Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

From the Quotation of the day mailing list, 2008-08-28:

"A bike trip is a metaphor for life, complete with a beginning and end, and the hope that one doesn't topple off in the middle." -- William Golding

(submitted to the mailing list by Mike Krawchuk)

Dear CBS,

Like a great many of my countrymen, I am in the habit of watching each year's Super Bowl broadcast. Lately, I watch as many Baltimore Ravens games as I can, and then the Super Bowl regardless of which teams make it that far. During the years when I was performing most Autumn weekends and devoting my remaining weekend time to my then-girlfriend, the Super Bowl was sometimes the only football game I got to watch (and it was while watching the game together -- she was watching just for fascinating commercials -- that she began to appreciate the sport itself, ultimately becoming an even bigger fan than I am). And like a lot of people, I'm usually interested in seeing what especially clever new ads are unveiled then.

So the Super Bowl has been, year after year, an event I've looked forward to and made sure nothing would interrupt.

But this year, I simply find myself unable to muster any enthusiasm for the annual spectacle, neither for what will probably be an exciting match, nor for the chance to see what cleverness ad agencies come up with that folks will be talking about next week.

The controversy over the ads accepted and rejected for this year's broadcast, especially in light of the recent past, has left too bad a taste in my mouth for me to enjoy the game -- or the rest of the ads. I had not reached the point of staging a conscious one-person protest, nor of explicitly joining some sort of boycott, but as game day drew nearer, I simply found myself un-excited, even a bit disgusted. Today, as kickoff time approached, all I felt was distaste.

The last time your ad policy raised a stink in my community, it was when you used the excuse of not wanting to air controversial ads or "issue ads" during the game, as a justification for refusing an ad from a church -- a church -- that wanted to make the point that it welcomed gays and lesbians along with hets. It rang a bit hollow then, but at least was not so blatantly hypocritical as this year's decision to accept (and if what I've read is accurate, even help to fine-tune) an advocacy ad for one side of the right-to-abortions issue while again kicking sand in my community's face by rejecting an ad for reasons that amount to homophobia. Is there any issue in American politics today that is more controversial than abortion? And if you've decided that controversial ads are okay now, then is there any greater insult than telling a whole segment of the population, "the fact that you exist and may actually seek romance like the rest of us is too offensive to show during the Super Bowl"?

I haven't even had the stomach to spend much time reading about, or talking about the game these past several days -- not even to look at what others in my community have been saying about yor decision. I did happen to catch a preview of the "too offesnsive" ad on the evening news one night -- note that it wasn't too offensive for ABC to air as news during dinnertie -- and was struck by how very vanilla it was. Just some kissing, nothing explicit, presented lightheartedly.

Note that what has left me feeling queasy about what used to thrill me is not simply that you're airing (and helped create) an ad for the anti-women's-autonomy side of the decades-long abortion debate; nor simply that you have yet again decided that queer folk are too controversial to acknowledge. It's the combination of the two, the juxtaposition, the blatant homophobia that simply can no longer be whitewashed with a coat of "we don't do controversy during the Super Bowl". Rejecting the Mancrunch ad while maintaining your "no controversy" facade, I would've just grumbled quietly to myself about but could still have probably enjoyed the game. Airing both, I would have considered reasonable, and just scowled at the anti-choice ad while it was playing. Accepting the one removes your cover for refusing the other, and makes explicit that it's not fear of offending your audience or a notion that the Super Bowl is no place for controversy, but simply a case of, "oh, ick, teh ghey".

So yeah, I guess it was slow to sink in, but after a week or two of this nagging feeling in the pit of my stomach, the message is finally sinking in: you don't want people like me, or many of my friends. Maybe I should've gotten the message after that trans-misogynist skit on The Late Show with David Letterman regarding the appointmnt of Amanda Simpson to a post in the Commerce Department (Hey, was there ever an apology for that? I failed to keep up.), but I keep trying to apply the dictum, "never attribute to malice what could be adequately explained by stupidity," when I should be using "once is accident, twice is coincidence, three times is enemy action," instead. Fool me twice, shame on me ... but I learn eventually.

So now, during what I'm guessing is the second quarter, I'm blogging and editing photos of the snow, rather than paying any attention to the game. I'm not even in a room that has a television in it, though I may wander back to tune in the second half of The Sound of Music after I post this.

The CBS eye logo has until now elicited warm reactions when I see it, because I associate it with the various flavours of CSI and NCIS, The Mentalist, and Craig Ferguson, all of which I watch consistently. But for the past week, seeing that logo has made me flinch. Examining my surprising-to-me lack of enthusiasm for tonight's game has allowed me to put my finger on the reason: I now associate your network with homophobia and transphobia. As a trans person with lots of trans, bi, lesbian, gay, and otherwise queer friends -- for that matter, just as someone who believes in treating minorities fairly and respectfully whether I've got friends among them or not -- your network smells like bigotry, and your logo whispers, "we don't want your kind around here".

I don't know yet whether I'll be able to kick the CSI habit, but at the moment I'm not feeling all warm and fuzzy about the thought of tuning in tomorrow night for CSI: Miami either. Fortunately ABC has Castle on in that timeslot if I really want to watch some television then. But hey, if I don't come back to the various CSI shows -- which I've watched every episode of so far -- be sure to tell your advertisers that you chased a way a pair of trans eyeballs so they don't have to worry about selling their stuff to as many GBLT people, okay?

Man, I miss getting all excited about the Super Bowl. Not giving a damn that it's on is a strange feeling. All of my adult life and most of my childhood, watching the Super Bowl has been a pleasing ritual. But I'm not going to force myself to watch it just for ritual's sake this year, when even thinking about it turns me off thanks to your taking a stand against people like me with your ad policy. (Not even your own content, but what other people offered to pay you for the privilege of showing!) Maybe by next year CBS will have managed to redeem itself -- I hope so, because I want to be able to enjoy the big game again (and keep enjoying your fine crime dramas and Mr. Ferguson) -- but if you're still kicking my community like you did a few years ago, only more blatantly now, that hope is a faint one.