Tiger tarnished by media, not himself
For the better part of two weeks now, all news media – print and televised – has been focused on this Tiger Woods “story”. And now they ask the question to the public, Is your view of Tiger Woods tarnished after his incident on and after Thanksgiving night?
- Tiger Woods
Well, of course! Thanks to no one else except the media! Yes, media, you did your faithful job of reporting the breaking news that someone in Florida hit a fire hydrant and a tree. Then you dwelled on allegations fueled by gossip and rumors which in turn drew all the bugs out from under the baseboard. Are we all enlightened now?
Sure, this someone was in fact Tiger Woods – a celebrity and the most well-known and highest-paid athlete in the world so people must know all the details right? Wrong. The officials responsible for handling this “case” have already put it all to rest with a $165 fine. Even those in charge are finished. Still, for the media the story is not done. We, the viewers have a right to know more details and stay atop each developing and breaking tidbit of gossip, dirt, rumor and comment that comes along post-hydrant, right?
HERE’S WHAT TIGER SAYS
The gossip tabloids pretty much have that niche covered for those of us who need to know more. Every media outlet doesn’t need to cover all the crap, all the time, over and over. Personally, I don’t care to know. I don’t care to know what my neighbors’ opinion is on the case. Nor do I care about the opinion and comments made by the caller from Nebraska, the bar maid in New York, some disgruntled friend in California who has answering machine messages and wants to cash in, or anybody about anything remotely concerned with Tiger Woods and his alleged affairs be they true or not.
If Tiger had an affair or affairs, so be it. We do not know the details of who, when, why nor will we ever. We also don’t know if perhaps Tiger may have an open marriage, they are swingers, he has an uncontrollable sexual compulsion, or if his wife even knew about these relationships if they did in fact even occur. We’re asking to judge something we don’t know anything about – nor want to. I don’t want to judge Tiger. I just like watching him golf. I think he’s pretty good. I don’t care if he called a girl in California, and I care even less about whether she has the tapes to prove it. I tell you one thing, I do judge the person that makes her personal answering machine tapes available to the public for monetary gain. Hmmm, not much of a friend, I’d say.
So, what have we all learned in the past two weeks? Someone in Florida hit a fire hydrant and a tree – and may have had an affair. Oh, and Tiger Woods is a real human being.
The answer is yes, Tiger’s image is tarnished – he’s not the perfect human – he’s real.
dbhewitt.2009.
Tags: Tiger Woods