Monday, November 30, 2009

Woods a living symbol of perfection?

Tiger Woods was in Melbourne recently. His reception was way over the top. He was fawned over and treated like something more than a great sportsman. The worst offenders were middle-aged white women; I still remember one at a press conference gushing over him, treating him like he was a demigod.

Woods himself seemed embarrassed by it all.

So when news of his alleged infidelity hit the papers I was interested in the reaction of his worshippers admirers.

Sally Morrell, a regular columnist for the Melbourne Herald Sun, obliged by penning her thoughts on the matter.

In her column she admits that she has no interest in golf. She doesn't admire Woods for his sporting prowess but for what he represents as a man. She writes:

It is Woods the man that I so like and admire. It's almost like he's a living symbol of perfection.

A living symbol of perfection? Why? Well, Sally Morrell likes that he isn't brash, that he's close to his parents and that he's protective of his family's privacy. But the clincher is this:

I especially love that his ethnicity embraces almost every part of the world, with his ancestors including Thais, African Americans, American Indians and Dutch.

Perfection, for Sally Morrell, seems to be a man who is non-white, but who is non-threatening to her white sensibilities by being unassuming, genteel and protective toward his family.

But adultery is less than perfect, shattering the idyll:

So now you tell me he had an affair? Hello? It's like telling me Jesus kicked a dog.

It's not just that it doesn't compute, it's that it makes you doubt if anyone can be as perfect as we'd like to believe at least one man can.

Of course, we shouldn't be so naive and shouldn't need any one person to show us what perfection looks like.

Of course, writes Sally Morrell, we shouldn't be so naive - but she indulges her naivety regardless, projecting her liberalism onto a hapless golfer in something close to religious terms.

17 comments:

  1. it makes you doubt if anyone can be as perfect as we'd like to believe at least one man can.

    Well, one man was. I don't think she even realizes what she is saying here! She really has rather low expectations of her god. Genteel, protective of family, multi-ethnic really doesn't compare so well with forgiveness of all sins and eternal salvation does it?

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  2. The article is written by a woman exhibiting the self presence of a junior high school girl with a crush on a senior athlete.

    ...it's so intimate that it is none of our business, and there's certainly no need for Woods to tell us a single thing about what actually happened.

    There is every reason for him to explain to someone. He is a public figure paid large sums by his fans. He is also a paid spokesman for third parties, and is a "representative" of the PGA. Because of this, he owes his clients (those paying him) an explanation of his behavior. He also owes the police, whom he has been avoiding, an explanation of the property damage he's caused.

    And in a way it is partly our business because it certainly hasn't been Woods' golf alone that made me like him so much...

    The woman just contradicts herself. But in any case it is not "our" business at all, and it is especially not her business simply because "he made her like him." It is, as explained above, the business of those employing him, however.

    It's Woods the man that I so like and admire. It almost like he's a living symbol of perfection.

    Morrell shows very poor judgment, and is quite naive to the point of embarrassment anent human nature. Woods is not "almost like" anything of the sort. This author is obviously sexually attracted to Woods, and has fantasized about what he must be like, at least in her own mind.

    I love that he seems so humble... I love that he has always been so very close to his parents... I also love that he seems to play golf just because he loves it...

    What kind of person uses the word "love" in such a manner? And, how could she even know what he is like or what motivates him? In fine, she is lost in imagination.

    Then there's his wife, who...seems so nice...

    This woman lives in a bizarre world of seems. It is not even clear that, at this point in her life, she has any solid grasp of the real world. And how can any woman who attacks her husband with a weapon be nice, in any event?

    I love the handsome result of that genetic mix.

    Sally Morrell is showing pathological signs of obsession. How did this get by her editors in the news room?

    So now you tell me he had an affair? Hello? It's like telling me Jesus kicked a dog.

    Her deprecation of traditional religion by equating a sports figure with Christ demonstrates, more than anything, the woman's lack of seriousness, and underscores the fact that she hasn't the ability to even formulate serious ideas.

    Of course, we shouldn't be so naive and shouldn't need any one person to show us what perfection looks like.

    Who is being naive? Your words give you away. Usually these people show themselves if you let them run on.

    i'm not excusing here but just explaining that Tiger Woods might be, after all, only human. Who knew?

    You, for one.

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  3. Not to meantion non-dog-kicking, Liesel.

    Seriously, how does this stuff get dished up in our papers so much? What are the editors thinking?

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  4. They really are like sheep without a shepherd, aren't they?

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  5. "The woman just contradicts herself."

    I'm shocked, shocked!

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  6. "I love the handsome result of that genetic mix."

    Hang on... I thoguht there were no differences between the races!

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  7. "What are the editors thinking?"

    They're not. They're feeeeeing.

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  8. Kilroy wrote, They're not. They're feeeeeing.

    Absolutely right, Kilroy. One feels emotions; one thinks, however, about the ideas, opinions, concepts, etc. that make sense of those emotions and the world that evoked them.

    When liberals "feel" instead of think, they conceal the role of their own will in the formulation of their words and pass them off as unconscious reactions over which they have little control and therefore little responsibility.

    Well, I feel angry when they do that.

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  9. Mpresley, the word I was going to use to describe Sally Morrell's state of mind was "ungrounded". But you put it well when you wrote that she is "lost in imagination" and lacks a "solid grasp of the real world".

    But she's not alone in this, is she? Haven't there been too many Western intellectuals like her over the past centuries? Too ready to get caught up in intellectual fads and fashions and lacking a stabilising orientation to key aspects of culture and civilisation.

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  10. The fact that she is married to Andrew Bolt certainly explains why the left-wings bogey man is not quite as evil as they believe.

    Bolt may well have been a traditionalist conservative if not for the influence of this insane harpy.

    And even worse she may have an influence on their three kids.

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  11. She's married to Andrew Bolt? I have to say, I didn't know.

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  12. I can't believe you did not know that!!!

    You never know, he may look down on her views, seeing she is a mere woman. :)

    Savvas Tzionis

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  13. anon seems to have strange views about Andrew bolt.

    As such I can only assume he or she is a left winger. They don't read Bolts columns but they sure seem to have a lot to say about him.

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  14. "Well, I 'feel' angry when they do that".

    Lol. I think the best thing to do is to hit the ignore button.

    He's an excellent golfer but I'm not interested in the hagiographies of sportsmen (or recently elected presidents).

    Why do women have these issues anyway? It was the same thing with Lettermen. I thought all liberals cheated on each other all the time?

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  15. You may find it rather funny or perhaps strange that the African American community is not so fond of Woods. That a white woman finds him "perfect" would really give some a laugh, His apparent attraction to many and only white women perhaps confirms their belief that he is rather ashamed to identify as black:
    http://cbs13.com/cbsnational/sports/tiger.woods.gossip.2.1352581.html

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  16. "You may find it rather funny or perhaps strange that the African American community is not so fond of Woods."

    Maybe its because he's too squeaky clean (white?) and not gangsta enough.

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  17. Woods is politically correct multi-culturalist idol, they worship him.

    View from the Right:
    "Why the fall of Woods matters"

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