Illusion - A deceptive appearance; a false show, by which a person is or may be deceived, or his expectations disappointed; mockery.
In the past month or so, most of our Tiger Illusions have probably been completely dashed.
More than likely, we have all discovered that the things we wanted to believe about Tiger Woods and/or maybe were even told to believe about him (largely by our sports media and large advertising conglomerates) just weren't true. They were Tiger Illusions.
Yes, he still remains one of the most famous athletes of all time.
Yes, he still remains one of the wealthiest athletes to have ever played the game of golf (or any other "game" for that matter!).
Yes, he will probably be remembered in history as one of the most astonishing sports figures ever, someone who truly mastered his game. At the top of his game, he is far better than his competition. No one else really even comes close to Tiger when he plays at his best!
But now, all of the incredible personal accomplishments of Tiger Woods are being completely overshadowed and/or somewhat discredited by his surprising (and numerous?) moral failures. This is yet another very sad entry to the world's Hall of Shame, an all too popular destination for way too many famous personalities these days. How sad...
Why is it that someone (like Tiger Woods) can fall so far and so fast in the eyes of so many? I mean, this guy has practically gone from first to worst in an incredibly short amount of time. It is amazing to see how quickly people dumped Tiger.
So, why did this happen? I believe it's because of the grand illusions created for Tiger by our media and advertisers. They all had a vested interest in keeping the illusion going.
In light of what has been disclosed in the past month about Tiger Woods and his apparent numerous illicit affairs and one-night stands, don't you think that lots of people probably knew about these blemishes on his otherwise squeaky clean image? Why didn't any of them come forward earlier and straighten things out for all of us? Why were these details about Tiger's life kept quiet and secretive for so long? Why were so many people unwilling to talk about any of this until Tiger and his wife had their middle-of-the-night tif in late November?
I believe that lust for power/money and a insatiable desire on the part of many to become part of the great Tiger Woods illusion is why.
You see, once an illusion is created, there's a lot invested in maintaining that illusion. Oftentimes illusions make a boatload of money for a lot of people beyond the one who the illusion is all about. Soon, there is so much money invested in the illusion that everyone who knows the real truth about the person is unwilling to cut off their ticket to stardom and/or wealth by debunking the illusion. There is no incentive for them in letting everyone know the truth. That is, of course, until the first person is brave enough to speak up. Then, watch everyone come out of the woodwork telling all of what they know about the person the illusion was created for. It really snowballs and sometimes gets ugly.
Tiger Illusions are now dashed. But, I am wondering how many other deceptive appearances are out there? Who else is putting on a false show, deceiving us by their mockery? What other illusion has been created by our media that will be found out next November (if not sooner)? Hmmm?
