In Sophocles’ play Philoctetes, the character Neoptolemus declares:
“I would rather fail through acting well than win by evil means.”
If you’ve been paying attention to the Winter Olympics, then you may have heard about the cheating scandal in curling: One of the Canadian team members was accused of letting his fingers touch the stone after he released it, which is strictly against the rules. Or the cheating scandal in ski jumping, where some fabric was added to the skier’s suits to increase their drag profile and thereby fly a little longer.
One of the most famous cheating scandals ever in sports was that of Lance Armstrong, who took illegal, performance enhancing drugs to win 7 straight Tour de France cycling titles…only to have them taken away when he was found out.
We all, I think, agree that we ought not cheat, but have you ever thought to consider why? There’s nothing morally wrong in itself about letting your fingers touch a stone, or about adding fabric to a suit, or even about taking certain drugs, which may be helpful in various medical contexts. They’re only wrong because of some arbitrary rules of the sport.
And, if the reason is because it gives an “unfair advantage” then consider this: Lance Armstrong cheated because almost everybody else in cycling was already cheating—nearly every top rider during those seven years was later caught for having done the same thing he did. In many respects, Armstrong didn’t get an unfair advantage at all: His cheating leveled the playing field, at least with the other cheaters.
As a result, some people have claimed that cheating compromises the “integrity of the sport” itself—but that’s a bit odd. Does a sport really have its own “integrity,” apart from the people? And even if it does, are we really upset for a sport’s integrity when someone cheats?
Without a good answer, too many today have come to the sad conclusion that “it’s not cheating if you don’t get caught.” They think breaking the rules is itself just another part of the game.
On Tuesday we noted that, even in sport, winning isn’t everything. But most cheaters think that it is—that’s precisely why they cheat: To win. But C.S. Lewis reminds us of “the little mark on the soul” that each of our choices etches upon us. Whether or not the rules are arbitrary or everyone else is breaking them, maybe the real victim of cheating is not one’s fellow competitors or even the so-called integrity of the sport, but rather the cheater himself. Perhaps the best response to cheating is not so much outrage, but rather pity.
Anyway, give it some thought, and
Have a wonderful day.