Legendary Heedlessness

In a world where everyone is besotted with a celebrity culture, and a "me-too, look at me, I'm special" obsessive pathology, the public has assessed the issue of privacy and found it wanting. Little wonder, since people are more than ready to revoke every last vestige of pride, and reveal all the unsavoury details of their personal lives. Live, on air, in a television "reality" show, revelling in their idiosyncratic specialness, even their low-down shamefully-abscessed failings.

There is no longer any discretion, any understanding that some things are better left unsaid, unrevealed, un-revelled in. Revelations of one's social, moral or ethical short-comings are pitiful failings, not personal characteristics to be proudly unveiled before a fascinated public, eager to hear and see indelible proof of the searing stupidity and misery of others. And since the public has become so fond of publicly-laundered psyches, no one in the public eye is safe from public disclosure.

And the public shame that results from indelicately ill deeds covertly indulged in for personal pleasure. Which, when divulged, more than certainly has toppled more than one politician, socialite, sport figure, celebrity, philanthropist or high-placed professional in the dungeon of public opinion. Mind, it's a fleeting thing, reflecting the nano-second attention of a flighty public imagination. Titillation does its thing, and is forgotten.

So, Tiger Woods has descended from the lofty pedestal of public acclaim as an outstanding figure of sobriety and esteem. Little peccadilloes like social faux pas aside, that is, for which he can be forgiven, and which the vast following of avid fault-seekers should be ashamed of attempting to reveal. On the other hand, isn't it par for the course for sport figures of great celebrity to eventually reveal their Achilles' heel?

And so, Tiger Woods has. Not meaning to, hoping that his indiscretions will be left private, never to see the piercing blight of schadenfreude. But then, the best laid plans of even outstanding golfers can go astray, just like those of others comfortable in their uniqueness. The facade of caring decency, of familial monogamy, of trusted example to the youth of America has faltered, and fled its pedestal of adoration.

Why do we care? This was his personal choice, for whatever self-gratifying reason he determined he could proceed, in the process to insult his wife and his children by disporting himself as a juvenile-minded womanizer. The degrading intrusion into his personal life was one he initiated. He cannot possibly be that naive as to believe he is beyond the scrutiny of the dirt-digging tabloids.

Denials now avail him nothing in the face of gloating evidence heralding his unfaithfulness to his wife whose aggrieved vindictiveness brought him to the extremely sharp attention of the ever-ready tabloids. His personal life was always a public one. It was his very own decision to invite the public a little further into the privacy of his home.

His anguish over his current plight and the distress of his betrayed wife does him credit. Far more than, for example, the arrogant denials of a president, or an acclaimed heart surgeon seeking sexual gratification from young women helpless to avoid the fascination of a powerful man, or a prostitute eager to earn her living; in that order.