5 December, 2009 | Leave a Comment
In this edition: Amanda Knox and Tiger Woods.
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Well, it’s a happy day for The British Media™. Evil American slut Amanda Knox has been convicted of killing British student Meredith Kercher in an Italian court. As I wrote two years ago when this crime occurred, this story exemplifies so much of what is wrong with the British press. Meredith and Amanda were turned into the British Madonna and the American whore, respectively, and this of course reflects the way that most women are portrayed in the press here, as one or the other. I have taken a screen shot of the Times this morning – I love the headline in the bottom right corner: She-devil or all-American girl? Because you know, those are the only two choices. These sorts of categories are fluid, however, so taking Katie Price as an example, one can go from whore to Madonna and then back to whore again.
Everything about the coverage of this story has been nauseating, not only the sexism but the Team Britain vs. Team America aspect to the coverage. Anything that can be turned into America vs. Britain is irresistible. See also: Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi. See also: England’s World Cup draw. Whether it’s mass murder or a football game, it doesn’t matter – all opportunities to feel superior to America are seized upon with gusto, no matter how crass.
Meanwhile, we’ll never know who killed Meredith Kercher because the Italian “justice” system has exceeded Inspector Clouseau levels of sheer incompetence in this case. The aforementioned sexist attitudes about women also seemed to infect the Italian trial and probably affected the verdict (see this Guardian article for examples of the Italian sexism). Three people have now been convicted of this crime and yet there’s really no convincing narrative of what happened and why. And the sad fact is, we’ll never know what happened.
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And now for Tiger Woods. I am quite happy that Tiger Woods has been knocked off his pedastal. Finally! I’ve been waiting ages for this to happen. I just don’t understand Tiger Woods’s appeal. I realize he’s the greatest golfer ever (apparently), but who cares about golf? He’s also white, black and Asian all rolled into one; this apparently makes him the perfect symbol of our multi-cultural society. Well, great, he checks all the boxes on paper, but the end result is a man who is utterly bland and charmless, with no shred of charisma or personality whatsoever. He is a walking corporate brand, not a human. He might as well be a robot.
Now it turns out that Tiger Woods is also a womanizing pig. I don’t understand the shock over this. I would assume that every famous male athlete is a womanizing pig unless there is evidence presented to the contrary. What told me everything I needed to know about Tiger Woods was his marriage to a Swedish model. He clearly chose this woman because of her appearance and that told me everything I needed to know about his character and his views on women. Oh, I can hear people disagreeing with me, saying that Mrs. Woods probably has a great personality and the fact that she looks like Barbie is a mere coincidence. If you believe that, then you’re probably one of the people who is shocked over Tiger Woods’s affairs.
It’s interesting that so many people are shocked that Tiger Woods would cheat on his wife because she is apparently so beautiful and so perfect. Well, there are plenty of beautiful, “perfect” women whose husbands have cheated on them (such as Jennifer Aniston and Cheryl Cole, just to name two), but there is always shock when this happens. Of course, rich and powerful men have huge egos and a major sense of entitlement, so that’s part of why they may cheat on their “perfect” partners, but that’s not the whole story. A man who is interested in women primarily because of their looks, such as Tiger Woods and so many rich and powerful men, is superificial. End of story. A man like this is likely not capable of having a deep, meaningful relationship, since “superficial” and “deep and meaningful” cannot co-exist. When Tiger Woods’s wife became pregnant and her body less attractive, it’s not surprising that he cheated. For a man like this, women’s bodies are products to be consumed. If you don’t like the product or you get bored of it, find something new to replace it. Of course, the women in these relationships are not totally innocent. Many are only interested in men who are extremely good-looking and or/wealthy, so they are superficial as well. They also willingingly use their bodies as products. In general, these kinds of people deserve one another, so I can’t feel much sympathy for any of the parties involved when things go wrong. Mrs. Woods is clearly outraged, which is why she tried to scratch out her husband’s eyes and destroy his car with a golf club. But you know, when you enter into a relationship with a man who is interested in you because you look like Barbie, then you can’t be surprised when he turns out to be a pig. Sorry sister. While life sucks for her, I hope the rest of us will get to see less of Tiger Woods from now on.
