by When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, the government response was slow and inadequate — as we well know by now. The ensuing celebrity response was amazing. Photographs of Brad Pitt helping out really touched me. There’s something about when a celebrity really messes up in the eye of the public and then shortly thereafter does a tremendous act of charity that makes me wonder why said celebrity did it.
Now the suffering in Haiti is in the midst of the celebrity cause.
Tiger Woods is said to be paying for a mobile hospital to be transported to Haiti to help out the devastated country. We already know this is a greater act of charity than Rush Limbaugh will ever do for them. I really want to believe that there is nothing but goodness in his heart and that he would have done this regardless of whether or not he had been involved in the scandal that only took place a few weeks ago. I’m sorry, Tiger, but I know that there is no such thing as coincidence.
There is no check large enough to cover the scandal of sleeping around the way that Tiger did. Even Michael Vick surely must have realized this to some extent — all of the charitable work he has done since being released from prison was mandated as part of his sentence.
How short is our memory as a people? Eventually, people tend to forget the misdeeds of celebrities — our attention span isn’t nearly this short, though.
Am I reading too much into this? Could it be that this was a genuine effort to help with no self-interest involved whatsoever?
Excellent questions, Gordon! I think these celebrity interventions in the midst of a disaster are pure PR — but I don’t mind it. Let Tiger spend millions of dollars doing right in Haiti to preserve his image in the world. Haiti needs his money and he needs the PR. Perfect.
Agreed, Haiti needs money and I don’t care if Tiger Woods is spending it. Whether that would work as a damage control for him or not, or whether people actually buy it to be genuine is a different question… but Haiti benefits, and that’s what we need at this point.
Good point, David — it’s a great match! 🙂