JW,
I suggested two posts ago that I'm not particularly excited about this year's Super Bowl. The game, that is. About the commercials, I'm thrilled and bordering on ecstatic. After all, this is a year in which CBS has "eased restrictions on advocacy ads and [will] consider 'responsibly produced' ones for open spots in its Feb. 7 broadcast," according to Fox Sports. Just as a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, nothing makes bad football watchable like political propaganda. I can't wait.
And neither, it seems, can the Woman's Media Center, the National Organization for Women, and the Feminist Majority Foundation, who recently made clear their opposition to an advertisement produced by pro-life bastion Focus on the Family and starring Tim Tebow. The ad, Fox reports, "is expected to recount the story of Pam Tebow . . . [who] ignored a recommendation by doctors to abort her fifth child [and] later gave birth to Tim." Paradoxically, women concerned with "choice" resent the hell out of this one.
Rather than indulge in a drawn-out diatribe against abortion (some of our thoughts are here if you can't resist), let's consider the statements of the womyn who've come out against the ad, typified by those of Jehmu Greene (it's true), president of the aforementioned Woman's Media Center:
-"[The ad threatens to] throw women under the bus."
-"An ad that uses sports to divide rather than to unite has no place in the biggest national sports event of the year."
Not to get too picky, but how does Greene manage to break out one of Sportscenter's most obnoxious cliches (the bus thing) while completely misunderstanding the nature of sports (the bit about sports' potential to "unite")? I'm not going to the Super Bowl, but sitting at home I'll be cheering for Peyton Manning to die. Not to lose. Not to suffer an injury. To die. I'm pretty sure the game's got us divided already.
Which is exactly why Greene and her friends should run their own ad instead of complaining about Focus on the Family's.
(Narrator: We've all heard the Tim Tebow story, but what you haven't heard is the unlikelihood of his success in the NFL. Abortion? Maybe Pam Tebow made the wrong decision.)
I don't know about you, but my mind's changing already!
-GM
GM,
Why is "free speech" such a difficult concept for people to understand? I know, I know... there's a certain irony to my claim that others don't understand free speech when all they did was say something to invoke my claim. Unlike them, however, I'm not trying to employ prior restraint against the "womyn," whereby I insist that they "shouldn't be allowed" to voice their opinions.
". . . pro-choice critics say Focus on the Family should not be allowed to air the commercial because it advocates on behalf of a divisive issue. . . ."
Do not all commercials advocate? And aren't most of them offensive to somebody? Take, for instance, the endless beer commercials in which the three major domestic brands (that all taste like bath water anyway) try to increase market share with awful creativity (see Bud Light's current "Not too light, not too heavy" campaign) and pseudo-innovation (see Coors Light's "Mountains turn blue!" technology and Miller Lite's "Taste Protector" caps). We used to have prohibition in this country. Surely someone thinks we still should, rendering the issue "divisive." Devout Catholics probably don't appreciate Trojan or Viagra ads, yet we don't hear the Pope screaming from Vatican City every Monday morning.
Greene said she simply wants CBS to "follow its own example and ban advocacy ads from the airwaves." What country is this?! Shouldn't CBS get to decide what its own policy is? "No, no... you didn't run PETA's ad with women trying to sexually stimulate fruit; you can't run Focus on the Family's either." Quite frankly, as long as CBS is willing to put up with endless boycotts and perhaps FCC scrutiny, I think the network should give airtime to anyone who can cough up the $3 million. Imagine a SuperBowl sponsored by the KKK, the Nazi party, NAMBLA, The Church of Satan, and Hustler. It wouldn't be good business for CBS, but it certainly would show off our First Ammendment.
This reminds me of a recent Facebook controversy. First there was the group "Soldiers Are Not Heroes"--a statement about as provable and unprovable as "Puppies aren't cute." Then came the group "Petition To Remove Group 'Soldiers Are Not Heroes'" and some similar petitions, at least one of which actually wanted Facebook to step in and shut it down. Fortunately, it's gaining very little steam. Regretfully, I admit that most of these petitioners fall to the Right of center. Obviously, those offended by the Tebow ad are mostly of the Left. So once and for all, can everyone on both sides of the political spectrum just realize that our freedom of speech is what separates us from places like Afghanistan, North Korea, and Canada?
If the feminazis don't like what CBS is doing, they're welcome to stop watching its free product. They can use the extra time to make me a sandwich.
-JW
Quick Hits for the Week
Bin Laden blasts U.S. for climate change. Seriously.
South Carolina's Lt. Governor compares welfare to "feeding stray animals." Now that's racist.
Liberals cannot give good advice where pot is concerned.
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