Nietzsche’s article,
On Truth and Lies in a Nonmoral Sense, discusses truth and makes one question the whole concept of truth. After reading this article, I thought about baseball and what steroids have done to the sport. In 1998, for instance, both Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa broke Roger Maris’s single-season homerun record. Barry Bonds then passed McGuire in 2001. I remember both these record-breaking seasons, especially the year McGuire and Bonds were competing to break the record. I loved following these guys and was always checking the news to see if one of them had hit a homerun. But then the steroid era exploded, and everyone—including me—began to question the integrity of the records that were broken. Did breaking the record mean as much if the player took performance-enhancing drugs? And as more names became linked to steroids in the recent years, I began to question the integrity of the sport altogether. Essentially, I did the same thing as Nietzsche (though Nietzsche would probably question the word
steroids in general).
Can you think of any other examples of when you may have questioned something you once believed to be true?
Santa Claus. The Easter Bunny. The Tooth Fairy.
ReplyDeleteTruth be told, there are too many things I honestly believed were true that fell far short once the real truth was exposed. Remember Milli Vanilli? Well, you’re younger than me, but when I was in 8th grade – back in the late 1980’s – “I’m in Love with You Girl Girl girl girl” (fade away) was all the rage. Two handsome, well-muscled, spandex-clad, tandem-dancing, chisel-featured, German black men singing catchy dance tunes won the best new artist Grammy for their melodic pop numbers. Their perfect teeth, the musical harmony, the smooth moves; it was just great. I’m sure I spent more than one slumber party jumping around in my pajamas (no naughty thoughts men, I was 12) mimicking their dance moves and lip syncing with my friends. Turns out, that exactly what Rob and Fab were doing too.
Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan were, in fact, models. The literal “front men” for the band. They could dance, but they could not sing. They could barely speak English, the language they were supposedly singing. They were stripped of their awards and royalties, shunned by the media, and ushered into public shame. Rob & Fab stopped speak to each other. Rob eventually committed suicide. To this day, you cannot purchase the original recordings of Milli Vanilli – merely remixes. Scary that I know this, right? But at the end of the day, they were part of a group, in one way or another, that sounded GOOD. At the end of the day, whether these dudes had much to do with singing or merely presenting the music – it made the average teenager want to boogie. Quite frankly, I didn’t (and don’t) really care that Rob & Fab didn’t sing the songs. They SOLD the songs, which may be equally as important. I, along with others, was buying the whole package.
Anyhow, I was fooled into believing that this duo could sing and dance and look good doing it. How is this any different than many of the pop stars today? Pop artists almost all lip-synch their live performances nowadays. Hours of production time are put into studio recordings to make many of these artists sound like they can sing. Is it true that Justin Bieber can do everything that Milli Vanilli appeared to do? Sure, with the help of a recorded vocals, twenty dancers, and pyrotechnics – the concert-going teen is content to listen to a recorded version and still call the production a “live performance.” We have been conned into believing this new truth, that these stars sing and dance live and sound amazingly like they do on the album! The truth is all relative. I guess we’ll just have to “Blame It on the Rain”
I remember when I believed that Tiger Woods was a man of good character and integrity and a great role model, especially for an athlete. While other athletes were going to prison for dog fighting, in and out of court for drug charges, weapons charges, violence charges, etc., Tiger Woods was winning majors, donating to charity, smiling at the cameras with a beautiful wife and children, and presenting himself with class and grace. I thought he was one of the few athletes that wouldn’t cheat on his wife. I viewed him as a hero. Well you can imagine my shock and disappointment when I found out that he was not only a liar and a cheater, but also an arrogant and phony person as well. I couldn’t believe what his true character turned out to be as more and more details about his affairs came out from his mistresses. His public reaction was so calculated and unremorseful that I was ashamed of myself for being blinded by his constructed image in the media. I felt so sorry for his wife and all the fans he disappointed. At the same time, I’m glad the truth came out because now I don’t think he’s perfect. He’s just a human being like all the rest of us. I’m just wondering why I put him on such an insane pedestal. Was Tiger Woods’ really even lying to the public anyway? It’s not his fault the media built him up to be some kind of god, when he clearly was not. All it takes is something different to happen and then we can get a good dose of reality and gain perspective on what is really the truth and what we want to believe is true. We might learn that we were just creating our own truths.
ReplyDeleteMan, maybe I should have asked whether anything you knew to be true actually turned out to be the truth...
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