Skip to main content

Larry Nassar Gets What He Deserves



Since the beginning of 2018, there has been an outburst of awareness about the oppressive patriarchies that have abused women and other minorities for generations and generations. This has been evident with the Harvey Weinstein scandal and the countless other bigshot Hollywood A-listers that have been targeted and tarnished. However, one might ask if this is truly only an elitist movement. Celebrities do have the attention and influence necessary to bring any issue to the public sphere with a simple tweet or Instagram post. However, the Larry Nassar scandal hits closer to home for many, as the notorious former gymnastics doctor and forevermore pedophile put young girls, children, into a cycle of abuse that many survivors did not have the resources or influence to stand out- until now.

In court a couple weeks ago, Larry Nassar was sentenced to 40 to 125 years in prison: a federal charge for child pornography and several counts of sexual abuse. This was the culmination of years of abuse and several weeks of emotional and heartfelt testimonies which graphically brought to life only a sliver of the feeling (for us viewers) what it must have been like to be subject to years of abuse. Nassar attempted to apologize in court saying that “it is impossible to convey the depth and breadth of how sorry I am to each and everyone involved. The visions of your testimonies will forever be present in my thoughts”. However, the court was not convinced of Nassar’s integrity, as Judge Cunningham commented, “I am not convinced that you truly understand that what you did was wrong and the devastating impact you've had on the victims, family and friends”. The impact was obvious from the many testimonies and reactions from Olympic medalist Aly Raisman’s defiant speech to a gymnast’s father’s justified attempted attack on Nassar.

Until a few years ago, Nassar was widely respected for his ‘effective’ treatments. However, complaints have been made against Nassar since 2014, such as Amanda Thomashow complaint to Michigan State (where Nassar was employed) that his ‘treatments’ were really sexual abuse. However, hers and many others comments and concerns were brushed aside because Nassar was such a respected doctor. The organizations might as well have been calling these girls liars, hundreds of them. Finally in November of 2016, Nassar was arrested and was first put on trial. Some have the justice they were seeking, as Nassar is finally put in prison for life. Others wonder why it took so long for him to be arrested. Although USA gymnastics and Michigan State deny covering up Nassar’s abuse, one must wonder how all of the gymnasts’ complaints were brushed aside, and how Nassar was allowed to stay in power for so long.
Written By: Nayiri Artounians

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Winter Formal

At 12:15 on Friday, January 19, students rushed out of the Abcarian building halls, hoping they would have enough time to get ready for the long awaited, formal. Guys put on their best suits and the girls slipped into their best dresses, anxiously waiting to see what their friends are going to wear. Members of specific grade levels gathered earlier together to start the celebration and take lots of pictures. Soon students started rolling into the beautifully decorated hall in Metropol. The night started off with dining, along with the occasional dancing to the Armenian music being played. However, as the music got more intense, students could not get off the dance floor. The rhythmic beats of Armenian, Arabic, Spanish, and English music filled the hall and the bodies of the students. They took a quick break for some water and kebab, but quickly stood back up to continue dancing. Towards the end of the night, we celebrated Mr. McCrory’s and junior Veronica Mkhsi-Gevokian’s birthdays ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Anna Turcotte Visits Pilibos

   We are Armenian scholars in an Armenian school; because of this, we are often exposed to our country’s good and bad, the highs and lows. We often hear about the Armenian Genocide and the Artsakh conflicts, but we are not always reminded of the conflicts our people face outside of the homeland. We have seen Genocide survivors and young Artsakh soldiers whose stories we have heard and are a little familiar to us. However we rarely hear from a survivor of mass discrimination and violence, who stood up with Armenians the way other survivors did- just outside the homeland. Pilibos freshmen, sophomores and juniors met one such survivor in an assembly on Tuesday February 27 when Anna Astvatsaturian Turcotte came to Pilibos to share her story and experiences. Anna Turcotte was a ten year old girl living in Azerbaijan when her mother told her she could no longer go to volleyball practice. She did not know at first, but this was just the first sacrifice out of many for the years...
Post a Comment
Read more

College Series #1

By: Veronica Mkhsi-Gevorkian and Nayiri Artounians As we get closer to the end of our journey in high school, many of us wonder which school would be best for us. In the next series of articles, we will present different options that may help you keep your options open. Stay tuned each week for a new set of colleges/universities that you may find interesting! A liberal arts college is a college that focuses on liberal arts and sciences as its undergraduate program. There are many schools under the category of a liberal arts school. Each school mentioned will include average GPA, average SAT/ACT score, acceptance rate, and popular majors. Claremont Mckenna College is a co-educational private liberal arts college located in Claremont, California with an acceptance rate of 11%. Average GPA is 4.0 with an SAT/ACT score 1490 and 31. Their popular majors are economics and political science/government. Harvey Mudd College is a private residential liberal arts college located in Claremon...
Post a Comment
Read more