Robin D. Laws - Roid Rage
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10:47 am
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Roid Rage
Had I known about it ahead of time, I might have been tempted to break my news fast and record the Congressional hearings on steroid use in major league baseball.
No form of American political theater contains greater potential for comedy and suspense than the congressional hearing. The format doesn't merely allow for the trite, self-righteous grandstanding of attention-starved legislators -- it's designed to showcase it. As stacked as the proceedings are, they can pivot on a dime when a witness shows the wherewithal to hit back at his interrogators.
As far as the underlying issue goes, there is a legit public health interest in discouraging young guys from bulking up on roids. This might arguably justify the public shaming of well-known public figures who have benefited from their abuse. But I suspect that putting the spotlight on it will have the perverse effect of inspiring more muscle-craving young dudes to reach for the juice -- in much the same way that Full Metal Jacket aided Marine recruitment. In an extravagantly extroverted culture, where the drive for status depends so much on flashing the right visual cues, I don't see this genie going back in its bottle. If a certain subset of guys is willing to shrink their literal cojones to acquire bigger metaphorical ones, arguments about long term health or the morality of self-harm won't gain much traction.
As far as the ball diamond is concerned, we'll soon enough be debating the merits of bionic eyes and extra tentacles, and the steroid debate will be a quaint memory of a more innocent era.
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If a certain subset of guys is willing to shrink their literal cojones to acquire bigger metaphorical ones, arguments about long term health or the morality of self-harm won't gain much traction.
It occurs to me that showing photos of those shrunken cojones during, say, eighth grade health class will do more to curb steroid abuse among young guys than any number of Congressional hearings.
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| Date: | March 29th, 2005 11:41 am (UTC) |
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extra tentacles?
The game has really gone to hell since we let the Antarans play, I guess. :)
They lost teenage boys when they started lying to them about anabolic steroids in the first place. Remember when the official position of many organizations was that they didn't work? Or that they were physically addictive? Now that the issue is tainted by alarmism people will experiment just to see what it's about.
The other problem is that the truth is hardly good ammunition, since, well, steroids are pretty safe when taken under the direction of an only slightly crooked physician. Steroid abuse is far more a function of the user/athlete's obsessions trumping safety and the fact that the user's strength/performance are associated with demigodly privilege and fame.
And the ordinary folks who use (like some of the pockmarked monkeys in my own gym) are the kind who admire that and don't have a doctor in the first place.
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