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Jan Says:
December 5th, 2009 at 3:29 pmI have found it extremely interesting. BUT, in all fairness, when you look at American coverage of the case, they do the same. Naturally, they are less concerned with Meredith but more with Amanda-Madonna (aka all-American girl) vs bad Europeans, claiming that Italian courts are the Inquisition and CNN instructing their viewers that this is all because Italy does not have some amendment to the Constitution the US has. (Italian and US media did the same side taking following the Cavalese tragedy).
The saving grace seems to be the multitude of options for appeal she has and the sentence which in any case is lenient to what onyone would have gotten for 1st degree murder in a US court.
No clue about Woods, have not followed it.
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I think the British media is much more sexist than the American media – and that’s saying a lot. I also think there are many, many problems with the Italian “justice” system and so criticisms of it are entirely valid. I think Amanda Knox has been vilified because she’s American and because she’s a “slut,” according to the Italians and British. The two men convicted in this case get no media attention at all – it is all focused on her, for the reasons just mentioned.
If Amanda Knox is guilty of this crime, then she should be locked up for life without parole. However, I don’t think there’s been a convincing case made that she’s guilty. I’m not saying she’s innocent or guilty – I think the case is a big mess and the evidence is contaminated, so we’ll never know.
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SpliceGirl Says:
December 5th, 2009 at 6:29 pmI really didn’t know much on the Amanda Knox case until earlier this year when 48 Hours Mystery did an hour special and went over the entire case (made especially for Americans who had no clue the complexities of what had happened). Mom and I watched it. It was very interesting and very even-handed. I didn’t get the sense their reporting was saying Knox was the “All America Girl” OR that Meredith was some Madonna who had unknowingly found Knox’s den of sin. The one thing I will say, after watching the show, where they interviewed Italian reporters/law people, British journalists, etc., is that Knox and her boyfriend were SADLY railroaded. If I heard the case as it was laid out on the show, which I must point out once again was VERY objective and interviewed as many different people as it could find AND showed some of the odd side of Knox, I would never have convicted her in a million years! It seems this case was all about politics and overzealous DUMB Italian cops. I take a lot of time ripping on the American justice system but I will admit, even with its many many flaws, I would rather have been tried over here. At least over here there’s the opportunity to sway the media to your side a bit with an annoying grandstanding lawyer.
As for Tiger Woods, literally, it is the ONLY news that is on. It is beyond pathetic. I will never understand the people who get shocked over things like this. Do they really think there is a professional male athlete who DOESN’T cheat on his wife? Really? Bland Tiger Woods and his frozen wax-like silent wife are probably the two most boring people ever considered to be celebrities. The only interesting part of the story is that she beat his car with a golf club – alerting all of us to the fact that she may not be a robot after all.
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Ken Says:
December 6th, 2009 at 2:30 amAnglofille: Wow! To keep with the sporting theme of the second half of your post: Amanda Knox and Tiger Woods. What a doubleheader! I have to compliment you on the creative combo.
Knox. I have followed this case in a very lazy way. Did not read much about it in Brit media. I got most of my info from the NBC morning show.They covered the trial periodically at critical moments. The coverage was low key and even handed. The possibility that Ms. Knox was guilty was held open as a possibility.
I got the idea that the physical evidence was wildly contradictory. If this was a true characterization of the evidence, then she might have walked in the States.Italian culture is very sexist. I married into it, so I know. My late father-in-law, a wonderful and very old fashioned man, was bewildered when I rejected my wife’s attempts to turn me into an Italian mama’s boy (at age 37!). I got an education into the attitudes toward women.
Tiger Woods: I think you could use a man’s perspective here. You indulged in a lot of caricature and a ton of supposition and generalization.
As a man I understand the appeal of Tiger Woods even if I don’t share it. I especially understand the appeal because he is simultaneously directed toward middle aged white guys like me, many of whom (but not me) play golf, and as a multi-cultural hero to young people, some of whom are inspired to golf. He appeals to a common male fantasy of succeeding as an athlete. Almost all of us took a crack at playing something when we were boys. Me it was baseball and football. I wasn’t very good, but I enjoyed myself. Even when I was well into my thirties I could still sit in Fenway Park (right field or the bleachers)and daydream about the outfield. I gave that up after they blew up the 1994 World Series.
Tiger Woods is a brand, and a pitchman. He is also one of the most boring public figures around. People who care about these things say he is an exciting player. He’s never said anything interesting in public.
