In a perfect world, the public wouldn’t be obsessed with celebrity gossip.
In a perfect world, a golfer wouldn’t make a billion dollars....
Dan Wetzel from Yahoo Sports cuts through the hype, the hoopla and Tiger Wood's disingenuous heat about the tabloids in this thoughtful article. It is needlessly long (sportswriters love to turn phrases and often won't stop doing so until their editors cut them off) but Wetzel does make a few important points that are relevant to all celebrities who strive for fame, who thoroughly enjoy the wealth and power of fame, but who then whine about their fame when they find the media treats them as...well, famous.
And, along the way, Wetzel scores a couple of provocative observations about the general culture and our strange preoccupation with celebrities.
[Wood's] basic point is correct, of course. This is none of anyone’s business. He cheated on his wife, not on the golf course, not on his taxes, not while committing some other crime. The public is owed nothing.
In a perfect world, though, teachers and cops and construction workers wouldn’t have to pony up extra money to buy a shirt for their kid just because Tiger Woods’ name is on it.
In a perfect world, they wouldn’t have to break the bank for overpriced Nike shoes, with a hunk of it going to pay for Tiger Woods’ private plane.
In a perfect world, women in Asia wouldn’t be paid pennies an hour to stitch up his product.
In a perfect world, we wouldn’t be overwhelmed by rampant consumerism, false idol worship and mesmerizing advertisements – a trio of circumstances that Tiger Woods has played and profited from better than just about anyone...
Tiger took every bit of the money his image delivered. And with great rewards come great responsibility. That’s the deal. You can’t have one without the other. You can’t have your image beamed relentlessly into everyone’s living room and then expect people not to be intrigued with your life.
You can’t release glowing pictures of your family and think the public isn’t going to seek information when it comes crumbling down...
I'll finish off here by saying that to Woods' credit, his confession did include the words "transgressions" and even "sins." That's a truer account than merely "mistakes" or "I'm not perfect." However, the sincerity of his confession would have been much more believable had it not have been forced from him by the imminent publication to the world of that damning voice mail.
Obviously there are lessons here for everyone -- lessons about marital fidelity, integrity as a father, responsibility, the foolishness of trying to hide from the cops and the expensive silliness of worshiping celebrities.
I can't remember ever praying for Tiger Woods. That bad is on me for I've watched him play golf a hundred times or more. And, if I can spend time watching him swing a club, I can certainly spend a few moments every once in a while praying that he finds the peace, the joy, the power and the complete forgiveness of sins that I have found in Jesus Christ.
That's the chief lesson of this whole fiasco for me; namely, to start to deal with our celebrity-drunk culture with something other than indifference or mere disdain. But rather to take the TV and billboard and magazine images as stimulants for a quick prayer for that celebrity (and for that particular celebrity's fans) that they soon discover the Only One truly worthy of worship.
