What's A Meta For?

Yes, I watched the Super Bowl. Yes, I watch and enjoy NFL football games. But, no. I refuse to turn off my brain or my mouth when I see how an artificial, social event has been co-opted to further a political agenda.

"What have you been smoking?" you ask.

Allow me to explain.

Every sporting contest is a metaphor for war, sublimating actions and attitudes appertqining to killing and maiming into socially acceptable, spectator entertainment. In order to enjoy some sports, the the audience must recognize and understand the strategy behind the successful execution of the game-plan. Enjoyment of other sports rests on one's ability to appreciate the artistry, skill, and grace of the individual combatants.

Then there's NFL Football.

Every NFL game pays lip service (literally, since it's called "color commentary") to the strategic and aesthetic aspects of the game. However the NFL earns its loyal, red-blooded American following by showcasing violence and bestowing upon it significance usually reserved for religion and patriotism.

Viewers see a human being's knee get twisted out of its socket. Another man, having carried an inflated pigskin over the unfortunate casualty of battle in order to cross a chalk line on the ground, humbly kneels then points to the heavens to thank the Almighty for helping him to defeat his enemy. He may then also salute the crowd of worshipers in the stands.

This is what Americans crave. I contend that this craving is the result of their having been brainwashed into believing that both sporting events and life itself are part of a holy, never-endng battle between the forces of good - "us" - and the forces of evil - "them."

And therein lies a sad irony.

Thanks to the popularity of the NFL, the major beneficiaries of this new, win-at-all-cost, American view the world are the war-mongering, my-way-or-the-highway ideologues on the far-right-wing of the political spectrum. They are also the brainwashers, who have spent countless millions of dollars to spread their regressive agenda via a medium which they clearly dominate yet denounce as being controlled by their enemies. Their plan has worked so well that they now can have their cake and eat it too in other aspects of life.

Brandishing the Bible, they claim authority from the Prince of Peace while pushing for a foreign policy based on perpetual war. Denouncing science, they reject evolution as nonsense while basing their propaganda on what is, at its core, a deliberate misrepresentation of Darwin's "survival of the fittest" dictum. In these and other instances they have turned description into prescription and now claim that everyone owes obeisance to their dictates.

The Super Bowl is over, but the battle for our minds continues.

In conclusion and in case you are still wondering what I've been smoking that has me mixing sports and politics in this way, consider this fact: The NFL enjoys tax-exempt status.

Ask yourself why that might be as you begin filling out your 1040 IRS form.