That video refers to:
1) A pro-abstinence Republican Congressman who had to retire after admitting an affair with a staffer
2) A Democratic senate candidate who, um, slightly made up his combat record
3) Any one of a number of pro cyclists
4) Your opinion of most of the leaders of most of our major social institutions
With this video I'm referring to:
1) Floyd Landis
2) Lance Armstrong
3) Johan Museeuw
4) Damn near every pro who raced between 1990 and 2007.
Speaking of which... What would Johan say? I smoked some righteous clove cigarettes this morning, drank a Belgian coffee (high chicory content Maxwell House, with a tablespoon of melted medium embro drizzled in for flava), and suddenly Johan's voice came to me. Here's what Johan Museeuw's Inner Dialogue would say about this latest doping scandal:
The truth? You can't handle the truth. Son, we live in a world that has hills like walls, and those walls have to be ridden up by small men on bikes. Who's gonna do it? You? I have a lower natural Power:Weight ratio than you could possibly fathom. You weep for Damiano, and you curse Virenque. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know. That Armstrong's doping, while tragic, probably saved time. And doping's existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves time. You don't want the truth because deep down in places you don't talk about at parties, you want skinny Italian guys flying up that wall, you need them rocketing up that wall. We use words like honor, code, loyalty, CERA and Autologous blood doping. We use these words as the backbone of a life spent riding something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain these things to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of propaganda white noise that Versus provides, and then questions the manner in which Versus provides it. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way. Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a needle, lose a lot of weight, and climb a hill faster than your unaltered hematocrit permits. Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to.Yeah, that's what Johan would say. Y'know, if he wouldn't be arrested for saying it. But I'm sure it's what he imagines himself saying.
That video is an allusion to:
1) How Floyd Landis feels riding among non-doping pros
2) What Lance's ex-girlfriends all sing after they break up with him
3) How all of us feel sometimes
4) Fuck that. It's obviously how Floyd Landis feels riding among non-doping pros.
Floyd's dope revelations have me down, not because I'm surprised but because of the way so many people try to systematically destroy everything good we love and believe in. The real crime of sin, or of "sin" if you're not particularly religious, is that it covers you and your friends and everyone you know in shit. The reason we have all this moral approbation and all these rules is not to make you unhappy, but because corruption has a stench that will ultimately make the eyes of everybody in the room start watering as if somebody blasted out some red onions through a salad shooter. You can get away with a little moral rot and it may not destroy your character but when you start to have a lot of it, you harm more than yourself. Everybody walks away from you, their faith in you and in the possibility of others being good and trustworthy and admirable, somewhat shaken.
One of the things I like about being a pretty ordinary guy with pretty ordinary friends is I don't worry about all of you turning out to be major league asshole doping liars who build a career and make millions on a lie. Hey, we're among friends here, and I know a few of you have fucked up here and there. That's fine, it happens. This being a mostly local blog I get to know most of you who read it and you're kind and decent people; I can only think of a handful of real assholes in this area who I think are bad people and wouldn't want to ride with. Most of you I've met, and many hundreds of people I've raced with who don't read this, have been solid in all my dealings with them. Maybe we're not great buddies, but y'all are alright and I know that.
But anyhow, most of us are pretty normal. Why is it we're cool, but so many athletes / celebs / politicians are so frigging evil? Maybe fame does something to screw people up; maybe you have to be screwed up to achieve it. Either way, I'm not real interested in fame and fortune. I'd rather be just makin' the mortgage payment, but out there in the woods or on the road every week riding with you guys, than to be a lying rich ass doper pro with a bunch of lying rich ass doper friends and crooked bosses.
We ordinary folks have it good and should appreciate it. Ride safe on the way into work today and I hope to see you on the trails Saturday.
7 comments:
The Blumenthal story was taken out of context, by a republican opponent. I don't know anything about the guy, and he could be the shadiest guy around, but that story is bogus.
Just sayin'
'In the video, Blumenthal also appears to differentiate himself from combat veterans near the end of his remarks, a section not included in the video excerpt cited by his opponents, including Republicans Rob Simmons and Linda McMahon.
Without the efforts of previous generations of veterans, the attorney general says, "I wouldn't be standing here."'
No, it wasn't taken out of context. I wouldn't say what I said if I hadn't looked at the entire transcript, where he calls himself a Vietnam Era veteran at the start, and a Vietnam veteran at the end. Two different meanings - one is all the people who served during the period, the other means people who served there. He also talked about how "people spit on us when we came back from Vietnam" in prior speeches. The meaning is clear enough, and a guy who has taken down some of the top corporations in the U.S. on the grounds that their artful speech was deceptive shouldn't make "mistakes" like that; in fact it isn't credible to think he was making a major mistake like that concerning a key element of his biography.
You should know me well enough by now to know I don't buy partisan bullshit, not in wholesale amounts anyhow, and I wouldn't call the guy a liar if I didn't have really good grounds. High level attorneys don't generally misspeak about something important like that, particularly not in front of a veterans group filled with people who know the meaning of the two different terms. It's a sore spot with me because I served and am a combat vet and don't much like honor thieves. I did some stuff but try to be clear with people - correct it immediately - if I miscommunicate and leave them with the impression that I did more than I actually did. Sorry, he doesn't get a pass from me here, and just because one of the more unattractive Republican campaigns of this season makes the charge, doesn't mean the charge is false. See, e.g. Floyd Landis.
And if anybody gets after me about getting after Souder, we'll get into that too. I think he's a POS for a similar lie about who he is and why we should support him because of his high moral standards.
You are all good folks and for the most part, you waste your breath trying to defend the honor of most of the people in the upper tier of our political class. Our lives would be happier if we saw them for what they are. They might also lie a bit less if they weren't so desperately concerned with trying to impress us. Yeah, I'm telling you to pay less attention to them and they'll go away.
Funny, many of these politicos that claim the moral high-ground are usually found out to have been down on gutter at one time or another. The public lynch mod never rest until they get their man. I get soooo many e-mails, mainly from my right-leaning friends, with "proof" of the bad guys crimes against us "true Americans". You know, the Photoshopped pictures of a demonstration featuring bogus protest signs, very short out of context videos, etc.
You have to wonder, does the extreme right and their counterparts on the left really believe that this crap sways any normal person's view on an issue?
Poor Floyd, he has sunk to the depths of which there is no chance to resurface. Who is advising this guy anyways? Did his upbringing and the reality of life just mow collide and the result is this? So many questions that for which the answers will near-impossible to believe even if true. It's just too sad.
Golf claps. Good post
This may be your best post ever. Fame corrupts, and hardcore turd fame corrupts hardcore turds.
Amen, brother. Well said.
Good one all round Jim, and Golf claps CW, never heard that one before, Can I use it?
-B
Post a Comment