Visigoths and Athenians

The modern-day Visigoth is characterized in Postman’s graduation speech as self-centered power-seeking and money-driven. Athenians on the other hand, are identified as individuals on “the quest for knowledge.” Postman throughout the speech does not tell the reader what type of person to be but gives the reader the option to choose. We would like to think ourselves as Athenians; reasoning, experimenting, questioning however there are powerful people in the world that represent the opposite. Postman even goes on to claim that he has known physicians, lawyers and engineers who are Visigoths of “unmistakable question.” With all of the issues troubling our world, it is hard to believe that the majority of people are Athenians. It may be that we possess both Athenian and Visigoth qualities; or it may be that we see examples of both Athenian and Visigoth intentions. Visigoth’s typically want to gain power and success through easy money, this was best reflected in the baseball players involved in the biogenesis scandal. In 2013, several major league baseball players were accused of using performance-enhancing drugs specifically growth hormones. In July, thirteen players received lengthy suspensions of over 50 games in most cases. This shows the Visigoth-like intentions of these baseball players that instead of improving upon their games traditionally, they have to use an illegal advantage for what? More money? More fame? More records? Steroids, performance-enhancing drugs (PED) and human growth hormones (HGH) have plagued the sport of baseball in the 21st century. Players such as Sammy Sosa, Mark Mcguire and Barry Bonds have set new benchmarks in the record book, making previous records look simple. But the question is, how much of their success is attributed to the use of steroids? All three of those names used steroids at least one throughout their career. Even though this real life situation is such a small worldwide problem, it perfectly shows the Visigoth intentions