Oh my god, Michael Phelps was photographed smoking pot from a bong!
How could this Olympian, this national hero, have let us down so completely?
What's the world coming to?
But seriously, what the heck is the world coming to when we're supposed to feign outrage at and disappointment at what's basically normal, to say nothing of NORML, adult behavior.
Depending on who's numbers you believe, somewhere between 33% and 47% of Americans over the age of 12 will admit to having smoked marijuana at some point in their lives. Throw in the people who won't admit it to a survey, and we're probably looking at more than half of this country's adult population.
So who exactly is supposed to be outraged here?
Who is so offended thatPhelps has to lose an endorsement dealand get suspended from doing what he does best, swimming, for three months? It's not like he was found taking performance enhancing drugs. I can see why the swim team might suspend him because they're worried he might get stoned and start swimming in the wrong direction, but calling this misconduct or misbehavior is not just hypocritical, it's stupid.
The sad thing is that if the guy just stood up, defended his behavior as being perfectly fine, and said "legalize," then the press would come down on him even harder, probably in stories written by people who, at some point in their lives, had their lips on a bong, too. I've made the case for legalization or decriminalization before, so I won't repeat myself.
Let me just say, though, that if a law is unjust, you should break it.
This is not like Plaxico Burress shooting himself in the leg with an unregistered handgun. That puts Phelps, along with the vast majority of American college students, in the long tradition of civil rights activists going all the way back to Henry David Thoreau.
What do you think, let me know write me at millennialmoney@cnbc.com