The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

Lance Armstrong is a victim of society

3rd February, 2013
Advertisement
Why should the AFL keep the WADA code? Look no further than pro cycling. (AFP PHOTO / Files / JOEL SAGET)
Expert
3rd February, 2013
54
1727 Reads

If I read another status update about how Lance Armstrong is a shameful a–hole or another news article articulating so specifically how Mr Armstrong achieved this monumental deception of mankind, I’ll have another rum.

The point is though, I’m sick of it and I’m sure you are too.

Lance Armstrong was a victim of our society and our culture.

He was a victim of our culture in that, like every other sportsperson that has felt the pressure of ‘success’ and victory from a very young age, a weight from family and friends and the public bearing down on his shoulders.

He caved in early.

I’m going to repeat myself here, Lance Armstrong is a victim. He is a victim of a society that immorally valued success.

He is a victim of a greedy, consumerist society that promotes us all to strive for an extra $10k (in his case $10m) annually, to upgrade our car or wardrobe.

For all you people out there that didn’t see what happened coming, you are the ignoramus. You are foolish and you have been living in a state of unconsciousness.

Advertisement

If you ask me ‘why?’, I ask you this.

If all of Lance’s close competitors tested positive in drug testing, how possibly could Lance Armstrong have been clean? You honestly believe that he was not just better than them all, but much better, even though he was disadvantaged?

So he was clean but smashed all the drug takers?

You have been absorbed in mainstream newspapers, you generally accept what society tells you, you don’t question what is too difficult to hear the answer.

Honestly you believed that he could beat Jan Ullrich and Iban Mayo and Marco Pantani? You thought an innocent clean Texan man could annihilate ‘The Man Of 52 Percent Hematocrit’ Marco Pantani?

Is our society as stupid as it has ever been? Please god almighty, give me strength!

Yet Marco Pantani is our hero and a legend, but Lance Armstrong is a disgrace?

Advertisement

Marco too was a victim, but he suffered much more than Lance and the other ‘legends’.

Pantani knew there was more to life than ‘winning’ and being profusely rich. He searched for what he wanted in the wrong direction though, and it got the better out of him.

Eddy Merckx is the greatest cyclist of all time and he has admitted to taking drugs, he also tested positive. He is a hero though. A legend. The best. Such a nice and humble guy. I wish I could take him home to my parents.

Lance Armstrong was infected by a cancer that was embedded in the fabric of sport well before he entered the game.

He saw that everybody was doing something and decided to make it an even playing field.

I’m not saying this is morally correct, nor that it’s okay that he lied to us for so long, but it’s the public persecution, the vindication, the mindset and disgust that the world at large have for a man that should be considered no worse than any other drugged up sportsperson, convict, or hoon that crashed and killed a pedestrian.

All of these people are directly infected by a rotten and diseased society that considers success as the person crossed the line first, who crushed another man to make a dollar, greed, and nothing else.

Advertisement

I know there are people that would rather be a poor nobody than a loaded drug cheat.

We are the ones who cheered him on. We gave him props for beating other drug cheats and you never thought it was odd. He lied to us yes, but our society and our culture made him do it.

Society has a bent and twisted view on what success is. Success isn’t about being compassionate and generous and selfless and happy anymore.

We portray success as the pop-star with an ‘gorgeous’ body and face, find a recording deal to create an auto-toned pop song, infused with offensive mind-numbing lyrics, and produced by a team if people that know how to make all of us idiots tick.

What is success if it isn’t compassion or generosity?

Success isn’t about money, greed, or crushing our competitor, but we seem to think it is.

@adamsemple

Advertisement
close