The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: his eyes are closed. – Albert Einstein




Friday, January 30, 2015

ARR # 2 Period 5

View the BBC video on blood doping and then read the article on Lance Armstrong. In the space below, leave a comment. BE SURE YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT BLOOD DOPING IS! You should react to the article AS WELL AS your classmates' comments. Feel free to pose questions that will invigorate the conversation. To get you started, think about the following question: Do you feel that blood doping should be illegal? What are the ethical issues surrounding blood doping whether it be autologous or homologous?
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15 comments:

  1. papayoungMarch 1, 2015 at 10:30 PM

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  2. UnknownMarch 2, 2015 at 3:52 PM

    As an athlete, I found this article upsetting. Steroids clearly defeat the purpose of being an athlete, because satisfaction should come out of working hard, seeing results, and winning. With that being said, steroids diminish the purpose of hard work, and are used simply for the satisfaction of winning, not for the satisfaction of accomplishment. Along with this, this article opened my eyes as to how dangerous steroids really are. Steroids can damage peoples' blood pressure, moods, eyesight, natural body process of producing testosterone, and more. To me, it is not worth damaging your body to this extent for physical gains bought instead of achieved. Lastly, I found it interesting that blood transfusions can be used to enhance performance and cannot be traced when tested. This makes me wonder if many professional athletes use this method without others knowing.

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  3. AnonymousMarch 5, 2015 at 3:11 PM

    As a psychotic sports fan, I hate when steriods are used by professional athletes. Steriods have destroyed the integrity of professional sports, I agree with Jill that steroids do defeat the purpose of being an athlete and that hard work no longer exist because of steroids. It is amazing how many types of ways that people can dope and get away with it, yet there is a bright side in that there are new test developed to try and crack down on doping, I also think that the transfer of blood as a method of doping is disgusting and despicable.

    - RJ Agostinelli

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  4. UnknownMarch 5, 2015 at 5:53 PM

    I agree with RJ and Jill that using performance enhancing drugs is a form of cheating and should be frowned upon especially in sports where hundreds of other participants are trying their hardest without taking short cuts. I found the video very interesting when it explained blood doping because it made me raise questions about how bad is blood doping actually? In my opinion, it is not as bad as steroids where you are injecting hormones into your body that shouldn't be there to create an unfair advantage and a tilted playing field over the competition. However, Blood doping is different, and in my mind, not that amoral when you think about the fact that you are just taking out your own blood and re-injecting it into the body. I understand that it gives the people an advantage by producing more blood red blood cells allowing the athlete to have higher endurance, but I believe it should not be considered as bad as steroids because in my eyes, it it just a smart method of gaining bit of an advantage. I would be curious to see how other people feel about the morality of blood doping, especially in comparison to other strategies considered cheating.

    "If your'e not cheating, your'e not trying" -Eddie Guerrero

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    1. UnknownMarch 5, 2015 at 8:55 PM

      This article was also something that I found to be very upsetting. I never really understood why athletes even did these types of things. I can't imagine the guilt that one would feel if they were to succeed using steroids. How could anyone feel pride after winning if they just cheat the whole way through? I agree, Jimmy, with your opinions on doping in comparison to steroids. I definitely don't think doping is as bad as steroids, but I also don't think competitive athletes should be doing this. It is still unfair because it is a way to improve an athlete's ability to perform.

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    2. UnknownMarch 5, 2015 at 9:18 PM

      I agree with Aoife on this issue. I think that athletes using steroids completely goes against the nature of sports and how athletes should behave. Athletes are supposed to be hard working and a role model, especially to their young fans. So by using steroids is sending the message to young people that cheating is the only way to win, which is wrong. When it comes to blood doping I agree with Aoife and Jimmy that it is not as sever as taking performance enhancing drugs, but I still do not think it is acceptable. I think that as a professional athlete, doing anything that will give you an unfair advantage to others is not right.
      -Fiona

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  5. UnknownMarch 5, 2015 at 10:16 PM

    I agree with everyone else that it is not fair when some athletes use methods to make them better and cheat. It ruins the integrity of the sport, like RJ said, and prevents people who have worked hard to get where they are without cheating from being as successful. However, I also agree with Jimmy that blood doping is not as serious as other forms of cheating such as steroids. It is still unfair and gives a person an advantage, but it is not as serious since the athlete is not using any drugs or outside substances but just their own blood. I am glad that Lance Armstrong was caught cheating because it is aggravating that Armstrong, and so many other athletes, cheat to be successful. -Mike

