Celebrities are accused of or admit to having affairs all the time

[onenote]

Sometimes with people that work for oor with them (David Letterman, Bruce Springsteen), sometimes with a young cocktail waitress (Ron Wood), sometimes with another celebrity (Barbara Walters/Edward Brooke); sometimes with lots and lots of women (Mick Jagger).

The list really is virtually endless. Yet I don't recall the kind of vituperative reaction to any of those affairs that I'm seeing with respect to Tiger. I'm not defending Tiger's behavior by the way -- he cheated (multiple times) and he was wrong to do so.

But, a question: is Tiger Wood's behavior with respect to his wife (a) better than; (b) worse than, (c) no different than the behavior of, say, John Edwards towards his wife?

[robinlynne]

1. 10 mistresses. vs one mistress. I think that's the really shocking part to most of us.

I've never heard of anyone having ten affairs in 4 years and a wife. Maybe King Henry the 8th?

[onenote]

19. I would bet that any number of rock stars have had more sex partners than that in a month

even if they are "married"

[Deja Q]

25. Agreed. Usually,

men who bang 10 different women are rock stars... and sometimes the rock star bangs 'em all at the same time...


:yoiks:

[no_hypocrisy]

2. Equivalent. He did because he could.

[elocs]

3. Tiger Woods is another rich cheater while John Edwards is cheating scum. n/t

[Captain Hilts]

30. Edwards cheated on an ill wife and Woods on a pregnant wife. BIG 'no no's. nt

[tonysam]

34. Edwards broke off with the "mistress" before the Enquirer printed it, by the way.

[Captain Hilts]

37. Doesn't matter. nt

[Crabby Appleton]

40. and lied about it - he's scum

[avaistheone1]

46. Tiger Woods has not been forthcoming about all the women he has been bedding til attyGloria Allred

stepped into the picture.

[karynnj]

55. That is not provable

Everything he said needs to be questioned because so much was clearly dishonest - no matter how sincere he looked when he said it. If you believed his story, the child could not be his due to timing.

[tonysam]

33. Edwards is cheating scum because you didn't support him in the first place.

He's cheating scum because he is still with his wife. He's cheating scum because, well, just because.

His cheating didn't become public until it was over with. Woods still screws around with impunity. Woods told one of his mistresses he never loved his wife, that it was just a publicity stunt.

Edwards never did that. Woods has kids that evidently weren't wanted by him, but they were good publicity.

[elocs]

44. Yes I did support him in the first place. I intended to vote for him in the WI primary

but never got the chance because he dropped out. Perhaps you should stick with things you know rather than suppositions.

[NYCGirl]

45. Is Tiger Woods running for president on a Democratic ticket?

BIG DIFFERENCE.

[robinlynne]

50. I voted for Edwards, and he would have been a great president.

All the reasons I didn't vote for Obama in the primary are the problems we have now. he said way back then he would sit at the table with the right, and they would have a say in his gov't. I didn't think they should have seat anywhere, but in jail, after all the murders they committed.

[karynnj]

57. Both are pretty scummy - as to which is worse - who cares, both are pretty tragic wastes of talent.

If you believe all the stories on Edwards, as you are doing with Woods, he planned their marriage to occur after his wife died. Not true love in my books! Edwards has a near 2 year old that he has repeatedly denied. When she is old enough to look for information, think of her reaction.

[Drunken Irishman]

4. There was a lot of news about Letterman's...

But it ended because nothing else was revealed. Had this been about one mistress, I think the news dies after a week. However, multiple mistresses have come forth. Suggesting he's a man-whore.

Hard not to report on each one.

[Captain Hilts]

6. And Letterman does not have a choir-boy image, as Woods and Edwards had. nt

[Drunken Irishman]

7. That's a good point.

It'd be similar if we found out Tom Hanks was going around Hollywood boinking every woman he saw.

[Captain Hilts]

14. BINGO. nt

[onenote]

20. I beg to differ

I can't recall any stories about Letterman being a womanizer and he certainly portrayed himself as a good "daddy" and that his decision to finally marry his longtime partner was a sign of his commitment.

[Captain Hilts]

29. But he's no choirboy. I read years ago in Rollingstone, I believe that

he had affairs with co-workers. We also know he's had a varied private life.

[BeFree]

12. My first post on a Tiger thread

Is it possible that because Tiger had the pleasure of so many different women, it made him a better golfer?

Certainly he never had to sweat the 'not getting laid' syndrome, leaving him to concentrate on the one little hole in front of him?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. To the point of utter boredom.

[SemiCharmedQuark]

8. Meh. For me the *only* difference is that Edward's cheating could have affected *me*.

As he was campaigning for president while hiding the affair knowing full well how Americans and the American Media react to affairs.

