The Real Tragedy of the Tiger Woods Drama

Unless you've been living under a rock, or in a country that actually has real news, you've heard about championship golfer, Tiger Woods' adulterous romps. The quick 411 is that this golf prodigy who sold the world on his clean, family guy image was banging porn stars, wannabe actresses, reality show contestants, and yes, even the waitress at the pancake house.

The news keeps assigning tragedy to the loss of his sponsorship endorsements, and somewhat to the pending demise of his marriage, but mostly to the possible percentage of fortune he will have to fork over when his wife finally does file papers. As mistress after mistress comes forward for her 15 minutes of fame, everyone seems to be missing the real tragedy of this situation.

For starters, I have seen a few interviews with these co-adulterers, not that I wanted to, but that is all the American news will carry. Not one of these women has expressed remorse about their part in aiding the destruction of a marriage and assisting a husband in committing the ultimate betrayal of his wife. They are plenty mad that they weren't his exclusive mistress, but none seemed to be phased in the least by the fact that they committed adultery. They seem to be justifying their part by claiming that the soon-to-be, former Mrs. Woods, "must have known what was going on."

My theory is that they also felt fine about participating in this betrayal, because Elin had the gonzo diamond ring, and Elin had the multiple mansions, and Elin had all the spending money a girl could ever want, so therefore, the expectation of fidelity in her marriage shouldn't have been Elin's priority.

This leads to the second tragedy in this situation; the idea that our society has about adultery being perfectly acceptable if you can afford it. I've heard all of the excuses from several people; Tiger is an athlete, Tiger has tons of money, Tiger is famous, Tiger gave his wife everything (well, except his word), but, did I mention that Tiger was a famous athlete who has tons of money.

Why should a man who makes $50,000 per year be required to be faithful to his wife and family, while a man who makes $50 million+ per year is exempt? What is the exact dollar amount that one has to make before he is relieved of his duty of trust that he vowed to give his wife? Also, if our society prides itself on morality, then why is it nearly expected that a wealthy man will have a mistress?

One of the arguments I've heard is that Americans are prudish, and that people in Europe are accepting of this sort of behavior. The assumption is that European society is so much more advanced and they don't have a problem with a man having someone in his bed other than his wife. However, this attitude perplexes me. Unless I'm missing something really obvious, wouldn't a European wife feel just as betrayed and heartbroken if her husband was cheating? The idea that European women are wired differently is ridiculous, but this has come up more than once, because Elin is Swedish. Apparently she didn't get the memo that her Swedish self should be okay with adultery.

The biggest tragedy of them all, is that Tiger, in fulfilling his carnal desires outside of his marriage, didn't just betray Elin, he betrayed his children. When a wife can no longer trust her husband to be an honorable person, then the family falls apart. Even if she decides to stay together for the kids, her lack of trust will not go unnoticed by the children, and will have a negative, long lasting impact.

This story isn't over yet. The "news" will be salivating over every illicit detail for at least the next few months. More women are likely to come forward for their ill-gotten fame, and Tiger will probably end up having to do an Oprah appearance before returning to professional golf. When all is said and done, I've heard people say that he will regain his status due to his talent. Right now, anyone will tell you that Tiger Woods is an amazing golfer, but as a person, he's an absolute scumbag, and no amount of green jackets or Oprah confessions will ever make that go away.