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Tiger Woods - Source: Reuters -
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Writers and moralists have done their best to advance the view that infidelity does not come without some penalty. It may be that the victim feels betrayal; or the perpetrator (having availed him or herself fully of the, ah, conveniences) feels guilt.
Well, feeling bad some of the time is part of the job description of adulthood. But the annals of affairs, from mythic time to Emma Bovary, suggests that sexual errancy usually produces unpleasant material consequences.
You may be familiar with Tiger Woods, once famed as a golfer, now the envy of philanderers worldwide for his industrial sex-fest. Twelve or so gals in 12 or so months (ish)! Sexts! Hush money! Porn stars! (though why any woman who works in porn can be labelled a "star" seems, at best, misguided; I know because I never forget a face).
During the initial breathless news reports (I confess, I myself was caught short), many tried to frame the issues in terms of how much the scandal would cost the athlete who was the first in history to earn a billion US dollars, and regularly brought in $US100 million a year from endorsements and sponsorship.
Now, courtesy of two academics, Christopher R. Knittel, and Victor Stango, we have a ballpark figure as to the losses suffered by Tiger's corporate (ahem) organ grinders.
Twelve Billion, US; or with the Obama dollar, about $17 billion, New Zealand.
The effect of the scandal, and the mishandling of the scandal (i.e. Tiger not weeping on Oprah's shoulder as soon as he conveniently could) have destroyed between 2-3% of the value of companies such as Accenture (a consultancy company) that used him as their face. Sports-related companies like Nike ("Just Do it!") who did the same have endured a 4% dip.
The authors admit the margin for error is wide, as many of these companies are part of larger entities. Should your beach brick paperback fail to divert, you can read the study here.
It has, by the way, the wonderful po-faced name: Shareholder Value Destruction following the Tiger Woods Scandal.
What is important to keep in mind is that these are not simply figures. They will result in sackings, lower rates, lower ratings, and generally less work for the tiny parasites (i.e. schlubs such as you and I, whose task is essentially to clean and groom the corporate behemoths that allowed Tiger to live in licentiousness and luxury). Faceless nobodies will suffer in grinding anonymity.
Meanwhile I see reports that Tiger and mistress number one, Rachel Uchitel, have been seen holding hands at a private Florida party.
But before we rush to self-righteousness, let's recall that adultery was perfected, but not invented by Tiger Woods. It is a measure of pride, the belief that conventions do not apply. It has been the hobby of powerful men all through history.
The Old Testament book of Samuel recounts how King David desired Bathsheba, the wife of one of his soldiers, Uriah the Hittite. Being a hot-blooded sort of fellow, David pursued and got her, then impregnated her. He sent poor old Uriah to the very thickest of the battle to be abandoned and killed during the siege of Rabbah.
King David's General Joab refused to abandon Uriah, and disobeyed his King. Uriah was killed anyway.
Has anyone within Tiger's circle of sycophants summoned the courage of Joab yet?
Read more of Tim Wilson's blogs.
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