Feeding on Tiger...

President Obama has just announced he is planning to send 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan, global climate change as reported by the UN report is a farce and there are two versions of a National Healthcare plan running through congress right now that could continue the bankruptcy of the USA...but the most coverage time given by the media the past two days has been speculative reports on Tiger Wood's minor car accident. The media vampires are out in full force...and they have quite succeeded in bringing down another "American hero".

The story for me now is about the media's vicious frenzy regarding Tiger's supposed domestic conflicts at home based on reported liaisons with not just one, but as of today THREE extramarital affairs or trysts. I don't know if it is just me thinking this, but I find the media treatment as just the latest example of how sick our society and its media has become. Yep...my last blog was about the lack of media coverage on "Climategate"...and now they just prove my case further by giving 30 seconds coverage of these significant global issues followed by 20 minutes of "Tigergate". I can imagine hundreds of thousands of dollars are being spent to hunt down any attractive, young woman that has come within 6 feet of Tiger in the past 3 years. Would that the media spent as much resource getting to the bottom of "Climategate", but apparently the sex lives of our star athletes is much more "newsworthy" and in the public interest.

This is just another sick day in our universe. For me it has nothing to do with Tiger, whether he has been faithful or not to his marriage, and for sure it has not been about pursuing the well-being either physically or mentally of the man. Tiger has become the new poster child of the highest brought down to the lowest. It is as if the media and all of us who participate in it are salivating at the thought that this whiz kid golf wonder might have some human tendencies towards pursuits of the flesh. The modern day media has revealed everything from Clinton's blow-jobs in the oval office, Jimmy Swaggert, the evangelist with a weakness for prostitutes, to David Lettermen's apparent penchant for sexcapades at his CBS offices. But that is apparently not enough, or at least those ratings have worn off to the point where Tiger's dalliances come at a perfect time in the seasons ratings wars. Somehow all of his accomplishments, his never to be matched golfing records, his various charities are all of no interest or mention...because we have discovered that the man may have some flaws and not deserving of his pedestal. We shouldn't put people on pedestals in the first place...they will all always let us down at some point if we think they are perfect.

I am not thinking or writing in defense of Tiger Woods. Perhaps these events and especially the public knowledge of them will give him a chance for a "normal" life again...whatever that is. I never looked at him as a saint and quite honestly have often thought him as a spoiled child that has been programmed, coddled, pedestalized, and paid WAY TOO MUCH MONEY for selling everything from golf balls to Buicks. After all, who pays for all those endorsements? You and me, the consumer. The agencies and the media have always worked hand in hand to build idols in our culture who might cause us to spend spend spend in order to golf...or heaven forbid, DRIVE...like Tiger Woods.

Hopefully in due time this will all blow over and our society and the media will find new targets of their criticism and disdain. There will always be someone else or their family to snoop on and find out their hidden secrets that make them a "phony" in our eyes...but I think it is time to call it what it is. "We", the public and little people, LOVE bringing down the heroes to our levels. We can't stand to think of someone for very long as being perfect or superior to us. We really WANT these guys to have some dirty laundry, some slimy secret that finally makes them...like us. And we along with the media smirk and joke with our "circle" about all of Tiger's travails. I fully expect a huge collection of racial slurs and dirty jokes to start pouring into my email inbox regarding Tiger Woods. I also believe some of his sacrosanct corporate endorsements will fall by the wayside at least for a little while as the public pressures them to "punish" our former hero for his bad bad boy behavior.

I just find myself wistful for the era and culture where it was rude and vulgar to pursue or inquire about someone's personal lives. I'm afraid we have grown into a culture of extreme hypocrisy and wantonness. We apparently have nothing better to do than put our collective noses into the painful realities of our heroes families and personal lives. We apparently expect our leaders to have no bad habits, human weaknesses or sexuality unless it is by our definitions of what is right and correct. We judge and cast stones from our glass houses...sneering at those who would demand their privacy and rights to determine their own lifestyle. There is no moral majority in this world anymore. We have been tainted and injured by all of the reality that has been forced on us by our media...and we now want to take our revenge on the likes of Tiger Woods, Bill Clinton, and all those terrible, weak men who have not lived up to OUR expectations of them.

I have some news for everybody. Our culture is feeding on its own flesh...and it is quite an ugly sight. Pornographic in its own way. Instead of shutting our eyes and ears to "evil", we are pretending to be more righteous and cleaner than the next guy. We love pursuing "blood and gore" and pander for all the details. And while we may say we would never do what Tiger or other fallen heroes have done...maybe, just maybe, they are actually more honest than most of the rest of us. Instead of just "thinking or fantasizing" about whoever they are attracted to, they have acted on it. How DARE they! Yet there is a deep down principle that I still believe in from Judeo Christian writings that says "there is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor?"..."let him who is without sin cast the first stone..."

So I must implore...stop "feeding on Tiger" and "get a life". And please Mr/Mrs reporter, spend as much time as you have pursuing Tiger's dark side on uncovering the truth about our wars, famine and hunger, corruption and government bailouts. It should be beneath you to sneak into people's bedrooms...either vicariously or in reality. Yes...the animals in the zoo are still having sex. Get over it.