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Will Tiger Woods’ apology be effective?
By Lauren | December 2, 2009
Tiger Woods issued a statement today apologizing for letting his family down, admitting to “transgressions” in the wake of allegations that he’s had one or more extramarital affairs. He also stated that he would deal with his personal life behind closed doors. It’s an interesting approach - Woods told his fans he’s sorry, but also politely made it clear that the gory details of whatever he did are really none of their business.
He has a point.
There’s almost always something a little awkward about public figures’ apologies for breaking their marital vows. On one hand, it’s hard to imagine anything more private than the pain that follows a spouse’s infidelity. On the other hand, society tends to presume that if people voluntarily seek the limelight, every aspect of their lives becomes public property, a fair target for gossip and speculation. It’s time we reconsidered that presumption.
Tiger Woods became famous because he’s a great golfer. That doesn’t mean he’s a knight in shining armor off the greens, or that his family deserves to be dragged through the tabloid mud simply because his skill with a golf club has made him a superstar. Woods has apologized, taken responsibility for his actions, and promised to make amends to the people he injured most. For the rest of us, that really should be all we need to know.
Topics: Apologies, Personal Ethics, Social Ethics, ethics |
December 2nd, 2009 at 11:16 pm
I really have to agree with this. As wrong as it may be for anyone to cheat on their wife, it’s not really anyone’s business. It’s one thing for all the politicians who ran on “family values” and then played around (there seem to have been a whole string of them this year, haven’t there?) but another for a sports icon.
December 3rd, 2009 at 3:43 pm
His marital transgressions and issues should be private. He did, however, issue misleading statements and arguably lied in a public way. Thus, the more interesting question is whether his sponsors, who apparently are “sticking with him”,are basically punting on an ethical obligation to set a standard that they won’t condone deception by employees, suppliers or endorsers who bring in a lot of money. I am guessing that the codes of ethics and conduct of these organization would provide some support for this position.
December 14th, 2009 at 3:48 am
Great post Lauren. However, I’m not sure if I entirely agree. I think because Tiger is in the limelight and is a role model for people, he almost implicitly has a responsibility to act ethically. If he is not acting ethically, and is influencing (even if subconsciously) hundreds of people in our society, I think that indeed our business.
If someone taught a class of hundreds of children, and someone found out they ‘did something immoral.’ I think it would be the right of those parents to question what that immoral act was. I think, similarly, it is the right of those people who care about the moral growth of our society to question why Tiger did what he did.
What are your thoughts about this? Totally okay if you disagree, just wanted to share my opinion
I wrote a post about this on my blog at http://neilsthoughts.com/?p=133. I’m also a big fan of business ethics and I’ll be sure to keep following your blog. Check mine out and comment if you’re interested.
Neil
December 14th, 2009 at 5:30 pm
Hi Neil,
Welcome to my blog! Thanks for your thoughtful comment. As this story has emerged I’ve become a little less convinced that what Tiger Woods did is none of our business. Mostly, though, I’m sorry to see such a superstar tumble, and sincerely hope he’ll be able to put his life back together soon.
Lauren
December 17th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
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