Last week, Maureen Dowd wrote about the Sandusky scandal. Maureen Dowd, in the Times, sees it as a sign of our era’s declines, asking whether “with formerly hallowed institutions and icons sinking into a moral dystopia all around us, has our sense of right and wrong grown more malleable?”

Inundated by instantaneous information and gossip, do we simply know more about the seamy side? Do greater opportunities and higher stakes cause more instances of unethical behavior? Have our materialism, narcissism and cynicism about the institutions knitting society—schools, sports, religion, politics, banking—dulled our sense of right and wrong?

Amy Davidson wonders whether social media could have stopped Sandusky. An iPhone photo? She writes, "Knowing that any number of people in a crowd have a camera and a broadcast tool is a powerful corrective." 

I wish that I agreed with Amy.