Lead To Believe...

"He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone..."
John 8:7

I was watching one of those end of the year shows about ''Celebrity Scandals" and to tell you the truth, it was mostly watching me. Television is great for the times when you just can't get to sleep. Of course, you can't talk about scandals nowadays unless you mention a certain golfer who is of the calabanese persuasion. (Funny, he looks black to me on the cover of this month's Vanity Fair, with his black knit skull cap on, baring his chest and a mean mug!) But, this isn't really a post about him. It's a post about one word really... and that word being, "betrayal".

You see, they were talking about Tiger Woods, Kobe Bryant, Michael Jordan, Dr. J. and numerous other athletes and entertainers who found themselves involved in scandals and the one word I kept hearing people use was the word betrayal. People were saying that they were lead to believe that so-and-so was a wholesome family man with good values and it turns out that such-and-such is... what? Just like you and me?

I shake my head everytime I hear some sportscaster on television moralizing and pontificating about human nature and human virtue... two subjects that most of them are not qualified to talk about. If you ask me (and nobody did) sportscasters should stick to scores and stats and leave the moralizing to preachers and philosophers.

"The human heart is wicked... who can know it?", lamented Paul in the Bible. Who really knows any of these athletes, rappers, musicians, actors, politicians, etc? They come into the public spotlight and they are handled, told what to say, how to dress, and who to be associated with by a group of people who you never get to see or know. What you see on the television, talk shows, and other forms of media is purely packaged and put together by others. Sixty percent of it bares no semblance of reality... that's called public relations!

Some of the celebrities carefully create their own fantasy image too. You get their "represenative" and not the real person. The reason for this is because more than anything, they become a product. They have to get you to buy underwear, Ball Park franks, Gatorade, beer, watches, clothes, cologne, and what have you. They have to persuade you to eat in McDonalds, Wendys, or Burger King food (take your pick) and buy Wheaties, The Breakfast of Champions. In order for you to be persuaded to do so, you have to trust and, more importantly, believe in the person that is selling you the product.

So, I asked myself... Would I still buy Gillette razors and shaving cream (shilled by Tiger Woods) knowing that he cheated on his wife with 16 women or more? The answer is yes because I have to shave. It doesn't surprise me that there are some people who would stop buying this product because of that... they feel betrayed. Of course, they were lead to believe that he was one way and now that he is not, cannot patronize a product that he advertises. This kind of stupidity is why advertisers distance themselves from any celebrity that winds up in trouble.

Does a celebrity owe the public a life beyond reproach? A lot of advertisers would have you believe that they do. I am amazed at how connected we as the American public feel to these people... people we don't even know. We worship celebrities, more now than ever before. I thought that Tiger Woods, because of how he's been portrayed, was a squeaky clean, almost nerdy kinda guy. When I found out that he has been running with a number of women, I was kinda surprised at first (I didn't know the boy had that much game to him!) but then I thought, He's a young man. Why wouldn't he be chasing after women? He plays golf... he's not the Pope!

As I've pointed out before, many of the people (especially male sportscasters) attacking him are the biggest hypocrites. If they had his money, fame, and the opportunity, who is to say that they wouldn't be doing the same thing or worse? I find it amazing every night when I switch to any given channel and hear all of the pontificating and moralizing concerning one or two celebrities who have gotten themselves into some kind of trouble. It's as if the ones doing the moralizing have never done anything wrong themselves. Of course, they haven't lead anyone to believe
any different.

If I start with myself and name half-a-dozen people that I know, I can't tell you one of us who hasn't done something at sometime that could be considered scandalous, if we were in the public eye. The crimes run the gamut of lying, stealing, cheating, and what have you. Are we any different from people who just happen to be famous? Oh, but of course... we haven't lead anybody to believe...