In the real world, cheaters do prosper, and no one seems to care – I do. Bending or breaking the rules only create worthless victories. The lamentable fact is that sometimes cheaters do prosper. Cheating is the new norm in our lives, from sports to taxes. People who are good at cheating gain prestige and respect for working smarter, not harder, but that is immoral and a fallacy. Cheaters devalue the efforts of those who came before and those who will follow them in any particular field. Particularly, it reverberates through sports and my goal is to be a paragon of good sportsmanship and not cheat. The most important moral principle in my life to win through hard work and effort without cheating. Running is my sport of choice and the focus of many things in my life. There are ample opportunities to cheat in a running event. You can use chemical enhancers, which were the downfall of many top performing athletes, resulting in their disgrace and removal from coveted pinnacles like various Halls of Fame. A particular and personal incident came at a High School track meet. I came from behind in my training after an illness and surpassed several of my teammates. Seeding, or where you start in a race on a track, can make …show more content…
In the past, being caught cheating was a source of great shame, but now expected. There are few things that make me as angry as cheating. I, and many others, put so much effort into doing something the right way, and along comes someone who could be good – perhaps not great, but good – and they shoot some drugs into their body, pay someone to write a paper, or claim a dead relative on their taxes as a dependent. For every cheater who comes out on top there are more who tried to do the right thing and miss out on scholarships, sponsors, and that one coveted slot at the Olympic
In “The Death of Honesty,” William Damon raises the concern that current apathy towards increasing dishonesty threatens democracy. In this essay taken from the online volume “Endangered Virtues ” published by the Hoover Institute in 2012, Damon initially concedes that there are situations where lying could be considered acceptable. However, with that being acknowledged, he transitions to his main premise that honesty is losing its importance in society and will lead to its downfall, and he cites examples in politics, law, journalism, and business in contemporary society where dishonesty is expected, and even, condoned. Damon finally directs his remarks pointedly at teachers and current students who accept cheating in schools. To persuade his audience of university students and academic scholars, Damon uses many rhetorical devices and styles including classical logos, pathos, and ethos, and allusions to make an ethical appeal regarding the necessity for honesty.
The way to cheat to which I am referring to is the use of steroids. In the past twenty years steroid use has skyrocketed. A good friend of mine, baseball analyst Dan Patrick, once told me, "The estimate of the number of players on steroids in MLB rises and falls more than the Do...
What is cheating? Cheating can be defined in many ways in any field within it. The best definition for this word is acting dishonestly or unfairly in order to gain an advantage. We all know cheating is wrong in any type of way. The sport that is most talked about in cheating is baseball, with all these players using drugs to gain an advantage. Anyone who cheats should be punished for their actions in sports, but it has always and will happen no matter what, but it is up to the commissioner of the professional sport and referees to stop this. When it comes to sports, cheating is the worst thing you can do because it diminishes the pureness of the contest.
Until 2012, Lance Armstrong was believed to be the best road cyclist in the world, winning seven consecutive Tour de France races, but this title and his reputation were stripped away when his cheating was proven. Unfortunately, Mr. Armstrong is just one athlete among many who have been found to tip the scales in their favor. Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire stained the reputation of baseball by using performance- enhancing drugs to shatter home run records set by honest players while Mike Tyson’s infamous nibble is joked about in sports and entertainment media. Some of these men would argue that their cheating was justified by the dishonesty of others but are they right?
The thing that confuses me are the reasons why people cheat. I know that in college life, it is clear that grades are important. Since grades are so important, people want to do better and want to succeed in their classes that they are taking. By cheating, it makes it easier for them to get a better grade. I agree that it is not an honest thing to do, but it is clear that they are doing it for a reason, to benefit themselves. Also, people want to help their friends succeed so that is another part of it. I think if schools wanted to get rid of cheating, they should not focus on the grades as much. Grading people is important, but is it that important if everyone cheats? I also see how people want to be viewed as honest. I do not think people want to cheat because they think they will be viewed as immoral. Also, they could be punished which would hurt them as well. If everyone cheats in schools, why not just allow it? That is the way that the world is running currently and everyone is cheating their way through
Do you think its fair that players are credited for what they do, when cheating the game? Mark McGwire excelled at the game of baseball and got credit for all of his accomplishments, yet he cheated the game and used steroids. Babe Ruth, considered one of the greatest baseball players to play the game of baseball, who never cheated and set a great example for all who play baseball. Baseball has drastically changed over the years, especially in the cheating scandals of steroids; Babe Ruth set a great example by excelling in the sport and doing it clean, contrasting with Mark McGwire. Their existence shows how society accepted honesty and doing it the clean way in Babe’s era and how society accepts the scandals and dishonesty of Mark’s era.
