Critical Writings of Ethical Writers
If you followed the Summer Olympics in Athens Greece, you heard about Ukraine's bronze-medal-winning rower Olena Olefirenko testing positive for stimulants after finishing third in the women's quadruple sculls event. Olefirenko and the Ukraine team were stripped of the bronze medal. You also heard a lot about steroids and performance enhancing drugs. President Bush, former owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team, called for pro sports leagues and athletes to set better examples for children and "get rid of steroids now." Why all the fuss? Should steroids and performance enhancing drugs be legalized, and should athletes be allowed to use them? The writer Joan Ryan attempts to sway the reader by suggesting that since the use of steroids and other performance enhancing drugs are widely being used among a great number of professional athletes, it may be time to legalize them. She argues that because performance in professional sports is how an athlete is measured, athletes find them selves doing what ever it takes to reach higher and higher levels of performance or risk someone taking their place. Ryan states that athletes are not chosen because they are good a person is but by how well they perform. She even suggests t
Ryan does make a good argument regarding the use of steroids and human growth hormones by doctor to safely treat many kinds of illnesses and diseases. However, she fails to persuade the reader against the use of steroids by professional athletes. Kate McGovern argues directly against Ryan's encouragement of the use of steroids by professional athlete. She makes a good argument that sports will have to start from scratch setting new records to make it fair to former record holders who did not uses steroids or performance enhancing drugs. Her argument is not very strong regarding the use of steroids and performance enhancing drugs because these athletes would lose their jobs and money doing it. Therefore, athletes will do what ever it takes to achieve this, so if that means pumping up with hormone they do and will continue to do so for fame and fortune. She discusses the many dangers in the misuse of steroid and performance enhancing drugs and the link to physical and mental problems, even death but she emphasizes the fact that these dangers come with misuse. Despite the enhancement for a short time, they allow the athlete to perform better and longer than those that do not, they will pay in the end. Assael speaks out against the use of steroids by professional athletes; his argument is a good one but is not one that would sway the reader to his way of thinking. Her argument regarding the breaking of records is a bit stronger when she discusses records set by athletes who set them with their own natural performance and ability. She leads the reader to think about the athletes that take these drugs they buy from "backroom hucksters" who are not supervised or monitored and the risks they are forced into because of the commercialism of professional sports. Assael argues that the use of steroids and performance enhancing drugs have shown how destructive they are by looking that the effects on the professional wrestlers that have used them for a much longer time then the newer professional athletes. He brings to light the fact that so many professional wrestlers who used these drugs to pump up are now paying the price for that use. Ryan also raises concern about the acceptable use of cortisone and painkillers on injured players so they can continue to play even after a devastating injury.
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Acceptance Essays
