In This Together

Like most of America, I watched the Super Bowl on Sunday (Monday morning for me, living on Okinawa).

My wife is a Broncos fan, and my daughter is too–or was, or maybe still is but has better things to do, or maybe teenage years are hard and you never know what interests of theirs suddenly change…

Anyway

The conservative pages my wife follows were full of furor about Beyonce’s most recent video being some anti-cop, pro-Black Lives Matter social commentary. And it seemed they all decried bringing racism and tensions into the Super Bowl halftime show.

It got to the point even my wife didn’t want to see it because 1) she expected some risqué or provocative stuff my kids didn’t need to watch and 2) all these pages couldn’t be wrong, right?

We watched it anyway. And I was very pleasantly surprised to hear a variety of expressions akin to “We’re all in this together” sung or said by people in an array of skin tones standing arm in arm.

People of all colors just having fun, summing up with a simple message of “Love.”

Where was the Black Power I was supposed to be afraid of or offended by? Where was Beyonce’s promised attempt to stir up controversy?

Well it was all over the comments on those conservative pages. Apparently I was supposed to read “reverse racism” or “White guilt” or “perpetuating the hate” into a bunch of people dancing and just very obviously having a good time.

And of course the dozens of voices I looked at in the thousands of comments all talked about how Beyoncé should have been banned, or how they changed the channel rather than watch something so offensive, or how it was so patently obvious to anybody with a brain and if you didn’t see it, you’re a clueless liberal moron.

And when the rants about Beyoncé weren’t enough, other sites proclaimed the fearsome Gay Agenda was behind it all, what with those rainbow colors and the big “Love” display in the stands.

When the truth isn’t good enough for a story, go for what plays well to the base, I suppose. 

flag_wrapped_bible
So many of these conservatives are too ridiculous for a traditional Christian couple to get behind them. So many are willing to back Trump and like-minded “politicians” regardless of what they say or do. 

They wrap themselves in the flag and cling to the Bible, but they condemn the expressions of unity and love that both those cherished symbols exemplify.

I think my wife unfollowed several pages over their ridiculous pre-biased non-coverage and the flame wars that ensued when we called them out. You may not know her, but that act alone says something.

To such narrow-minded and ignorant people, who create controversy where there was none and spread the hate they claim to condemn, let that “unfollow” say this:
We were in this together with you. 

We’re not anymore. 

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