The Michael Phelps "scandal" hypocrisy

It was brought up in another thread and sparked my attention, and then I left the computer and saw it mentioned as a scandal on two TV stations within a few minutes.

Somebody released a picture of him with his mouth on a bong. That's it. That's the scandal.

The hypocrisy is in the fact that the story seemed to break on the day of the superbowl. A huge portion of the people watching this game don't care about football in the least, they just enjoy the extravagant commercials that debut that day. Well millions and millions and millions of dollars go into commercials for beer/alcohol companies, and they're often touted as the favorites by anyone that talks about that sort of thing.

Also in the fact that the only reason Phelps is famous if because of his olympic wins.
It's well documented that while scores of his teammates and other olympians were out partying and drinking all night, he was in his cabin, resting for the events.

Now the media turns their back on him and demands apologies for this?
It's ok to make money off of and praise a deadly substance, but at the same time demonize a plant that scientists have proven to actually be beneficial?

Last time I checked, alcohol consumption alone kills more people in one day than cannabis has in it's known 10,000 year+ history on this planet.

The conspiracy part of this is the fact that after 60 or so years of this senseless prohibition and the accompanying arguments against it, millions of people are still buying into this idea that what he's doing is a some sort of mortal sin.

If a picture of Lance Armstrong sipping a beer surfaced in the middle of his off-season, would there be so much media boo-hoo over it? Of course not. But people die just from drinking too much of the stuff, and countless more go on actual, real violent rampages for no reason after a few too many.

Do people still believe, or are we going to continue allowing them to believe the propaganda from the 1930's and 40's?
I'll quote someone from another recent thread, who was quoting Harry J. Anslinger...

"There are 100,000 total marijuana smokers in the US,
and most are Negroes, Hispanics, Filipinos and entertainers.
Their Satanic music, jazz and swing, result from marijuana usage.
This marijuana causes white women to seek sexual relations
with Negroes, entertainers and any others."

"Reefer makes darkies think they're as good as white men."

"...the primary reason to outlaw marijuana
is its effect on the degenerate races."

"An entire family was murdered by a youthful addict in Florida. When officers arrived at the home, they found the youth staggering about in a human slaughterhouse. With an axe he had killed his father, mother, two brothers, and a sister. He seemed to be in a daze… He had no recollection of having committed the multiple crime. The officers knew him ordinarily as a sane, rather quiet young man; now he was pitifully crazed. They sought the reason. The boy said that he had been in the habit of smoking something which youthful friends called “muggles,” a childish name for marijuana."

Those things sound ridiculous because they are, but the country went with them, and apparently still is.

My computer is shutting down in a few seconds as it does whenever I visit ats, so I'll continue later....
*came back and added stuff



[edit on 2-2-2009 by alaskan]

My God the kid hit a bong, you would think the boy robbed a bank the way they are acting. How ridiculous all this noise is about something so stupid. I don't know the stats, but I am sure that most kids his age smoke.

I am in complete agreement about the millions spent on advertising beer and liquor everyday in this nation. When was the last time you heard about someone going on a violent rampage after smoking some weed??? You haven't, it mellows people out instead of putting them in a black out or rage. This is the great prohibition of our time.

LEGALIZE MARIJUANA!

Excuse me while I roll up.

Not to sound like a nancy, but could you replace the words weed and marijuana with cannabis? The mods like to delete my threads about it and use them as the reason.

"Denying ignorance" alright ...

If a picture of Lance Armstrong sipping a beer surfaced in the middle of his off-season, would there be so much media boo-hoo over it? Of course not.

Here are 2 reasons why I think this is a poor comparison

1) Alchohol is Legal
2) Alchohol is not on the Olympic banned substance list.

Was he listening to smoke on the water? idk. At least he didn't have his mouth on the outside of the bong.

I could think of many ways he could be a major embarrassment, such as porn. Let's face it, this guy is loaded and he knows it.

No wonder he has such a huge appetite. He may have already lost many potential jobs with the economy the way it is and figured...wth.

I wonder how long he can hold his breath.

