Lance Armstrong can be described in two words; a liar and a cheater. Nothing else can be used to describe Lance Armstrong as his legacy is that of a cheater and a liar, a legacy he, himself created.
Regardless of how and if Lance Armstrong comes clean about his cheating ways, the fact remains that the damage he has imposed upon society will take many years to heal, if ever. Not only did Armstrong disgrace those who strive for greatness through fairness, but he has also taught numerous children that to lie and to cheat is the way to win and finally, when confronted with the truth, the dollar almighty is the only thing to strive for.
This is the legacy of Lance Armstrong and it is a legacy derived from one simple fact, the last few generations have grown up to believe that personal responsibility has no place in society.
That lack of personal responsibility is the nexus to the problems facing America today.
The country’s fiscal problems and inability to reign in expenditures is a direct result of a society that both expects others to take care of their problems and as if that wasn’t enough it is also a society that games the political process in order to steal money through pork barrel politics.
Likewise, the ongoing rhetoric of gun control revolves around the notion that controlling an inanimate object, a gun to stop the killing of children, rather than dealing with the actual perpetrator of murders, the irresponsible citizen enabled by an equally irresponsible society more concerned about hurting people’s feelings rather than dealing with the actual problem, a society lacking in responsibility.
Murderers kill because society is unwillingly to deal with people’s lack of personal responsibility.
It is easy to blame the news media for focusing on the knee-jerk and scandalous news items but in reality they are just a mechanism designed to provide the community with what they want; a scandal wrapped in fix-it-for-me rhetoric.
American society is mesmerized by the upcoming, so-called Armstrong mea culpa. Unfortunately this attention not only encourages further cheating and lying but it also serves Armstrong’s only motivation; money. Armstrong is not looking for redemption nor looking to fix all that he has hurt, but rather he is looking to see if he can get people to feed him even more money, to forget his transgressions and allow him to regain his money making brand, a brand he created entirely by cheating and lying.
America is looking for a mea culpa wrapped in tears with emotional rhetoric thrown in for good measure. What they will not get is a person who gets up and tells it like it is; I lied, I cheated and I hurt many people and in order to make amends I will take personal responsibility and go away quietly because the damage I caused can only be fixed by me leaving the public limelight and quietly and behind the scenes work to make this world a better place.
Instead, Lance Armstrong will shed alligator tears and blame everyone and everything for his transgressions and the American people will devour it. Armstrong will walk away knowing he once again avoided personal responsibility and the American people, and their extension, the mass media will bestow further attention on Armstrong reenergizing his brand, thus allowing him to make more money from the gullible people transfixed by a liar and a cheater who once again will exemplify that personal responsibility has no place in America.
