Michael Phelps, you should move to San Francisco.
Oh, are we still having that War on Drugs?
Funny, I thought we won that war. How silly of me.So many wars, so little common sense.
***
This post is certainly one I had not expected to write because:
1. It's a rant and I dislike these kinds of posts immensely and avoid reading them at all costs, even when they are my own;
2. I don't take drugs and have never smoked pot, so I don't know what I'm talking about;
3. I'm tired and I'm supposed to be making some sauteed chicken breasts for dinner;
4. This isn't what I wanted to talk about, but...
I hate it when Google scans your email and "suggests" ads you might be interested in. Because I mentioned a bong in a previous post (green robe attained, fyi!), now Google thinks I would be most interested in reading about marijuana. Which I am not.(However, if it wasn't for Google scanning my email and learning about my bacon fetish, I never would have stumbled across Baconnaise. So I guess this Orwellian email prying sometimes has its good points, too.)
***
This time I get a link leading to "CNN: Crime!" (the exclamation point and italics are mine) about Michael Phelps and his little indiscretion with a water pipe. Am I the only one who thought for now that perhaps as a nation, we might not for just a teensy moment be quite so Puritanical and retarded? (I realize I should stop using that word and it is terribly un-PC, but frankly I'm sick of being PC and I did see Tropic Thunder, which made that word funnily applicable again, in a very 7th grade way. We use the word in the privacy of our own home.)
***
I'm sorry, but this kid won a sh*tload of Olympic medals. And now sponsors might drop him? So what does this say about Mr. Phelps? That you can be an exceptional 23-year old young athlete and win a ton of Olympic medals and once in a while smoke pot? Do we have absolutely nothing else in this country to be concerned about? Don't sheriffs in South Carolina have much more major concerns in their jurisdictions? I bet they do if they looked around.
See, I'm ranting. I hate that. I should stop here and make my chicken breasts.
But all the same, I just hope upon hope that before I die (of natural causes many, many years from now) that America as a whole will give a sh*t about real education, literacy, healthcare, jobs, science, the arts, fair governance and not this crazy, ridiculous time and money wasting BS.
San Francisco is a town where you can get a contact high just walking down Market Street (near the Financial District, I might add) at 5pm on a Wednesday, and no one gives a hoot. I'm sorry, I really think we have bigger fish to fry than Olympic champions who actually could inspire more kids to be interested in swimming and getting some physical exercise than lighting a doobie.
End of rant. I'm going to chop mushrooms now. No more CNN for this girl.
25 comments:
We all need to rant once in a while. It is your blog and you can rant if you want to ,rant if you want to... Oh I can't believe I went there.
Oh! yeah on the robe!
This whole "drugs" thing is so DAMN stupid. We have EIGHT medical marajuana stores in my neighborhood and the problems that are caused are not caused by people smoking dope, they are caused by poverty, illegal pitbull dog fighting, homelessness, etc. I absolutely hate our media's fixation on the trivial scandal of the day. No wonder so many of us have scant respect for journalism - they should all go to work for the National Enquirer and look for more Elvis sightings and two-headed cows.
Blech!
Good rant. Good POV.
The fact that the sheriff and DA of Podunk South Carolina are considering charges says more about them being pin heads than it does about Phelps being in a party zone.
It would be nice if they simply said, "Michael, don't do that and have your photo taken."
I also wonder if he was set-up by some sleazy person wanting to sell dirt to a gossip rag?.
Tangobaby, Good rant. I can add nothing more after all I live in Santa Cruz...where we are mellow all the time, must be the water or the air! ha
I have involved you in a tag...no obligation. Please come over to Blue Sky when you have a moment for details.
Good Grief!, Don't they have anything else to report? I do not what's worse the media blitz on the bong thing or him apologizing for it.
haha, i love the puritan thing lol.
yah thats a little excessive. dont care much if our gold medal guy smokes a bowl or not. so he joined the masses of others his age.
more power to him honestly. i dont smoke pot but i live in a very pot-friendly community and i just dont see what the big deal is.
amen sister. if i were religious. which i'm not.
Being in the Midwest and just a few hours away from "The Bible Belt," pot is one of those ultimate no-no's. I'm on a local mommies message board and there is a small handful of us that have presented the "it's not that different from cigarettes or alcohol" argument only to be met with screeches of "ILLEGAL" and "POTHEADS."
I don't partake- just as I don't smoke cigarettes or use tobacco products and I rarely drink. But I don't have an issue with the stuff or those who choose to use responsibly.
Being pretty Libertarian myself, I think it's silly that it's illegal, but sponsors who don't want to deal with him should be allowed to run their businesses the way they see fit - it's their money after all
PS - Podunk, SC? Tut, tut.
