An Ethical Dilemna: Lance Armstrong

Ethical dilemma of the day:
During WWII, Nazi doctors made great leaps in medical research, diagnostics and treatment simply because they were able to do unchecked research on live people (victims).  Without going in to the gory details, Nazi doctors made advances in treatments of typhus, malaria, tuberculosis, hypothermia and female infertility to name a few.  Many scientists argue that without their research, many of these diseases would still be without cure.  Still, I'm fairly certain that no one would argue that in this case the ends justified the means.  Evil is evil.

Now fast forward to the present.  Recent events have come to light proving, almost beyond a shadow of doubt, that Lance Armstrong defrauded the world by cheating during his impressive cycling career.  However, many are willing to give him a pass on what he did because, "he helped to make great advances in cancer research."  Now it's safe to say, that without his cycling success (cheating), he would not have been able to garner the support for his foundation or cancer research.  Lance Armstrong became the face of what a cancer survivor can do.  He gave us hope.  He inspired us to give back.  However, many people are unwilling to condemn him as a cheater, simply because "he made a great contribution."  In other words (which many are still unwilling to utter...), the ends justified the means.

Now before you blast me as judgmental or unreasonable, I'm not saying that we should throw out all the research paid for by Livestrong.  Even doctors used Nazi research to cure the aforementioned diseases, but at least the struggled with it.  Nevertheless, why do we call Nazis evil while Lance Armstrong gets a pass.  No Lance Armstrong didn't kill anyone, but does that make it OK   Some argue that everyone in cycling is a cheater therefore he was just playing their game.  Will we give politicians a pass simply because every politician is a liar?  Would Nazi's also get a pass because their culture predisposed them to thing that Jews were less than human?

At this point, the evidence is so monumental that Lance Armstrong, in fact, built his entire career on lies, deceit and cheating regardless of the good that resulted.  Sure, accept the good, but what are we teaching our children if we don't condemn him as the cheater he is?  Are we not telling them, "it's ok to cheat, lie and deceive  just make sure you do something good afterward.

Join the conversation.