Super Bowl can’t escape culture wars

Well, better not do this, because you’ll be labeled as that.

I’m sure I’m not the only one whose head is spinning after reading the endless online headlines trumpeting who was offended by what during the Super Bowl. Wasn’t surprised about the criticism of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” being sung before the national anthem. But that was just one of a number of social-media-fueled controversies about the Big Game.

What happened to the winners — oh pardon me, the commercials being the most-discussed aspect of the Super Bowl?

Shoot. It’s been bewildering enough to read/ hear about one controversy or another concerning the show-biz awards … even without Will Smith slapping the mess out of Chris Rock during the 2022 Oscars. There have been enough other kerfuffles.

This year’s Super Bowl, which had everyone all a-Twitter, a-Facebook and a-et cetera about issues that ranged from conservative politicians complaining about Sheryl Lee Ralph singing what’s known as the Black National Anthem (and speculation that her performance was lip-synced) to people’s feathers being ruffled over who rich-guy Elon Musk was sitting next to at the game. And look, I gave up trying to follow that whole M&Ms affair.

Forget mere Cancel Culture. Get Offended/Finger Pointing Culture has become a game of Go. You know how, as you age, you stop being able to follow, let alone sing or perform, the latest young people’s dances and songs? That’s how it feels trying to keep up with all the conflicting issues of the culture wars.

You observe Black History or cry out against injustice for people of color, you’ll be pummeled for being “woke” — a now-derogatory term that has turned up in everywhere from Super Bowl “discussions” to, geesh, a Facebook group for Twilight Zone fans that I chose to leave. You vote as a member of the Recording Academy or the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, your recipient selections may lead to the awards being criticized as “so white.” (Yep, saw a story about that hashtag being back. And singer Beyonce has more Grammys that I have pairs of shoes,

but there’s been online grief over her being passed up for a “major” Grammy.)

It’s not just about being called racist or sexist, or even homophobic, anymore. Depending on what you stand for and the battles you’ve chosen to fight, you may be labeled transphobic, a participation trophy recipient, a snowflake, a socialist, a fascist, a Karen, a Florida man.

I fear that the result of it all will be people who hesitate to speak out or act against real cruelty and injustice. Sadly, too many of us fail to see that there’s enough of both to go around and affect us all, no matter what our race, creed, religion, sexual preference or gender identity.

Simon Kuper apparently was concerned with that when he wrote about the trend of social-media barb trading in his May 2020 opinion piece, “Welcome to the age of insult, you snowflake,” on the Financial Times website (ft.com). “Insults often set the online tone, because they stick in the mind,” Kuper writes. “Their intent isn’t to persuade, but to frighten opponents into silence.

“Yet any strategy for handling abuse must start by realising how off-target most of it is,” Kuper adds, before going on to list what he labels “common insults that are either meaningless or becoming so” — one being (ha) “white man.”

Previously in this space, I asked the “Rodney King” question, named for the first man who made major headlines due to a video showing him being beaten by cops: “Can we all get along?”

I’ll answer my own question: Apparently not, as we seem so heck-bent on turning into a Mad Max society.

Best advice I can give myself and others: We should take a break from trying to keep up with all the controversies and the fighting, and do us, no matter how much “doing us” may be excoriated by whatever group. Logging off and taking action is not being frightened into silence.

Ideally, though, our “doing us” will be preceded by researching, soul-searching, at least some Golden Rule study (if not Bible study), and the realization that yeah, we really are all in this together.

Oh, and congrats, Chiefs.