I suppose you are referring to the fact that Edwards ran on family values? Or that his wife is terminally ill?

[ZombieHorde]

9. TV tells us what to think about.

This is why Japan has the worst reputation for whaling even though other countries whale many whales and some countries even hunt dolphins.

[Kolesar]

10. At least in cycling, we only have doping scandals

I can find myself living vicariously watching top cyclists ride. I just cannot relate to watching somebody else slowly sink a putt. I would rather go uproot dandelions.

[TexasObserver]

11. One is a mistake. Nine is an addiction.

Tiger has been the poster boy for smiling, clean cut celebrities.

They had him selling Buicks, for God's sake!

If you sell yourself as Mr. Clean, you get treated like Mr. Dirty when you get caught banging cocktail waitresses two at a time.

[JuniperLea]

13. What happened to the good old days...

When affairs were private, when sexual orientation was private, when private lives were private?

There were many Hollywood affairs that I didn't know about until way after the fact... and I admire people like Rock Hudson who kept their sexual lives to themselves, and all their friends honored that choice as well.

[tekisui]

18. That is my take.

It isn't any of my business or the rest of the country's. Private affairs should be kept private. The M$M has created a beast of itself. It is parasitic and needs fresh blood and lots of it. Once Tiger's story dies down, they will move on to suck the blood of another.

[present and past]

21. Children prone to breaking rules will not be affected by Tiger's infidelity ...

... but the media coverage of it detracts children's attention from starving HIV-positive people in third world countries.

Maybe today's children are growing up without knowing the difference between gossip and an emergency.

<< What happened to the good old days...
When affairs were private, when sexual orientation was private, when private lives were private? >>

In the 1960s, nobody confused the Vietnam War with a loud argument between Mickey Mantle and his wife. The people who marched on Washington with Martin Luther King in August 1963 focused on issues that were more important than Mr. Mantle's private life.

Americans have become much more affluent and resourceful since the 1963 March on Washington, but many foreign countries have horrible living conditions that will not improve as long as Tiger Woods gets all this attention.

[JuniperLea]

51. Well said, present and past!

And welcome to DU!

I've been looking back to the early 60's lately... it started with a PBS special on Joan Baez several months ago... and I can't get over how dedicated she and others were. Protest, get arrested, go home, shower, eat, protest... lather, rinse, repeat. She's still working it! My hero.

We need to start with journalism. Nothing we do will amount to anything as long as "the other side" can manipulate the media and detract from what is really important. Tiger's zipper activity is not important.

[onenote]

28. that probably is still the case most of the time

Its a poorly kept secret that athletes have groupies just like rock stars. The NBA, NHL, Major League Baseball, and, yes, the PGA, all have an ample supply of young women who want to be, excuse my language, starfuckers, and who is no more deterred by the wedding vows of the star they are fucking than the star himself is.

But there is an unwritten rule amongst fellow athletes and sports writers not to talk about this. In a community like the PGA, where players are on the road week after week, often leaving their families behind, do you really think that everyone is a choir boy and that no one knows who has a different honey in every city. Same for the NBA, MLB, etc.

Tiger was absurdly, almost pathologically, careless. Given who he was and how long he carried on, its amazing he got away with it as long as he did. But there are probably a bunch of other guys on the tour shitting bricks hoping that Tiger's travails don't lead to someone pulling back the curtain on how others live their lives.

[JuniperLea]

52. When you get away with something...

You are empowered to push the envelope a little more... and a little more...

[walldude]

42. +1 This is nobody's business except Tiger's and his harum's.

I'm tired of seeing his name.

[JuniperLea]

53. LOL!

And his lawyers, and his bankers... a fool and his money are soon parted, as they say.

But yeah, there is surely enough actual news happening in the US and the world without Tiger's escapades dominating the broadcast and print media.

We need some real journalism. I do believe this is the root of all evil right now... bad information, and no information. It shouldn't be this way. What happened to real investigative journalism? The only one still doing it is Peter Parker...

[EFerrari]

47. Seriously. RIP, privacy.

[dustbunnie]

54. You admire the fact that Rock Hudson was forced to keep his sexual orientation a secret?

I think it's quite sad that people had to, and in some places of the world still do, have to hide who they are. Rock was frequently matched up with beards... and that was done to squelch any potential dirt from hitting the tabloids. People were ravenous for gossip back then too. They just didn't have the internets to stay on top of it all 24/7.

[bullwinkle428]

56. I agree totally...that particular line in the post made me think

:wtf:

[dustbunnie]

58. I'm really hoping the poster didn't mean it as it was written.

:-(

[JuniperLea]

59. No, not at all

Please don't twist my words. For whatever reason, he chose to keep it to himself. The reason isn't the issue here, the respect for his wishes is the issue. Yes, people were ravenous for gossip back then, but we had TV news, we had newspapers, magazines, and tabloids galore. Everyone respected him enough to keep to themselves. THAT is the issue, and THAT is what is missing today. Many people knew, and said nothing. It's no one's business.

