I spend a lot of time reading about lying. This tends to be a depressing yet enlightening endeavor. Research shows that most of us lie in small ways often. But then there are the Grand Poobah’s of lying: Bernie Madoff,
Bill Clinton (although Kant would say Bill was evading, not lying), my favorite TV 
character from Suits (if you aren’t watching you should be), and now Lance Armstrong. The ability to live your entire life as a lie is quite astounding. That is why I enjoyed this article about Lance Armstrong’s long deception about his use of performance enhancing drugs.
Armstrong is a particularly fascinating liar because he managed to do so much good while being so bad. His charity has raised millions of dollars for cancer research, and brought great attention to the issue. His LIVESTRONG campaign was a great inspiration to many cancer patients and survivors. So does all that good outweigh the bad? Everyone I ask has a different conclusion. What do you think?
4 Comments
Zach Barnard posted on January 24, 2013 at 12:56 am
After so many people in the sport’s industry have doped for so many years, I wasn’t terribly surprised when I learned that Lance Armstrong had used performance enhancing drugs. However, what I have always associated Lance with is the Livestrong campaign. Knowing that he had won the Tour de France many times was common knowledge to me, but what impressed me more about this man was his endeavors to create good. His career meant something to so many people because he had so many outreach programs. Unlike many others, he had a high public profile for doing good in the community… he gave a lot to others. To me, I am more easily able to forgive his transgressions because of this. It certainly doesn’t make his transgressions right, or even acceptable, but forgiveness seems to come more easily than to those who have only gained more money and a higher profile without giving back as much.
Haiyan Lin posted on February 1, 2013 at 1:47 pm
I think everyone would agree that sometimes he/she really needs to lie because of his/her personal reasons. However, in the same time, no one will like to know that others lie to them. For the case of Lance Armstrong, he might be wrong for lying in order to get prizes, but his story really had encouraged many people who had cancer. I think this is one of the good social results. Also, I think that there are many dilemmas in our society, if a white lie can help solve some dilemmas, then I will accept that lie.
Kristen Kruczkowski posted on February 2, 2013 at 2:55 pm
I cannot help but think of the Lance Armstrong case as a Robin Hood “steal from the rich and give to the poor” scenario. He took performance enhancing drugs while going on to win many races and raising so much money for various charities and inspiring many people.
I am kind of conflicted on how I feel about this issue. If he had not been raising money for charity I would say that he is absolutely in the wrong and should face the consequences. However, he did do a lot of good for so many people who needed it.
I think that he should absolutely be stripped of his titles, but I am not sure about the other consequences. Maybe a fine or something of that nature. This issue also makes me wonder what his motives were for taking the drugs. Did he want to win so that he could raise money for charity? Or did he take the drugs to prove to the world that he was a winner?
It would also be interesting to go back to the races where he used the drugs and see what other riders were using at the time.
Nicole Pellegrino posted on February 3, 2013 at 7:55 pm
First off I LOVE suits! It is such a great show.
This is a tough question. Lance Armstrong has done so much good. He’s raised so much awareness and funds for cancer. Its such a shame that he did this in a dishonest way. I think he should be acknowledged for all the good he’s done for the cancer society, but as an athlete, his record should be discredited. He set such a bad example for kids. Hard work pays off, but they don’t call it hard work for nothing.