Image source: Mark Evans (available for purchase)
The obvious response to that title is; don’t cheat. Or possibly, if you cheat you will be caught. Maybe even, quit while you’re winning. (Or, any more than 6 wins in a row and people will start to talk!)
Like many people around the world I watched his interview with Oprah on Friday riveted to my seat. Never before in my life had I witnessed someone with no comprehension of what I assumed to be a fundamental moral principle; cheating is wrong.
I have to admit up front that I don’t really care one way or the other whether he cheated or not. In fact, I find professional sport to be quite a perplexing thing. (You mean we pay people millions of dollars to play sport… not lead our countries, teach our children, cure our diseases… but play sport?)
I would have been more outraged had he been a leader of a country, or a medical practitioner, or a judge, or someone for whom his actions (in relation to winning the Tours de France) had a dire impact on humanity. He rode a bike. (The bullying tactics he employed (suing people he knew to be telling the truth) are a whole other ball game! (Pardon the sporting metaphor!))
When I tuned into watch the interview it was purely from a sociological view point (which is a nice way of saying I was curious – like train wreck curious!).
While watching the interview I tweeted my thoughts. (It’s one of the things I like about social media – I can watch something in my lounge room all alone and still have a real time conversation with someone else watching it in their lounge room (hopefully while they wear pants!) and see someone else’s perspective.)
The interview was psychological gold. Here was a man publicly admitting that he cheated, at a professional level, in front of the entire world. (Admittedly his hand had been forced, but he could have chosen to say nothing. Although I don’t think that’s in his nature…) And the crazy thing, he didn’t see a problem with the fact that he cheated.
When in your lifetime are you ever going to get the opportunity to see a sociopath give (what appeared to be) candid answers to some pretty weighty moral questions? (Hopefully the answer to that is “next to never”.)
My tweets reflected this vein of thinking. I was watching the interview from a point of pure curiosity. I had no vested interest in what he did. I don’t feel strongly about the sport or about his conduct, I just wanted to see his answers.
So colour me surprised when a friend pointed me to an article on news.com.au titled; “Social media users mock Lance Armstrong as interview with Oprah Winfrey airs“. There in amongst such pillars of society (my tongue is firmly in my cheek) as Piers Morgan and Donald Trump sat little old me.
…screen capture♥ of the news.com.au article…
As I read through the tweets that news.com.au had selected I had to wonder why mine had been included…
I wasn’t mocking Mr Armstrong as the headline claimed, in fact I was doing just the opposite. I was clinical towards him and at times I found myself, not defending him as such, being disgusted and outraged at the vitriol being directed at him. (Here’s a thought: isn’t the bullying of Lance Armstrong through social media as bad as his bullying of people through the legal system?)
…this tweet pushes my buttons on every level…
I was actually more shocked with the reaction from the public towards a man who was now being humbled in front of the world over something that started with a sporting event then I was by anything that he said during the interview. Again, it’s not like he lied about curing cancer or say, profited from personal information that was gathered via illegal means and then published in a London tabloid… (Who would do that, Piers?)
Don’t get me wrong, I am in no way defending his actions. In fact I hope that the people that he bullied, threatened, belittled and sued over the years get some closure and a personal apology (and can forgive him and move on). Bullying by anyone, regardless of social status, is unacceptable and I hope we will one day live in a world where that practice no longer exists.
However, I’m not so naive as to think that Lance Armstrong is the only man (or woman) on the planet to have ever lied, manipulated, bullied and threatened to get what he wants. The difference is in this case he did it in the public eye and then admitted that he never thought what he was doing was wrong.
Bazinga!
I could go on for hours about how fascinating I found the interview and how thankful I am to have been able to gain a glimpse into how his mind works. (Seriously, this is the interview they’ll be playing in all Psychology course the world over from now on!) But the thing that I really took away from the whole event is just how quick we are as human beings (as opposed to the dolphins that can tweet!) to point at someone else and take delight in their short comings.
I once read a quote that said; “when you point your finger at someone, there are three fingers pointing back at you.”
Image source: Mimi and Eunice
This was all I could think of when I read the tweets flying around making personal attacks against Mr Armstrong.
Hand on heart I know for a fact that no one can make a claim that they have lived their lives without fault. Sure we might not have cheated our way into winning the Tour de France seven times and landing $75 million in sponsorship deals, but I’m sure we can all think of a handful of times (if we’re being honest with ourselves) where our behavior has been questionable.
Whether it’s something as simple as not returning change to a cashier when they’ve given you more than they were supposed to (guilty!), or cheating at words with friends by looking up a dictionary (guilty!) or whether you’ve parked in a metered parking bay and not paid the fee (guilty!); that’s all cheating. Maybe you (like me) knew at the time that it was wrong, whereas Mr Armstrong is admitting that he never thought what he was doing wrong – but you still did it.
You just didn’t have to have a one-on-one sit down with Oprah Winfrey and admit to the world that you did it. (I consider that a good thing; Oprah would make you sweat!)
In this day and age I find the speed (thanks to social media) at which people are willing to throw around judgement and condemnation to be saddening and scary.
What has happened to our compassion people? When did it become hip to kick a man when he’s down instead of offering him a hand to get up?
It’s times like these I like to think of the quote; there but for the Grace of God, go I. (It’s also coupled with the quote: “Let any one of you who is without sin cast the first stone…” (abridged from John 8:7)) One day it could be you having your dirty laundry aired to your friends and family and wouldn’t you like to think that when you fall there would be someone there to help you get up again? And doesn’t what we say about others really just reflect on the sort of person we are? (What does that tweet say about you Piers?)
So here’s what I think you can learn from Lance Armstrong; compassion. Compassion for your fellow man that’s also coupled with forgiveness.
