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I know it sounds crazy, but hear me out on this.
I used to be totally against all PEDs in sports but I have had a lot of second thoughts recently. My change in attitude centers around the central question of why does society care so much about PEDs in sports when we don't care at all about them in every other aspect of life.
The best examples I can think of come from the world of art...all forms of art, from painting to writing to music, acting etc. Society very much encourages and in fact greatly rewards PED use when it comes to art. Think of our greatest creative hero's for a second... the amount of drugs they ingested does not matter to us one freaking bit....what matters is the level of creativity they reach and the amount of entertainment that we receive from witnessing it. The list of legendary artists who consumed copious amounts of drugs while entertaining the masses is literally endless.
Many of these people met early deaths as a result of those drugs but they are still legends none the less. How much of that which you cherish in the world of art was created by a straight up drug addict?
Why should sports be so different? Because it is a physical form of art instead of a mental one? Because purity of competition needs to exist in this aspect of life when it does not exist in any other? That really does not make much sense to me. If you want to argue about ensuring a fair playing field for all competitors then I would use the previous analogy and point to the fact that such fairness means nothing when it comes to fighting for success in life elsewhere.
We all love our computers and worship the legends who created them...they have truly changed the world for the better. At the same time we gloss over the known fact that PEDs were used during their creation. Weed to stimulate the creative thought process and coke/speed to stay up for days writing ground breaking code. Do you really give two shits if the person who invents a cure for cancer is also addicted to some drug that helps them in their efforts? Hell no, just as long as their efforts can benefit me in some way. That is just the way life is.
In the end, we are grown ass adults who are responsible for our own choices. If those choices lead to health problems down the road then that is only OUR fault regardless of the pressure we felt to compete. After all, competition exists in all aspects of life. If you want to run with the bulls you better be ready for the horns...otherwise stay out of the race.
:icon_conf
I used to be totally against all PEDs in sports but I have had a lot of second thoughts recently. My change in attitude centers around the central question of why does society care so much about PEDs in sports when we don't care at all about them in every other aspect of life.
The best examples I can think of come from the world of art...all forms of art, from painting to writing to music, acting etc. Society very much encourages and in fact greatly rewards PED use when it comes to art. Think of our greatest creative hero's for a second... the amount of drugs they ingested does not matter to us one freaking bit....what matters is the level of creativity they reach and the amount of entertainment that we receive from witnessing it. The list of legendary artists who consumed copious amounts of drugs while entertaining the masses is literally endless.
Many of these people met early deaths as a result of those drugs but they are still legends none the less. How much of that which you cherish in the world of art was created by a straight up drug addict?
Why should sports be so different? Because it is a physical form of art instead of a mental one? Because purity of competition needs to exist in this aspect of life when it does not exist in any other? That really does not make much sense to me. If you want to argue about ensuring a fair playing field for all competitors then I would use the previous analogy and point to the fact that such fairness means nothing when it comes to fighting for success in life elsewhere.
We all love our computers and worship the legends who created them...they have truly changed the world for the better. At the same time we gloss over the known fact that PEDs were used during their creation. Weed to stimulate the creative thought process and coke/speed to stay up for days writing ground breaking code. Do you really give two shits if the person who invents a cure for cancer is also addicted to some drug that helps them in their efforts? Hell no, just as long as their efforts can benefit me in some way. That is just the way life is.
In the end, we are grown ass adults who are responsible for our own choices. If those choices lead to health problems down the road then that is only OUR fault regardless of the pressure we felt to compete. After all, competition exists in all aspects of life. If you want to run with the bulls you better be ready for the horns...otherwise stay out of the race.
:icon_conf
