Comments on: Reflections on Lance Armstrong’s Confession

By: LizBR

LizBR — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 17:41:42 +0000

I can see that, Susan.
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I agree that a lot of us aren’t capable of the kind of horrible self-obsession he has committed. He has certainly acted on a larger scale than many of us function on.
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I am comfortable arguing, though, that lots of people have trouble believing that someone they like so much could do something so wrong. That’s why he was able to pull the wool over so many people’s eyes for so long–because people wanted to like him. I think that we are often unwilling to see the flaws in the things we like, and that includes ourselves. So I don’t think people see themselves in the specifics or even scope of Lance’s crimes, but rather in the fact that we tend to like ourselves, or at least look out for our own self-interest above anyone else’s.
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The thing is, Lance did ruin lives. His bad things greatly outweigh the bad things many others have done. I think the Bernie Madoff is a great comparison. Lance had the money and the power to do exactly what he wanted, and to make everyone live according to his rules or get out. I think the saddest details in all of this are what he did both actively and passively to Floyd Landis. When I read David Zabriskie describe his time working for Armstrong and Bruyneel as parallel to his experiences with an abusive father, I knew that what Lance had done was far beyond the scope of selfishness.

By: Susan

Susan — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 17:31:17 +0000

I’m not sure that I’m totally on board with Lance-as-self. I mean, it’s important to do self-reflection, of course. But this isn’t a case of him doing good things for years and then having a slip-up or accidentally being hurtful or even on purpose being hurtful in a minor way. He did this for years and years, and was in charge of an organization that was unbelievably complex. He was more like Bernie Madoff than like anybody I know (I think). I think we are all capable of bad things. I don’t think I am capable of a multi-year, incredibly complicated bad thing, including revenge on people who refused to go along with it and lies upon lies upon lies.
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I actually am pretty impressed with the whole thing. But it was very much against the rules, and Lance knew it, and he put a lot of pressure on other people to be on his side, and he ruined people who weren’t.
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If you haven’t listened to this (I think there’s a transcript, too), it really affected me. The whole system was astonishing. http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/11/21/165593480/lance-armstrong-and-the-business-of-doping

By: LizBR

LizBR — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 17:01:43 +0000

Lana, I think the reason that so many people are so torn up over Lance’s indiscretions are not related to how much he let them down, but to the fact that none of us want to admit that we, too, are capable of doing bad things.

By: Lana

Lana — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 16:59:06 +0000

I agree with Megan; your quote in bold is really important. I feel like this reality has been reiterated to me over and over during the past few years, not necessarily through people, but through books I’m reading and studying. Sometimes I forget that *I* am capable of hurting others and causing chaos, but if I’m honest with myself, I’m more likely to catch the times when I behave badly, and it gives me a chance to make them right (if I’ll take it). Thanks for framing this whole sad, potentially maddening situation in a lens of self-reflection. The world doesn’t do that often enough and it is so very important for us to live well with others.

By: LizBR

LizBR — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 15:15:13 +0000

Thanks for the feedback, everybody.

I’m still not totally sure of how I feel about all of this, but these are my first reactions.

By: Megan

Megan — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 15:10:42 +0000

I love your quote in bold. I think I am going to print it on pretty paper and put it on my wall! I know it is the absolute truth. We should all try to remember this about ourselves, and especially about others.

By: Susan

Susan — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 14:23:50 +0000

“I’m not going to give him a pass just because he has done good things in his life.” That reminded me of Matthew 7:21-23, and gave me a better understanding. Sorry for your disappointment. What we all do effects/affects those we love and those we don’t even know.

By: Susan

Susan — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 14:08:41 +0000

If I step back from it, the act of doping isn’t something that I think is awful, on its own. He wanted to be fast, he got to be fast. And it sounds like the rest of cycling was doing the same at the time, in which case, the sport itself was more about who could dope better than who could bike better. I usually don’t like cheating because it is unfair to somebody else, but from what I have read, it seems like everybody in the entire sport (or basically everybody) was in on it.
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What I think is really impressive is how detailed and organized the setup was – they really did an incredible job. They were the best dopers in the world.
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But I do hate how he capitalized on it for his own good, and I do hate that he really thought he would never be caught, and I do think he was kind of a smug asshole.
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I guess my convoluted thinking is that it’s okay to dope if it’s not cheating anybody out of anything, and if you aren’t a smug asshole about it?

By: TC

TC — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 13:57:22 +0000

It’s funny that you should mention Reggie Miller in this post. One of the Hardest parts of growing up, for me, was coming to the realization that my childhood hero, while MAYBE not as bad as Armstrong, was the Biggest Asshole in Professional Sports. I hate trying to rectify that with the moments of basketball insanity that he gave me and my Hewshur kinion during the 90′s… but it became easier when he blocked me on twitter.

Well done, Liz.