Lasik Cheating
A Summary of William Saletan's "The Beam in Your Eye: If steroids are cheating, why isn't LASIK?"
William Saletan's essay "The Beam in Your Eye: If steroids are cheating, why isn't LASIK?" addresses the issue of the steroid scandal in baseball and compares it to LASIK eye surgery, which has been used by many athletes in different sports to improve their visions and thus improve their athletic ability. The central claim he makes is that steroids and performance enhancing drugs have been unfairly singled out as a method of artificially enhancing athletic performance, and that there are other sources as well. Saletan feels it is especially unfair to come down so hard on steroids as a substance that causes cheating when other medical enhancements -- specifically the LASIK procedure -- allow for better-than-average and better-than-normal performance. Though some people actually have worse-than-average vision and are helped by the eye surgery, just as some people with medical conditions are treated with steroids, Saletan draws a distinction between therapy and enhancement, and claims that enhancement should either be fully allowed in the sports world or honestly and completely denied.
He begins by referencing Mark McGwire's appearance before a Congressional hearing on steroids, at which he was condemned for having used a substance called "andros"...
Though the substance was not illegal, Congress and baseball officials alike disapproved of his behavior and called it cheating. Saletan that comments on the case of Tiger Woods, who was on a losing streak until LASIK eye surgery improved his vision to 20/15 (20/20 is average) and went on to win the Master's -- golf's biggest tournament -- without anybody mentioning his use of a performance enhancing procedure.
Saletan cites three major reasons listed by officials and members of Congress as to why steroids should be banned: "the drugs are illegal, they're harmful, and they're cheating." He quickly dispenses with the first reasons by claiming that illegality does not provide a reason for why such substances should be illegal-it is merely a rather obvious statement of fact that doesn't address he issue. In dealing with the fact that steroids are harmless, Saletan notes that the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse spoke at the Congressional hearing and admitted that certain steroids are not always harmful, are used to treat certain patients, and that even those using the drugs for athletic enhancement do not all suffer from the same harmful effects. Saletan is careful to not that he considers the street use of such drugs an unnecessary and costly risk, but stresses that McGwire and…
