A Quick Musing
“Is there anything I can do for marriage equality or anti- bullying over the next couple of weeks to harness this Super Bowl media?”
So, some guy who plays linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens wants to use the media attention surrounding the Super Bowl to draw attention tomarriage equality gay marriage. There are a few things to be said here, some more profound than others.
The first thing to be said, unfortunately, doesn't speak well for the intelligence of 20-something year old athletes. What Mr. Ayanbedejo fails to grasp is that the media attention is feeding a demand for information, no matter how trivial and meaningless, about football. Change the subject away from football and the attention goes away. Certainly, the moment that Super Bowl-playing football players start to expound on the great moral issues of the day is the day that the media circus gets deflated and there is nothing to harness.
Secondly, and more importantly, is the small-minded, sadly modern, view that a great issue of our day is just a matter of marketing, like a product to be sold. Ayanbedejo's motivations are all too common and conventional - if we can just get more media exposure, more celebrities to speak out, more "awareness" then people will come around to our point of view. As if deep moral questions or questions of societal mores are not formed by religious belief or study of history or human understanding or life experience.
As one who is indifferent to the notion of gay marriage - neither for it or against it - I just shake my head at the tactics used by advocates to sway skeptics or opponents. It is typical leftism, no persuasion, no reasoning, just demonizing opponents and ramping up the marketing. I doubt they'll have much success in advancing their cause with this playbook.
So, some guy who plays linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens wants to use the media attention surrounding the Super Bowl to draw attention to
The first thing to be said, unfortunately, doesn't speak well for the intelligence of 20-something year old athletes. What Mr. Ayanbedejo fails to grasp is that the media attention is feeding a demand for information, no matter how trivial and meaningless, about football. Change the subject away from football and the attention goes away. Certainly, the moment that Super Bowl-playing football players start to expound on the great moral issues of the day is the day that the media circus gets deflated and there is nothing to harness.
Secondly, and more importantly, is the small-minded, sadly modern, view that a great issue of our day is just a matter of marketing, like a product to be sold. Ayanbedejo's motivations are all too common and conventional - if we can just get more media exposure, more celebrities to speak out, more "awareness" then people will come around to our point of view. As if deep moral questions or questions of societal mores are not formed by religious belief or study of history or human understanding or life experience.
As one who is indifferent to the notion of gay marriage - neither for it or against it - I just shake my head at the tactics used by advocates to sway skeptics or opponents. It is typical leftism, no persuasion, no reasoning, just demonizing opponents and ramping up the marketing. I doubt they'll have much success in advancing their cause with this playbook.
posted by Donny Baseball at 5:54 PM
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