You don’t get a basic fact of being a successful, visible young man. When I was Tiger’s age I was the manager/spokesman of a successful election campaign. Women offered themselves to me. Not bragging. Just a fact.I was very small potatoes compared to Woods, but I know it’s happened to him. It happens to all guys who get some success and visibility, whatever their line of work. Lots of women are ready and willing to play.
I’m not defending Woods or apologizing for him. A lot of us, get temptation thrown our way.How we react to it is up to us.
Not all athletes are womanizing pigs. The law of averages alone argues against that. My greatest mentor, a real tough, macho guy was not a womanizing pig. A lot of men are not womanizing pigs.
I do readily acknowledge that if the “right” woman comes along, that can change very quickly.
I don’t see how anyone but Mr and Mrs Woods can know what goes on inside their marriage. Marriage can be a turbulent relationship. I don’t know why Woods married his wife. Nor do I know why she married him. I don’t really care. People get married for all kinds of reasons. It’s not for us to judge.
Mr and Mrs Woods are just two people of no great interest.If he were the world’s best accountant no one would care
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In the American media, you didn’t see the kind of sexist (and anti-American) coverage of the Knox trial that we’ve seen here. You’d all be pretty shocked if you had seen the coverage over the past couple years, trust me. It was so disgusting.
This article in the Guardian is interesting in the way it shows how flawed this trial was. It’s almost unbelievable how the Italians have conducted this case. Between the Italians locking people up with sloppy evidence and the Brits letting murders and rapists walk right out of court, I don’t see how anyone can have faith in the “justice” systems of many European countries. It’s literally shocking. Yeah, American courts have problems, but they’re better than what I’ve seen here.
As for Tiger Woods, I understand that women throw themselves at him – when I was a teen I had the chance to hang out backstage at rock concerts and I saw all of this first-hand. I’m not surprised at all that Woods has cheated on his wife – I don’t understand why it’s news outside of the tabloids.
As for why he married his wife, he sure as hell wouldn’t have married her if she were ugly. I think anyone would agree with that. Therefore, her Barbie-esque looks had to play a big role in his initial interest in her and willingness to marry her. That’s why I think he’s superficial.
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Ken Says:
December 7th, 2009 at 12:03 amThanks for the link to The Guardian, Anglofille. That was an exceptionally informative and even handed article. It leaves my head spinning.
The idea that a court would author an opinion with a “poison pill” inside just leaves me speechless. I’ve never seen or heard of that happening in the States.
The demeanor of witnesses is a legitimate consideration for the judge and jury (“the finders of fact” in American legal parlance). The court’s allowing indiscriminate introduction of heresay evidence is terrible.
In the US heresay is barred, with certain well delineated exceptions. There is a big catch-all exception that allows the trial judge to allow virtually anything “in the interest of justice.” It is rarely used.
I was also quite surprised to read the prosecutor, in two consecutive sentences, offered two different theories of the case. A prosecutor who did that here would be laughed out of court.
What is really telling, damning actually, is that the prosecution can’t put Knox in Kercher’s bedroom, and can barely place Sollecito there. And that only a wisp of DNA on Kercher’s bra clip? At a crime scene that was not processed for weeks. No Amanda and Rafaele fingerprints at a murder scene awash in fingerprints? Nobody is clever enough to pull that off. Only possible if they wore gloves, which would mean a premeditated murder, which would mean a third theory of the case.
NBC and CBS gave a lot of attention to the case this morning. The pols are getting involved, notably Washington Senator Maria Cantwell.
Tiger Woods: I refuse to criticize anybody, male or female, who is physically attracted to another human being. I don’t really care that Tiger Woods married a good looking woman. My Dad married my mother, a very good looking woman. I married a very good looking woman. I encounter women who are, to me, unattractive. But they are wearing a wedding band, which means they got some guy excited. I also have, over the years, met a lot of women who were not conventional beauties, but nevertheless very attractive. Who ever knows about what will attract another person?
That’s part of what makes life fun.
Why the massive Tiger Woods coverage? (1) He’s world famous; and (2) His philandering contradicts his carefully constructed public image. That’s all. You might say he asked for it.
