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What a Shock: 23-year old Michael Phelps Likes to Party...

ojready said:
A Letter I’d Like To See (But Won’t)
Sunday, February 1st, 2009

http://www.theagitator.com/2009/02/01/a-letter-id-like-to-see-but-wont/

Dear America,

I take it back. I don’t apologize.

Because you know what? It’s none of your goddamned business. I work my ass off 10 months per year. It’s that hard work that gave you all those gooey feelings of patriotism last summer. If during my brief window of down time I want to relax, enjoy myself, and partake of a substance that’s a hell of a lot less bad for me than alcohol, tobacco, or, frankly, most of the prescription drugs most of you are taking, well, you can spare me the lecture.

I put myself through hell. I make my body do things nature never really intended us to endure. All world-class athletes do. We do it because you love to watch us push ourselves as far as we can possibly go. Some of us get hurt. Sometimes permanently. You’re watching the Super Bowl tonight. You’re watching 300 pound men smash each while running at full speed, in full pads. You know what the average life expectancy of an NFL player is? Fifty-five. That’s about 20 years shorter than your average non-NFL player. Yet you watch. And cheer. And you jump up spill your beer when a linebacker lays out a wide receiver on a crossing route across the middle. The harder he gets hit, the louder and more enthusiastically you scream.

Yet you all get bent out of shape when Ricky Williams, or I, or Josh Howard smoke a little dope to relax. Why? Because the idiots you’ve elected to make your laws have have without a shred of evidence beat it into your head that smoking marijuana is something akin to drinking antifreeze, and done only by dirty hippies and sex offenders.

You’ll have to pardon my cynicism. But I call bullshit. You don’t give a damn about my health. You just get a voyeuristic thrill from watching an elite athlete fall from grace–all the better if you get to exercise a little moral righteousness in the process. And it’s hypocritical righteousness at that, given that 40 percent of you have tried pot at least once in your lives.

Here’s a crazy thought: If I can smoke a little dope and go on to win 14 Olympic gold medals, maybe pot smokers aren’t doomed to lives of couch surfing and video games, as our moronic government would have us believe. In fact, the list of successful pot smokers includes not just world class athletes like me, Howard, Williams, and others, it includes Nobel Prize winners, Pulitzer Prize winners, the last three U.S. presidents, several Supreme Court justices, and luminaries and success stories from all sectors of business and the arts, sciences, and humanities.

So go ahead. Ban me from the next Olympics. Yank my endorsement deals. Stick your collective noses in the air and get all indignant on me. While you’re at it, keep arresting cancer and AIDS patients who dare to smoke the stuff because it deadens their pain, or enables them to eat. Keep sending in goon squads to kick down doors and shoot little old ladies, maim innocent toddlers, handcuff elderly post-polio patients to their beds at gunpoint, and slaughter the family pet.

Tell you what. I’ll make you a deal. I’ll apologize for smoking pot when every politician who ever did drugs and then voted to uphold or strengthen the drug laws marches his ass off to the nearest federal prison to serve out the sentence he wants to impose on everyone else for committing the same crimes he committed. I’ll apologize when the sons, daughters, and nephews of powerful politicians who get caught possessing or dealing drugs in the frat house or prep school get the same treatment as the no-name, probably black kid caught on the corner or the front stoop doing the same thing.

Until then, I for one will have none of it. I smoked pot. I liked it. I’ll probably do it again. I refuse to apologize for it, because by apologizing I help perpetuate this stupid lie, this idea that what someone puts into his own body on his own time is any of the government’s damned business. Or any of yours. I’m not going to bend over and allow myself to be propaganda for this wasteful, ridiculous, immoral war.

Go ahead and tear me down if you like. But let’s see you rationalize in your next lame ONDCP commercial how the greatest motherfucking swimmer the world has ever seen . . . is also a proud pot smoker.

Yours,

Michael Phelps
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Awesome and needs to be said. The Big Macs we all shove in our mouths are killing us quicker than pot.
 
