So everyone knows that this weekend, a photo surfaced of Michael Phelps taking a hit off of a bong. And everyone's upset and outraged and how could he and what about the kids looking up to him he's supposed to be a role model blah blah blah...
Here's what I have to say.
Michael Phelps is a phenomenal swimmer who won a shit load of gold medals. That is who he is. He also has ALWAYS looked and sounded stoned whenever he speaks, so I don't know why anyone would be surprised that he smokes weed. As for the role model issue, kids should learn the difference between personal and professional role models. You can look up to someone in a field for their accomplishments, but that's different than wanting to be like them as a person. You can admire a singer for their singing, a lawyer for the cases they've won, an artist for their paintings, but that doesn't mean these individuals are people you should aspire to be like. Similarly, I admire my parents a great deal as people, but I don't have any interest in being like them professionally.
But somewhere along the line it all got lumped together, that if someone was really good at something, then they had to be role models in everything. That's retarded. Listen I'd love some gold medals, but nobody should want to be Michael Phelps the man. Michael Phelps is really not that intelligent and doesn't have all that much to offer besides some fucking awesome swimming. So let's celebrate him for that, but he is by no means an iconic personality that kids should look up to. He is a swimmer. So you can want to swim like him.
