Money, Power and My Mistress: The Tiger in Me

America’s Declining Moral Fabric

A few days ago Tiger Woods broke his silence and publically announced his partial come back to the game of golf and into the public arena after his seclusion for more than three months. Our idolized athlete created a spectacle by selecting limited media and friends to appear on his 13 minute speech of redemption therapy and appealed to the public to accept him back despite his weaknesses and private affairs with his quorum of mistresses.

Tiger Woods written script goes on to show that he has once again played us. Woods’ speech was but an act that was craftily designed by his publicist.. The sequence of events were, a damaged car, a leaking fire hydrant, smashed rear windows, immediate disappearance, sex therapy from night of incidence, written apologetic statement and tears of “I am sorry I got caught.” All appear to lead to another Hollywood show.

Mr.Woods’ actions leave many of us begging the question if not confused but with a kind heart of giving him a second chance with his mistresses. Well, I suggest that we do all need a second chance but Woods’ drama is just another story that leads me to conclude that the moral fabric of America has truly changed. Gone are the days when marriage without extra-marital affairs was practiced.

Gone are the days when having an affair meant ex-communication from all ways of life for we have ushered a new era of “whatever and who cares.” The focus of live seems to be on me, myself, and I and my mistress. I am what I make myself to be and I am the measure of all life, a logical, sensual and intelligent being. This is the new philosophy but it this right? It is true that the moral fabric of this nation has declined and will continue to decline as we pursue self satisfaction and self glory.

EXHIBIT 1 – TIGER WOODS

Mr. Woods’ scripted speech got him a presidential approach when all the television channels stopped scheduled shows to air his apology and “kind of” sincere speech even though his lifestyle and his golf playing abilities have nothing to do with majority of United States citizens yet everybody stopped to listen to his garbage. Mr. Woods went on to say he was sorry for “getting caught” and has been seeking rehabilitation to normalcy.

By virtue of his actions, Mr. Woods has earned the right to join the wall of shame shared by some other famous men who have been bitten by the bug of power and prestige and mistress hosting habit. Among them are men like Bill Clinton in 1998 with Monica Lewinsky, the charismatic evangelist Jimmy Swaggart, Mark Sanford, the governor of South Carolina with his lovely Argentinean model, John Edwards, the former North Carolina Senator, and Eliot Spitzer, the former New York governor amongst many other powerful men. These men and their confessions are a perfect example of the declining moral gauge of the American nation and the imminent flirtatious danger caused of the beautiful mistresses. Out there are women who are casting their baits to get a piece of the pie by removing their pants for these men with some Benjamins.

EXHIBIT 2 – DAVID LETTERMAN

On October 1, 2009, David Letterman rocked the Late Night Show television scene with a long and winding on-air confession about a series of intra-office affairs that he had been carrying on for years. Letterman revealed little in the way of detail, except to acknowledge that he had been having sexual affairs with women who worked for him on the Late Night Show. Even though Letterman described the behavior as “creepy,” Letterman followed up a few nights later with an apology to his wife Regina, whom he admitted to having been terribly hurt by the shocking news.

The emerging pattern here is one that leads us to conclude that the moral fabric of this nation is declining. Basically these celebrities are asking us to accept them just as they are even though they know what they are doing is wrong. We as spectators are to accept their public apologies and not demand change of lifestyle. After all, they are human beings these celebrities argue. The amazing factor at Letterman’s show was the response he got from his audience which I think at the beginning might have thought of Letterman’s confession as a joke. But days after the confession, Letterman’s audience and popularity sky rocketed to levels never seen before. Could it be that we as a nation expect to be entertained by their failures? Could it be that we have silenced our moral compasses and have bought to secularization and humanism as a philosophy? Why did the public applaud and celebrate Letterman’s intra-office affairs? Could it be if majority of all men were placed in their positions, they would repeat the same behavior?

To begin with, Letterman’s confession was prompted by the indictment and arrest of Robert Joel Halderman, an Emmy-winning CBS producer, for allegedly blackmailing and extorting Letterman. More specifically, prosecutors say that Halderman asked for two million dollars in exchange for his promise not to sell a screenplay based on Letterman’s escapades.

Media coverage of the scandal turned quickly from Halderman’s conduct to Letterman’s. In particular, many asked, Did Letterman do anything wrong– and, in particular did he do anything illegal by having sex with women in his office who might have been his subordinates? The approach in the question shows that we as a nation have declined in our approach to the matters of life and sexuality. Morality and commitment to marriage is not accepted but the union of a man and a woman is today seen as a contract which can be easily breached. Sexual deviancy is treated as an ailment which needs psychological treatment when caught.

The media seemed happy and waited for every detail to write and broadcast the scandal, while the public empathized with letterman despite his poor ethical and moral practices. As I write this article, the couple are said to be fighting over property and custody of their son Harry. Regina was humiliated and mortified that David carried on sexual relations with a number of his female staffers – including former assistant Stephanie Birkitt.

This is just one of the many examples of how the American popular culture is relating with each other. The basic principles of marriage, life and commitment have been dropped and replaced with the basic principles of Secular humanism and Bertrand Russell’s secular humanist vision from the 1960’s seems to be the new trend. We are the measure of all things. We do as we please and only apologize when our money making ways are at risk.

EXHIBIT 3 – TED HAGGARD

Another incident that reflects the rebellious spirit of secular humanism and how far our moral fabric has disintegrated is the indecent act of the former Pastor of New Life Church, a 45,000 member church and the former resident of the National Association of Evangelicals.

Ted Haggard was exposed as a homosexual by his partner Grant Haas who confessed on CNN’s Larry King Live that he and Tedd had been having homosexual relationship for a long time. On one of the transcripts, Grant Haas says in a videotaped interview played on CNN’s Larry King Live that, Haggard, “pretty much asked me if it was okay if he masturbated in front of me or masturbated in the bed next to me,” Haas is recorded to have said, “I told him no, it would make me really uncomfortable but he grabbed a bottle of lotion and started masturbating.” Haas adds on the tape that, Pastor “Haggard used to say to me, “You know what, Grant, you can become a man of God, and you can have a little bit of fun on the side.”

Haggard, who was 52 at the time, said the incident was “an indicator of the compulsive behavior” that ruled him at the time. However, he confessed that he has been undergoing therapy for his behavior which he does not acknowledge as sinful. The controversy first erupted in November 2006, when a former prostitute, Mike Jones, said the pastor had paid him for sex over three years and had used methamphetamine in his presence. Haggard initially admitted in interviews that he received a massage from Jones but denied having sex with him. He also said he bought the drug methamphetamine, but threw it away instead of using it. I guess it is okay to throw away money by buying stuff that we do not need. What an invalid and stupid argument and defense!

Surprisingly, New Life Church offered Haggard a settlement and Haggard agreed that he would retain his six-figure salary for a year, leave the Colorado Springs area, receive counseling and not speak publicly about what had happened for one year. Go figure! In the CNN interview, Haggard credited Jones with having helped him by disclosing his homosexual behavior.

Haggard said, “I think he rescued me. I am very grateful to him,” He said he would have lost the support of his wife of 30 years, Gail, and their five children “and been a drug addict” HAD HE NOT BEEN CAUGHT. “I paid a heavy price. IT WAS STUPID,” he said. On the interview, Haggard likens his struggles with his desires to the struggles faced by dieters who say, “I am not going to eat today” and then they eat.” Well, where is the confession in this drama?

Where is the Christ-like character that he is supposed to exemplify and possess? Did Haggard preach all these years and talk of the redemptive work of Christ on the cross to his 45,000 member congregation? Did he stand up and preach just for the show and how could he prepare his messages knowing that a congregation looked up to him for spiritual nourishment? Has Bertrand Russell’s philosophy of secular humanism assaulted the spiritual minds of the shepherds of the church as well? If so the mistresses are winning.

