Role Models

[ParanoiA]

Was watching that story on Michael Phelps and his bong incident and I just about tossed my cookies listening to that formulaic apology to a public that he doesn't even owe won to.

 

Granted, perhaps it was all self motivated for self interest to limit the damage to his commericial appeal - his wallet. Fine, but I get the feeling anymore that we're forcing our role model expectations onto people without their consent.

 

I'm not even concerned with the auto-presumption of guilt associated with using a legally sold product with a legal prescription of use. I would just like to see one of our "Role Models" apologize for an out-of-touch traditionalized public that has apparently supported the notion of popular strangers to be an example for their kids. I would like to see more like Charles Barkley come out and reject the expectation of responsibility folks have placed on them without ever having even met them, let alone agreed to the condition.

 

Instead, I think it would be far more interesting if Phelps, and others like him, pushed this expectation back onto the public and insist they raise their own kids and stop expecting strangers on TV to answer to them when their behavior is not a positive children's message.

 

Further, to see a commercial for 'Billy's Bongs' with Phelps' endorsement would just make my day.

 

Is it really fair to impose this Role Model status on our high achievers? Why do we feel compelled to do this?

[the tree]

Is it society's fault, is it just human nature that kids will idolise celebrities? Perhaps that's a tendency that simply can't be helped and instead should be dealt with.

 

Obviously a special obligation shouldn't be placed on celebrities - it's not their fault that the media took a liking to them, so they should be held to a different standard. But I do think that generally, people should hold themselves accountable for the influence that they have on others.

[Sisyphus]

Well, in Phelps case, appearing to be a good role model is, I imagine, very lucrative. But aside from that, I think I would try to be a good role model in the extremely unlikely event that millions of kids were to look up to me, even if I didn't ask for it and it would be unreasonable to expect it of me. As for why people do make those kinds of demands of celebrities, you're absolutely right that it's not fair.

[DrP]

I just thought - If I ever become famous i reckon there are some people from my uni days that might well crawl out of the woodwork with some embarasing pics.

[iNow]

I believe it has less to do with society and more to do with endorsement contracts. He is representing the image of all of those companies, and it is their image which gets tarnished as a result of this. Sure, society has tightly clenched butt cheeks and outdated puritanical value systems in general, but that's not the key driver here. The fact is, companies like Rosetta Stone language software don't want you associating them and their wares with dope smoking.

[Sisyphus]

The fact is, companies like Rosetta Stone language software don't want you associating them and their wares with dope smoking.

 

That seems counterintuitive. Isn't it more impressive to be able to teach Mandarin to a pothead?

[the tree]

I just thought - If I ever become famous i reckon there are some people from my uni days that might well crawl out of the woodwork with some embarasing pics.

No need, it only takes one journalist to find one person with access to your facebook.

[waitforufo]

I think we should also question the ethics of the person who provided the photo to the media and the media for publishing it. Role models of the past had often behaved in ways their then adoring public would have frowned upon. I'm sure there were plenty of opportunities for individuals and the media to expose that behavior. In the past, it seems to me, people understood that society needed role models so they ignored behavior that would bring such people down. This I think was particularly true if the questionable behavior did not directly interfere the reasons for their being role models.

 

Parents would like to make Michael Phelps a role model to their children based on his dedication and success in swimming sports. I'm sure most adults appreciate that Michael Phelps is an adult who makes decisions about his private life that they would not and hope their children would not. When they make those choices, I think most of us would appreciate if it were kept out of the media.

 

A less extreme example would be President Obama's smoking habit. I would hope that the media talks little about it and never shows pictures of him smoking.

[npts2020]

I liked Michael Phelps before the olympics and even more now. I wonder if there could be a jury in South Carolina that would unanimously find him guilty of a crime? IMO he is being pilloried for something that the vast majority of people in America has done at one time or another in their life. I wonder how many of those offended by his behavior have ever won anything, let alone eight gold medals at the olympics.

