I often wonder what life would be like without Tiger Woods news—walking into a grocery store without seeing his face and his mistresses plastered all over the magazine covers, or being able to watch television without seeing him perform yet another press conference about how sorry he is. I believe it would be pleasant.

But, to make up for the celebrity news, I suppose I would be bombarded with news about Heidi and Spacey, I mean Spencer, instead. Either way, news on Tiger Woods has been handled as if it were a national emergency. When the world should be continuing to direct its focus toward efforts to help Haiti, it is instead inviting itself into this man’s life.

What people do not realize is that watching someone on television for years does not connect one to that person or give one a say in his or her actions.

At the moment, Tiger is portrayed as the “lone” adulterer. Society is innocent of its sins and he must be burned at the stake because all men in business are faithful to their wives and never consider looking in the other direction. The 20-year-old assistants, club waitresses, the nanny, they would never touch. That is why the divorce rate in this country is so low.

At the beginning of this week, regular television was interrupted so that the press could take the opportunity to ask him the questions that people would want to know. Intelligent questions were asked, like whether his current situation would affect his playing. Considering that he has won numerous golf games, one would assume he has learned to separate his personal life from the game.

It is amazing how movie stars and rappers are expected to step off their relationships on various occasions and the public is supportive, usually siding with one of the women involved—Angelina vs. Jen Aniston comes to mind. The men are glorified as the ultimate player. But, when it comes to athletes like Kobe Bryant, Shaq, etc, people are in absolute shock.

Maybe it is because the ambition to become a professional athlete rather than a movie star seems more realistic for the average person. In order to see one’s favorite athlete in person, all the average person has to do is buy a ticket to his or her game. However, to get close to a celebrity, one has to get through their security first.

So, making this connection, housewives and some married men are making comments like “he is supposed to be a role model,” or “it is a shame that my kids and grandchildren are not able to look up to him.”

First off, the children should never have looked up to an athlete or celebrity in the first place. The parents are supposed to be their role models. Athletes are humans as well. This is reminiscent of the housewives at home crying about Britney Spears and her impact on their daughters. Other things do factor in to the way that a child is brought up.

The news media should be focusing on what is happening with our government, and on answering questions about what is going on with health care. There are young people and adults who have no idea what the health care involves. People are willing to complain about ideas when it is coming from the opposing party without knowing the facts.

We also need to know what is going on with Haiti. They had the charity music benefits on television and around the country for nearly two weeks, but now that the cameras have turned another direction, it feels like the majority of the U.S. has forgotten.

I actually do not remember seeing any functions going on for Haiti in my community. When Hurricane Katrina happened, the schools would have car washes. The subject—and even the Oprah special—was talked about for nearly a month. It is most likely because of what happened in Haiti did not happen in the U.S., so we do not feel obligated.

What will most likely happen with the Tiger Woods situation is that people are going to continue to talk and gossip, women will continue to come out of the woodwork (because they think it is fun), he will continue to win his tournaments, and he will regain his endorsers.

The world can still function without Tiger talk.