I can't believe this is as big as an issue as it is...

I can name attorneys and doctors and other pillars of society that I KNOW FOR A FACT that does this and worse...

I know of two presidents that have admitted to using drugs, and Kennedy was hooked on pain killers. Just because they were prescribed doesn't mean it was right or quite legal if they were being over prescribed...

I agree.. Too many people living in glass houses to be all worked up over this...

I guess we all better give up watching baseball.. to many drug users there...

Better quite listening to music and supporting all the druggies there....

The real problem... SOCIETY... since man has been around, they have taken some form of drug or another.. it's just been the screwed up societies that have people in it that force their beliefs on others deciding if a drug is bad or not, or if it is acceptable or not...

We all need to just learn to live our own life... most of us can't even do that with any sign of ability..
 
You guys are getting your shorts all twisted in knots over the wrong thing.

To me, smoking marijuana is akin to having sex with a girl that 17 years, 364 days old. It's no big deal, but

IT'S ILLEGAL!!!

That's the issue with me, not the marijuana itself.

I'm sure that if he had come in second in all 8 of those races, and it was found out later that the winner was on illegal steroids, most of people who are criticizing him now would be standing in his corner instead.
 
Frankly, I'm not surprised in the least. Can't say it was the smartest thing he ever did (and yes, for now it's illegal).
 
bentpencil said:
You guys are getting your shorts all twisted in knots over the wrong thing.

To me, smoking marijuana is akin to having sex with a girl that 17 years, 364 days old. It's no big deal, but

IT'S ILLEGAL!!!

That's the issue with me, not the marijuana itself.

I'm sure that if he had come in second in all 8 of those races, and it was found out later that the winner was on illegal steroids, most of people who are criticizing him now would be standing in his corner instead.
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So you've never run a red light. You've never driven 67mph in a 65 zone? Should you end up all over the news, or a bunch of magazines, or lose million dollar endorsements because of it? Phelps shouldn't have done it, but that doesn't make the world coming down on him right.
 
I say it's no big deal. The media says if your pic is on a box of flakes you're a role model. I'm fairly sure that he didn't allow his picture to be used in advertising to become a role model. I would also say that the flake outfit, wanted his picture on the box to sell flakes. To me, it just shows one more time, how much "ill placed" power the media has these days. With all the problems in the world today, why would I care if anyone smokes a doob.:no: Hey, that reminds me, I'm off work and it's time for some tunes.:smoke:
 
michael's biggest error is failing to grasp the nature of the fishbowl he lives in as the greatest olympian of all time. very much a kid's error in judgment.

i've known personally a good number of olympic swimmers over the years, gold medal winners from their various games, and one of the most common items of conversation is the 'partying' that went on before, during, and after the games. it is also true that the swimmers are known far and wide on college campuses as the most barbarian of party-ers.

why that is is your guess as good as mine. i've just always known that to be the case.
 
JohnVF said:
So you've never run a red light. You've never driven 67mph in a 65 zone?
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Yes I have. And I also learned that if you want to do either of those things, don't do it in front of a cop.

I'll say it again: I am not knocking the fact that he smoked dope. But he KNOWS that he's in the limelight, and should have used a little different judgement , in my opinion.

If Trojan Condoms signed a deal with him, and six months later his girlfriend ends up knocked up, don't you think they might be a little irritated? There's nothing WRONG with it, but it's not what they wanted (or expected).

Hey, it's all good...............:thmbsp::thmbsp:
 
MODERATOR NOTE:

2 posts containing overtly political content have just been removed form this thread. Any more, and the thread goes away, and the perp goes to the bench.
 
