Tiger Woods?

[Typist]

Can anybody explain why Tiger Wood's personal life is any of our business?    It's weird, billions of dollars of media time are being spent poking our noses in to his marriage, and nobody seems too embarrassed about this window peeping.

If he was a politician, I could see it.  We trust them with large sums of money, so it's logical to ask if their own family can trust them.

If he was a moralizing preacher telling everybody how to live, I could see it there too.

But he's an athlete for crying out loud.   An energetic young person with an interest in sex.    Half of all marriages end in divorce.   Where's the news???

[Whitney]

Humans like gossip...that's basically why Tiger's personal life (and that of any other person who really doesn't affect us) is interesting for some people.

See #2 http://www.cracked.com/article_18400_6- ... es_p2.html

It's a good thing, too. What we now consider the nastiest use of language may be the very thing that caused it to evolve. And here's where it gets weird:

To survive, primates had to form groups (to keep away predators, obviously). Most primate societies today top out at around 50 members, and they have a strict social structure that isn't found elsewhere in the animal kingdom. Humans rose above and beyond those small groups to the point that we can keep track of up to 150 other humans before our brains get overloaded (you may have heard this theory referred to as Dunbar's Number, though Cracked likes to refer to as The Monkeysphere). It was the forming of these bigger groups that set us apart.

How did we manage it? By inventing gossip. The first uses of our more complex language (originally probably developed to coordinate hunting) was to sit around the campfire and exchange information about the ones who weren't there, behind their backs.

That use of language--that sharing of juicy secrets about who was sick, or dying, or who was mating with who--let us gather information about other members of the group who don't happen to be present. This is what the other animals could not do, and it let us create the kind of complex societies other species can barely understand.

Wait, it gets weirder.

Ever wonder why women seem to talk--and gossip--more than men? Some think it's because while the males were out hunting, it was the females who did the gossiping around the campfire.

Edit:  but I agree that I don't find it news worthy.

[Typist]

That's interesting, like it, thanks Whitney.  

Ok, so long as we're furthering evolution by peeping in Tiger's windows, I guess it's ok.  :-)

[SSY]

I agree, as far as I am concerned, he is essentially a guy that turns up places, hits balls and goes home. What he does at home is really none of my business. The most common justification I have heard pertains to him being a role model, held to higher standards of accountability, blah, blah etc etc. Which always raised the question in my mind, how much of a shit job the parents must be doing for a golf player to be a role model?

[templeboy]

A week before the scandel broke, he appeared on TV program in New Zealand- Deaker on Sport where he talked about how he is such a family man and his kids and wife mean so much to him.

So that makes him a hypocrite.

But there are plenty of hypocrites in the world. Its not news, its gossip as the above quote from cracked.com argues.

[kelltrill]

People are bored with their own uneventful lives, so they get star struck. If I have to see one more YOU or Heat magazine heading saying, "Brangelina on rocky ground! Brangelina breaks up! Brangelina happily back together! Brangelina adopting again! Brangelina in marital bliss! Brangelina in marital HELL!" I might actually crush my brains with a rock.

That said, I understand how Tiger was a role model and he had a certain amount of responsibility on that account to, at the very least, keep his dirty laundry out of public. But everyone has dirty laundry, and if it's there then the public will find it no matter what. I'm not saying I agree with his actions, but at the end of the day I don't really care and don't think anyone else should either. What I find the most despicable about any paparazzi nonsense is that the people who hunt down and write these stories are undoubtedly not pure, demure people themselves and they now assume to be in a position to judge a man they've probably never even met. Fail.

[G-Roll]

I am tiered of the tiger thing but I can understand why it news related, yet none of my business and nothing that should be outside of ESPN and the sports page.

If he was a politician, I could see it. We trust them with large sums of money, so it's logical to ask if their own family can trust them.

Tiger is the face of the nike franchise. Billions of dollars are swept up in his image. When one talks about golf tiger is my first thought.
Now he is dropped down to be mortal like the rest of us, his sponsors question their investment ect....

I just don’t see why he needs to apologize to the world. I need no apologies and could care less who he lets touch his genitals. He plays golf for crying out loud. Thats even less impressive to me than a baseball player.

[karadan]

I used to watch TV but then it got too much with the advent of stuff like 'reality tv' and its ilk. Now, all my media comes off the web. I can download all my  favourite shows like Lost, Battlestar Galactica and House without the adverts and other TV-associated dross. I've become thoroughly pissed off by almost all of the media as a whole because it now seems to be based on sensationalism and gossip-mongering, not factual entertainment. I have utterly no need to know which 'celebrity' is going out with whom. I agree, people should be applauded for immense talent. So the adulation Tiger Woods has gained all these years is certainly warranted because he completely owns golf (i'm a keen player) but as to what he's been doing in his spare time? I couldn't give a toss.

