Americans Addicted to Sex-Addicted Celebrities

Dave Letterman, John Edwards, Steve Phillips and Tiger Woods. What do these four men have in common? Unless you've been living in a cave, you know that each one has recently been "outed" for sleeping with women other than their wives. Except for Letterman (who was not technically married at the time of his affair), each has seen his career ruined as a direct result of the affair becoming public. Oh, and two of them have admitted to being a "sex addict" and have done a stint in a Sex Addiction Clinic where, presumably, this particular monkey has been forcibly removed from both Phillips' and Woods' backs.

Now, just the other day, came the piece de resistance: Tiger Woods making a public apology for sleeping with several women during his marriage. He admitted that he had "cheated" and "hurt" those he loves. Okay, but why do the rest of us need to hear this? Apparently, sponsors have fled, and a public apology is believed to be the remedy. I wonder if that is part of his therapy: A kind of 12-step program, perhaps?

Americans can't get enough of this sort of drivel, it seems. Everybody likes sex (right?), and probably droves of us would have more of it if we weren't so working-class and boring. So, why is it surprising that those who lead exciting, spare-no-expense lives have more sex than we do? They have all the ingredients to attract partners, such as money, looks, money, talent, and money. Yet, each time some celebrity is found to have had extra-marital affairs, the media acts as if infidelity has just been invented (again).

Prurient interest aside, I think the real reason behind this feeding frenzy is the idea that each of these guys, particularly Woods, has been brought down a peg. Think about it. Whenever someone achieves some status that regular Joes and Janes only dream about, the media will almost immediately begin its search and destroy mission. Thus, beauty queens are dethroned for having posed nude (imagine!) earlier in their careers. Exemplary athletes like Michael Phelps become pariahs for taking a toke at a party, and the most gifted golfer in history finds himself in therapy designed to make him master of his domain. Let's face it: It took a lot of digging with heavy machinery to turn a one-car accident into the current scandal. None of this stuff was come across by accident, and every tidbit gets played for all it's worth.

Celebrities are people just like us, just richer (always) and more talented (usually). Tearing them down and exposing their foibles doesn't make them less so, but it does seem to make the general public feel better about themselves. It also doesn't make people like us any more important, or morally superior. If people want to be titillated, my suggestion is to subscribe to the Congressional Quarterly. At least knowing these peoples' shortcomings enables us to votes the bums out.

Tiger Woods and the Burden of Celebrity

Poor Tiger Woods. His early morning one-car mishap, the reporting of which would normally be relegated to the back pages of the sports section, has mushroomed into allegations of marital discord, domestic abuse, addiction to painkillers and, of course, illicit sex. For a guy who flew under the radar for so many years, he is certainly making up for lost time. As the saying goes, still waters run deep.

Within a day of the accident, reports on TV news and in newsprint were rehashing, extrapolating and opining upon every little detail of Woods' life, both public and private. But wait, there's more! This morning, at least four more women have come out of the woodwork to declare themselves former lovers of Tiger Woods. That makes at least six, not counting his wife. Well, this stamina certainly helps explain how Woods got to be such a great athlete!

And great he is. Anyone who shows him or herself to be exemplary in this world also opens up his or her entire life to scrutiny. Herein lies the burden of celebrity. Of course, it also has it upside, such as those multi-million dollar contracts with corporate sponsors. Sports writers have been falling all over themselves postulating about how Woods will now lose those, due mostly to his lusty sexual appetite being made public. But if people are mindless enough to buy a car because Tiger the great golfer says so, why not buy it because Tiger the great lover endorses it?

These type of incidents say more about us as a society than it does about a famous person being exposed as, well, a person. Are we so intellectually and socially bankrupt that we can only live vicariously through famous individuals? What, then, gives us the right to judge them? Some say that sports figures have a special responsibility as "role models" for children and are therefore more vigorously criticized when they stray from the straight and narrow. Sure, sports stars should be expected to be role models for their own children, but no one else's. What kind of parent would abdicate that responsibility to some unknown quantity?

No one is perfect. Certainly we all know this, yet continue to expect of others what we would never demand of ourselves. The media tells us what to think, and we do so. But news media has responsibilities, too, don't they? While they were wasting everyone's time with titillating stories about Woods, what was happening with health care reform, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, regulation of the financial industry and many other pertinent topics? Let Tiger Woods and his wife work out their problems in private, where this sort of thing belongs. And if you're in the market for a new car, do yourself a favor: Turn off the TV and pick up a copy of Consumer Reports instead.