Sunday, February 1, 2009

The Audacity of Dope

Michael Phelps, the Olympic Swimmer from Maryland, was photographed smoking marijuana at a party on the campus of the University of South Carolina. What did he do that is so wrong?

"I engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment," Phelps said in the statement released by one of his agents. "I'm 23 years old and despite the successes I've had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner people have come to expect from me. For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public it will not happen again."


From his reaction, you would think that he did something morally wrong. But actually, it is only wrong because some jackass politicians say that it is wrong.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

F.M. address the issue of a grocery store in Turf Valley.

Anonymous said...

In a nutshell: I think a 55,000 square foot Harris Teeter in Turf Valley would be super, as do many residents of Turf Valley (although certainly not all residents, and certainly not some local grocers). I think that the Council made the right call on CB58. You should check out the Columbia Now blog, if you have not already. Ryan has written intelligently on CB58.

Just say "no" to this particular referendum.

Anonymous said...

thanks, fm

Jessie Newburn said...

I prefer the Audacity of Hoop. http://is.gd/hsJa But, since we're speaking of dope, why doesn't Michael Phelps provide some moral leadership and just be honest/ That would be refreshing. Perhaps he could just say he enjoyed it and to tell everyone that he's 23 years old, so back off and let him make his own choices.

And the media bemoan and wonder why they are FAILING! Yo: Stop with your hypocritical, wasteful moralizing for starters.

Anonymous said...

Jessie x, your points on moral leadership and wasteful moralizing, are valid, but I think it is a question of law. The choice is either to respect the law, or change the law. I see morals as applied to the individual, law as applied to the group.

Certainly, an individual with high morals, who respects the law, provides exceptional leadership, but morals are tailored more to the individual within smaller groups of faith, there is not a universal acceptance . The law is an attempt to find universal acceptance by the larger group.

But of course all this is mute, it boils down to the newspapers being able to sell papers.

Anonymous said...

I fall into the group of people who thinks marijuana is harmless, and there are certainly much bigger issues to concerned about. I don't want kids or grown ups to spend all day smoking pot and binging on doritos afterward, but its basically a harmless drug.

I also support using hemp for paper and clothing since it grows much faster than trees (the current paper derivative) and would mean a lot less trees having to be cleared every year.

The upshot of this whole episode is that potheads around the world will have hope that they too could be an Olympic athlete someday. Local swim teams will be swamped with reefer heads joining their rosters! But don't expect the "bongtoke" to replace the backstroke any time soon!