So, yet another couple of MLB players have been implicated as having tested positive for “Performance-Enhancing Drugs”, and the whole nation is in an uproar about how they’ve sullied the sport and themselves.  They are heroes that have cheated.  We don’t like cheaters.  On and On and ON.

And I could care less.  At least partially because I don’t care much for MLB baseball.  I like the sport, but watching it is incredibly boring most days.  But more to the point, I don’t care because it’s become the status quo.  Or at least the perceived status quo.  And if every body is doing it, then it’s not a problem.  Further, if everyone is doing it, doesn’t it become “odd” to not do it?

Here’s the example that I used with my wife last night.  If you’re driving along the highway and the speed limit is 75, but everyone is going 90, aren’t you creating more traffic problems by going 75 than you would if you went with the flow of traffic (like it says in your drivers ed manual)?  Are you still breaking the law by going with the flow at 90 mph?  Yes.  But there will be very few people who will care, simply because, at least for that stretch of highway, 90 has become the status quo.  And we Americans like the status quo.

Is taking performance enhancing drugs illegal?  According to the MLB agreement that the players union has, it is.  But, again, if everyone is doing it, is it more of an issue that they are doing it, or that some of the other players aren’t?