Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Confessions TV: Matters Not if Lance Comes Clean



Of all the human frailties for which Americans harbor mountainous disdain, lying and cheating achieve the Mount Everest peak. On Thursday, all eyes will be glued to Lance ‘Liar liar pants on fire’ Armstrong who will pedal the media cycle for a shot at public redemption. So, when silence fails, Oprah’s your girl, right?
Dialogue is potent enough to lend reinvention to a company, brand and career, but in the tainted case of the multiple Tour de France champion whose performances were accessorized with the continuous spin of doping denials, rebranding won't be an easy feat.   

Admission without authenticity cannot conquer arrogance, which I suspect swelled due to the medicinal aids that delivered Armstrong athletic superiority for years. Sure, we love our sports heroes through the thick of drug addiction, domestic violence, and even manslaughter, but for liars and cheaters, our tolerance is thin.      
If a lying Lance lusts for the limelight to reignite a high-octane athletic career under the guise of making peace or professing guilt, some will forgive but few will forget. Why should we be duped into buying what will likely amount to another Armstrong bag of damaged goods? Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me. 

The charitable cancer foundation contributions aside, the once popular yellow bracelets hailing “Live Strong” have left the duplicitous message that only the weak cheat. Yet, like you, I’ll tune in not to endorse the scoundrel, who on countless occasion manipulatively violated our trust, but because it’s Oprah, still the reigning queen of talk TV.  
 

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