Oh, I get it.
Feb. 8th, 2009 02:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
demiurgentI think I figured out why Those People Who Get Their Underwear Bunched Up Uncomfortably Over Dumbass Things are doing the aforementioned thing with Michael Phelps, after Phelps was filmed taking a hit off a bong at a party.
They're upset, and talking about what kind of role model he thinks he's being, and as I recall Katie Couric asked if this means he might be taking performance enchancing drugs too (um... no, Katie. No, this doesn't mean anything beyond the fact that for a couple of hours Phelps was craving raw cookie dough). But that's not the real reason for their concern.
The real reason for their concern is this challenges the pravda.
The pravda is simple: if you smoke pot, you will either go on to harder stuff and then your brain will explode and you will die or kill people, or you will sit on the couch and do absolutely nothing with your life, ever. There is no middle ground.
Now, a man who went to the Olympics and effectively pwned them -- one of the greatest and most dedicated athletes in the world -- has been outed as someone who likes to catch the occasional buzz. And has neither gone on to harder stuff, nor killed anyone, nor wasted his life on the couch.
It's not that he's a bad role model -- it's that he's inconvenient as a role model now, in other words. If someone can use recreational marijuana and still will more medals than God at the Olympics, then it suggests that maybe... just maybe... pot isn't that dangerous a drug. That maybe... it's just a way to enjoy yourself for a little while.
And that's nothing these people want getting out. We have to think of the children.
They're upset, and talking about what kind of role model he thinks he's being, and as I recall Katie Couric asked if this means he might be taking performance enchancing drugs too (um... no, Katie. No, this doesn't mean anything beyond the fact that for a couple of hours Phelps was craving raw cookie dough). But that's not the real reason for their concern.
The real reason for their concern is this challenges the pravda.
The pravda is simple: if you smoke pot, you will either go on to harder stuff and then your brain will explode and you will die or kill people, or you will sit on the couch and do absolutely nothing with your life, ever. There is no middle ground.
Now, a man who went to the Olympics and effectively pwned them -- one of the greatest and most dedicated athletes in the world -- has been outed as someone who likes to catch the occasional buzz. And has neither gone on to harder stuff, nor killed anyone, nor wasted his life on the couch.
It's not that he's a bad role model -- it's that he's inconvenient as a role model now, in other words. If someone can use recreational marijuana and still will more medals than God at the Olympics, then it suggests that maybe... just maybe... pot isn't that dangerous a drug. That maybe... it's just a way to enjoy yourself for a little while.
And that's nothing these people want getting out. We have to think of the children.
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Date: 2009-02-08 10:19 pm (UTC)