Wednesday, December 02, 2009

About this Tiger Woods thing....

Questions:

If you are not related to Tiger Woods, then why do you consider any aspect of his personal life to be your business? And why did he issue a statement? Why shouldn't the guy simply say "screw you" to all who ask questions that they have no business asking?

With all that is happening in the world today, why is this crap news? Are people really so small?

25 comments:

Kyre said...

"Are people really so small?"

Unfortunately, yes.

Anonymous said...

Here's why it is our business. When domestic violence is ignored or covered up by police you get situations like Nicole Simpson's murder. That's why police forces no longer require a complaint from one of the spouses to press charges. Further, when there is one standard of justice for the average person and an entirely different standard for the rich and famous, it is called police corruption and needs to be corrected. Finally, when we endorse a society in which we affirm that anything goes behind closed doors because it is private and nobody else's business, we create an environment in which the worst and most bizarre atrocities can take place without detection. We must care about what happens to our neighbors -- that we do care strongly is a matter of evolution as a social species, not prurient interest. Space doesn't permit an essay on evolutionary psychology.

Anonymous said...

Didn't you notice? He did say "screw you" to everyone.

Unknown said...

Are people really this small?

That's a big YUP!

Anonymous said...

Tiger profits by being in the public eye. Look at all of his endorsements. Anyone who puts himself in the public like that should only expect the public to scrutinize that person. If he has a problem with that, he should stick to golf.

If he does not want his private matters in public then why did he do this

http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20259827,00.html

He only wants the good stuff in the public eye and it sounds like you do to. He can't have it both ways.

Joseph Cannon said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Alinosof said...

With the daily drip,drip...His silence was not working for the corporate sponsors. So, I think that, on advice from his sponsors and lawyers, he issued the statement to minimize the damage to his image and stop the bleeding. It's also a preemptive strike: any new revelation in that area will be considered old news.

Joseph Cannon said...

Anon 2:40 -- boy, are YOU reaching. WHAT "domestic violence"? Are you reading headlines that differ from the ones I'm seeing via Google News? The stuff I've skimmed talks about adultery. Big fucking deal.

And WHAT police corruption?

And let's say that there was some sort of domestic violence involved. Well, there are probably ten or twenty domestic violence cases within a five mile radius of your home. Why should such matters be of greater importance when they involve celebrities?

You are resorting to some very strained rationalizations to justify an interest in low gossip.

Tell the average Americano about the millions of children sold into slavery, and you'll get a big ho-hum. But piffle about Tiger Fucking Woods makes people go apewire. I just don't get it!

Anonymous said...

People drive into fire hydrants and trees outside their own homes all the time, just because they can. What domestic violence? He has a split lip and there was no blood at the scene. He was unconscious yet there was no airbag deployment and his car was not going fast. He was wearing no shoes when he left the house. His wife bashed in the window of the
SUV with a golf club yet photos show no need because the doors were not jammed in the accident. What domestic violence? You can't see what you don't want to see. The two were arguing, he rushed out of the house and got into a single-car accident for no explainable reason. What does that add up to for you? He supposedly was under no influence of drugs or alcohol, so why the crash? Just because the press doesn't want to frame this as domestic violence doesn't mean nothing happened. This situation is obvious to anyone who has any sort of experience with what happens when couples fight. If you want to pretend that nothing reported = nothing happened, then you are choosing ignorance but it doesn't change reality.

Joseph Cannon said...

"The two were arguing, he rushed out of the house and got into a single-car accident for no explainable reason. What does that add up to for you?"

It adds up to nunnayer bidness. That's what it adds up to.

Brenda said...

If you are not related to Angelina Jolie, then why do you consider any aspect of his personal life to be your business? Or any alleged aspect?

gregoryp said...

I don't care at all. Not one iota. Don't even watch golf anymore because all they do is focus on Tiger. Personally, if I never heard another word about him, by him or if I never saw his face again it would be just fine with me.

Totally overexposed human and this is completely his fault because he went after the fame and the huge fortune. He has basically admitted to cheating on his wife now even though that really is none of our business and is not against the law in any way.

The thing that is really revolting about this is that his wife, who is the victim, is being further victimized by the press. Seriously though, none of this amounts to a hill of beans. He didn't hurt anybody in his accident, he didn't flee the scene, he didn't do anything illegal other than having an accident. As far as I am concerned it should be status quo even if he winds up getting divorced over this because most peoples marriages don't last now anyway.

Joseph Cannon said...

Brenda, I haven't poked my nose into Angelina Jolie's personal life, if by that we mean her love life. The purpose of that post was two-fold:

1. I'm trying to draw attention to the ubiquity of the inane Obama-as-socialist meme. I simply can't believe that we are arguing about the red menace in this day and age.

2. A fair number of celebrities have invested in Dubai. I want them to feel embarrassed about that. For the same reason, some years ago, activists made performers feel bad if they worked in apartheid South Africa.

Both of those matters are, in my estimation, worthy of comment.

Anonymous said...

Tiger Woods, like Michael Jordan before him, earns the majority of his money based on his high 'Q' rating. A high 'Q' rating isn't achieved simply by athletic or other professional excellence. Guys like Mike Tyson or Tyrell Owens were at the top of their professions, but their bad behaviors leading to considerable public distaste (i.e., a LOW 'Q' rating) never allowed them to cash in this way with endorsement deals.

Roughly speaking, Tiger earns maybe $90 million a year, with only about 10% from his purses and appearance fees. So he gets $80 million for his good public image on top of his huge direct sports earnings.

He has perhaps done something to destroy that public image, revealed in a public incident, with regard to an incident to which police and emergency services were summoned.

By appearances, it seems his admittedly prior personal and private (bad) behavior drove his spouse to commit assault with a deadly weapon, and probably assault and battery in a domestic violence incident.

