Are our politicians men enough to apologise? Photo: Babble.com

GATORADE has dropped Tiger Woods. The sports drink manufacturer doesn't want the all-time golfing great as spokesperson, because "it no longer sees a role for him in its marketing efforts." In plain English, the name Tiger Woods has become dud. So has the face Tiger Woods ever since the scandal arose that he slept with women other than his wife. Once both name and face were cash cows. Now they are threat to bottom line.
Others sensed it much earlier. AT&T and Accenture turned tail on Woods. Proctor & Gamble and Swiss watchmaker Tag Heuer "de-emphasised" him in their marketing campaigns. It means they were worried that using him in their ads could hurt their business.
The Boston Globe reports that Gillette benched Tiger Woods in order to preserve its "clean-cut" image. The razor was afraid of being nicked by the face. But then other sponsors dumped him out of the same fear. Already, the sports icon has caused $12 billion worth of damage.
It's amazing that a man cheating on his wife should have adverse impact on business. How does it make Gatorade less quenching for drinkers if Tiger Woods is unfaithful to his wife? Why should it affect the safety of Gillette razors if its pitchman was having a romp in the hay?
If anything, it shows that in the civilised world man is still inescapably linked to his manners. Wood's infidelity hasn't affected his performance on the golf course. The golf star hasn't failed to show up for the game. His effortless mastery on the golf course was undiminished even though he was busy in bed.
Then what is so bad about what he has done? The bad thing is that he got caught. Nobody would have bothered if what happened in Vegas also stayed in Vegas. Woods would be still speaking for Gatorade, lending his face to Gillette and flaunting a Tag Heuer on his wrist in many commercials.
He was doing all of these during the interregnum of his conduct. Between the first woman he exploited and the last woman who exposed him, Woods was juggling with both worlds. He was being all things to all men, and that was fine. Trouble started when he tried being all things to all women. His stars nosedived.
It's Greek tragedy that a respectable man should turn into ribald laughter. And scandals are when mischievous people run out of luck. Tiger Woods built that luck stroke-by-stroke, hole-by-hole, and then he gave it away by what is lamented as the most common flaw in golf. He couldn't stop coming over the top.
So, he offered his apology to all his stakeholders, his wife, friends and the public, for what he himself termed as "irresponsible and selfish behaviour." Bingo! This is where he hits the bull's eye. All irresponsible people are selfish and all selfish people are irresponsible. All wrongdoings emanate from this reversible malady when minds, devoid of consideration for others, engage in self-seeking behaviours.
That's when Tiger Woods reminds of 1/11. We thought this nation had set out to seek out the self-seekers. We thought we could weed out the Badboys of Bangladesh and clean up this country for a fresh start. People were whisked to prison. Tons of techniques applied, not an ounce of confession squeezed out of anyone.
I am not trying to force a square peg into a round hole. But when it comes to apology, Tiger Woods comes in stark contrast with what happened in our neck of the woods. Nobody has apologised in this country. Nobody has confessed or shown any sign of guilt or remorse.
Instead, everything fast-forwarded has been rewinded. People who were convicted returned with conviction. The chairman of a commercial bank, sentenced to 13 years in jail, was absconding. He came back to the country last year and regained his post. Only lately he surrendered to a court and has been sent to prison. Others like him are roaming free as if nothing has happened.
At least Tiger Woods had the decency to take responsibility for his mistakes. We have seen nothing of that sort. Not even an iota of hesitation or compunction when most of those dragged to jail after 1/11, were quick to brag about their innocence.
Our minds exist in the no man's land where nobody has been found guilty and nobody has been proven innocent. A golfer couldn't live in that bleak nowhere, and he embraced truth before it hurt him more. He knew what we don't. The longer it waits, the harder it falls.
Business has dropped Tiger Woods over loss of face, but we have made loss of face our national business. What goes around comes around. But we proved to be an indulgent exception. What goes around only moves on, as if there's no tomorrow.
Mohammad Badrul Ahsan is a columnist for The Daily Star.
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