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OuchThatHurts
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Just some things that have been wandering around my mind for a few days as I’ve been reading these Marion Jones threads. Someone on another board suggested maybe we should not just throw our hands up in the air over these performance enhancing drugs but I ask you: What else are you going to do? Performance enhancement isn't going away. And don't worry, I’m not starting a pro-steroid thread here but I’m curious what defines the line between acceptable enhancement and unacceptable enhancement. And who decides?
In a perfect world, there would be no need for performance enhancement as everyone would be just as perfect as the next person and competition would not exist. It is because one desires to be better or have more than the next person that humans have risen to the top of the food chain. Every war or competition ever waged is the culmination and ultimate expression of that desire. Without the competitive nature of our existence, we become complacent, apathetic, and useless. Look at a man, and then look at the same man after he's been unemployed for two years. You will see not only mental changes but clear physiological changes as well. It takes a lot of drugs to combat the effects of day-to-day surrender.
When you take Tylenol, don't you do it so that you can perform better? What about when you drink a few cups of coffee in the morning to get going? My point is that regardless of whether it is natural or unnatural makes no difference if that thing you take into your body gives you an edge and makes you better or more enhanced than you were before right? Or no?
I have dealt with, discussed, and read much on all sorts of medications including performance enhancing chemicals. More than I care to think about. In the early 90's, The AMA was opposed to the classification of steroidal performance enhancing drugs. Although I'm almost certain deaths have indeed occurred relating to their use, I know of no conclusively proven steroid-related death. I do know, however, that acetominophen is the second leading cause of fatal cirrhosis of the liver behind alcohol. My point is that it is believed by much of the medical community that in healthy adults, steroids pose little or no health risks. In fact, they may even have benefits. I'm not trying to make a case for these chemicals though because they are what they are and it is what it is so I will simply throw my hands up in the air (because I'm not about to go on a crusade).
It's interesting that people will allow themselves to be put under a general anesthetic and be cut open strictly for cosmetic reasons alone. This is in fact dangerous and has resulted in many conclusive deaths. How do you feel about those practices? Women will take massive amounts of hormones to prevent ovulation and at the highest levels, prevent menstruation in the desire to continue to live life to their ideal standard of living, which is their right correct? Of course! Yet, again, drugs like Depo-Provera and all forms of hormonal birth control are now known, conclusively, to cause an increased risk of stroke, amenhoria, anorgasmia, decreased libido, breast cancer, etc.
I could go on and on and even bore myself with all the perhaps hundreds of chemicals, procedures, and devices we use everyday without much thought whatsoever but rest assured that every one of them is meant to improve our standards of performance (or competition). They are all, in one form or another, "performance enhancing".
Okay, those are just some random and somewhat incoherent thoughts but things I believe worthy of consideration. Another consideration is a political/social one. Don't worry. I refuse to express any political conspiracy jargon but merely would like to mention that we live in a capitalist society in the USA. This means that even in our daily lives, to survive, we are challenged by society itself to be better than the business down the street, or better than the other manager down the hall - even amongst our own team members and coworkers. That is all I have to say about that but put simply, it is a competitive marketplace and only the strongest and smartest survive. Period.
Okay, this is getting long so if you've gotten this far you're probably bored out of your skull like I am. So just to summarize - Given the medical community's views on these chemicals and compared to what is already perfectly legal, in fact, encouraged, and in light of the undeniable competitive world in which surrounds us, the question I suppose I have is how far you are willing to go to enhance your performance? I’m not asking whether or not you do, I already know that you do. So we already do enhance our performance in one form or another. How much are we free to decide for ourselves and how much do we need a note from our parent or guardian first? Please look at the following list of items.
Coffee/caffeine
Botox
Liposuction
Insider trading
Concentrated protein powders and isolates
Creatine monohydrate
Breast/penis enhancement
Birth control
Progressive weight training
Tylenol/acetominophen
Prozac/antidepressants
Pro-hormones
Tax evasion
Testosterone/analogues
Lasik eye surgery
Xanax/depressants
High protein diet (i.e. >500gms per day)
Everything in the above list is either illegal, potentially dangerous, or both. None of the above is necessary for survival. Let's face it, it's a slippery slope and we all try to get the edge on the competition. Even if it means we put ourselves in harm's way. Whether we like it or not, our health and evolution depends on it and that is one aspect of our nature that will never be legislated.
