Characterlessness

A FRIEND and fellow intellectual suggested that lance armstrong might come to be considered the most dispised athlete of all time, and the most characterless, as in moral character. Had to stop and think about that a bit.

I don't think I buy it; that is, the part about armstrong being the most ever, in either category. He still has some pretty despicable characterless characters to get past. It may be that in future times using chemical supplements to augment athletic performance then lying about it is viewed as pretty tame stuff.

Jack Johnson comes to mind. Perhaps the greatest heavywieght fighter of all time, he was just too good and too black in an all white era. White america almost universally despised him, and so did many of his fellow blacks, because he took on arrogant airs and consorted openly with white women.

Then Ty Cobb comes to mind. He pretty much hated everybody, and everybody pretty much returned the favor. Cobb's father had been a child beater, and cobb witnessed his mother shoot his father and kill him in self defense. Late in life, cobb regretted his angry life.

Characterless? Well, lance armstrong was raised in a world which glorifies winners, provides an easy way to win, steroids, then declares it a criminal act to use this tool. There're plenty of drug abusers and liars around. If lance is "characterless", then so is the culture in which he lives, which includes all of us.