I agree that in a more perfect world, people wouldn't sniff around celebrities' dirty laundry. But in this world, wherein the vast emoluments of a top level athlete can be ramped up to still another higher order of magnitude by the culture of celebrity and the saleability of a high 'Q' rating, there is this little downside, deplorable though it may be in the abstract.

XI

Roberta said...

"Are people really so small?"

You just have to read some of the comments here to know the answer is a definite Yes.

Alessandro Machi said...

Tiger Woods apology was a shortcut to the greens. He was trying to avoid the scrutiny of many women coming forward claiming they had affairs with him.

I agree with the sentiment that the affairs should not actually be the story. The story should be the REACTION to the affairs by Tiger's wife. If she resorted to violence because of the affair, I would find that troubling because she is married to a billionaire and she will be incredibly compensated if she desires.

But to physically assault him and in the process actually endanger his ability to physically perform on a golf course is inexcusable.

I absolutely DO NOT want to hear or see the women Tiger Woods slept with become famous or have them waste internet bandwidth.

I absolutely DO CARE that somebody did something dangerous that night and in that case, I do want to know why.

Gary McGowan said...

I would suppose that a pretty small percent of the Earth's population has given any thought to Mr Woods' latest whatever.

And some, with many opportunities to read or think about these stories, just ignore them.

HOW did people get so 'small' is of more concern to me. And how to help us reclaim our rightful 'bigness.'

Roberta said...

Those are two great questions, Gary. And you are so correct. They get straight to the heart of the matter.

Anonymous said...

The interest is probably based more on the hypocrisy more than anything else. Larry Craig, Mark Sanford, Eliot Spitzer, John Ensign, people living supposed lives based on "family values" who are doing quite the opposite.

Most of our politicians are nothing but lying hypocrites so perhaps putting another celebrity on display for acting in the same manner only validates our already jaded view of how we are meant to perceive them.

It is the hypocrisy that fascinates. The sin may be as old as time but he sinner often surprises. Hence the fascination.

Gus said...

I was unaware about any of this until I read the post and these comments. I wish I still was. Why anyone, aside from the parties directly involved, would have any interest in this whatsoever, is beyond my comprehension. Small indeed.

Alessandro Machi said...

Elliot Spitzer introduced a critical case that made it to the supreme court, and the case won (under Andrew Cuomo who took it over).

States can sue banks for banks misbehavior. This was a huge deal and Spitzer should not be minimized because he did things he shouldn't have done.

And of course, there are rumors his outing was in part due to his support for Hillary Clinton.

MrMike said...

Since we don't have and SUV or golf clubs, this incident is of no great interest to me.
For those that feel justified poking their long noses, CW should be enough to tell you that if you cheat on your spouse, violence may be the result. Therefore there is no need to pry into the Woods' family life unless you are some sort of voyeur.
As to those worried about his "Q" rating, unless you have stock in one of the companies who's products he endorses, again why?
Is your life that drear?
From small minds come the small, venial politicians we are saddled with. Did these people pay this much attention to Obama's speechifying?

Roberta said...

“…there are rumors his [Elliot Spitzer] outing was in part due to his support for Hillary Clinton.”

At the time I also read somewhere that his indiscretions were picked up by one of the phone taps and other spying allowed by Bush and Cheney under the Patriot Act . Scary stuff if you can knock off a strong political opponent with spying that is claimed to be for our own protection. Yeah! Sure!!

Anonymous said...

Spitzer was outed because of his prior high profile role as NY's Attorney General leading a consortium of about 49 other Attorneys General to sue the feds to stop the massive lenders' frauds and other bad practices. They were against many state laws, but the feds, through an unusual ruling from the Comptroller of the Currency's office, were circumventing the state laws. He knew about the predatory lending practices, and laid out a very strong case on the op/ed page of the NY Times that the crash/catastrophe was the result of deliberate enabling actions by the federal government.

That said, what he did was actually illegal in NY state and all states, even if its revelation was highly irregular and probably itself illegal as well. What we suspect Tiger Woods did is not usually illegal (although some states still have adultery as a misdemeanor offense, I believe).

MM, I do not care about anybody's 'Q' rating. I mentioned it because it is part of the mechanics of this situation, and why it is so high profile a matter in the public's attention.

This is the story you've seen it become because of Wood's high profile and high public esteem.

And it should be added that the attention was further fueled by the mystery and secrecy Woods attempted to draw around the matter, and in particular, how he ducked the police interview three times, which created its own impression on top of all the other details.

XI

Oliver T. Heplace said...

Spitzer? I reacquainted with an old friend from high-school via email back in 2004. He was telling me what he has been up to over the past 10 or 15 years... between kids and wife and home-with-pool; he mentioned how for a while in his career trajectory, he was working directly for the CFO of AIG "until that bastard Elliot Spitzer came and started sniffing around"

I'm not saying he didn't 'do' that lady of the night, just that that alone should be between him, his wife and her golf clubs. What happened to Spitzer was that there were just too many people in his crosshairs. And why? Because THEY were guilty of much more than getting their dicks wet. Guilty of stuff that fucked us all. And they would rather out his fuckery than admit their culpability. Didn't I read here on Cannonfire that ES was going after Madoff-- jeez we should judge this in flagrante delicto! After all like Elliot (Elisabeth) we are the arbiters of the Mark of a Man (oh wait! that was Gods role!!)

But Tiger. Man, I still remember him on The Mike Douglas Show back in 1977. Little Tiger Woods.... he could swing like Michael Jackson could sing... poor fella. well, $90M-a-year poor, but still... that was some show 32 years ago... Mike Douglas-- the only white man to make Grandma Klummp moist...

FUCK TMZ!