No place for venom

We need a break.

The political atmosphere in America is so venomous. The state of the world is so … serious and heavy and burdened.

There is the Tea Party, which thinks the country has gone to the dogs, thinks President Obama is a socialist, and thinks Sarah Palin is America’s best hope.

There are the Democrats, seemingly afraid to make tough choices because they want to be re-elected and the Republicans who are circling the issues and the Democrats like sharks who have seen blood.

There are the political ads, complete with soft music and soft voices, working to rile up “the American people” by playing on their fears, frustration and anger, making promises and trying to lift themselves up by tearing their opponents down, mercilessly, without grace or respect.

There is Haiti, where, despite lessened media coverage, the dearth and despair is greater than any of us can imagine.

There are the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, where young men and women are dying for … I am not quite sure what.

Then there is the Superbowl.

The Big Game is being played in the Superdome, where after Hurricane Katrina there was so much suffering, pain and death.

It’s the Superbowl, for goodness’ sake, the place where we see good football and, until this year, silly, entertaining commercials.

It is not the place for an anti-abortion ad. It is not the time or the place for us to have to wrestle with our ideologies, which only add to the sense of heaviness, anger and divisiveness that plague so many Americans.

It’s the time to root on our team, and laugh, and eat way too much and drink beer or whatever. It’s time to pick “our” team and pull our hair out, not literally, as move toward the championship.

The Tebow ad is out of place.

At first I said, in an article for my Washington Post blog, that it was ok for the ad to play, or would be ok, if CBS had allowed “the other side” to show an ad,too.

But I’ve changed my mind. A football game is not the place for politics and ideology.

“The other side” probably doesn’t have the money, though, that Focus on the Family has. And today, with everyone struggling financially, it really is all about money. I suppose CBS is struggling just like everyone else. Everything is relative.

But really, this Tebow ad has already soured the spirit of this Superbowl. I believe in life. Life of fetuses, life of babies after they are born, even if they are poor and non-white. I believe in the life of the poor in general, in their quality of life.

I believe in the lives of the people who suffered in the Superdome after Katrina and Rita.

Superbowl Sunday has always been a day for fun.

Not this year, not as much. It’s hard to have fun when someone brings a spiked drink. It’s like Tebow threw water on the fire.

We need to laugh and shout and forget for a minute. We need a break.

This Tebow ad thing is not cool.

That’s a candid observation.