Entreprecurious

Have you heard about this whole Tiger Woods scandal? I’ve been glued to the TV all week staying up to date all the latest developments.

Yes, I’ve heard people talking about it. To be honest, I don’t really get why everyone cares so much?

What, are you kidding me? Why does everyone care so much? Well, let’s see…Tiger is one of the best golfers of all time, if not the best. He has had just about as sparkling clean a PR history as an athlete can have. He’s enormous philanthropist, donating up to $9.5 million a year to various youth causes. He’s living the American dream; son of a Thai mother and African American father works hard enough to become possibly the best golfer of all time, and comes home to a beautiful wife and child in his enormous mansion, to boot! Just when it couldn’t get much better for Tiger, he slips up and crashes his car at the end of his driveway. Then come the allegations of drunk driving, domestic violence, and now, even substantiated evidence of him cheating on his wife! Of course people care! This is the best celebrity gossip since Britney!

So what, you like drama?

Of course I like drama! This stuff is great. It’s great when celebrities slip up in their personal lives!

So what, you like putting someone down?

Well that sounds kind of harsh. Like I said, he’s the American Dream in action! It feels good to read this stuff and say, “see, nobody’s perfect!” He slipped up! Being perfect comes with his job description, so when he messes up, he should accept this media storm as the consequence. Remember, this guy is supposed to be flawless, according to Nike and such.

So what, you’re saying Tiger didn’t live up to your expectations, which by the way, are based entirely on what his sponsors tell you?

Well…yeah, sorta I guess. His sponsors marketed him as a clean cut, flawless athlete and generous philanthropist. Then he goes and pulls this!

That’s really shocking that a sponsor like Nike would want to promote one of their most important athletes as being immortal!

No need to be sarcastic, I get it. Obviously Nike wouldn’t dare promote Tiger as anything less than perfect. But still, he did not live up to the perfect expectation people had of him.

So you were holding him to a ’standard of perfection,’ were you? Do you think anybody on this planet is really truly ‘perfect,’ based on your current “ethical” framework?

Well obviously nobody is ‘perfect’–

Sorry to cut you off, but do you realize you just conceded the fact that nobody is perfect? Given this, I would say that your expectations of Tiger to be perfect is out of line with your understanding that nobody is perfect.

Fine, my expectations were unrealistic, fair enough. But he still let his wife down! And his kid, what about his kid!

I hate to say it, but so what? The events within the Woods family need not be of any concern to you. Even if we imagined for one second, that Tiger is the first married man to cheat on the wife that birthed his child, and that the emotional damage incurred by his family will be crippling and long-lasting…STILL, this would realistically not affect you personally in any way, shape, or form–unless you want it to.

What do you mean, ‘unless you want it to?’

I mean, if you are personally offended because of the seemingly poor parenting and marital job performed by Tiger, then just realize that it is only you who is inflicting yourself with anger and resentment–not anyone else. You want this story to affect you because by castigating Tiger as “bad,” you’re effectively calling yourself “good” or at least “better,” because you “would never do anything like that!”

I wouldn’t do something like that. He is an awful role model for all the kids out there. And in particular, I don’t want my children thinking that this is okay because Tiger Woods did it.

So what? You’re saying that your spoken word to your kids is outweighed by the most recent athlete blunder of the week?

No, but still…okay okay fine. I get your point. There’s no reason to care about this, or any of other “huge mistakes” by celebrities filling our magazines and newspapers.