The Health and fitness industry have many ethical issues involved which was very interesting to me. I have never purchased a membership at a health club, but from the reading I learned a lot about how they operate. It amazed me that health clubs push their sales representatives to get 200-300 new members a month (Amend, 1992). This is a large amount of people for such a short amount a time, which means some members are not fully aware of the fine print of the membership agreement. Also the reading mentions that more than half of instructors at these clubs do not have valid certification (Copeland et al, 1988),. This is unethical because the members pay each month for the service of a qualified staff member to assist them in exercise and fitness. Safety of the members could also be at risk working out with a non-qualified trainer. Learning how these companies do business make me want to hold off as long as possible to join a gym.
Imagine, just for one minute that you were at the peak of you career, in a competition that would determines whether you sink of swim. You have the choice to go out all natural, or to give yourself a little boost, so it is definite that you will swim. What would you do? Would you run the risk of getting caught? The athletes that stoop to this level are cheats. They are afraid of losing. And as the old saying goes, “cheaters never prosper”. They are putting so many things at risk in their lives. They face being suspended and completely thrown out of their sport, they put their lives at risk, no to mention giving sport a bad name.
People tend to blindly cheat to get what they want, and go about it as if it were normal. People don’t usually want to work for things if they can get it the easy way. In Stephen L. Carter’s article “The Rules about Rules”, Carter explains why Americans choose to cheat and how they don’t necessarily know right from wrong. Carter’s interpretation is accurate people do lack integrity due to having low self-esteem, and not having the courage to be different and separating themselves from the crowd.
Unfortunately, some athletes in the eagerness to reach this goal, end up passing the limit of what is considered ethical. The big problem is that some athletes, due to the lack of orientation, end up being punished and labeled as unethical without even knowing what is happening. As for example accepting to take certain supplements given by their trainer to enhance their performance.
A world that demands perfection is only more likely to create imperfections. In the article “Who’s Cheating Whom?” written by Alfie Kohn, he deconstructs cheating in school from why students cheat to the underlining cause. He sheds light on the fact that cheating could in fact be mainly caused by the environment our culture has created for students. Cheating is most often seen in situations where students find what they’re learning to be boring or something they have no interest in. Many social scientists also believe cheating is a result of both the educational system and society valuing and rewarding the high grades over actual learning and teaching. Due to this competitive environment created in school
Raef A. Lawson (2004), Is Classroom Cheating Related to Business Students' Propensity to Cheat in the "Real World"? Journal of Business Ethics, Volume 49, Issue 2, pp 189-199
Turning sports into a way of life instead of a leisure activity has generated fierce competition for athletes to be the best at what they do. Having a "natural ability" no longer is enough. One must work long and hard hours to gain an edge on the competition. However, these days, even good training cannot guarantee a victory. For athletes and coaches the drive to be at the top is so great that they look for shortcuts to their end goal: winning. The one who wins is always the one who is remembered in the end; finishing second is worse than finishing last. When this type of attitude becomes predominant, it is not so surprising that they try any and all methods of cheating the system. In this way, doping has become a common practice for athletes to gain advantage on their competition. Is this a practice that we as the general public should accept, or is there something we can do to change the status quo?
Sports are governed by sets of rules or customs and often, competition. Sports have always been a way to connect us to our past and to build optimism about the future. Sport’s a way to bond the people despite differences in race, age and gender. However, today the game that is supposed to teach character, discipline and team work is teaching cheating. And in today’s world, with fame, endorsement, drugs and so much to gain, it is not surprising that athletes are cheating in sports. Cheating in sports is not new thing; it started the day when humans first discovered athletic competitions. According to the Los Angeles Times (August 20, 2006) “More than 2,000 years before Mike Tyson bit off a piece of Evander Holyfield's ear and was disqualified in the boxing ring, Eupolus of Thessaly, a boxer in the Olympics of 388 BC, bribed three of his opponents to take dives. Historians consider Eupolus' crime the first recorded act of cheating in sports” (Pugmire 7). We have been seeking an easier way to win. Cheating in sports, which recently has manifested in diverse forms, is more a result of increasing pressure to win from the sponsors and team management, especially in the context of sport becoming a career rather than an act of recreation. What actually constitutes cheating? When does gamesmanship stop and cheating start? And should we try to stop cheating in sports? The use of illegal drugs, huge amount of money and betting is ruining the fame of sports. Hence, cheating in sports is caused by drugs and the desire for endorsement and fame which are getting more effective in recent.
How Does Doping in sport damage the sporting industry as a whole? The usage of performance-enhancing drugs in sports is commonly known as Doping. Doping is banned worldwide in every sports administration and competitions and doping gives an unfair advantage to those using illegal substances, such as steroids to boost their performance. It also puts at stake the integrity of those athletes who do not use performance-enhancing drugs also known as “clean” athletes. In fact it seems that we’re now entering the era of performance-enhancing drugs within professional sports.