Enhancing Performance

[June 16, 2016 – This essay was originally written in 2007, during the Barry Bonds controversy. The Olympic “doping” situation brought it to mind (though by the time this is published that will have been resolved one way or the other) and I am reprinting it. (It was originally published in a local newspaper.) Other sports are involved as well and by the time this appears the issue will probably no longer be of interest, but that's your problem, not mine.]

Mark Rothko committed suicide. So did Diane Arbus, Gorky, van Gogh, and Virginia Woolf. And George Sands was insane, along with Nietzsche, Nijinsky and, perhaps, Tolstoi. Yet all were great artists. According to Plato, in Phaedrus, a "divine madness" is responsible for the productions of great artists.

Allen Ginsberg took hallucinogens. His "divine madness” was augmented by LSD. And other great artists have also taken drugs. Keith Haring, for example, and Cary Grant, Ronnie Gilbert and Aldous Huxley. If their art was thus improved, were they guilty of taking "performance-enhancement” medications? And if they took those medications, is their art in any way less valuable and enduring?

"Performance-enhancement” is perceived as the great evil of our times. It is exemplified by Barry Bonds who, it is alleged, took steroids to build up his body and, with it, his home run production. He "cheated." For this he is condemned by Congress, team owners and other baseball officials. But, using an expression from another sport, perhaps we've jumped the gun. Perhaps our society is of two minds about such drugs and "cheating."

When preparing for the SAT's, numerous students take courses to improve their scores. Isn't that the academic equivalent of taking performance-enhancement drugs? Countless Hollywood stars undergo cosmetic surgery to help their careers. They, too, are enhancing their performance artificially. They, too, are "cheating."

If a team prays together before a game, or a public figure smokes a cigarette to calm himself before an appearance, is that unjustified performance-enhancement? If, before a battle, an officer "psyches up" his forces, is he doing something wrong?

And when candidates prepare for a debate "when they practice their "spontaneous” responses to questions they expect, or to comments by their opponents "is that any different? But there I go again.

As a society, we're not sure. Milli Vanilli was drummed out of the entertainment industry for lip-syncing its own songs while Deborah Kerr, Audrey Hepburn, Natalie Wood and Marilyn Monroe, among others, were praised for wonderful performances even though Marni Nixon dubbed in "their" musical numbers. And with no question about Sid Caesar's comedic genius, we don't fault him for mouthing jokes by Mel Blanc, Woody Allen and others.

We live at a time when team owners offer huge salaries for stars who bring fans to the stadium. Records help to bring out the fans and that's what's really important, so whatever accomplishes that goal is justified. If steroids achieve it, owners will look the other way irrespective of long-term deleterious effects of the drugs. As long as it doesn't become public.

In the history of baseball for example, the ball itself was made more "bouncy" to go farther, designated hitters have been used to increase run production, and baseball stadiums have been designed to match the strengths of hitters, while players are chosen who will do well in a particular setting. That's the sport's way of improving performance and attendance. Everybody does it.

Of course, "everybody does it" is not justification for doing wrong. But if, in fact, everybody does it perhaps we should look again and reevaluate whether "it" really is wrong. Cosmetic surgery will not make a bad actress a good one, nor will steroids turn an average baseball player into a superstar.

Certainly those who perform exceptionally are exceptional, though artificial aids may enhance their glitter. When a superstar tries to improve his image to get more of the money that owners are throwing around it is understandable. But we don't want our children to see our hypocrisy, so we castigate what we simultaneously, if quietly, encourage. Perjury is never permissible. We expect honesty of our superheroes, and justifiably so. If one is faced with the possibility of losing his market value though, because society is looking for a scapegoat, falsification is understandable even if inexcusable.

But is "performance-enhancement” acceptable? Maybe yes, maybe no.