Tiger Woods and the "sex scandal"

"Of course, that comes after the prime directive: Never have an affair with anyone who would enjoy seeing themselves on the cover of “In Touch” magazine." - Gail Collins

Dear friends,

The brouhaha about Tiger Woods' alleged mistresses is, at least to me, a laugh a minute. "Let's keep it real!", if you'll pardon the jargon. Many, if not most, of the women who are coming forward are lucky if they were even a one-night stand, probably. But rich people draw parasites faster than corpses in a swamp.

Hence, much of what is passed off as relevant "news" in this market-driven, possession-oriented culture has more to do with how pathetic American journalism is, for the most part (although, occasionally, something informative and inspiring does slip through). Nonetheless, while Tiger Woods learned to master the game of golf, he, apparently, has never learned much about social relationships. As a matter of fact, personally, I cannot recall hearing Tiger talk about anything other than golf anyway.

Yet, really, about what is this stupid story? More than ever, the US government- and corporate-controlled media are exposing themselves for what they are - i.e., opinion-makers. After all, the techniques that they use to disseminate information, as scholar and social critic Noam Chomsky has insisted for decades, are: Selection of topics, Distribution of concerns, Emphasis of issues, Filtering of information, and Bounding of debate. This enables media agencies to: Determine, Control, Shape, Select, and Restrict information and ideas that "Serve the interests of dominant, elite groups". (see Manufacturing Consent by Chomsky)

Finally, the average American citizen swears that s/he thinks, feels, and consciously acts as an individual. However, as many of us are aware, most of what the former think, feel, and do are based upon images and ideas that are superimposed on the minds of the population through coercive cultural institutions, of which media are no small part.

At any rate, on the link below is a quite appropriate piece from Gail Collins of the New York Times that, in case you missed it, may be of interest to you.

Cheers!

G. Djata Bumpus
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/10/opinion/10collins.html?_r=1