Editor’s note: A trio of columnists from the Washington Post Writers Group wrote on the debate over Tiger Woods and his right to privacy. Some excerpts:
By Kathleen Parker
The feeding frenzy over Tiger Woods’ tiny run-in with a fire hydrant has taken voyeurism to new depths.
Where was he going at 2:25 in the morning? Why wasn’t he wearing shoes? Why was his wife smashing his Cadillac Escalade’s window with a nine-iron?
Prying minds apparently want to know all this and more. And the insatiable, ubiquitous media — from the bloviating blogosphere to the cackling cable commentariat — are all too happy to oblige.
Might we interrupt this terribly unimportant episode in the private life of a professional golfer to point out that it’s nobody’s business? This isn’t breaking news. This is breaking gossip.
The news ended with the report that Woods had run into a fire hydrant outside his Windermere, Fla., home and has decided not to play in his own tournament because of minor injuries suffered. That should be a wrap.
Celebrity in America no longer means that one is admired for accomplishment. It means ownership by the masses. I don’t care if the little ball goes in the little hole. But Tiger Woods will be my forever-hero if he locks the gate and shows voyeurs the road customarily paved with good intentions.
By Ruben Navarrette
Some truths are counterintuitive. In business, you have to spend money to make money. In politics, the only way to maintain acquired capital is to spend it. And with celebrity, those who go to extraordinary lengths to protect their privacy wind up with much less of it.
Tiger Woods is perhaps the greatest golfer in the world, and the only billion-dollar athlete on the planet. He knows a lot about competing, and becoming the best in your field. But the 33-year- old still has much to learn about one of the things that he seems to crave most in life: privacy.
The more Woods tries to elude the Florida Highway Patrol concerning that early-morning car accident outside his home, the less privacy he’s going to have — and the less peace, for that matter.
Woods might be right on principle. But as a practical matter, his handling of this episode has been a disaster. The married father of two may be completely justified in treating the incident like a private matter that is no one else’s business. And it might be smart to avoid giving the police statements that, even if they aren’t incriminating, could easily wind up leaked to the media or celebrity gossip sites.
Yet, Woods’ evasiveness concerning the crash and what might have precipitated it only serves to raise more questions and feed the media frenzy.
He should come forward to tell his side of the story. And then he should do what we commoners would have to do: live with the fallout.
By Ruth Marcus
Tiger, don’t say anything. Not another word. The future of civilization — such as it is — depends on it.
Overstated, but there is a serious point here: Woods’ determined silence in the aftermath of his wee hours encounter with a fire hydrant is a timely antidote to the too-much-information celebrity culture.
Woods is the converse of the loathsome White House party-crashers. They crave celebrity and seem willing to do anything, no matter how humiliating, to obtain it. He is drowning in celebrity and craves privacy — so much, in fact, that he chose it as the name for his 155-foot yacht.
He likes to scuba dive, he once said, because “the fish don’t know who I am.”
Michaele Salahi, the White House party-crasher, would have taken pictures of herself posing with the fish — and posted it on her Facebook fan page.
As to Tiger’s behavior, I don’t know. I don’t want to know. Tiger, thank you for not sharing.