[ParanoiA]

Someone was telling me they're actually trying to continue with pressing charges on him. If that's true, I'm floored. Obviously they can't use the bong picture, because a bong is a legal product with a legal prescription of use that can't be assessed by a photo - there is no picture of any drug in the bong, nor any proof he's actually inhaling or anything. It could even be a pose. So, my best guess would be they must be looking for witnesses and questioning them.

 

Imagine that. Conducting a pot smoking investigation like a murder or something. I wonder how proud the locals are that their money is being spent on an investigation into a pot smoking incident. I wonder how many unsolved murders they have in their file cabinets. I wonder how many women have phoned in recently with violent boyfriends or husbands threatening to kill them because they love them.

 

Victimless crime is a joke. It's a tragedy of priority.

[iNow]

I don't disagree with the tone of your post, but there is no investigation necessary. He confessed. Case closed. They can now charge him if they have jurisdiction to do so. I suspect that's the focus of their efforts (deciding if they have the proper jurisdiction to pursue it and whether or not it's worth it), not DNA samples or other CSI type stuff.

[ParanoiA]

I don't disagree with the tone of your post, but there is no investigation necessary. He confessed. Case closed. They can now charge him if they have jurisdiction to do so. I suspect that's the focus of their efforts (deciding if they have the proper jurisdiction to pursue it and whether or not it's worth it), not DNA samples or other CSI type stuff.

 

Did he really? Damn, I thought he just apologized without actually confessing to anything specific. How crappy. Now he should really consider doing commercials for Billy's Bongs.

 

His next press release should be something like "Well I was just going to apologize and practice self control and continue to try to be a positive influence for your kids to look up to, but since you're all a bunch of pricks I'm going to see how many of your kids I can get to start smoking pot just like me."

[DrP]

Smoke pot - be a record breaking champion of the whole world!!

[iNow]

That seems counterintuitive. Isn't it more impressive to be able to teach Mandarin to a pothead?

 

Very clever. I like it. Perhaps the same could be said about cereal being a great snack for people with the munchies? Or, perhaps not:

 

 

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/2009-02-05-phelps-kellogg_N.htm

Cereal and snack maker Kellogg Co. says it will not renew its sponsorship contract with Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps because of the photo that showed him smoking marijuana last fall.

 

The Battle Creek, Mich.-based company said Thursday that Phelps's behavior — caught on camera and published Sunday — is "not consistent with the image of Kellogg."

 

 

Yeah, because commercials with talking roosters remind nobody of illicit drugs.

[npts2020]

I wonder if he was chugging from a whiskey bottle if anybody would have even noticed?

[padren]

I find it more offensive that Kelloggs tries to boost the sales of it's products by manipulating the emotions of young children via their propensity to idealize athletes.

[ParanoiA]

I find it more offensive that Kelloggs tries to boost the sales of it's products by manipulating the emotions of young children via their propensity to idealize athletes.

 

Now there's a perspective I hadn't considered. I second that offense.

[ParanoiA]

I can't believe these idiots are actually arresting people related to the Phelps bong picture. 8 people arrested, 1 of them the supposed dealer.

 

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,490612,00.html

 

What I'd like to know is how they got caught? Is eye witness testimony really submissible? Wouldn't the witnesses have to know it's pot in order to say they saw someone smoke it? There are legal herbs sold online that emulate the look and taste of "bud" and all that.

 

I guess it's always possible the potheads are too stoned to think about how to defend themselves, but I would emphatically fight this. Ridiculous.

[padren]

I can't believe these idiots are actually arresting people related to the Phelps bong picture. 8 people arrested, 1 of them the supposed dealer.

 

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,490612,00.html

 

What I'd like to know is how they got caught? Is eye witness testimony really submissible? Wouldn't the witnesses have to know it's pot in order to say they saw someone smoke it? There are legal herbs sold online that emulate the look and taste of "bud" and all that.

 

I guess it's always possible the potheads are too stoned to think about how to defend themselves, but I would emphatically fight this. Ridiculous.

