Today -- July 25 -- Lance Armstrong won his sixth Tour De France, despite having a bad time midway through the race, despite competition from Tyler Hamilton, and despite jeering Europeans -- mostly French and Germans -- who accused the American and cancer survivor of using drugs to help him win. The accusations are not new; the Germans who spit at Lance last week, earning them the dissing headline in one of New York's papers of "Sour Krauts" are just the latest incarnation of this anti-Americanism.
Those who are taken aback by Europe's hostility to America following the Iraq war should talk to a cyclist or cycling fan; the attitude was evident years ago when these claims were first made. It is not due to the war in Iraq, despite what the media will say. It is a response to any assertion of American will, be it on a battlefield, or on the streets of France pushing a bicycle up to speeds that exceed those of most mid-sized cars.
Lance Armstrong has long been accused of cheating to win by Europe. But unlike other sports heroes, cyclists are unique for the fact that they rarely appear in the news for drug use or other such misconduct. And Armstrong is no exception; there is no evidence of Lance Armstrong "cheating" -- just like there is no evidence America went to war in Iraq because of Haliburton. But both accusations continue to fly from a hostile Europe. One Frenchman actually wrote a book accusing the American President of masterminding the September 11 attacks himself!
It is into such an atmosphere that Lance Armstrong charged, looking to win his sixth Tour.
The fact that he's alive is a miracle -- if you believe in miracles. Rational people don't; Lance's survival isn't an act of god, but a combination of medical technology, tenacity, and willpower. Even whilst undergoing chemotherapy for cancer which had spread as far as his brain, the man was riding. He wasn't riding to race, though some of his teamates rode with him at the time; he was riding to stay alive. Some people said he wouldn't survive, let alone race again. But after his recovery, Lance Armstrong tore through his competition. To win the Tour De France -- a race thousands of miles long agaisnt the best in the world -- once is a major accomplishment, personal and professional. To win more than once is amazing. Lance Armstrong won five times. Most people would have considered themselves lucky and quit while they were ahead. Lance Armstrong never even considered it. The fact that he was coming back to win a sixth struck some as impossible. But he tried. And won. And he even -- according to headlines on July 26 -- is considering a seventh race. Now a despondant Europe can do nothing but spit at him -- and by extension, the nation that cheers his victory. Ask any American who isn't a bicycle freak to name a bike racer, and they will name one -- Lance Armstrong. The man is justly well known for his accomplishments -- and it is his accomplishments, not nonexistant "cheating", that irks those who defense secretary Rumsfeld so accurately and bluntly described as "Old Europe". The same goes for Europe's overall attitude towards America. They find fault not with our alleged wrongs, but with what we do right.
Europe's reaction to Lance Armstrong's win offers great insight into how Europe views America -- as well as the wider issues of European thought processes. No doubt Lance Armstrong's sixth win -- historical in itself -- is a vast personal accomplishment. But it is more than that. It was something that America needed, as well. America needed to show Europe we still have what it takes; that one of our citizens can go out there and do what is conceived to be impossible. And Europe knows this is the character of America, and hates us for it. Recall the reaction at the 1938 Olympic games when an America blew away Germany -- and Hitler stormed out in a rage? That is what we are witnessing now, except Europe has no one villain any longer. It has embraced a multitude of villains, dictatorship by commission, the modern form of socialism typified by the European Union. So instead of one demented soul storming up a rage, we have Germans on the street and Frenchman on the sidewalk, cursing, spitting, throwing insults. These "sour krauts" [and French] are the face of Europe's current ideological state. There is something to be said for their manners, of course -- but more than that, their ideology should come under criticism.
That ideology -- the collectivism rampant in Europe -- causes the Europeans to adopt a peculiar form of epistimology, in which they do not need facts to draw conclusions. It is stikingly similar to the epistimology of a racist -- or of the religious fanatics in much of the Islamic world, who take on faith the evil of the West. Europeans assume that America is guilty not without proof, or even in contradiction of it, but worse: without any regard for proof. this explans their accusations of "cheating" when there is absolutely no evidence of it -- accusation that parallel int he sports world the sort of wild and frightening claims they have made about the U.S. in the political realm [i.e., in regards to foreign policy].