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Jan Says:
December 7th, 2009 at 12:57 amI am not sure I understand all of this. If Italian media are anti-American, one could just as well accuse American media of being anti-Italian. Sure, the lack of DNA evidence worries me as well. Then again, I am also worried that Amanda kept changing her story, that the knife was in possession of Sollecito, and that she tried to implicate someone else in the murder (not something an innocent person would do, as I see it). As for the “sexist” comments… Well, if the theory is to be that Meredith was murdered in a drug-fuelled orgy, then it means Amanda needs to fit the “motive” plot designed by the prosecutor. Thus the trail concentrated on her being seductively evil (drugs, men, sex) and the snippets thereof found their way to the media.
As for Tiger Woods… why is it impossible to be both superficial (in one area, physical attraction) and not superficial in another (deep emotional, intellectual union)??
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Re: physical attraction, of course people want to be with a partner they are physically attracted to, including me. That’s not the issue. The issue is choosing a woman who 100% conforms to the fake, plastic standard of beauty we have today. Is it just a mere coincidence that Tiger Woods’s wife completely conforms to that standard? I don’t think so.
As for superficiality, we’re of course supposed to believe that GREAT MEN can be superficial with women but outside of the female arena, be authentic and genuine. Well, I call that into question. I believe that what men do with women in their intimate relationships reveals a great deal about their character across the board. We’re supposed to believe that public and private life are completely separate, with private life being off limits, but I reject that.
As for Knox, how can Americans be anti-Italian for lodging valid criticisms of the Italian “justice” system? I don’t see it. The Guardian article details how sloppy and unfair the trial was. And I do think the trial was sexist. There were two men convicted of this crime as well, yet we hear virtually nothing about them. The whole trial revolved around character assassination of Amanda Knox, based on standards reminiscent of the Salem witch trials.
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According to the Daily Mail, Hillary is getting involved in the Knox situation now…
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Ken Says:
December 7th, 2009 at 12:40 pmAnglofille: What bothers me about this conversation is the assumption that men “do” to women in their intimate relationships, which is certainly the truth. Women are not passive players. they “do” to their men as well.
Whatever you think you know about your married friends, you only know a fraction.
The guy I got elected was a real louse in his private life. He turned out to be a great governor. Go figure.
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Ken Says:
December 7th, 2009 at 12:50 pmI wouldn’t expect any serious intervention from Hillary for quite some time, if ever. She made that apparent on ABC yesterday.
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Ken, I said in my post that the women flaunting themselves at these guys are superficial as well and that these people all deserve one another. However, there is an imbalance of power between men and women in our society. Tiger Woods’s wife is apparently renegotiating her pre-nup. She has a pre-nup because there is an imbalance of power between them and she needs to make sure she doesn’t end up with nothing. Tiger Woods has all the power and money. She can use the kids as bargaining chips, but she doesn’t have much else. Good looks and a perfect body only give one a fleeting amount of “power” in any relationship. Looks fade, bodies change. It’s not the kind of power that amounts to much in the end, but so many women do not realize this.
I’m sure that some guy who is a louse can be a great governor. My point is that even if he’s a great governor, if he’s a louse in his private life, he is a not a good person. I don’t make the distinction between public and private, which is why I don’t celebrate men like Ted Kennedy. I think the way you behave in private says more about your character than anything you do in public life.
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Jan Says:
December 7th, 2009 at 1:54 pmWas the trial sexist or the coverage? I agree that the “motive” story was sexist – but then again any attempt to ascribe a motive to someone would use some stereotypical views to create a storyline. That being said, we cannot imagine that little was said during the trail about Sollecito judging by the amount of information about him we read in the papers. The papers concentrated almost entirely on Knox and disregarded him – that makes the coverage sexist. We have no way of knowing what went on during the trial and how he was presented. Sure, he was not a seductive murderess, the femme fatale, so the trial was sexist but let us not judge the treatment he received on the unreliable media which like a good story more than presenting the truth.
I agree with Italian justice system being dodgy. But it is not what say, CNN, reports. Instead they engage in open mockery and criticise much more than just the justice system.
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this is my first time around here (found this site by googling “Bank of America is evil”), so maybe I’m just unfamiliar with your writing style / humor, but…
you sound like a rather angry and sure of yourself when it came to talking about Tiger Woods. I don’t quite understand it.
I mean, i don’t care for Tiger. Not a fan. Don’t care for Golf. I thought he made a fool of himself and disgraced his family with his behavior.
But it’s just shocking that you knew EVERYTHING you needed to know about him by who he chose to marry, and you’re quite certain his wife is superficial because she’s beautiful. I mean, that’s really passing quite a bit of judgement on people you don’t know AT ALL outside of what you’ve read in a newspaper!
