Don't Make Me Go Chuck Norris On You

I met a girl at a bar who spent five minutes trying to convince me that Joe Paterno was a rapist. 

"No, no, no...he is. Who is Jerry?" 

I wish I was making this up. I'm actually surprised that the conversation lasted long as long as it did. Unfortunately, the most prominent conversation starter among my peers involves the burning question: "what school did you go to?" After listening to her drone on about a "small liberal arts college" in upstate New York, and the riveting "think tank" she works at now in DC, I responded to her with a simple: "I went to Penn State." 

If you'd been watching this on TV with the sound off, you would have thought I had just told her that Prince William and Kate Middleton were getting divorced. Or that Starbucks was discontinuing Skinny Lattes.

I vividly remember making eye contact with my coworker...eye contact that completely communicated: "You are going to need to remove your friend before this happens:"

It wasn't just that she was woefully misinformed, it was that she spewed her nonsense in my face, like I was a guest on The View or something.

I've learned that sometimes it's better to meet people who have only heard a story at a very high level...people who have only seen a headline. At least these people tend to understand and admit that they don't know anything about a situation other than that headline. It's the people who have heard tidbits here and there...people who have watched the Nancy Grace version that I worry about. I mean, look at this face:

And now I'd like to pause for a moment to show you this:

 

Anyway, back on topic. Living in DC has proven to house all areas of the spectrum in regard to the "Penn State Sex Scandal." Because that's what it is right? A Penn State sex scandal? We all did it, right? Oh man, it was funded by the school...right? They had a class called Cover Up 101 and OMG it was required?!?! But I digress...

The people I've met in this area are either very informed and entitled to their opinions (if you can back it up, power to you and your opinions...whatever they may be...), have some idea and are not interested in forming an opinion, have some idea and are SO interested in making their opinion known, or have ideas, but know that these ideas are in no way a reflection of me or my college experience (these are my favorite kind of people, but they are few and far between).

As painful as it often is, I have to say that meeting people and witnessing first hand how the spread of information works these days has been incredibly interesting, if not enlightening. I was in California this past summer, and it was so refreshing to be slightly removed from the situation. My family and I walked around in our Penn State gear without being pointed or stared at (this actually happens a lot in other places), and the only people who made mention of our attire were people who smiled and nodded with a "we are," which always brings the warm fuzzies.

Having grown up in State College, Penn State is in my bones (I feel like I could make a valid argument for that, actually...Penn State => farms => cows => milk => calcium => BONES!). Naturally, all of this doesn't just hit "close to home," it plops down right on top of home and starts nesting, like some crazy hoarder on A&E. And I realize that writing this makes me a bit hypocritical given that I have made it known that I am really sick of talking about it, but after meeting Ms. Misinformed (see what I did there...I just made a really un-clever pun), I needed to vent a little.

Unfortunately these scenarios are unavoidable. If I have learned anything at all from this situation, it is that there will always be people who perpetuate a problem by spreading the virus that is misinformation. And while I so clearly dabble in the realm of social media, and very much enjoy perusing the interwebs and having information at my fingertips at all times, it is inevitably bound to be the Achilles heel of any situation, while also being its only hope. Ah, I do love a good pickle though.