I think the more hypocritical thing is that the media completely ignores or justifies smoking pot when it comes to the job of President of the United States as in the case of Bill Clinton and Obama but then crucifies a swimmer? Pleeeaaasssseeeee....................

he should be given another gold medal for being the most succesful olympic athlete in history while being baked. thats an amazing feat in its self

I agree..we need to have a nation wide work strike in the midst of a this economic turmoil..Marijuana has the potential to be a multi-billion dollar industry if it was legalized..the strike would force Obama to think about this...the economy is already going down in flames he might as well let us smoke in peace in the meantime..

just my opinion tho.

This is completely stupid. Dude is in College, goes to parties, just like the rest of other young people.
So they exposed him for being a normal person, big woop. There are so many football stars who do way worse things and still are the idols of many kids around the USA.

Michael Phelps still rules and I don't even smoke the stuff.

Man...I don't feel sorry for the kid that took the picture, he may have gained a few grand...but being ostracized by your college peers is NOT the way to go! Especially if you are partying with someone like Michael Phelps...hell I'd have been like.

'hit it! Hit it! Hit it!'

He's an accomplished athlete, 14 medals, money coming out of his ears and lots more in the works I'm sure, women beating his door down to just say they did him. Now that he's also known as a fellow connoisseur of the herb...it's going to be even worse, he won't be able to stop the fame, money and girls lol.

Seriously, the guy should not have to go through all this rubbish because he enjoys getting baked. It's a bloody plant for heavens sake.

Oh well - it's 420 somewhere so off to roll one as well.

[edit on 2-2-2009 by Riviera]

Talk like that is what gets threads closed

Originally posted by ruj00
we need to have a nation wide work strike in the midst of a this economic turmoil..

That's one reason I keep trying to make threads on the topic. Not nearly enough people know what the plant ISN'T yet for there to be a responsible/socially accepted strike for it of that magnitude.

It would be awesome if it happened, and way more awesome if it worked, but I really think more people need to educate themselves first.

A crowd full of angry people blowing smoke in cops' faces and yelling doofy chants is only going to make matters worse, and it really sucks, but that's most likely what would end up happening right now. People hear strike and think protest instead of boycott, and you end up with a big embarrassing scene.

And a lot of the business types and do-gooders that would really help the strike are still sort of scared, because it's still just an 'unacceptable' subject at this point.



[edit on 2-2-2009 by alaskan]

When are people who smoke cannabis or those who are OK with others doing it going to stand up against the discrimination?
Pot doesn't ruin anybody's life. MILLIONS of people who smoke and live completely normal, responsible,and productive lives have to keep it hidden from those who will hold it against them.
Our law makers should recognize that a person who does it on a Friday or Saturday night because they like the feeling better than an alcohol buzz is being discriminated against when he or she has to pass a urine test to get a job or just to keep their job. This is where those who have a problem with it cross the line. And the fact that people can be incarcerated for possessing it.
Our society has grown to accept some of the discriminations of the past, for example, homosexuality and interracial relationships. Why do those who just want to catch a buzz feel like they must hide it from those who would not only judge them, but would take away their rights and freedoms for it? To me, that's just unamerican.
The saddest part is that Michael Phelps has to denounce publicly and apologize for behavior he knows is not wrong. That's the tragedy here and the biggest point of the whole issue.

He's a good person - a nice guy - who is getting nailed for smoking some dope. But politician-lawyer Obama gets elected president and gets a free pass on dope and coc aine.

"Pot charge possible after Phelps’ pipe photo"
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP)—Olympic superstar Michael Phelps could face criminal charges as part of the fallout from a photo that surfaced showing the swimmer smoking from a marijuana pipe at a University of South Carolina house party.

A spokesman for Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott, who is known for his tough stance on drugs, said Tuesday the department was investigating.

Change we can believe in alright ...

If he was not a celebrity athlete, nobody would even care. There are many photos on social networking sites that show college aged people and younger doing illegal drugs and drinking alcohol... And yet nobody is out there trying to press charges.

I agree with the poster who said he is just doing what other kids his age are doing. I am not certain of the full story however the person that took this photo may have baited him into smoking with the intention of taking his photograph and exploiting it. He didn't have to, but well whatever, he did and its done.

In a just world; the person making money off of slandering him would be the one to get punished.