What if somebody passed that sort of judgement on you, based one thing you’ve done? I know the immediate response might be something like,
“well they can piss off if they feel that way”
my problem with that is if everybody is passing quick judgements on people like that, people will never be able to reach peaceful agreements / consensus about anything, because everyone is already so sure of themselves!
I’m not defending Tiger, or his wife. I’m just trying to inquire how or why you can say such things and be so sure about your opinions! This is something i find myself thinking about a lot, so i’d love your take.
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Yes, after Tiger Woods married the Swedish swimsuit model, that told me everything I needed to know about him. I knew he was a pig with a superficial view of women. Lo and behold, over the past week we’ve learned he has upwards of ten girlfriends, from a porn star to a waitress at a local restaurant. So I feel as if I’ve been proven right. He has no respect for women – certainly not his wife – and he views women’s bodies as pieces of meat. There can be no doubt about that now. I take some satisfaction in knowing that my initial hunch about him was accurate.
People pass judgment on me all the time, but there’s a difference between me and Tiger Woods – I am not a celebrity endorsing countless products, all based on my image as a swell, all-American guy. If you put your face out in public in such a blatant way, and for no other reason than to make a buck, then you set yourself up for public scrutiny. That’s life.
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If Tiger was superficial to marry a conventionally beautiful person, then we are superficial to assume that the conventionally beautiful person he married is vapid and robotic simply because she’s conventionally beautiful. Still (and sometimes, beautiful) waters can run deep. As SpliceGirl pointed out, Elin Nordegren’s inspired, ironic use of a golf club of all things to display rage against her philandering partner may signify more going on in her head than where to buy her next pair of shoes. Other clues include the fact she has kept her own last name rather than taking on the name Woods; her mother is a respected politician so she grew up with a strong female role model, and she seems to have a sense of decency (or exceptionally keen presence of mind) that led her to help her bastard husband after he crashed even though moments before that, she’d been apparently chasing him from their house.
I agree with most of the sentiment about Tiger Woods, but I hesitate to judge Elin Nordegren based on her looks. Judgments based on conventionally good looks are as potentially specious as judgments based on conventionally unappreciated looks.
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Well, I never said anything about Elin’s character. My point is that her looks were the primary thing that attracted Tiger Woods. She might be a raging intellect for all I know (though I doubt it) but he would not have married her if she didn’t come in that package. There’s just no way in hell he would have.
Elin was a model. Given that her mother is very successful and perhaps even a feminist, I’m sure she was exposed to those ideas growing up. Therefore, her choice to be a swimsuit model reveals superficiality to me. I’ve seen plenty of photos of her greased up, wearing a bikini, looking like Barbie. Then she marries one of America’s richest men. My judgments of her stem from that and my understanding of how these sorts of people operate. If she were a kindergarten teacher or a doctor, then I would still think Tiger Woods chose her for her looks, but I would have a different opinion of her. My judgments of her aren’t focused on her looks, per se, but rather what she has chose to do with them.
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Ken Says:
December 11th, 2009 at 9:20 pmAnglofille:
From where do you get your”understanding of how these sorts of people operate?”
I’d hate to think what you would have made of my parents.
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I turned out to be 100% correct about Tiger Woods, so I don’t think my understanding is all that bad. Male sports celebrities and the swimsuit models who marry them…not complicated territory. We’ve seen these same stories play out countless times. Do I know all the intimate details of their marriage? No, and I don’t care to know. They aren’t worth my time.
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Ken Says:
December 11th, 2009 at 11:34 pmIf this mattered I’d move to strike your answer as non-responsive and ask the judge to order you to answer the question.
But it’s not worth the time for either of us, you are certainly right there.
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Massimo Says:
December 14th, 2009 at 7:12 pmI am Italian and American.
I agree with you, that the British media has been unfair to Amanda Knox, and Anti-Americanism is rife here, but there is also misunderstanding about what happened in Italy.
The Italian (centrist) media I read, has been quite balanced,
and I think the British media took references only from the Italian leftist media, which of course, was bias against an ‘American’. I agree with you, that especially (red) BBC,
and the Guardian, or the Independent, are not very balanced, and take any opportunity against America.
I read the Times, and I think are quite balanced, and centrist.
