When you hear the name Tiger Woods, what is the first thought that comes to mind? A year ago, nearly all answers would have been ‘golf’ but that may have changed a bit since then.  With all the media feeding off of anyone’s personal lives, Tiger Woods’ life has been all over the television, newsstands, magazines, and every other media outlet.  With having allegedly (is it even in question still?) cheated on his wife with a number of other ‘mistresses’ his life has been in the spotlight a lot recently, but one has to stop and wonder how much do we really believe, and what do we really care?

His life should not directly affect you on any level whatsoever, should it?  I understand, of course, that there were many people who were fans of his, and supportive of his career.  But at what point do we stop and say to ourselves, “Why do I care about his personal life?” The obvious answer would be that he’s a celebrity.

But by putting celebrities, and really anyone at all, on a pedestal and having such high expectations of them, you’re bound to be disappointed at some time or another.  He’s only human, just like the rest of us, and while I don’t endorse cheating at all, on anyone, who are you to judge someone you don’t even know?

Sure, you see him play golf, maybe if you’re lucky you’ve actually seen him play in person. And if you’re really lucky, maybe even met him for a brief instant and he probably doesn’t even remember your name. Why do we, as a society, feel like we can judge these people?  Do we relate to them on a personal level and feel that we have the right to?  Some might answer that they can judge him because he’s a ‘role model’ for their children, but we’ll get to that one momentarily.


I learned today of the ‘top-down theory’ which is, in my own words, something that occurs when a person who is ‘higher’ in society, steps down to a position (figuratively) in which they relate to the general public in a way that makes the public more accepting of them.  Can this be applied here?  I think it very well could.  Through media outlets on the internet, as well as other things such as advertising on products, we as a society see ourselves able to relate to Tiger Woods.

Whether it is a commercial with him on television, or an ad in a magazine, if he’s depicted using a product you use, you feel that in a sense, you can relate to Tiger Woods on a personal level.  Perhaps this is one explanation of people feeling they can judge him and his mistakes.

Back to the topic of people feeling that he became a bad influence and/or role model for the kids need to take a step back and look at their parenting.  If you put that much trust in someone that you don’t even know and solely expect them to be a role model for your child, then there’s something wrong with your child’s role models.  It’s your job as a parent to provide role models in your child’s life that are beneficial to them, and you can’t expect someone in the public eye to never make a single mistake.