In a perfect world, there would be no need for performance enhancement as everyone would be just as perfect as the next person and competition would not exist. It is because one desires to be better or have more than the next person that humans have risen to the top of the food chain. Every war or competition ever waged is the culmination and ultimate expression of that desire. Without the competitive nature of our existence, we become complacent, apathetic, and useless. Look at a man, and then look at the same man after he's been unemployed for two years. You will see not only mental changes but clear physiological changes as well. It takes a lot of drugs to combat the effects of day-to-day surrender.
When you take Tylenol, don't you do it so that you can perform better? What about when you drink a few cups of coffee in the morning to get going? My point is that regardless of whether it is natural or unnatural makes no difference if that thing you take into your body gives you an edge and makes you better or more enhanced than you were before right? Or no?
I have dealt with, discussed, and read much on all sorts of medications including performance enhancing chemicals. More than I care to think about. In the early 90's, The AMA was opposed to the classification of steroidal performance enhancing drugs. Although I'm almost certain deaths have indeed occurred relating to their use, I know of no conclusively proven steroid-related death. I do know, however, that acetominophen is the second leading cause of fatal cirrhosis of the liver behind alcohol. My point is that it is believed by much of the medical community that in healthy adults, steroids pose little or no health risks. In fact, they may even have benefits. I'm not trying to make a case for these chemicals though because they are what they are and it is what it is so I will simply throw my hands up in the air (because I'm not about to go on a crusade).
It's interesting that people will allow themselves to be put under a general anesthetic and be cut open strictly for cosmetic reasons alone. This is in fact dangerous and has resulted in many conclusive deaths. How do you feel about those practices? Women will take massive amounts of hormones to prevent ovulation and at the highest levels, prevent menstruation in the desire to continue to live life to their ideal standard of living, which is their right correct? Of course! Yet, again, drugs like Depo-Provera and all forms of hormonal birth control are now known, conclusively, to cause an increased risk of stroke, amenhoria, anorgasmia, decreased libido, breast cancer, etc.
I could go on and on and even bore myself with all the perhaps hundreds of chemicals, procedures, and devices we use everyday without much thought whatsoever but rest assured that every one of them is meant to improve our standards of performance (or competition). They are all, in one form or another, "performance enhancing".
Okay, those are just some random and somewhat incoherent thoughts but things I believe worthy of consideration. Another consideration is a political/social one. Don't worry. I refuse to express any political conspiracy jargon but merely would like to mention that we live in a capitalist society in the USA. This means that even in our daily lives, to survive, we are challenged by society itself to be better than the business down the street, or better than the other manager down the hall - even amongst our own team members and coworkers. That is all I have to say about that but put simply, it is a competitive marketplace and only the strongest and smartest survive. Period.
Okay, this is getting long so if you've gotten this far you're probably bored out of your skull like I am. So just to summarize - Given the medical community's views on these chemicals and compared to what is already perfectly legal, in fact, encouraged, and in light of the undeniable competitive world in which surrounds us, the question I suppose I have is how far you are willing to go to enhance your performance? I’m not asking whether or not you do, I already know that you do. So we already do enhance our performance in one form or another. How much are we free to decide for ourselves and how much do we need a note from our parent or guardian first? Please look at the following list of items.
Coffee/caffeine
Botox
Liposuction
Insider trading
Concentrated protein powders and isolates
Creatine monohydrate
Breast/penis enhancement
Birth control
Progressive weight training
Tylenol/acetominophen
Prozac/antidepressants
Pro-hormones
Tax evasion
Testosterone/analogues
Lasik eye surgery
Xanax/depressants
High protein diet (i.e. >500gms per day)
Everything in the above list is either illegal, potentially dangerous, or both. None of the above is necessary for survival. Let's face it, it's a slippery slope and we all try to get the edge on the competition. Even if it means we put ourselves in harm's way. Whether we like it or not, our health and evolution depends on it and that is one aspect of our nature that will never be legislated.
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