Gee. I had no idea.
Look, as much as I disagree with Focus on the Family, and with CBS's decision to put this ad featuring Tim and Pam Tebow and a message promoting the choice of life, I really don't think it's the Third Portal to Hell that some make it out to be, nor do I consider it a cause in which you should boycott the game.
I'll address the "boycott" in a moment.
First, about the ad that everyone's talking about, but not one person has seen as of this hour: this ad, as a matter of being an ad on Super Bowl Sunday, is bound to flop. Nobody, but nobody, wants to be inundated with public policy advertisements during a game in which food and beer is being consumed at a large ratio. Okay, maybe that's a little off-point.
Honestly, I don't think Americans are honestly tuned to handle such a debate at any time of the year, let alone the Super Bowl. But if the pro-choice movement is so legitimately threatened by a mother of a soon-to-be professional athlete expressing her choice to keep her child, what are they offering to bring to the table, exactly?
Another thing I'm disturbed by is the denigration of the Tebows simply because they appear in this ad. I mean, who cares that much that they would start casting aspersions against these people just because? Look, I get it: Focus on the Family is an organization that sits there opposing abortion and gay rights. And so that justifies people calling Pam Tebow names, accusing her of lying, calling her son all sorts of things? Come on. And this is coming from people who consider themselves "more tolerant" than most conservatives?
Find me the tolerance in hating on Pam Tebow, because she chose to keep her son. Find me the tolerance in in calling her a liar. No, really. Find me something tolerant in that visceral viewpoint.
Look, I get it. It's sports. Tebow isn't exactly Mr. Popular with most SEC fans (because of the fawning media presence), but to say that the kid hasn't made a difference in the world, when he's out there on missions helping to give medicine to kids, while you're sitting on your ass drowning in fatty chips and salty colas and beers, is ridiculous. There's a way to attack this issue, and it is not through denigrating Pam or Tim Tebow because they don't think like you do.
And this leads me to the "boycott" some are proposing because CBS is allowing this ad on the air. Talk of a boycott is easy and cheap. But it doesn't address the issue at all. All you accomplish by boycotting is covering your ears, yelling to drown out all other noise.
Not only that, but most of the "boycotters" are out of that casual group of people who don't watch football, don't care about the Super Bowl, but will "watch for the ads". It's a copout, really--they weren't planning to watch the game for whatever reason, and this ad gave them a verbal excuse. I'm not boycotting this because of one ad. I will help oppose Focus on the Family's policies, but boycotting the Super Bowl isn't an effective tactic at all--it's rather petty. Show me a strategy that accomplishes effective opposition to the policies proposed by the group, and does not denigrate people in the process, and you'll have an effective partner. What the people opposed to this are doing now is, in a word, childish.
The reality of the situation is this: the "boycotters" will represent a small number of people in perpetuity to the audience that will tune in for the telecast, the ad will still air, it'll likely be bottom 10, and the sun rises in the east. That boycott won't have done anything to change minds on this issue, but people will certainly be proud of themselves for shutting their ears.
Finally, I have a suggestion for the NFL and their television partners: I don't care what athlete is in these ads, but you have opened up a slippery slope by allowing this one to air. Make it the last. I don't want the Super Bowl telecast to become everyone's political billboard for their pet issues. Either you do that, or open up one of those digital subchannels, and air an ad-free telecast. I'd rather look at overhead shots of Cowboys Stadium next year, than have to deal with this stupid controversy ever again.
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