The American Spectator

When I watched Tiger Woods’ “confession” recently, I was horrified. I was not horrified by his having many girlfriends and mistresses. I’ve been in Hollywood close to forty years now, and I know what fame and money can bring in the way of sexual connections and people pleasers. Obviously, his having had so many romances while married is a bad thing, and he certainly is answering for it painfully. But that, too, is not what horrified me.

It was Tiger Woods’ appearance that horrified me. He looked drugged, brain-washed, as if he had been the victim of North Korean brainwashing during the Korean War. He looked like what I imagine the prisoners of the Thought Police would have looked like in George Orwell’s 1984. He looked as if he had been beaten to a pulp and then made to be humiliated in front of the world.

Again, I don’t get it. What he did is shameful, but it’s between the Tiger and his wife. He did not break any laws that I know of. He is not a public servant. He didn’t beat anyone up. He didn’t steal any money. He didn’t commit treason. He’s the greatest golfer there ever was. I know a lot of good golfers who have many girlfriends. Why is The Tiger being made a spectacle in front of the world?

Why can movie stars and rock stars and billionaire playboys have this kind of love life every day for their whole lives and no one says a word, and when one of the great athletes of all time does it, he gets crucified? Why, in the most basic sense, is it anything but gossip and why does it deserve this much attention, not to say this much torment of the Tiger and his wife?

There are big issues in the world today: wars, terrorism, a major, big recession, terrible unemployment, people losing their homes, serious fraud on Wall Street. Have we forgotten all of this?

The Tiger tried to live a rock star sex life. So what? This is between him and his wife. Let’s butt the heck out and get on to serious work, or just minding our own business. This man has been tortured enough.