Christopher Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 [from Adam and Gulch on Philosophy - please explain plainly...]"It is a con game which has always worked and never better than in our little Bible belt from sea to shining sea, America."Many of you have probably read the news recently finding that Michael Phelps was pictured smoking marijuana. As a result, he was suspended from receiving 3 months salary (for swimming on the US team) and he lost his Kellogg's sponsorship.The most recent study I read online states that 42% of citizens have tried marijuana. Perhaps at the very least roughly 10% of people who haven't tried it have no strong opinion against it (medical marijuana passed in California for instance). Therefore, over 50% of the population probably doesn't care that Phelps was caught smoking. What's interesting is that the mechanics of private and public industries had to act excessively against Phelps. Why? Perhaps because 10% of Americans have crazy conservative ideas and force those ideas publicly. As a result, I have this image of the US Swimming Team Decision-makers as basically making a ruling against Phelps despite the fact that individually they probably don't give a damn, and that they are acting in a "socially-appropriate" manner which is really not all that socially supported at all. This is the blindness that can drive people to act facelessly towards some socially-sanctioned behavior that is in fact not sanctioned individually by the majority *at all*. Just imagine how many other behaviors are sanctioned (for or against) by society today that have no actual democratic basis... Christopher Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alfonso Jones Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 [from Adam and Gulch on Philosophy - please explain plainly...]"It is a con game which has always worked and never better than in our little Bible belt from sea to shining sea, America."Many of you have probably read the news recently finding that Michael Phelps was pictured smoking marijuana. As a result, he was suspended from receiving 3 months salary (for swimming on the US team) and he lost his Kellogg's sponsorship.The most recent study I read online states that 42% of citizens have tried marijuana. Perhaps at the very least roughly 10% of people who haven't tried it have no strong opinion against it (medical marijuana passed in California for instance). Therefore, over 50% of the population probably doesn't care that Phelps was caught smoking. What's interesting is that the mechanics of private and public industries had to act excessively against Phelps. Why? Perhaps because 10% of Americans have crazy conservative ideas and force those ideas publicly. As a result, I have this image of the US Swimming Team Decision-makers as basically making a ruling against Phelps despite the fact that individually they probably don't give a damn, and that they are acting in a "socially-appropriate" manner which is really not all that socially supported at all. This is the blindness that can drive people to act facelessly towards some socially-sanctioned behavior that is in fact not sanctioned individually by the majority *at all*. Just imagine how many other behaviors are sanctioned (for or against) by society today that have no actual democratic basis... ChristopherThe way the social dynamics seem to work:If they (USOC and Kelloggs) ignored Phelps' action, there might be a boycott of Kelloggs and of support of the USOC.Probably nobody will boycott Kelloggs or the USOC because of them punishing Phelps.These two are probably just being "very safe." Sad, but true.Bill Parr Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Backlighting Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 Sad.I remember when Kobe Bryant was accused, but not convicted of raping a hotel employee, Nutella cancelled their advertising contract. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selene Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 Chris:All I know, is that people who smoke ganja will be laughing as they scoop handfuls of Kellog's Frosted Flakes and other munchie food into their mouths.It appears that the players, in this little media drama, are performing in their socially expected dances.Additionally, if Phelps had had the proper counseling, he should have just shut his mouth and let a spokesperson explain that he just put the bong in his mouth as a joke and that he was making believe it was a saxophone.It worked for Monica Lewinsky.Adam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted February 9, 2009 Author Share Posted February 9, 2009 It appears that the players, in this little media drama, are performing in their socially expected dances.Precisely. Everybody is performing their expected dances, and the audience is acting with social expectations, but does anybody actually believe in the little play going on, or is everyone just an actor? Sick, if you ask me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Engle Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 It's ludicrous, and business as usual in this long drought, this fifties throwback crap that's been on us now for how long...I'm just going to go ahead and blame Nixon again, he's the last one that really effed up the weed thing for good. Yeah, put it on the same schedule as effing HEROIN. Okey dokey.Meanwhile everyone is running around gobbling down pills, swilling away, smoking cigs, blah blah. You know...if I need to mellow out, should I go for the Demon Weed, or sanctioned stuff...get all ranked out on Somas, Xanax, whatever is around.Zoloft...lose my libido in the process. Hey, don't get me wrong, I'm all about treating depression, but nowadays there's a whole sports aspect to things too. The pharaceutical lobby: Pure Evil. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Grieb Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 I'm glad this happened.Michael Phelps need to realize that younger, faster swimmers are going to beat his records. He needs to get on with his adult life. In a few years he will be a question on Jeopardy.He's a world class athlete who needs to remember that everyone has cell phone cameras and people will take pictures of the big Olympic swimmer smoking pot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BaalChatzaf Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 [from Adam and Gulch on Philosophy - please explain plainly...]"It is a con game which has always worked and never better than in our little Bible belt from sea to shining sea, America."Many of you have probably read the news recently finding that Michael Phelps was pictured smoking marijuana. As a result, he was suspended from receiving 3 months salary (for swimming on the US team) and he lost his Kellogg's sponsorship.What you saw was an image of Mr. Phelps with a "bong" pressed to his mouth. You don't know what, if anything, he was inhaling.Ba'al Chatzaf (fair witness). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selene Posted February 9, 2009 Share Posted February 9, 2009 Chris:All I can think of is watching him inhale with that lung capacity - you would have to screw in the bigger bowl for that one. Then drag him into the closet and just enjoy the exhalation!Adam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiaer.ts Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 "Nutella"? LOL! What a tempest in a teapot this is! What a stoopid, stoopid country this is. An admitted cokehead who can't even read from a teleprompter without making Keanu Reeves look like a genius is president, and an Olympian smoking a drug that has never directly killed anyone is our new whipping boy? Stoopid! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brant Gaede Posted February 10, 2009 Share Posted February 10, 2009 "Nutella"? LOL!What a tempest in a teapot this is! What a stoopid, stoopid country this is. An admitted cokehead who can't even read from a teleprompter without making Keanu Reeves look like a genius is president, and an Olympian smoking a drug that has never directly killed anyone is our new whipping boy? Stoopid!Ted, I love you.--Brant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Campbell Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 To make things worse, the photo was taken in Columbia, South Carolina, and the county sheriff down there is apparently a first-class wowser.Everyone who was at the party where the fateful cell-phone picture was snapped is now being leaned on heavily by sheriff's deputies.All in an effort to convict a famous person on a misdemeanor charge:http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs....D=2009902130332Not the kind of thing that makes you proud to live in this state.Robert Campbell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Grieb Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 I think we should start a boycott of the country this sheriff is from. Don't go there. Don't buy anything from there. Tell the people that as long as this sheriff is in office you will not purchase anything from there. Hurt them in the pocketbook. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted February 15, 2009 Author Share Posted February 15, 2009 I think we should start a boycott of the country this sheriff is from.I agree. Any country whose government steals from citizens via stimulus package and hires sheriffs like this is not a country worthy of being called a "free nation." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Grieb Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 Christopher; We would all have to leave the US. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Campbell Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 Chris G,Your boycott would entail not traveling to Richland County, South Carolina—i.e., Columbia and some of its suburbs.Most of us have no pressing need to go there.Robert C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robert Campbell Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 A timely column by Steve Chapman, on the utter failure of the "war on drugs," can be seen here:http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/...the_drug_w.htmlRobert Campbell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kat Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 I think the whole ordeal is silly. So he took a hit on a bong at a party. Big deal, people drink and smoke stuff at parties. That is just what they do. If he was under the influence during competition or an endorsement, that's another story. Whoever made this video is a malicious jerk out to destroy people of achievement. Kat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Engle Posted February 15, 2009 Share Posted February 15, 2009 That's spot on, Kat, you tell 'em!!I was just thinking about that one commercial he does, learning Chinese with Rosetta Stone. "I do everything fast."Good opening for a new segment...Michael hotboxing a spliff.rdeDon't bogart that joint, my friend... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Over43 Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 I think it is a media over reaction and then Kellog's thinks they have to respond because people will eat fewer Frosted Flakes. The kid is a kid, kids do silly stuff. For those of us who have seen Pumping Iron I'm sure we all remember the end of the movie and the victorious Arnold Schwarzenegger toking away in the taxi cab. It is what it is. IF we were all "exposed" like Phelps for hitting a joint and hurling whiskey we'd all be losing our endorsements. (Well many of us...)O43 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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