♥ The screen shot has been truncated so that I could get the header and my published tweet on the same page.
10 Comments
I don’t think it’s necessarily the cheating in cycling part that people are upset about – loads of highly regarded cyclists have been exposed as having taken performance enhancers
It’s that so many people have held him in such high esteem as an inspirational figure not just in sport but in LIFE.
And now we all feel like dickheads for trusting him, for believing in him – he cheated on us, he has hurt people’s feelings. I actually honestly feel physically sick about it.
But I love seeing Oprah back on TV
Bron recently posted…Scrap vomit
Oh Bron – can I just say that I’m sorry if I’ve offended you with this post. I feel sick at the thought that I might have.
The point that I was trying to make with the post wasn’t really about the sport side of things, or really Lance Armstrong, it was about the reaction that people have had towards it, and not necessarily the reaction but how they’ve expressed it.
For me I just don’t get why people think they can be nasty to someone. Period. I don’t understand how just because they type it on twitter or facebook or IG that it doesn’t mean the same as saying it to someone in person. That we’re becoming a society that thinks it’s ok to treat other human beings poorly.
For example, you have a personal investment in his story. But in your comment you’ve not resorted to the language that Piers Morgan used – you might feel like that and you might have said that to your friends, family, partner – but you didn’t take to a social medium and put it out there.
When you did go on a social medium (here) you used (for lack of a better word) adult language. You articulated your hurt and the reason why without resorting to bullying and name calling. Does that make sense?
I don’t know how to say this next bit without sounding like a big sap – but… I really respect you – have since I first met you. You’re generous of spirit, you’re compassionate, you’re a lovely person. You’re someone I wish I was more like, and I guess for me the crux of this post is that I wish society would be more like that and less like Piers.
I’m sorry to hear that you feel like a dickhead for believing him. I don’t think of you like the for doing so – I think of it as a reflection of the good in you that you want to believe and see the good and hope in the world and he played into that. But his actions don’t change your inner light – you believed him because of your good nature. I personally wish there was more of this kind of belief in the world and it’s sad to think that it his actions might have removed a little of that light from the world.
So again, I’m really sorry if you thought I was belittling the people that believed in him – I wasn’t.
And yes, having Oprah back rocked! Man, I miss her… she needs to make a comeback!
gnomeangel recently posted…WHAT CAN WE LEARN FROM LANCE ARMSTRONG?
Dude no offence taken at all =)
Just adding that other perspective of it not really being about sport.
I totally agree about the bullying – I really think social media puts it out of control because of that anonymity of the net thing. It’s one of the things I’m not keen about with some of the TV shows we watch encouraging the social media aspect – things like project runway aus and come done with me. Some of the things people write are awful
Xo
Bron recently posted…Scrap vomit
Ps thanks for those nice things you said about me *blushing*
I think YOU are ace =)
X
Bron recently posted…Scrap vomit
Oh thank goodness. I was so worried that I had offended you.
*exhale*
I do too – I’m trying to make a concerted effort to think “is what I’m saying uplifting” before writing, tweeting or saying it.
I enjoy being able to tweet shows, but I try to make sure that I’m not saying anything personal (sometimes I succeed, sometimes I don’t).
Dude, you’re in my preppers community!
gnomeangel recently posted…SPONSORED | CELEBRATE AUSTRALIA DAY WITH TARGET
Very nicely put; I agree with what you say about the bullying and compassion. There’s more to it though. Firstly, it’s the getting caught (not the actual cheating) that irritates him. Second, it was his kids that made him feel bad, more than his fans and the people he had bullied and sued. Finally, all the clean cyclists (= MY heroes) he competed against over the years have hardly been mentioned, let alone apologised to. What does all this say? It’s ALL ABOUT LANCE still. He has not learnt anything from this, except that there’s a dent in HIS ego and HIS bank balance. So bloody pathetic. I’ve never liked him since I started following cycling in 2001, and now I know why.
Hi Jude – thanks for reading and taking the time to comment. I really appreciate it.
I agree with what you said about his reactions to the question, I too left with a sense that he really hasn’t seen the error of his ways he just got caught. But I think that’s probably just (in my armchair psychologist opinion) because he’s a sociopath.
I’m not a big sports fan (if you couldn’t already tell), but I do hope that you continue to enjoy cycling. It will be interesting to see how it continues to play out in the sport. I was fascinated to learn about the “chemical passport” (I’m not sure that’s the correct term) that they introduced in an attempt to crack down on cheating – I think I’m going to have to read up a little more about that!
Again, thanks so much for reading and taking the time to comment – it’s appreciated!
gnomeangel recently posted…CRAFTY | HOW TO DO CROSS STITCH MARKERS
Really love what you’ve had to say. I haven’t seen the interview at all so can’t comment …. I would like to get to see it someday and I’m sure, as you say, it will be used in psychology lectures all around the world at some point. People are very quick to kick a person when they are down and whilst I don’t defend anything that he has done, I agree that we are all very quick to judge someone when they do something wrong.
There is a blog that I read called thedailylove.com – which is so good and I got an email the other day, which I get all the time , and which you can register for about Why we should forgive Lance Armstrong right now … not because he has done the wrong thing, but because we have all done wrong at some time and should be willing to forgive others. I tried to copy and past the link to the actual article, but it wouldn’t work.
Love it when people get passionate about particular topics, like you have and write about them. Thanks for sharing.
I’d love to know what you think when you do see the interview.
I’m totally going to check out thedailylove.com – thanks for the recommendation!
Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment.
gnomeangel recently posted…SPONSORED | CELEBRATE AUSTRALIA DAY WITH TARGET
No time in my day to make negative comments or interact with those who do, just not worth it! People who like to trash others (in any arena) are just exhausting to be around in general, they are usually pessimistic, narcissistic and it gets boring really fast.
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