It has recently come to the attention of the American public that not only has Tiger Woods had 7,635 (citation needed) affairs outside of his marriage, but so has gear head Jesse James and politician John Edwards.
Why any of this was brought to our attention is anyone’s guess. Why it is even newsworthy or even still conversation fodder is beyond ridiculous.
Tiger Woods is renowned for his ability to play golf. He is idolized for the excitement and mastery he brought to the sport, not for his outstanding moral fortitude. We cherish Tiger because he can hit a little white ball hundreds of yards, and then putt that little white ball dozens of feet. If he decided to cheat on that Swede wife of his, what business is that of ours?
The man revolutionizes a sport that was all but dead, winning the awe of millions, and then earns our ire by indiscretions that weren’t our business in the first place?
It might be even worse for Jesse James who fell out of the public eye after appearing briefly on the radar in the early naughties. The guy makes custom bikes. Great. Then he drops off the radar, marries an attractive A-lister and only manages to retrieve our attention when he steps outside the bounds of his marriage to diddle a white supremacist nudie cam girl.
Besides the fact that that last sentence is incredibly interesting and the Tiger sext messages make for a riveting read, who are we to judge?
These men don’t owe us anything. The fact that they are in the public eye does not make them accountable to any moral high ground any more than it does for the rest of us.
If the president of the local Kiwanis had an extramarital affair, would all the pomp and circumstance be applied to that situation?
I doubt very heavily that even your son’s Scout Master had an affair; his morals wouldn’t be called into question. I mean, he’s not a celebrity. He’s only helping to shape a young man’s life, he’s not as important as someone that can be seen on TMZ.
John Edwards falls into a bit of a gray area. His affair occurred during his presidential campaign and only came to light very recently. While his indiscretions may not necessarily affect his ability to perform his job, his moral compass not pointing true north may pose a bit of a problem. It’s the reason why we have now had two impeached presidents.
Bill Clinton sticking cigars in places that aren’t single malt Scotch poses a substantially larger problem than the world’s greatest golfer or a third-rate reality TV star. The questions to ask are, “how can a man lead a country when he’s morally bankrupt?” not, “how can Jesse James tighten a nut when Lieutenant Lenina Huxley can’t trust him?”
Sure, gossip mongering and whispering behind a persons back are a large part of what makes being an uninteresting person much more tolerable, but shouldn’t the general public worry more about their own community? Wouldn’t the world be a much better place if people worried more about how to better themselves and their families instead of worrying about how the chick from “Demolition Man” and the nu-metal singers marriage is on the rocks because he screwed lady Hitler?
