Tiger Woods

I see the Tiger Woods "scandal" with scarce disbelief. There is no justification for his alleged behavior, no excuse for his callousness. He has wronged. But wait a second, he has not wronged you, or me, or the public at large. Certainly not the media which has gone to town with the moral angles.

What is the benefit of this yellow journalism? Did his wife get information about new alleged liaisons from the newspapers, and even if so, how does this help her? Did the channels "out" a enemy of the state, and so did they perform a public duty?

The Tiger Woods saga is a case in point of the 'TRP chasing' downhill slide that world media is inexorably going towards. Punch the fallen, especially if he was right up there prior. Show that the bigger they are, the harder they fall. Feast on the remains of trashed dignity.

Are we not to blame equally? We want the ringside view on the trashing. We want to hover and look over the shoulder at the shamed, and a secret side of us feels the better of it, even if hypocrytically. Not for us 'he who hath not sinned must cast the first stone". Eliot Spitzers all of us. Now HE was a public figure that needed bringing down - sponsoring tough legislation against street trafficking with utmost indignation at the harm to society one day, and hiring high priced call girls the same night. Walk the talk he did not.

Marion Jones cheated her peers by taking drugs. She hurt others. She cheated on the public. She hurt the sports' image by doing something wrong WITHIN the sport. Vilify her all we must.

Now one could argue that Woods created a public persona of the family loving clean sports superstar. And sponsors paid him huge amounts to endorse their products. Did ANYONE in their right mind buy products and services from these companies because of that image?

Would you invest in a ponzi scheme only because Sachin Tendulkar appeared for an advertisement of the scheme? Would you do your own research and undertake a rational buying decision? If not, YOU are naive, gullible. Susceptible to advertising that brainwashes you. You value form over function.

You are probably the kind of person who would deify a hero and villainise the person if such an event happened such as befell Tiger Woods. Blame yourself. Not Tiger Woods.

Now if Tendulkar endorses a company that makes crap cricket equipment and you bought it and were dissatisfied, he deserves tabloid journalism. But Tiger did not advise you not to have affairs and then quietly go and conduct his indiscretions ( a la afore mentioned Eliot Spitzer). He has not been advocating fidelity and truth. He is a golfer. That is all. And if the Nike clubs he peddles(d?) make you feel less like Tiger because of this scandal, go out and practice.

He is a morally conflicted man with many demons who needs help to value what is important to his long term health - his wife and children. He needs counselling. He needs deifying for the right things - his superb domination of golf.

Leave him alone. Leave his family to be. They don't need our curiosity. They do not want our attention. They need our quiet sympathy and tacit support to sort their affairs. For the sake of the children. For our sake. Because we need families to be the bedrock unit of society, and these are becoming a dying breed in our rush for individuality. More on that later!