Lance Armstrong plans to admit doping to Oprah (USA Today)

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Powdered Toastman said:
The man has quite a few traits of a psychopath, creepy dude.
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Found an article on this:

http://bigthink.com/think-tank/lance-armstrong-american-psychopath

In October the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency released a scathing report identifying Lance Armstrong as the ruthlessly-driven mastermind of a 10-year doping scheme. Armstrong, a cancer survivor and an inspiration to millions, was shown to be deceitful, manipulative and remorseless -- many of the telltale signs of psychopathy.

What's the Big Idea?

How could Armstrong's dignified public persona be so at odds with the patterns of behavior described in the report? The disturbing truth is actually how consistent his public and private behavior appears to be. According to Kevin Dutton, author of The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success, people with high psychopathic tendencies often appear outwardly normal. In fact, they are often quite charming. But psychopaths are also looking to use that charm to deceive people, as they have the tendency to be ruthless competitors who aim to win at all cost.

Dutton says this trait is very pronounced in athletes, whether they are looking to win the Tour de France or hit 450-foot home runs. "If they want something," Dutton says, "they go for it and they go for it now," as in the Nike slogan "Just do it!"

What's the Significance?

Dutton says the characteristics of mental toughness, fearlessness, ruthlessness and the ability "to focus remorselessly on a goal" are straight out of sports psychology textbooks. These characteristics, if properly managed, can build world-class competitors. In fact, Dutton says we can all channel certain psychopathic tendencies and use them to our advantage ("Psychopath Up!").

For instance, the psychopathic mindset can be helpful in getting you what you want. You want a raise? What's the worst thing that could happen? Your boss says no. Psychopaths don't focus on that. They focus on the upside. So if you want a raise, don't dwell on the negative consequences of asking for one.

This kind of psychopathic mindset must be distinguished from that of the violent, psychopathic killer, who calmly stands in court as he is sentenced to death or life in prison.

"If that happened to us," Dutton tells Big Think, "we would probably just collapse. We would go to pieces." And yet, when that happens to psychopaths, "they stick a finger up at the judge. They grin and smile at the jury. They are just not fazed by even the most grievous insults to their existential wellbeing."

So it's not hard to see why people with high psychotic tendencies make reckless decisions. But what about the rest of us?

For one thing, we need to look at the environments that we inhabit. Just as a ruthless corporate culture can benefit a psychopathic boss, Lance Armstrong's win-at-all-cost attitude made him perfectly suited to compete at the highest level in professional cycling. The correlation between doping and winning the Tour de France, after all, is hardly a secret. If this is to be a teachable moment, we will need to not only look at our own processes for making decisions but also the incentives that are put in place in a culture that often overwhelms our capacity to make smart and ethical choices.
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Kareha said:
First of 200 breaks.
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Good thing... I need to dwell on what I just saw and know I live my life better and also poorer..

I can say at least on the internet I'm not bombarded with commercials, sure that can change soon, but although it's a pause it's not so bad.
 
BorkBork said:
I honestly don't think he feels too much underneath.
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You can see it in his eyes, everything here is calculated. There's the constant pauses to bring back the coaching in his head too.

Oh come on with the fucking emotive language. A fucking death penalty, really?
 
BorkBork said:
I honestly don't think he feels too much underneath. I think he's genuine in trying to apologize, but there's something inherently wrong with him that makes them meaningless.
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That's weird cause I've been feeling the same thing about him. I think since you need empathy to feel guilt, he just isn't capable.

This whole thing about the tweet of his jerseys, he still thinks it was a good idea. He's laughing at his cleverness.
 
He doesn't seem passionate about anything. He also would look down a lot like he's thinking about pre defined answers to questions.
 
BorkBork said:
I honestly don't think he feels too much underneath. I think he's genuine in trying to apologize, but there's something inherently wrong with him that makes them meaningless.
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I can agree. I do honestly think he is trying his best to come clean. The problem is he is just so wrong and flawed on that level.
 
while what he did is obviously not really moral, i think that it may actually be outweighed by all the "good" things he's done with his publicity over the years and the foundations and causes that benefited from his success. those same groups are not going to go down in support, except maybe Livestrong since its directly tied to him.

is he going to be considered a criminal, though? it just seems like he gamed the system, with no real direct "victims"
 
I will say this... psychologists are partially to blame for how fucked up some of these sportsmen become. They're told day in, day out that they're untouchable, they're something truly special, that they're the best of the best, that no-one else comes close, that they can do anything... and over time that sinks in to the deepest levels and becomes part of their persona..

davepoobond said:
is he going to be considered a criminal, though? it just seems like he gamed the system, with no real direct "victims"
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He directly ruined lives...
 
If the world wants to punish Lance for lying, cheating, and misleading people throughout his Tour wins and dominance of the sport:

- don't watch his interviews
- don't read articles about him
- don't buy his inevitable "tell all" book

Ignore him. Deprive him of attention. Make him irrelevant and small.
 
I cannot believe there's an athlete in sports that used steroids and tried to hide it. What a monster!

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Psychotext said:
I will say this... psychologists are partially to blame for how fucked up some of these sportsmen become. They're told day in, day out that they're untouchable, they're something truly special, that they're the best of the best, that no-one else comes close, that they can do anything... and over time that sinks in to the deepest levels and becomes part of their persona.
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Fucking A, damn right it does. To anyone.

I honestly wonder how Evilore deals with the fame. Rather well from my observations, but still...
 
davepoobond said:
while what he did is obviously not really moral, i think that it may actually be outweighed by all the "good" things he's done with his publicity over the years and the foundations and causes that benefited from his success. those same groups are not going to go down in support, except maybe Livestrong since its directly tied to him.

is he going to be considered a criminal, though? it just seems like he gamed the system, with no real direct "victims"
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Aren't the foundations and causes basically Livestrong? Are there others? Not to diminish Livestrong and their awareness campaign, but besides starting that one foundation what am I missing?
 
Psychotext said:
I will say this... psychologists are partially to blame for how fucked up some of these sportsmen become. They're told day in, day out that they're untouchable, they're something truly special, that they're the best of the best, that no-one else comes close, that they can do anything... and over time that sinks in to the deepest levels and becomes part of their persona..
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I don't think I'm clear on why you're blaming psychologists...
 
Psychotext said:
I will say this... psychologists are partially to blame for how fucked up some of these sportsmen become. They're told day in, day out that they're untouchable, they're something truly special, that they're the best of the best, that no-one else comes close, that they can do anything... and over time that sinks in to the deepest levels and becomes part of their persona..
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Our idolization of athletes, winning, and the virtues of competition are also major contributing factors.
 
for some strange reason I'm more outraged that OWN is airing the entire interview live for free on the internet, yet nobody there thought it would be smart to sell online ad space
 
Cloudy said:
Lance isn't even trying to be remorseful lol
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Yeah, he used performance enhancing drugs to peddle a bike faster and make millions of dollars. He should feel like shit!

Seriously, this will be such a moot point before our lifetimes are over.
 
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