The Super Bowl had more for progressives to love than you might realize – ThinkProgress
The comparisons were inevitable.
With the Atlanta Falcons leading the New England Patriots 140 in the second quarter of last nights Super Bowl, New York Times elections and polling reporter Nate Cohn tweeted that the Falcons had an 86 percent chance of winning the gamearound the same winning probability that Hillary Clinton had going into election night. By the third quarter, when the Falcons had extended that lead to 283, that percentage had increased to 99 percent.
But then, before bandwaggon fans had a chance to learn the Dirty Bird, the Falcons melted down, the Patriots got their groove back, and as quickly as you can say Ohio, the confetti was falling down on the Patriots in overtime. Trump tweeted congratulations to his dear friends, Patriots owner Bob Kraft, coach Bill Belichick, and quarterback Tom Brady; noted neo-Nazi Richard Spencer was tweeting a photo of Brady kissing his wife Giselle Bunchen with the typlically inflamatory caption, For the White Race, Its never over; and Donald Trump Jr. was trolling statisticians everywhere.
For many progressives outside of New England, the game felt like another win for racism and bigotry and, well, the version of America that Trump has so brazenly amplified and empowered.
But, while there are striking parallels on the surface, staring too deeply into the abyss is both dangerous and unproductive. After all, when you look at the bigger picture, there were plenty of victories for progressive values on Sunday evening as well.
Super Bowl commercials have, historically, been a bastion of sexism and stereotypes. But this year, almost all of them carried strong messages about unity, togetherness, and the importance of diversity.
Audi ran an advertisement that focused on the importance of equal pay for women. Coca-Cola, which has spoken out against Trumps Muslim ban, re-ran a commercial from 2014 that featured America the Beautiful sung in many different languages, and promoted the ad on social media with the message, Today millions cheer together, because together is beautiful.
Budweisers adwhich had already caused such an uproar among a small faction of conservatives after it was posted online last week that some were organizing a boycottshowcased their co-founders story of immigrating into the United States. While the company claims it wasnt in response to Trumps immigration policies, many arent buying it, for better or for worse.
Then there was the ad that was deemed too political to air in its original form84 Lumbers 90-second spot depicting a mother and daughter crossing the dessert in Mexico to try and cross the United States border. (Fox reportedly made them cut out the end of the ad, where the family comes face-to-face with a wall at the border, only to ultimately discover a door in the wall. However, you can see the ad in full below.)
Progressives are loathe to give these corporations too much credit, and rightly so: behind the scenes, many of them have plenty of flaws. But the fact that so many of these commercials championed equality and acceptance instead of sexist tropes proves that diversity and inclusion can be good business as much as good policy.
In fact, as pollster Geoff Garin highlighted on Sunday, despite Trumps electoral college victory, Clinton won the parts of America that generate 64 percent of countrys economic activity. The consumers that advertisers covet most voted overwhelmingly for Hillary Clintons vision of America.
There was also Lady Gagas halftime showwhich, while not as overtly political as many expected, did promote LGBT rights and the suddenly-radical concept that this land is made for you and meand the Schuyler Sisters sisterhood spin on America the Beautiful before the game.
Plus, as necessary as it is to hold Brady and Belichick and Kraft accountable for their extremely public relationships with Trump, its also important to note that the three of them do not encompass the entire Patriots organization. Two Patriots players, tight end Martellus Bennett and defensive back Devin McCourty, raised their fists after the national anthem in the first NFL game of the season as a nod to Colin Kaepernicks protest against police brutality and racial injustices in America.
Bennett even confirmed on Sunday night that he would not be attending the White House when the Patriots visit to celebrate their championship because he does not support Trump. It remains to be seen if any of his teammates will join him in that protest.
So, sure, seeing a team led by Trump supporters win in improbable fashion over a team from one of the most diverse cities in America, and realizing that Spencer and other white supremacists were celebrating, was enough to trigger Election Day flashbacks. But scratching beneath the surface just a bit reveals just how flimsy the analogy is.
After all, the Patriots were the favorites going into this game, and ultimately its their talent and experience that led them to victory, not bigotry and bluster. They won because they have the best quarterback and coachlikely in NFL historyon their side. (And, yes, atrocious Falcons play calling helped.) We need to stop reading more into it than thatafter all, conflating reality and entertainment might just be what got us into this mess to begin with.
The result on the football field was just about football. Its everything that happened around the field that serves as a much better example of who we are as a country.
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The Super Bowl had more for progressives to love than you might realize - ThinkProgress
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