Interpretation Of The Man's Remarks To Me
richwagmn said:
It is so emotionally charged I'm not sure I would even engage in the debate. Given what this person has been through, I'd probably cut them some slack.
To a lot of people, LA is probably mostly about cancer. It sounds like this person believes that the LAF has helped in that fight.
If you're in a desperate situation, you may look anywhere for hope. Certainly, LA's story offers hope to many of the more serious/terminal cancer victims given that LA should have died from the disease.
Thank you for the comment Rich. I'm not against cancer and raising funds for disease. Three years ago, I wore the band, bought Livestrong shirts etc on an understanding that I too was taking part in this culture while knowing that this money I put it was going to charity (my best friends will testify to this). After I did some of my own independent study on Armstrong's past from good sources, I absolutely didn't want to take part in anything associated with Armstrong, and I still believe that if I want to donate for cancer, should I wish to, there are many other cancer charities in the country and around the world. Lance Armstrong does not hold a monopoly around cancer.
My main underlying point, through the first reference post, is that when trying to talk to someone who's in favor of LA about LA's doping history, the conversation always converges to an emotionally skewed battle of words about cancer. I'm not the first to go through this, but I did share my experience with ya'll. The exchange went from being one of a rational debate on doping to one from the other party on how deficient my world view is on cancer, or how cruel I am to cancer patients...it even came to a comparison of what Lance Armstrong did for cancer vs what I did. As if that's not enough, this gentleman I referenced remarked that I can get cancer and when I do, I'll need to knock on LAF's door to save my life.
The hidden implication from the person who said this is two-fold like I said :
1) That Lance and LAF holds some sort of monopoly on cancer and only they can save cancer patients.
2) That when I get cancer, the fact that I would need to go to LAF to save my life requires that I shut my mouth right now and stop criticizing his fraudulent career history.
The fact that conversations about Armstrong commonly take such a turn as the above is throwing an embarrassing stigma in society around people who fight and voice their opinions for truth. They are cast as people who somehow hate cancer.
Such illogical thought process will not contain me from expressing myself though, don't worry.
Have a good weekend.