This celebrity obsessed culture is totally weird. it does my head in. If any of my friends start talking about who is going out with George Cloony, i simply switch off. Nothing is more tedious and annoying to me, to be honest. Celebritydom is a cultural disease.

The only thing i'd say about it would be, if i were in Tiger's position, i certainly would never get married. Besides, for every beautiful woman in the world, there is a guy tired of having sex with her...    (joke)

I admire the actors, musicians and TV people who are able to keep their private lives private. You either play the game, or you don't. The people who play the game are media sluts. Nothing more.

Personally, i think it is another step in human social evolution to get over this gossip thing. I've always tried to steer clear of it where possible. It only leads to bad things on a personal level and ghoulish things on a media-wide level.

[curiosityandthecat]

I personally couldn't care less where Tiger puts his penis. Not sure why so many others are interested in it, really.  

[elliebean]

This celebrity obsessed culture is totally weird. it does my head in. If any of my friends start talking about who is going out with George Cloony, i simply switch off. Nothing is more tedious and annoying to me, to be honest. Celebritydom is a cultural disease.

Tangent:

Has anyone noticed lately that many of the celebrities aren't even celebrities? Why do we need a reality show about the daily lives of the Kardashians? Why are they even famous? Being related to a famous lawyer....Why is he famous? He defended OJ Simpson...Why is he famous? Well, originally for playing a game, but he wasn't anymore until he, umm...

And now this girl's having a baby (I noticed, while waiting at the checkout line) so now they'll expect us to care about that baby's whole life as well.

How many more generations can this flimsy (perhaps ill-gotten) claim to fame trickle down to?



Now we return to our regularly sheduled programming.

[G-Roll]

This celebrity obsessed culture is totally weird. it does my head in. If any of my friends start talking about who is going out with George Cloony, i simply switch off. Nothing is more tedious and annoying to me, to be honest. Celebritydom is a cultural disease.

Tangent:

Has anyone noticed lately that many of the celebrities aren't even celebrities? Why do we need a reality show about the daily lives of the Kardashians? Why are they even famous? Being related to a famous lawyer....Why is he famous? He defended OJ Simpson...Why is he famous? Well, originally for playing a game, but he wasn't anymore until he, umm...

And now this girl's having a baby (I noticed, while waiting at the checkout line) so now they'll expect us to care about that baby's whole life as well.

How many more generations can this flimsy (perhaps ill-gotten) claim to fame trickle down to?



Now we return to our regularly sheduled programming.

i to have been asking that same question for years. how in the hell did paris hilton become a celeb? and how does one make a living showing up in clubs and partying? to my understanding clubs pay celebs to show up and have a good time. the celeb brings out more "normal people" and the club makes twice what it spent.
i think the definition of what or who a celeb is what is out of whack. someone who is well known to the public is a celeb. they can be talentless children of billionaires. thats all that is required to be a celeb

[karadan]

i to have been asking that same question for years. how in the hell did paris hilton become a celeb? and how does one make a living showing up in clubs and partying? to my understanding clubs pay celebs to show up and have a good time. the celeb brings out more "normal people" and the club makes twice what it spent.
i think the definition of what or who a celeb is what is out of whack. someone who is well known to the public is a celeb. they can be talentless children of billionaires. thats all that is required to be a celeb

Yup. The definition of a celeb has become very fuzzy these past few decades. There are people we celebrate, like Nelson Mandela for instance, and then there are people we are told to celebrate through blanket media coverage, like Paris Hilton... One of these people are talked about because of their greatness in the face of adversity and the other is talked about (and probably gets more column inches) because she's an ugly slut?? Go figure.

In the UK it is a regular occurence for an agent of a celeb to call the paparazzi to inform them where said celeb will be that evening so when the inevitable 'getting out of a cab whilst wearing no panties' or 'falling out of a club blind drunk' happens, the paps will be there to shoot it and plaster it all over the tabloids the next day. Any news is good news for some celebs it seems.

It makes my blood boil when i see various trumped-up cheese-artists proclaim the outrageous invasion of privacy by the paps when a couple of weeks before, their wedding or new baby photos are sold to Hello magazine for a million quid.

The ones who play the game should never complain.