Cheating as the newest sport.
Long ago before most of us had our memory chip removed from our frontal lobe, we had a President that lied about everything and continually bitched and moaned about being treated unfairly. Not only did he lie on a daily basis, but cheated when he felt it necessary and when people accused him of lying, he threatened to take his ball and go home. He threatened even more vigorously if the sane part of the population didn’t agree to his madness. Perhaps, and hopefully he is gone now, but still his legacy remains, and not only remains but has spread into the culture at an alarming rate.
Not too long ago a baseball player hit a record number of Home Runs for his league. Aaron Judge (62 Homers). He passed the great Babe Ruth and another Yankee player who hit 61 homers. Had he played in the National League things would be a bit different. Several players hit many more in one season, but alas all were cheats. They used steroids. They cheated.
A few years ago an entire baseball team was found guilty of cheating with electronic devices, and won a championship. (Because many players finally copped to the dastardly deed, no punishment was given. They got to keep their championship trophy, and the extra money that came with it.) Today, it’s not only baseball, but cheating and lying have permeated our culture to depths unimaginable years ago
To my knowledge there is no official Las Vegas betting on chess. However, that has not stopped the cheating scandals that surface every few years. The latest one concerns … what else? Hi tech cheating. The chess platform, chess.com has found more than one hundred instances where the 19 year old Grand Master (Highest ranking a chess player can achieve) Hans Niemann has cheating during a match. And what’s more the GM admits it!
He says he did cheat when he was younger — 12 and 16 — but claims he no longer does so. However, last month he defeated the world champion who accused him of once more cheating, and then the Champ refused a rematch. The Champion Magnus Carlsen, said Hans seemed disinterested and very calm. “He was hardly paying attention”.
Not the demeanor you would expect from a nineteen year old playing against the world champion. No one is sure of how it was done. But all involved agree it was done. (Many think there was an electronic device tapping out code inserted in his body. No proof of that exists. Thank Goodness!)
If you think that’s a stretch, then take note of a recent fishing contest which took place on Lake Erie, where the winners were found to have loaded their catch with steel pellets. (The heavier the fish the more points it’s worth). When the tournament director sliced open the fish he yelled, “We got sinkers inside the fish.” Later they found other weights and even smaller fish.
And then there is the ex-president who claimed all elections where the winner was not of his choosing were rigged. That his own election, which was considered fair and above board by the courts, was stolen from him. Even though he pressured those in power to cheat and allow him to win.
Luckily for this country that did not happen…yet.
The moral to this story is that there are no morals. The ethics which we preach are nowhere to be seen. The ‘get ahead at all costs’ now rules the roost. Those with the most daring and largest pockets win.
We all know the drill, but now has it been accepted as OK? Are we really going down the road with no place to make a U-turn? Is this the society you want to leave your children?
PLEASE STOP before we can’t.
