Tiger Woods And Global Media Hypocrisy

[London Bridge Is Falling Down]

The media, and the world at large are having a field day with Tiger Woods’ personal sins and transgressions.

A few of us have even questioned the choice of women he has taken up with; but Woods, like most men that are smart, chose to fraternize with airheads for whom they would never consider leaving their wives and children.

A man being unfaithful with however many women is nothing new--the only difference is Woods’ is famous, young and successful and for his wife, the pain, shame and humiliation is intensified because it is suffered in full gaze of the global public.

Jamiee Grubbs, one of the women Woods is reported to have bedded, is sorry alright.

It is insulting that she would go on television to "apologize" to Elin Nordegren for having hurt her family and her emotionally. This sorry state of affair is compounded by her pretence that she did not know Tiger Woods was married when they first got together.

I think, like most women who embark on long term affairs with married men, she was vain enough to think she could take Woods away from Nordegren and become the next Mrs. Moneybags. Can you see the dollar signs dancing before her greedy eyes? I can.

Some of these women claimed to have been "in love" with Tiger Woods but were quick to sell him out as soon as the dollar signs were dangled before their eyes by media outlets. It would appear that they waited patiently for the opportunity to cash in, as such moments inevitably presents itself.

Woods has been called everything from "coward," "idiot" to "dog."

How many men behave exactly the same way as Woods did? I am by no means condoning Tiger Woods’ behavior, I am merely trying to understand this media circus surrounding a very private affair. Granted, Woods is a public figure, thereby generating a certain degree of interest in his life on and off the golf course. Yet such personal sins and transgressions have been covered with such vigor that it leads me to ask: is it not in the public interest for the media to also report with such vigor on persisting genocide in Darfur and Northern Uganda where countless innocents daily perish to war and disease; the killing fields of Congo where children, women and men are raped and sodomized; Iraq and Afghanistan where its citizenry live in constant threat of loss of life; and, world hunger?

Or are these human tragedies simply not newsworthy?

I believe that even a public figure should be accorded some measure of privacy.

I don’t understand the assertion by some journalists that projecting a squeaky clean image while getting up to hanky-panky in private is ruinous. What was he supposed to do? Wear on his sleeve like a badge of honor the names of his conquests?

Tiger Woods needs help rather than condemnation for his sexual addiction and self destructive conduct. He may seem together on the golf course but we know nothing about his personal inner turmoil. A man with a wife and children, having unprotected sex with countless women is not normal behavior by any standard. It may seem like I am offering a plea of insanity to a criminal, but Woods’ conduct suggests that his state of mind needs investigation.

What do we know about the Tiger Woods Foundation? Until now, unless you are a golfing fan, nothing. In 1996, Tiger Woods and his father established the Tiger Woods Foundation, to, according to the website, inspire youth, and pass on the values Tiger Woods had received from his parents and teachers.

To- date over 10 million young people have been touched by the Foundation through scholarships, grants, junior golf teams, Tiger Woods Learning Center and character development programs. The Foundation is helping young people reach their goals.

I sympathize with Woods’ predicament. I sympathize with what his family has had to endure in this very unforgiving and hypocritical public arena. Tiger Woods is still a golfing don, he is still a golfing role model, he dreamed big, worked even harder and his dreams came true and this is what should be conveyed to the many young people of this world--that dreams and hard work in pursuit of those dreams is the way forward.

And to the sponsors who are quickly withdrawing Tiger Woods' endorsements or limiting his involvement in their campaign, I reiterate--unforgiving and hypocritical public arena.

It is easy to denounce with vigor one that has done wrong. It is difficult to proclaim with the same amount of vigor the good he has done . We need not condone the wrong he has done; we need only remember that he is a human being with human failings.