JohnVF said:
So you've never run a red light. You've never driven 67mph in a 65 zone? Should you end up all over the news, or a bunch of magazines, or lose million dollar endorsements because of it? Phelps shouldn't have done it, but that doesn't make the world coming down on him right.
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That's all beside the point. Whether Bentpencil ran a red light has no bearing on Michael Phelps smoking weed. As stated, it's illegal. Doesn't matter if lawyers or doctors or baseball players do it, it's still illegal. Doesn't matter how puritanical people think Americans might be and it doesn't matter how much some people want the law changed. As of right now, it's illegal. It's a simple fact.
 
Alcohol was illegal too, but enough people broke the law that they realized it was a bad law and made way too many criminals, plus caused worse crime....

So, if enough people break the law, then maybe the law makers can see the errors of their way. They call it Civil Disobedience.. Many laws and rulings have been changed because of it.
 
You keep wanting to debate whether or not marijuana should be legalized. That's not the issue.

There is a large constituency of people in the US (and the world) who believe that it is their duty to abide by the laws, right or wrong, until they can get them changed. If they happen to be the ones who are signing your paycheck, then it is best to accept their position.

The alcohol laws weren't changed just by those who broke the laws - it took votes from the law abiding citizens that wanted the law changed, too.
 
LAST MODERATOR NOTE BEFORE THE BLOODLETTINGS COMMENCE

The topic of this thread is about some famous guy getting his picture taken smoking dope, regardless of whether it is even a topic of any value whatsoever. The thread has NOTHING TO DO WITH YOUR OPINIONS ON THE LEGALIZATION OF A CURRENTLY ILLEGAL SUBSTANCE. That discussion involves LAWS, which invariably involves THE GOVERNMENT who makes the laws, which invariably involves POLITICS, which is not a topic allowed on AK. If you want to argue about legalizing weed, go to NORML.com, or IHEARTRUSH.com, or some damn where else. The fuse is lit on this thread, and if is allowed to burn down, it's going to take people with it.

NO more cautions here.
 
I will of course agree that it was a really really STUPID thing for him to do. There is no argument against that, that's for sure. I'd say it sucks for him that his every move is watched, but he's pulling in tons of endorsement money and he's famous, so I can't say I feel sorry for him. It comes with the territory. I still think he's an amazing athlete, though. He should probably work out his brain as well as his arms and legs, though.
 
JohnVF said:
I will of course agree that it was a really really STUPID thing for him to do. There is no argument against that, that's for sure. I'd say it sucks for him that his every move is watched, but he's pulling in tons of endorsement money and he's famous, so I can't say I feel sorry for him. It comes with the territory. I still think he's an amazing athlete, though. He should probably work out his brain as well as his arms and legs, though.
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100% agreement.

What people don't realize these days is that with all of the technology we so love, any person with any hint of celebrity is going to be under scrutiny, and when they least expect it. The fact that people will pay for almost any kind of "dirt" you can provide makes it even worse. He is a victim of the times just as much as his actions.
 
I haven't read all the replies in this thread, but my opinion is pretty basic. #1, He is a human being, and human beings make mistakes. #2, He told the truth from the getgo. #3, What's the big deal about pot? I personally don't use it and never have, but I also don't drink, smoke, or eat fried foods, nor drink soda pop. Of those health menaces, I think pot is the least harmful in small doses. Marijuana's illegal in most states, but I think it should be legalized and taxed (heavily).

Give Phelps a break... I'm not a fan, and I don't think I'd even heard of him until the Olympics. But he doesn't deserve to be smeared with this, when there are other BIG celebrities and champions among us who are doing far more serious things to harm themselves and people around them all the time.... Nearly every day, a star gets picked up after causing a drunk driving crash, or one will cuss out somebody on live TV, or beat his wife, or get an under-aged girl pregnant, etc etc. Taking a hit of pot??? Tempest in a teapot!

Charles
 
A family member was banned from professional athletic competition because he tested positive for pot. He even had a prescription but since he didn't disclose this he still got banned.
 
The uproar over this is being fueled directly by the anti-drug crowd, they really don't handle it well when someone who is obviously successful get's busted for marijuana because it flies in the face of every LIE they've ever tried to promote about it.
 
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