Joe Paterno’s Firing Explodes Across the Internet

Instead of the standard “We are. Penn State.” chants that usually emanate from Happy Valley, PA, it’s probably more accurate to suggest that the Penn State student body was yelling, “We are. Pissed off.” Such is the way of things when a local icon gets summarily dismissed by the institution he helped making into a household name. Whether you or I agree with the firing of Joe Paterno is not the issue. The Penn State student body did not, and they were not shy about sharing their feelings with the school’s officials.

Naturally, the disapproval manifested itself through marches and protests, as the student body moved, en masse, throughout the Penn State campus, vocalizing their support for the now-fired coach. Naturally, there’s video of the demonstrations and they a great job of capturing the frustration — warranted or not — of the Nittany Lions student body.

Disclaimer, in no way is any of this content being done to make light of the victims in this horrible situation. The lead image is a good indicator of how we feel about it. We are just focusing on all the web content that appeared after Paterno’s firing was announced. As indicated, the students marched/rioted/expressed their dissatisfaction, and a lot of it was captured and uploaded to YouTube, included the Penn State student body overturning a news van:

There a few more videos of the crowds moving through campus, as well as revealing the unfortunate fate of a lamp post that was apparently in on Paterno’s firing:

This next one is 13 minutes long, allowing those of us that missed the civil disobedience fun to live vicariously through the magic of web video:

While the video was good, Twitter, of course, was the place to get all of the non-riot reaction, including an incredible misstep by Ashton Kutcher. Until “Kelso” decided to weigh in, the reaction was about what you’d expect, but once Kutcher voiced his now-removed opinion, things escalated. The tweet in question was deleted by Kutcher, but that doesn’t mean other people didn’t capture it for posterity’s sake:

Once “aplusk” tweeted that, it, has they say, was on:

As for Kutcher, apparently, he’s playing the “my account was hacked/it wasn’t me” card, although, perhaps I’m taking the following excuse explanation the wrong way:

Something I’m sure will be disheartening news to his 8 million-plus sycophantic followers fans.

There’s an unfortunate side effect of Kutcher’s brilliance, and that’s taking the focus away from where it belongs, respecting and advocating the victims. Good thing Jay Glazer was there to remind us:

That solemn tweet should serve as a reminder of why Joe Paterno is no longer the coach of the Penn State football team.