:) Debi
okay i am hysterically laughing, i read the last line, i am going to drop mushrooms now. bifocals missed the chop. you knew when the olympic judges tried to strip ross the snowboarder of his gold medal for smoking pot a long time ago, it was pointed out that it is not exactly a peformance enhancing drug and imagine how good he would be without the pot. michael phelps is not an nfl star or an nhl star with tons of support around him. he is is a 23 year old good swimmer. give him a break
I think that sometimes I'm the only one who sees things for what they are.
America loves a hero. We build them up. We give them money. And once they reach the pinnacle of success (8 gold medals) we rip them down.
Americans love a good fall from grace. The media loves it. Americans love watching it. Hollywood loves making movies about it.
Michael Phelps broke the cardinal rule. You never go to a party and take a bong hit, unless you know everyone at the party. I bet he didn't know the dude who took this photo. Kid is probably rich as hell right now.
No one would have believed that Phelps was a pot head unless they saw a picture.
He needs to act as if....
He needs to act as if the world is watching him 100% of the time. If he doesn't like the public attention, don't go to the olympics and make the swimming events your little bitch.
when I first saw this in the news, I just shook my head...our media has got to do better about reporting things that REALLY matter because this REALLY doesn't.
Actually, Adam, I don't think everyone sees things so black and white like that.
I think there are a LOT of people in this country who want to live and let live. They don't give a rat's ass who you sleep with, what you ingest and who your god is or isn't.
It's the media that shovels this shit thickly and evenly across this country and perhaps a lot of us are really really sick of this pathetic, petty and ridiculous "morality" when we actually have dire and important issues to concern ourselves with.
Phelps is a 23-year old who's an exceptional athlete. Is it possible that Phelps really isn't that much of pothead and so that's why he didn't know that cardinal rule either?
Oh for chissakes.
That's all I've got to say. How stupid.
Right as rain, you are. (notice Yoda inflection).
Another smokescreen--this one literal--to mask more gripping woes. How about Cheney (won't he die already?) going on tv to proclaim that we're already weaker and poised to receive nukular armageddon? Rant away. If Phelps is dumped by sponsors, it only speaks to the sponsor's lack of real morality than upon Phelps (now I'm ranting). So put down the bong of CNN, America, and get us some freaking dignity around the world, healthcare for our citizens, and some tolerance and compassion for everyone no matter their sexual orientation. (Now I'm done.)
This definitely mirrors how I feel about the situation... I mean the poor guy- are we really such fair weather fans? I really enjoyed this post, and it is far too eloquently written to be considered a "rant".
Well, it isn't that important, but I would argue that neither was Sarah Palin's makeup, ex-beauty contests, her daughter's sex life, etc., etc., - in fact, I would argue that these issues were less important - and there was plenty of news coverage about that, and most people in this country seemed to think that was okay, even though it had nothing to do with her stand on issues or her politics. I mean, I just laughed & laughed (& still laugh) at the "Is Sarah really Trig's mama or is Bristol?" goofiness. So to expect something mature of the media may be asking too much - there is an audience for this silliness. I gotta agree just a tad with Adam on this.
:) Debi
our trivia team this week was "8 gold medals and still smokin!"
and yes, we won! just the 3 of us!
Blaming the media is rather easy. Sure, there's plenty of tripe being printed and spoken almost every second of the day.
But I see the issue this way - The media owners ask one basic question, "What sells?" If their circulation would double if all they reported were stories about poultry - that's what they would do. Even TV media reacts to the basic business of selling - give the buying audience what they want.
Phelps in a party mode sells. Brittany having a melt down sells. Anything thing any celeb does that's out of the ordinary - Cruise sofa jumping - sells.
I still bet Phelps was just doing a young guy thing without thinking that someone would take advantage of him. But being a star attracts a lot of low lifers and someone saw dollar signs the second Phelps touched that bong.
Even that NC sheriff wants some of the spotlife - there's no other reason for the "I'm considering charges."
Blame? If blame needs to be assigned - blame every person who buys the ratty tabloids and gossip magazines - blame those that buy the sleaze because if that suff didn't sell - it wouldn't exist.
I agree. It seems like people direct their energy at the wrong targets. Like the fact that there are tons of animals in shelters right now that don't get adopted, but the minute a story about a cute puppy that is rescued from a well is on the news, there are thousands of offers to adopt it. I hate to be so jaded, but it's hard not to be.
Hope your chicken turned out well :)
Someone may have said this, so I'm sorry I only read a few comment. If the kid had a bottle of beer in his hand and was drunk it would not have been a story. The drug laws in this country are not going to stop drug usage. We tried prohibition and it didn't work. Same thing, IMO.
Totally agreed. It's so petty, isn't it? Ugh.
Have a great day! I hope the chicken was good!
Sarah
Hmm.. is he the one that got the D. U.I, also? Yep, that's him! I cold care less what he does, as long as I'm not on the road while he is. : )
Love ya, chica!
Dude, it totally makes me like him MORE now that I know he partakes of the doobage.
Post a Comment