This nation -- America -- has a long history of busting barriers wide open. Europe has a long history of erecting them. The U.S. was the first country founded on an intelligent understanding of individual rights. And Americans have routinely smashed others' percieved lines of "impossibility". Powered flight was sneered at until the Wright Brothers came along -- to use just one example. This is not shocking, unless you fail to grasp that a nation which frees the minds of its citizens, also frees up their ability to pursue and obtain hitherto "impossible" goals.
So a sixth Tour win shouldn't surprise Europe. But it does.
It surprises Europe because so many Europeans see themselves as the wave of the future -- disciplined, orderly, waiting in qeues, and subordinating their own interests to the "international comunity" -- in their case, the European Union. They view America as both backward and lazy, stubbornly clinging to the idea of national sovereignty [unlike EU members] and incapable of discipline. The fact is partly true; the characterization isn't. Yes, America does stubbornly cling to its soveriegnty. But there is a good reason for that -- we have a right to. And we are not lazy country bumpkins, or ill-mannered cowboys, as the socialist elitists in Europe like to think we are [and as they've accused our President of being]. America can do some amazing things. And we have the determination and guts to do what we have to -- in a race, or a war. Europe has niether -- which may be why they need the EU, at a psychological level if not a practical one.
It is, of course, silly for every person to take pride from one person's accomplishments. We can not all do what Lance Armstrong did -- he did it, not us. Collective pride is a stupid and ignorant notion. However, one can respect that this fellow American is capable of such a victory -- just as we can feel pride in the bravery of our soldiers overseas, though we may not be there ourselves. It isn't that we, as bystanders, are seeking second-hand credit -- rather, it is that we are acknowledging the credit due to those who act. And act Lance did. But Lance Armstrong is not alone. There were several Americans in the Tour, all of whom raced their guts out. One of his oppoents -- who dropped out of this year's race after injuring his back -- was Tyler Hamilton. Hamilton, another American, raced last year's Tour De France with a broken collarbone. The pain was so bad, he said in a recent Bicycling Magazine interview, that he threw up after several stages. But he kept going. So much for the myth about Americans being lazy or undisciplined.
Europe's hostility is not just about the war in Iraq -- or Lance's victory. We aren't witnessing sour grapes or political contrariness. We are witnessing a clash of cultures. Europe's culture has shifted toward the collective, as illustrated by their move to a central state of the EU. America remains a nation of individualism. While Europe seeks to lock all its citizens of sundry nations under the guard of the European Union's socialist rule, the U.S. remains independent. While Europe embraces collectivism, most Americans still refuse it -- and opt for a way of life where the government leaves them free to pursue their goals, be those goals maintianing a business, writing a novel, or winning the world's biggest bicycle race Six times.
It is no surprise that the man who can win six Tours hails from America rather than Europe.
Let Europe kick and scream, and make all the baseless accusations it wants. Lance won. An American won. Six times. The Europeans just can't explain this any other way. He must have cheated, they feel -- because their conception of what Americans are makes it impossible that on of us could have what it takes to win.
All this shows, is how how wrong they are about America.
To paraphrase a bit from a song by "Rush", America typifies the nature of "those who wish to be". What does that make "Old Europe"?
Armstrong didn't just break a record on July 25. He shattered Europe's illusions about Europe's supposed superiority over the U.S. Nothing could be more commendable -- or guaranteed to arouse Europe's gall. But let them scream. They have nothing to lose but their voice.
And maybe, if they sweep aside their shattered illusions, they can steer a course away from the collectivism that entrenches them -- meaning the people of Europe, in that case, could have everything to gain. But don't bet on it. The predominatly socialist nature of Europe's governments -- even in countries ravaged decades ago during World War II -- shows that "Old Europe" hasn't learned from six years of world war brought on by socialism. It is doubtful they will learn from a sixth Tour De France win.
________________ 7/25/04
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