Tiring of the smug and remarkably vicious Paterno defenders who have designated Mike McQueary for infamy because he failed to stop the Penn State child rapist in action, and who have accused me of supporting such inaction in rescue situations when my position, record, writings, belief and life experience proves the opposite, I offer these previous Ethics Alarms posts on the topics of rescue and bystander inaction. It is a useful, if sometimes disturbing review of various aspects in a complex issue. I don’t really expect the commenters previously referenced to allow rational thought to interfere with their certitude and vendetta, but most visitors here are not so wired.

A new post, focusing especially on McQueary, will be along soon, but today is Veterans Day, and I have my own duty to attend to: honoring Maj. Jack Marshall, Sr., 1920-2009, WWII veteran, Silver Star, Bronze Star and Purple Heart veteran, a true hero his entire life, in every way imaginable.

I am quite confident that he would not only have stopped Jerry Sandusky from molesting the boy, he might well have shot him.

Here are the 15 selected essays:

• “Ethics Test at McDonalds” : I include this both because it is germane to the issue of willful apathy in rescue situations, and because I want to give some of the dimmer commenters on “Mike McQueary and Me” a chance to prove their idiocy by writing, “How dare you compare child rape with an old man having trouble with his tray at McDonalds???” Yes, of course…that’s what I’m doing. <Sigh>

• “An Ethics Lesson Missed, A Life Lost:  Two people heard a woman being beaten to death next door, and didn’t bother to call 911.

• “An Ethics Question From Ethicist Peter Singer”: Children are dying overseas. Are we monsters not to save them?

• “When Ethics Hero Meets Ethics Dunce”: A concerned citizen steps up in a crisis, and gets fined for it.

• “Ethics Quiz: Is It Wrong for the Rescuer to Sue the Victim He Rescued?”

• “A Tale of Two Heathers”:  Heather #1 locked her baby alone in a broiling car; Heather #2 called the police; Heather #1 attacked her.

• “What Hugo Alfredo Tal-Yax Can Teach America”: A homeless immigrant give his life to try to rescue a stranger.

• “The Death of Raymond Zack”: Firefighters stood on the shore, watching a depressed man slowly drown himself.

• The McDonald’s Beating Video”: Bystanders take video while a woman is beaten savagely.

• “Death on Everest” :  41 Mountain climbers let a colleague die rather than try to help him.

• “Dr. Phil’s Child-Abusing Mom”: TV Producers ask a mother to videotape her child abuse.

• “Ethics Hero: Liev Schrieber”: A an actor comes to the rescue…off the stage.

• “The Titanic Principle”: How much should we risk to help the desperate?

• “Ethics Alarms and the Brooklyn EMTs”: Reflections on the infamous 2009 incident in which two EMT’s let a pregnant woman die…because they were on a break.

• “Fire Fighting in Obion County”:  A community lets a man’s house burn to the ground