 

I get the impression someone doesn't like the idea of a successful athletic "role model" smoking pot, maybe it goes against their acceptable stereotypes. But if they ruin the guy's life, then the "smoke pot = your life is ruined" still holds weight I guess, and it's another ideological win in the war on drugs.

In short: I hate it when people are singled out for extra-zealous enforcement of laws. It is a crime of course right now, selective enforcement always upsets me.

[visceral]

Someone was telling me they're actually trying to continue with pressing charges on him. If that's true, I'm floored. Obviously they can't use the bong picture, because a bong is a legal product with a legal prescription of use that can't be assessed by a photo - there is no picture of any drug in the bong, nor any proof he's actually inhaling or anything. It could even be a pose. So, my best guess would be they must be looking for witnesses and questioning them.

 

Imagine that. Conducting a pot smoking investigation like a murder or something. I wonder how proud the locals are that their money is being spent on an investigation into a pot smoking incident. I wonder how many unsolved murders they have in their file cabinets. I wonder how many women have phoned in recently with violent boyfriends or husbands threatening to kill them because they love them.

 

Victimless crime is a joke. It's a tragedy of priority.

 

I totally agree.

 

Even if he did actually inhale some dope, so what. Who got hurt or violated there? No one. Who suffered in any way? No one. Calling that a crime makes a mockery of real crimes.

 

I get the feeling anymore that we're forcing our role model expectations onto people without their consent.

 

We are indeed.

 

It's one thing to expect your kids to model themselves on his dedication to his sport. It is quite another to expect him to go about every aspect of his life in a manner in which people want their kids to look up to. As an Olympic swimmer he is society's creature. As a human being, he is his own.

 

His next press release should be something like "Well I was just going to apologize and practice self control and continue to try to be a positive influence for your kids to look up to, but since you're all a bunch of pricks I'm going to see how many of your kids I can get to start smoking pot just like me."

 

Lol!

[D H]

I wonder if he was chugging from a whiskey bottle if anybody would have even noticed?

 

Yep. http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/6437288/

[npts2020]

Yep. http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/6437288/

 

Drunk driving is not quite the same thing. Charles Barkley was in the news for a DUI incident but I find it hard to believe that anyone would have given a picture of him chugging from a whiskey bottle (except maybe to comment about someone with that much money not affording a glass) a moments pause.

[iNow]

I have to say, this stuff just makes him seem more "human" to me. I never quite concerned myself with him, or cared really, but with all of this hype about him toking off the bong and swigging some whiskey and tossing dollars at strippers (oh, maybe that last one hasn't happened yet...) just makes me like him more.

 

It says to me, "He's not some ridiculous and fake automaton. This is genuine human being like the rest of us who worked hard for a long time, earned his accolades, and took some time to celebrate and decompress when done."

 

Good for him. Like ParanoiA, I'm more frustrated with our culture's desire to burn witches and nail people to crosses than with his getting stoned.

[iNow]

Someone was telling me they're actually trying to continue with pressing charges on him. If that's true, I'm floored. Obviously they can't use the bong picture, because a bong is a legal product with a legal prescription of use that can't be assessed by a photo - there is no picture of any drug in the bong, nor any proof he's actually inhaling or anything. It could even be a pose.

 

Turns out you were right. My suggestion was that he confessed, but I was wrong. He said, "I apologize for engaging in inappropriate behavior," not a confession. The sheriff has backed off on his attempts to prosecute.

 

 

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/2009-02-16-phelps-no-charge_N.htm

S.C. sheriff: No pot charge for Phelps

 

Michael Phelps won't face criminal charges after a photo of him apparently smoking from a marijuana pipe sparked an investigation by a South Carolina sheriff.

 

Richland County sheriff Leon Lott said Monday he didn't have enough physical evidence to press charges against the 23-year-old swimmer after the November party near the University of South Carolina in Columbia.

 

"We had a photo and him saying he was sorry for inappropriate behavior," Lott said at a news conference. "He never said, 'I smoked marijuana.' We didn't have physical evidence."

 

Lott defended the investigation, calling Phelps "an American hero ... but even with his star status, he is still obligated to obey the laws of our state."