Lance Armstrong Doping Scandal

Standards of Praise: Lance Armstrong as Role Model

Role models exemplify our aspirational achievements that represent the best of what is within our grasp. As children learn by observing the norms by which to govern their own actions, they look to exemplary individuals that demonstrate the virtues of human character. Recognizing that role models are also human and imperfect, witnessing a crestfallen role model compels the question of what principles govern our views of who constitutes an exemplary individual. Lance Armstrong's recent formal striping of his seven cycling titles is the most recent case of how we elevate the individuals that surpass the challenges that are beyond the reach of the ordinary, however with certain implied conditions (Macur).

Lance Armstrong's situation presents a case of contrasts, in which a man afflicted with testicular cancer personifies the frail condition associated with treatment, yet reverses his fortunes to...
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