SocraticGadfly: Choo vs Peralta, steroids vs DWI, and selective outrage

December 23, 2013

Choo vs Peralta, steroids vs DWI, and selective outrage

The St. Louis Cardinals' free-agent signing of shortstop Jhonny Peralta, around baseball fandom in general, and with a few players, caused a bit of a stir due the fact that Peralta had gotten a new contract just after a 50-game suspension for performance-enhancing drug use caused a bit of a stir.


But, Shin-Soo Choo, not too, too long removed from a DWI arrest, gets a contract three years longer, and 2.5 times larger on money than Peralta, and the outrage isn't really there. Ditto for even more famous DWIer Miguel Cabrera.

Folks, yes, performance enhancing drugs are cheating. They may get you extra money.

But, they don't potentially kill other people.

Period. 

So, if you want to be outraged, let's not be outraged about performance-enhancing drugs as much as other drugs.

And, yes, alcohol is a drug. And when "abused," even if the person isn't (yet) addicted, it's more dangerous than any illegal drug.

This friendly reminder of where to direct your outrage is brought to you just in time for Christmas and New Year's, when your odds of a driver on steroids killing you is just about zero, but a drunken driver is a different story.

I hope Cabrera and Choo are both continuing to deal well with their alcohol issues, whether total abstinence or whatever the necessary answer is.

No comments: