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I don't think public figures should apologize publicly for the mistakes that they make in private. Take Tiger Woods as an example. In my opinion the only person he should have apologized to, was his wife.
| yes, they should apologize | 13 | |
| no, they shouldn't apologize | 17 | |
| other | 3 |
First off, I'm not sure it's any of the public's business that he cheated on his wife. We know him as a sportsman, not a husband. In the same way it was wrong for French photographers to try to get topless pictures of Kate Middleton by snooping around her on holiday. She doesn't belong to us, or anyone really.
However, if we're going to continue intruding into people's lives then I think them showing some remorse for their actions sends a good message to others. People often emulate the people they see in the public eye and if those people are acting badly and not even caring about it, people may consider that that is how you should behave if you want to be famous (which everyone seems to want these days).
I think that's one of the reasons why emulating the moral values of public figures can be dangerous.
On the other hand, there have been public figures who, even after they apologized for something they did in private, were not "forgiven" resulting in the end or decline of their careers.
That's true. Being in the public eye is weird. You're not subject to normal rules and you can't always predict how you'll be treated. Why people strive for it, I'll never know.
To be it's just like normal life, except ten times more unfair and half the people hate you for little reason.
Why should they? It's none of the public's damn business what goes on in their personal lives. People are annoying in that they think that they somehow deserve a an apology for something that never concerned them or for trying to weasel their way into celebrities personal lives. Tiger Woods should have only apologized to his wife not the whole fucking world. Are people really that dumb to give him a backlash due to how he wants to live his life?
Of course not. Why should any public figure apologize to us if they didn't even offend us in any way?
@ dappled
I think that's one of the reasons why emulating the moral values of public figures can be dangerous.
On the other hand, there have been public figures who, even after they apologized for something they did in private, were not "forgiven" resulting in the end or decline of their careers.
I don't see who he should have to apologise too. The people who invested in his brand, maybe, and his wife obviously. I don't see why he has a responsibility to anyone else, so long as he didn't break the law.
People should only be expected to apologise to people who they have a responsibility to and have let down. For some public figures, like politicians, that includes a wider range of people than for others, like Tiger Woods.
I agree with you but even politicians, in my opinion, shouldn't have to be accountable to the "public' for matters like cheating on their spouses. Of course, if they for example cheat and use money of the tax payers to indulge in their illicit afairs, then that would be another story...
Well, I think it depends on whether it affects the politician's ability to do his or her job. Take Bill Clinton's affair with Monica Lewinsky. That changed people's perception of him as someone they could take seriously, and arguably lost the Democrats the next Presidential election which led to 8 years of George W. Bush. I think it was right for Bill to give an apology because of the consequences his actions had for the people who had voted for him and donated to his campaign, because he let those people down.
I digress; these issues are always complicated and you have to look at the wider picture of everyone in the public who was affected indirectly by the figure's actions. In Bill Clinton's case, I don't think it was necessary for him to apologise to the entire public for the affair itself, but it would have been right for him to apologise to the supporters of his party for letting them down (and to Hillary, of course, but that would be private between the two of them).
And in Tiger Woods' case, apologising to the public wasn't a moral obligation either. dappled absolutely has a point though, in that if we (well, the tabloid media) insist on exposing the private lives of public figures then if those public figures are seen to apologise for their actions then we reduce to possibility that they become a bad role model.