The latest feel-good news story for those Nancy Grace types whose self-image is so low that they can only derive a sense of self-worth by putting down others who are in a personal crisis is the recent Tiger Woods saga. Woods had an auto accident near his home in Orlando and defied police efforts to interview him at his home afterwards. That is the only problem I have with Woods regarding this story. But the predatory gossip press has expanded on the famous pro golfer’s misfortune and intruded into his marital life, emphasizing extramarital affairs, insinuating spousal abuse, and even interviewing former lovers and adorning their pictures on the covers of gossip magazines. But I personally sense that there is more to this story than people deriving some sick vicarious pleasure at the downfall of a celebrity.
Tiger Woods has a multiracial background, if you want to believe that there actually is such a thing as race. And apparently it is too much of a temptation to emphasize his marriage to a woman of Swedish background. So that old, stinking racism against interracial marriages, which still runs high across demographic boundaries, has found a vehicle for expression. Only you don’t hear anyone actually explicitly coming out against Tiger’s “interracial” marriage per se. But his blond light-skinned wife has become something of a caricature in the press, and I have seen many drawings of her that would never have been published had she, say, an African-American background. I would have thought that by the year 2009 we all would have lifted ourselves out of this sort of slimy bigotry.
Which leads me to wonder aloud why all of these big corporations are dropping Tiger Woods from sponsorships. After all, celebrities goof up all the time, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t merit respect for what they have accomplished in their respective professions. This notion that Woods has “fallen”, so he doesn’t deserve the title of “role model”, is pure bull. I am sick of the nonsense that someone who has become a success in a particular area suddenly has to project a saint-like image in order to have any chance of economically capitalizing on that success.
Yes, I wonder whether the unspoken unforgivable “sin” that Tiger Woods has committed wasn’t his accident or adultery, but rather his marriage to his “white” wife! Could I be wrong about this? Maybe, but I seriously doubt it. Beyond the matter with the police I have previously mentioned, this is all none of anyone else’s business. Every time I hear some editorial take on this story or a new “scoop”, I get angrier. Butt out, jerks!
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I agree completely.
ReplyDelete«why all of these big corporations are dropping Tiger Woods from sponsorships.»
Well, that's pretty straightforward: they simply think that they'll have a better public image and sell more product if they do that than if they don't. Today. Right now. They hired Mr Woods to enhance their public image. At the point that they think he no longer does that, he's gone, as far as they're concerned.
Whether we like it or not (I don't), the companies are only after immediate good ratings for their ads, and short-term returns (in the way of sales). Nothing more. And they're certainly not interested in making any social statements.