I figured that their, "Why do I care?" question was just a rhetorical one and that all my responses were understood. I simply responded with a shocked blank stare. My boss proceeded to ask how any of his discretions were our business. This I actually had an answer to. Now it's been about 10 years since I've taken first amendment law so I'm a bit rusty, but I seem to remember something about public figures giving up their right to privacy .. uh especially when that public figure crashes into public property like say.. a fire hydrant.
My boss' response, "Is he a public figure by choice or did we make him one?" My answer was, "It doesn't matter." But it still kept bugging me when I went home last night. While I know that every public figure from Monica Lewinsky to the guy who caught the ball at the Cubs game (hey I like the guy) involuntarily gives up their right to privacy once they've become famous, is it ethically right for us to get involved? I still arrived at the answer, "Yes." The poor Cubs guy shouldn't have left Chicago and changed his identity. I do not agree with his crucification, but if that' s the story, the media just follows it. And for Lewinsky, come on, she capitalized on her home-wrecker status.
As for Tiger Woods, did he voluntarily become a public figure? Besides the fact that he grew up American and is well aware what happens to professional athletes, he's signed multimillion dollar contracts with Nike, Gatorade among others, and he married a Swedish supermodel. Yeah, I think he willingly took the spotlight. And as usual, a scorned celebrity is missing the big picture. America is forgiving. We are. Trust me. I've worked in media, I'm a television addict and I understand human nature being the extremely flawed person that I am.
Tiger is in the public eye and he needs to accept it and embrace it. His public announcement on his website was all about HIM and his privacy and his own business. The only thing I heard in his entire confession/apology/plea for privacy was this: blah blah blah I'm a whiny jerk who cheated on my wife now leave me alone. So why couldn't he have just said that? It sucks that he cheated on her. It was possibly the cruelest and most selfish act he could have ever committed against his family, but you know what, I'm not perfect, I'm pretty sure neither are you so I get it. But don't sit there are criticize me for taking an invested interest in Tiger's lack of perfection until he comes out and says, "I'm a total jerk. My wife has every right to leave me and take my family from me. If I honestly thought that I could get away with this being the person I am, then not only am I a jerk, but I'm stupid, too. My wife is a lovely woman who deserves better, my kids deserve better, but I intend to spend the rest of my days convincing them that this will never happen again and that I will be the husband and father they deserve. Now I'm looking forward to the next big news story so this will all be considered old news."
I just wanted him to admit that he's a stupid jerk. That's it. Would I be done talking about it? Probably not, but I'd have more respect for him, and patiently wait for the next big scandal so I could talk about that to death.
Well, that's not really what I meant, I probably just didn't explain myself very well. What I meant was, really, who cares. I don't know of a single human being who, at some point, hasn't royally screwed up. Celebrity or not, all of us are human, and make mistakes All. The. Time. (Not that this, in any way, excuses his actions, it just shows that he's just like the rest of us.) With that being said, I really think that the only apology he owes anyone is to his wife, and anyone who's boo-hooing because they thought he was such a great role model needs to relax and realize that Tiger Woods doesn't owe the public anything. He can't control what the media writes about him, he can't control all the people who think he's a scumbag, and he shouldn't expect that the paparazzi will stop digging into his personal life simply because he's requested it. But he shouldn't owe any of us an explanation just because he's a public figure. So, I agree that as a public figure, he's automatically given up any delusions that we won't criticize him. But I argue that we shouldn't care because, when it all comes down to it, Tiger Woods is just as fallible as the rest of us - but we fail to realize it because we've treated him like a god and put him up on a pedestal. THAT'S where the problem lies.
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