Bigger, Stronger, Faster …and Duped

The other night I watched the film Bigger, Stronger, Faster which is just out on DVD.  What a quintessential American film.

The main question of the film is, “Is it cheating if everyone is doing it?”  This question comes from filmmaker Chris Bell’s life of believing that he could attain a Schwartennegeresque body without using anabolic steroids.  His brothers and countless others have built massively muscular physiques on steroids after waking up from the blind influence of believing that their boyhood heroes like Sylvester Stallone and Hulk Hogan were lying about building muscular bodies through nutrition, exercise and and natural supplements.

Another issue is that most performance-enhancing supplements are sold by putting pictures of people on steroids on the packaging and in the marketing and advertising campaigns.  It’s hilarious to learn how “before” and “after” pictures are often photographed on the same day and then digitally altered.  It’s blind influence to the highest degree.

Today steroids in high school locker rooms are consider to be a big problem.  Is it a problem?  Why are steroids not okay and Ritalin is okay when Ritalin killed 186 people between 1990 and 2000 and according to this film anabolic steroids have only killed 3 people in history?

Underlying this quest for the perfect body is the false American dream propelled by a win-at-all-cost culture that only considers it cheating if you get caught. Though performance-enhancing drugs are the focus, it is easy to see how this belief system flows through American policies and practices in politics, the military-industrial complex, sports, business, education, etc.

Our current economic collapse reflects how the lie of “If you work hard and play by the rules you’ll prosper in America” has infected our society.  Not that this can’t be true, but looking around at Wall Street, Enron, O.J. Simpson and their ilk, it appears that cheaters generally have a better shot at enjoying larger amounts of wealth and power …unless they get caught.

It’s a sad commentary on humanity, because this isn’t just how Americans operate, that most people seem to spin a roulette wheel around integrity.  We all lie, cheat and misrepresent to varying degrees.  Individually we make up lines of what is acceptable and what is not.

Is it okay to cheat on a college test but not to lie about an extra-marital affair?  Is it okay to use insider information to prosper financially but not okay to lie on your taxes?  Is it okay to tell your girlfriend she looks great when you think she has horrible taste in clothes and makeup?  Is it okay to lie about your employment history on your resume?  Is it okay to pretend there’s a Santa Claus?

It’s all subjective and worth acknowledging to ourselves how we have our own ways of cheating.  The funniest ways are how we lie to ourselves and the most dangerous ways are how we lie about ourselves.  Before any of us point fingers at others it’s a good idea to look in the mirror to see how we cheat and whether or not we think it’s okay.

After watching Bigger, Stronger, Faster you’ll see that determining whether or not it’s okay to lie or cheat to get ahead in life is a very grey area.