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  6. AnonymousMarch 6, 2015 at 12:36 PM

    i agree with what mike is saying whay is that the whole integrity of the sport get ruins i just think that it should not be that way i feel that you should put in the work to get there and not do any thing like this to make it so that other people that are not doing it have to pay for it too like you should work for what your trying to do not take something to make you batter then most of the people you are play you should be the same as them and just put your all into what you are doing and not just tring to do it to be batter or work batter then other people

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  7. HannaharlauskasMarch 6, 2015 at 8:16 PM

    Along with what everyone else is saying, I think that using drugs in order to enhance your performance as an athlete disregards the reason for the sport in the first place. Like what Jill said, athletes are supposed to be admired for their natural strength and determination, not for cheating. Though blood doping is not necessarily using prohibited drugs and it is interesting that an injection of blood can improve your performance, it is still disappointing to know that some athletes are participating in shady activity. Like RJ said, these are athletes that children aspire to grow up to be and it is repulsive to know that their commendable reputation is covering their disposable habits.
    -Hannah Arlauskas

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  8. AnonymousMarch 6, 2015 at 10:32 PM

    I agree with everyone that athletes should not be cheating before a competition. It is not fair and it has side effects such as the blood thickening. I agree with Aoife when she says that this improves athletes ability but in a negative way. -Kristen

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  9. UnknownMarch 6, 2015 at 11:23 PM

    It is nearly impossible to disagree with everything that was said in the previous comments. To bring another example into these comments, take Major League Baseball. Many players from the early 2000s on have been taking any form of steroids to make them play better. Similar to Lance Armstrong, they are letting so many down who look up to them. Personally, I was a big fan of Barry Bonds, once I found out he took steroids to enhance his play and give him an advantage over the field I felt cheated. It is becoming sad to see so many of our favorite athletes let us all down. -Chris D

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  10. UnknownMarch 6, 2015 at 11:31 PM

    I'm am quite surprised that our own blood can be used as a cheating method in athleticism. I also agree with Hannah and Jill's comments that athletes are admired by their own natural physical ability that they worked hard to accomplish for. Even though using your own blood as a method to boost your physical performance can't be nearly said as an artificial enhancing drug, it still takes away the over all fairness of competition when someone else is disadvantaged from not using the same method. RJ's ealier statement was also acurate as children that hear about the accomplishment of their idols would be greatly disappointed when they have looked up to them for so long. I'm intrigued by the fact that removed circulatory blood could have such great benefits towards the human body once re-injected back into the circulatory system. however, I wonder if that mixing old with current blood could destroy us?
    - Jahmel W.

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  11. AnonymousMarch 6, 2015 at 11:42 PM

    I agree with everyone that athletes should not be using blood doping to cheat. I also agree with what Mike said that integrity of the sport gets ruined. The whole point of sports is to compete and to have fun while competing, and blood doping shouldn’t be used as a drug to enhance your way to winning the sport. -Tyana

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  12. UnknownMarch 6, 2015 at 11:49 PM

    While I agree with everyone about the severity of steroids and blood doping is and how it affects the justice of equality amongst athletes, I believe there is another major issue that performance enhancing drugs cause. I believe that in using performance enhancing methods of any kind, and being exposed of such practices not only shames the athlete but also really affects the athlete's fans. There are many devoted fans of all sports in the world and after going through the pictures of the CNN Lance Armstrong article you get a glimpse at how devoted these people are to their role models, especially a younger audience who dream of being like the person they see winning every competition.

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  13. AnonymousMarch 30, 2015 at 8:19 AM

    I agree with everyone above that steroids have a negative reputation in society while at the same time, many would love to acquire them to gain muscle and strength. Even though it is understandable of why many athletes take steroids and blood drooping, it could cause major health problems and could affect the way the fans view the athlete. Using drugs, it does not show one's natural strength and abilities. However many would want to rise to the top in the game to prove how strong they 'truly' are by using drugs. Overall, steroids are athletes' ways of becoming stronger, it could damage them in the long term.
    -Natalia

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