rape of a child -- silence doesn't equal death.

Directly confronting the accused does.
Best call authorities, as McQueary immediately did.
If your higher up's don't act, call the police.

Putting one's own self in physical danger though ... RIP Daniel O'Connell. This is the real world, ladies and gents. And rapists sometimes kill. Keep that in mind when calling out men for not acting "heroic" enough for your personal tastes?

A lurid tale began to emerge. Apparently, Erickson was under investigation for sexual misconduct with local boys. Since Dan O'Connell was well respected in both the community and the church, it wasn't uncommon for parishoners to turn to Dan for advice. Because of that, prosecutors surmise Dan O'Connell became aware of the allegations against Reverend Erickson. If Erickson suspected O'Connell knew his dirty secret, he'd have ample motive to commit the murder.

In the first day of a hearing, prosecutors presented witnesses who provided a motive for Erickson to kill Dan O'Connell and James Ellison -- and also an apparent confession to the crime.

According to the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the court heard from a woman who'd spoken to Dan O'Connell shortly before the murder. In that conversation, she said he asked her whether she'd ever seen Erickson touch any boys inappropriately. Apparently, O'Connell knew something was up. Prosecutors also presented testimony from Russ Lundgren, a co-worker of Erickson's. Shortly after the murder, the Star Tribune reports, Erickson confessed to Lundgren, saying, "I've done it, and they are going to get me."

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* "I tell myself that I would never have walked by an injured toddler -- or that I would never condone an episode like the one at Penn State quoted after the jump. But people who think of themselves as "good" did these things, which is mainly a sobering reminder of what we're all capable of. Mon semblable, mon frere."

You keep telling yourself that, James.
What a big man, in theory, you are...