[get the red out]

15. Just wait!

Just wait until Saint Tebow the pure goes to the NFL and is caught screwing somebody, all the heads in the south will literally blow f-ing off (except mine, I'll laugh).

[malaise]

16. M$Greedia loves to destroy the same people

they create as heroes. There's a thin line between the hero and the villain in sport. It's great for ratings.

[dionysus]

17. it's of media interest because he portrayed himself as squeeky clean.

if someone found out that john daly was snorting meth out of a hooker's navel no one would be surprised or care.

[present and past]

23. Squeaky clean exists in your imagination.

<< it's of media interest because he portrayed himself as squeeky clean. >>

Exactly how did he do that? I thought he portrayed himself as a championship golfer, nothing more.

Sadly, the media's obsession with Mr. Woods is overshadowing the horrible event involving four police officers in Washington state.

[dionysus]

24. when in interviews he says he is most proud of being a father and role model, that's how.

:eyes:

[present and past]

35. Nothing wrong with Tiger's public statements.

<< when in interviews he says he is most proud of being a father and role model, that's how. >>

He still can be a good father. We have no evidence that he is abusive. We have no reason to suspect he brought any of his women to the family home where his children could see them. I'm more concerned about fathers who are violent such as O. J. Simpson. Today's children need to learn that violence is everyone's business, but a sex act between two consenting adults is their private business. If it's adulterous, then it might become the business of spouses. Many married people never even find out their spouses have cheated, or they find out many years later when love letters surface.

Mr. Woods was and still is a role model for African American athletes. Obsessing on their private lives not only is racist, but it makes children think gossip is more important than an emergency. The murder of Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman was an emergency. So are the events in Darfur. The only event involving Tiger Woods that comes close to an emergency is a car accident that turned out to be minor.

[dionysus]

49. racist? you don't have clue fucking 1 dude. he was banging a woman in his own bed

while his wife was out of the country, while she was pregnant. he's a sleazy piece of crap man.

[Captain Hilts]

38. His father said he was "transcendent." nt

[951-Riverside]

22. If Jenna Jameson was caught having an affair would any of you care?

...What if Joel Osteen was caught having an affair?

Its all about public perception and image.

[xchrom]

26. i'm surprised that people are surprised that people fuck --

rather indiscriminately and a lot.

[Iggo]

27. Tiger Woods situation is hilarious....and getting funnier by the day.

Nothing funny about the John Edwards sitch.

[goldcanyonaz]

31. He's a serial cheater and TIger Woods was never in the same class as any of the others

you posted about.

Tiger Woods is an icon, someone who only comes around once in a lifetime.

A true national treasure.

Kids emulate him and want to grow up to be just like him.

It's the shock of all these women coming forward, what are we up to now? 10, 12?

It's the shock that he was juggling all these women at once all the while saying that his wife and family were the most important things in his life.

So, therefore I have to vote (b) worse than.

[onenote]

36. A lot of kids emulate rock stars too.

True, rock stars don't pretend to live quiet stay at home lives. But kids emulate them and want to grow up to be like them too. And yet no one suggests that they should be shunned or condemned for their pecadillos.

It was absolutely wrong for Tiger to be unfaithful to his wife. It also was wrong for the women who voluntarily chose to sleep with him to make that decision.

I have a woman friend who I've known for years. My wife likes to say that she knows that I wouldn't cheat on her with that woman because (a) she trusts me and (b) she trusts my friend even more.

[goldcanyonaz]

41. i can not think of anyone who is (was) idolized more than TIger.

Perhaps his problem was not cheating but having relationships with these women where he left them voice mail messages, text, sex texts, etc.

I wouldn't be surprised if one of these ladies (and I use the term loosely) videotaped them having sex with Tiger.

[tonysam]

32. Let's trash John Edwards to try and justify Woods' brazen promiscuity.

Another unrec.

[onenote]

48. if he was single he'd still be guilty of promiscuity. Is DU the new moral majority?

If he was single and sleeping with everyone in sight, would you feel the same way about him?

And I wasn't trying to trash John Edwards (he already did that to himself). My vote is that they are equally in the wrong in their behavior.

[marshall]

39. Plus the Tiger scandal broke at full throttle with the car accident

John Edwards's scandal brewed slowly for a long time, and by the time the actual evidence was made public it really wasn't that much of a surprise to anybody.

[EFerrari]

43. I can't help but think it's none of my business.

I wasn't in that relationship with him and so there's nothing for me to defend or attack because I don't know what happened.