There’s no escaping the recent headlines of big names having something “private” being discovered, and having their brand tarnished – sometimes severely.  And there’s also no lack of backlash by said big names on the issue of being able to have a private life that’s private.

Take Tiger for example (I didn’t even know what link to use there, since there are pages and pages of them just from today).  Is it “fair” that millions – really billions – of people just found out about his private affairs?  I  mean, the  guy just wanted to play golf, right?  To some extent, I feel for the guy.  A lot of people cheat and no one hears about it.  I don’t need to belabor the point, you’ve heard the argument.

Here’s why this case (and other similar cases) are different though.  Aside from just playing golf, he was taking millions upon millions of dollars from sponsors to be “their guy.”  Now, a lot of those sponsorship dollars were because he’s good at what he does and he’s not so bad to look at.  But you can bet your bottom dollar that a pretty decent chunk of that money was to either explicitly or implicitly go towards being a role model – for golfers or dreamers of any age.

By taking that sponsorship money, he – and others alike – are also taking with it the responsibility to actually be good role models.  And I don’t mean this in the idealized “what it means to be a role model.” blah blah blah.  He is literally paid to portray an image that gets people to buy xxx product.  Last I checked, that image probably didn’t include late-night rendez-vous with numerous (kind of trashy?) women who aren’t his wife.

Let’s take a look at another example.  Yesterday’s New York Times had an article on how a couple of French political big names have gotten themselves in a some sticky situations because of the openness of the Web.    After being caught in various trysts, the echoing reply has been “The Internet is a danger to democracy.”

Wait.  Really? It’s a danger to democracy?  Because you were caught drunk and grinding at a club with younger male voters, or berating one of your countryman, or insulting cameramen? Because your privacy was violated?

What’s my point?  Not to say “You deserve it.”  These situations that are becoming public now after so many years of remaining private are actually marks of someone’s character, and often the people in question are in positions where that very character matters.

What do you think of when you hear that someone’s cheated on their spouse, even just once?  Do you think “Oh, that’s not smart, but that’s his private life”?  Or do you think “Huh, that probably says something about his or her overall character that could play out in bigger ways.”  If I saw a prominent political figure getting down on the dance floor after several drinks, I’d at the very least say to myself, “Gee, I don’t feel like I want them waking up tomorrow and making a major decision on the long-term future of my healthcare benefits.”  Maybe that’s just me though.

Perhaps it’s the reverse, maybe NOT having this level of transparency is actually the danger to democracy.  If we’re going to instill trust in our officials, I might feel better knowing they’re respectful and…well…trustworthy.  Getting out of the political realm, maybe some background checks should be conducted before multi-million dollar contracts are signed with sports figures or celebrities.  If you’re going to try and rope in the next generation of teenage golfers… you might want to make sure he doesn’t have 2 or 15 relationships with random waitresses and ex-playgirl models (hey, it’s their mothers who buy them the golf clubs).

So yes, I do have some sympathy towards respecting peoples’ privacy in most matters, and to some extent in the matters listed above.  But honestly, I’d have to say you were just plain dumb if you thought that your actions off the course or out of the office don’t matter, and you really can’t think that pulling the “please respect my privacy” card is going to work (or is even justified).

In short, a few things I’d like to point out to Tiger and others:

• I know all you ever wanted to do was play golf, and man can you play golf.
• But if you want your privacy respected at the same time, just play golf, and don’t take sponsorship money.
• And if you do, respect that sponsorship money because it will stop coming at the drop of a hat when your private life gets a little bit too much to handle.
• PS in taking sponsorship money, you’ve created a brand.  It’s the Tiger brand.  Which you then had to hire a PR firm for.  Yes, a PR firm for one person.  And a manager.  And a publicist. This means you’re public, and transparency issues still stand.  If you start a fire, you better be prepared to deal with it, because “please respect my privacy” doesn’t work anymore.
• Oh, and also expect that you’re going to disappoint millions billions of people.

[Endnote: I should have titled this "A small rant on...." but was thinking it was going to start out tame and organized... so much for that].

Update – 17 December: I was out to dinner last night with a man named Bernie Schilberg, which may mean nothing to you, but he knows a lot of big time sports figures, so naturally we got to talking.  He recently talked to one of his all-time favorites, who’s background may have been…checkered.  His advice to Tiger? “If you gotta let off some steam, go have a Saturday afternoon game of guys golf and leave it at that.”