“You cannot do anything to make America not like you. You’re one of those people…[like] Charlie Sheen…I always kid him. I say ‘You could beat a nun to death in a pile of dead puppies’ and America would just go, ‘Oh that Charlie, we love him, he’s hysterical!’…and you’re the same way.”

- Bill Maher to Brad Pitt

Yesterday’s post How To Ruin Your Reputation Instantly And Permanently was about how easy it is to shatter your reputation by acting unethically for a short term gain. In the comments, Chad at Sentient Money said:

“True, but reputation is secondary to making money. If you can make money for someone else they will hire you even if you are a baby killer…sure there are companies who won’t hire ‘baby killers who make money,’ but there are tons that will. Just ask Goldman Sachs, GE, Morgan Stanley, Citi, virtually any of the oil companies and large international construction firms, the Fed, etc.”

While I’m not exactly thrilled that this is true, it definitely is. And that got me thinking about why people vary so much in their ability to get away with things. Of course, money is one way to get a free pass.

I’m normally not a fan of ruining someone’s career just because they slipped up and said something they shouldn’t have, but John Rocker would be an exception. It would be hard to come up with something more racist, homophobic, and sexist than what he said about New York in 2000.

But when people speculated about whether it would ruin his career, a common thought was “Yeah, but he still throws the ball at 95 miles per hour.” Translation: he makes money, so he’s untouchable.

His career did fall apart, but only because his pitching performance declined, not because of what he said. (BTW, I haven’t closely followed many of the stories referenced in this post, so correct me if I’m wrong on anything.)

If John Rocker is someone who got off too easy, Tiger Woods is someone who’s taking far more heat than he deserves. Yeah, affairs are bad, I get that. But I haven’t heard a decent explanation as to why what Tiger did is so much worse than what David Letterman did.

What is so different in Tiger’s case? Is it the number of affairs? Is it because he has more money and therefore more responsibility? Is it because his image was a bit more squeaky clean?

The main reason I’m hearing is that Letterman apologized before the public found out. But what difference does that make? He only did it because he had been caught and knew the truth was coming out whether he liked it or not.

Do you really feel that Tiger Woods owes you an apology? His wife certainly, but why is it any of our business? (I just learned that he’s issuing an apology later today, though I doubt it will change anything.)

Chad also said, “In 2 years no one will care that Tiger Woods got caught having a massive number of affairs. He will get back all his sponsors and more.” Yes, I believe so, assuming that his performance doesn’t tank from staying out of the game too long, losing focus, etc. But today, why is it such a huge controversy compared to some much worse offenses?

Mike Tyson was convicted of rape and no one really cared. In fact, his first fight out of prison set a pay-per-view record of $63 million. And his career wasn’t ruined by biting off part of Evander Holyfield’s ear, assaulting two people in a road rage attack, throwing punches after the bell, knocking down a referee, failing one drug test and refusing to take another, racking up more sexual assault accusations, or saying he wanted to eat Lennox Lewis’ children. Nope, his career ended only when his performance declined.

But it’s not just money making ability that gives someone immunity. There’s something else, though I’m not sure what. Why can Brad Pitt and Charlie Sheen do no wrong, while other people of similar stature pay dearly for offenses that should be within the bounds of forgiveness?

John Kerry’s 2008 presidential hopes were dashed when he waited too long to apologize for a botched joke. Seriously? Why is that even an issue?

On the other hand, George W. Bush got re-elected after, in some peoples’ minds, bombing the World Trade Center. (No, I don’t think he deserves any blame for the 9/11 attacks, but a lot of people think it was his fault for ignoring the threat and allowing it to happen, and some people actually think he planned it…people like Charlie Sheen.)

Shock jock Don Imus found that your immunity can wear off. He was fired for his infamous “nappy headed hos” comment, despite apologizing immediately. Yeah, it’s offensive, and I’m certainly not a fan of his, but that comment was consistent with the material that won him honors such as a place in Talkers magazine’s 25 greatest radio talk show hosts of all time. So why did the line suddenly move for him? He’s said some things that were far worse, without much consequence.

Does anyone really expect Simon Cowell to apologize to everyone he’s judged?

Anyway, if anyone knows what the rules are, let me know.

The Blizzard of 2010 brought about 3 feet of snow to D.C. A few days ago, I got on a plane to go someplace a bit warmer (Charleston, SC). I got on the plane and looked out the window at the weather I was leaving behind.

I was busy thinking about the trip, so I didn’t notice there was a small delay. Nor did I notice when the small delay became a big delay. Not until someone got on the PA system and said “If you’re wondering why we’re not moving, we’re having some trouble locating the captain.”

Eventually they sent us back to the gate, and shortly afterwards they cancelled the flight. They didn’t say why, but after I finally got there on the next flight, I found out what had happened: the captain just decided to quit his job right before takeoff.

This guy did some serious damage to the airline. I don’t know what the situation was, and maybe he can get away with it. Maybe he isn’t getting a pension anyway, maybe he’s safe from legal action, and maybe he doesn’t need to work for anyone else ever again. Maybe.

But all too often, people find that the world is smaller than we realize, we need each other more than we think, and you only get to betray someone once.

I’ve heard trust described as a bank account. When you say you’ll do something and then follow through, you’ve made a deposit to the trust account. When your balance is high enough, you can make withdrawals by asking for favors, and you can afford penalties when you slip up now and then. But once you try to rob the bank, it’s never the same again.

I know a system administrator who responded to getting laid off by deleting all the data on a server, causing what he thought would be about $1 million in damages. The company ended up not needing what was on the server, but why do people do things like that? Actions have consequences. For God’s sake, you can hire a hitman for just a few dollars.

I recently tried to collect payment for some freelancing work from a freeloading client. First they pretended they had paid me, then they pretended to be “researching the problem,” and now they’ve broken off all contact. OK, they win on the money front, but to save a few bucks they branded themselves as deadbeats. Not a good tradeoff.

You can survive divorce, bankruptcy, and cancer, and possibly even come out of it stronger than ever. But once you sacrifice your reputation, it’s really hard to recover. And sometimes you only get one chance.