Role models – Should we hold public figures to a higher standard

WARNING:

May contain a Rant

 

 

 

 

‘Should we hold celebrities and public figures to a higher standard’? Is a question Matt over at Lifewithoutpants pondered today.

And due to my reasonably severe writers block I am going to jump on the bandwagon and instead of commenting on his blog, I am going to comment by way of blog post.

Should we hold those in the public eye to higher standards than ourselves?

Most definitely.

I say this because these people make their living from using the public.

Using may be a strong word, but ponder this; without our support they would not be getting paid.

Celebrities and public figures rely on our attention to generate sponsorship.

Sponsorship come in many forms;

Sports stars need the public to go to and watch games on tv, this generate the huge TV deals to pay for the league that they play in, sports stars also rely on their fans buying products associated with them so they are able to obtain sponsorship deals.

Celebrities generate sponsorship by attracting the public to watch their chosen form of production to generate income .

Politicians generate sponsorship by attracting people to vote for them. This allows the polition to maintain the position of power they have or aspire to.

In general celebrities and public figures need to remember that their income is reliant on what we as a public think of them, so of course we are going to hold them to a higher standard.

In Tigers case his disappointment that he showed while losing the Masters last week isn’t that bad, so what he lost and was pissed about it. Get over it people, there are plenty of other occurrences of sport stars  misbehaving that we should worry about.

Take for example the New Zealand Cricketer Jesse Rider, he gets drunk regularly and breaks things. Many commentators say that he is not a role model and shouldn’t be held to a higher standard than anybody else. WHAT? Its not a very high standard to be held too, the normal standard applied to getting drunk is:

If you want to get drunk, don’t damage anyone else and don’t damage property.

In Australia’s National Rugby League (NRL) there has been a spate of drunken acts over the last 10 years, again commentators are saying that boys will be boys, I’m sorry but you guys are paid a lot of money to play a very physical game, its easy don’t get drunk and smash a glass in your girlfriend’s face. This is not a higher standard, it is not normal to “glass” your girlfriend.

What I am aiming at here is the definition of a Higher Standard.

Yes we should hold these sort of people to higher standard, and when they complain about being held to this standard we should look at the action in which they undertook to have to comment about it.

In Tiger’s case, yes it would have been better that he was cordial when commenting to the media, but hell, it is no where as bad as getting drunk and smashing a bar up.

I would be really upset with myself if I thought the reason that I didn’t win was because I didn’t play my best, and yes it would show. I would hope that I would have the ability I know I am able to go out and have a good time without hurting anybody, this would be my minimum standard.

But at the end of the day I think a little perspective is needed.