Haggard told Larry King that he was “guilty enough of so many things” and acknowledged that his actions were hypocritical, but said he had lost the ability to control his homosexual urges. Without any shame and blinking of the eye, Haggard said on the interview with Larry King that, “I felt like God’s plan was for sexuality to be in a monogamous, heterosexual marriage,” he said. “I wanted that. But at the same time, I had these other things (desires) going on.” Haggard on this interview confessed that he had thought that focusing on his spiritual life would help, but found that it did not. “It actually made me worse,” he said.

Haggard told Larry King that, for a time, he had lost the ability to read the Scriptures and became very suicidal. “I think it was divine intervention that stopped me,” he said. When Larry King asked him if he has engaged in any inappropriate conduct with any other men, Haggard stammered and failed to give a direct answer, saying, “I have thoroughly discussed all of my sexual history with my wife and my therapist and, to some degree, the family, and we think that’s an appropriate boundary for that.”

Asked again whether he considers himself bisexual or gay, Haggard said that different therapists have described him in different ways. “The first said, ‘You are a heterosexual with homosexual attachments.’ I wasn’t sure what that meant.” Ha-ha, ha, ha!!!

His current therapist, he said, described him as “a heterosexual with complications.” What an excellent and a politically correct way to condoning a lifestyle while confusing the client.

But once again, who believes in Christianity and monogamy anymore?

When Larry asked Haggard’s wife of her reaction to the scandal she responded by saying, “I really do love this man.” She said the two had “a great sexual relationship in our marriage…throughout marriage.” She continued to say that “the news of his unfaithfulness came as a shock; it wasn’t completely out of the blue because I knew that Ted had some struggles in this area, particularly in his thoughts but I never knew he acted on them.”

EXHIBIT 4 – ELIOT SPITZER

Another example I would like to reflect and to show how secular humanism is continually assaulting the American nation and thus a sign that the moral fabric of the American nation is in decline is that of New York’s Governor, Eliot Spitzer. New York\’s Daily News, The New York Times, the New York Post and Newsday carried the shocking news of US Governor who had been carrying extra-marital affairs with an international prostitution ring based In New York that charged clients up to 5,500 dollars per hour.

Married for 21 years and the father of three daughters, Spitzer, who was 48 by the time of the scandal was accused of hiring a prostitute from a New Jersey escort service and arranged for her to meet him in the nation’s capital on Feb. 13, 2008 for a fee of $4,300, according to a federal complaint and two lawyers briefed on the case.

Additional reports suggested that Spitzer may have spent as much as $80,000 on prostitutes and other sex escapades. After exposure, Spitzer appeared on national television, saying, “I sincerely apologize,” and announced his resignation during a brief statement delivered on a Wednesday morning from his downtown Manhattan office. Spitzer said, “I am deeply sorry I did not live up to what was expected of me,” referring to his “private failings” for which, he also said, “I’ve begun to atone.” What a mess! Spitzer’s announcement followed a stunning two days of revelations about Spitzer’s personal activities. At a press conference with his wife, Silda, at his side, Spitzer said: “I have acted in a way that violates my obligations to my family and violates my–or any–sense of right and wrong.”

What did this mean? He added, I apologize to the public, whom I promised better.” Spitzer’s resignation ended Spitzer’s political career just 16 months after he had been elected New York ’s Democratic governor by a wide margin.

There are other scandals that have happened in the last few years to show that the public has become insensitive to the biblical/religious and traditional values and practices. Secular humanism and Hollywood continues to play a big role of influencing our actions and thought life. Medical companies like Pfizer also continue to send the message that using Viagra and enlarging the male sexual organ makes one a champion.

Some of the most common scandals have included men like former President Bill Clinton with the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Republican Senator Larry Craig of Idaho, who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor after his arrest in a men’s room sex sting, New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey, who resigned after an alleged affair with a male political aide. McGreevey announced that he was gay and immediately started attending an Episcopalian seminary. Secularization and humanism is indeed causing a threat to the growth of evangelicalism and tearing the moral fabric that once held the moral principles and values of this nation. Secularization and Hollywood/Evilwood is intellectually, ethically, socially and morally assaulting the American moral fabric.

Dr. Joseph M. Onesimus

Source: Kim Media Group