can’t always get what you want…

Tonight’s superbowl was just that. You can either have a superbowl that has a great game and lame commercials, or you can have a game that’s a blowout with really great commercials.
For awhile, the best thing about the superbowl was the commercials because the game was usually over by the end of the first half. The last couple of years have had great games, but the commercials had lost something.
But, this year, because of the infamous “wardrobe malfunction,” the screeners for the commercials have been extra strict. I think the edgiest commercial this year was the one for godaddy.com that parodied the “wardrobe malfunction.” I read online that the godaddy commercial had to go through several iterations before it got by the board. Yet, strangely, they still slipped in at least one commercial for Cialis.
I’d much rather see the rude crude beer commercials than anything advertising a fix for erectile dysfunction.
It’s just sad that since last year the networks have become incredibly paranoid about offending anyone about anything. But, then, it kinda reflects on the society we live in today.

It just seems like we’ve taken this sensitivity thing too far. It was one thing to be politically correct, but now we’re going to extremes to make sure nobody’s feelings get hurt. Did you know in some schools they are pushing teachers to use purple pens instead of red ones when grading papers because red ink may hurt their feelings. Another idea was to start changing the way things are graded, so you never actually receive a’failing’ grade because that could be traumatic. I’ve heard about other schools changing the rules of games so that nobody loses.
I just don’t get that. I realize that there are some very scary things out there that people want to protect their children from, but there are some things that are very real. What happens to these kids when they grow up, and they have to learn for the first time as adults that not everything in life is fair? Hell, if they don’t understand how to deal with a bad grade, how will they ever deal if, god forbid, something truly tragic happened to them?
Winning and losing are real. Passing and failing are real. If you have no grasp of the concept of one, how will you learn to appreciate the other? If you don’t understand what it is to lose, how will you feel when you win? How do you understand right from wrong? good from evil?
If you don’t see a commercial that’s crass, how will you know that another commercial is acceptable? Ok, the commercial thing is a stretch…
Do we simply just make everything in life so bland that nobody can be offended by it? How much would the superbowl suck if nobody could win? What would be the point? Commercials wouldn’t need to spend millions on their ads, because they would end up being little more than news reports. Here’s our product, here’s what it does, and here’s our company logo. Please buy our stuff.
The other scary thing is the sue-happy mode we’ve been getting into. I don’t like what you’re saying/doing/whatever, so I’m going to sue you. That’s why the networks are paranoid, because someone will decide to slap a class-action lawsuit on their butts because 10% of the population over 65 who watched the superbowl didn’t like the ad with the farting horse.
So, if I enjoyed the game but thought the commercials sucked, should I get a bunch of people together and sue the networks to bring back the farting horse commercial because we were offended that the commercial was NOT in the lineup?
Maybe we should. Maybe that would show just how out of hand things are getting.
When did we lose our sense of humor? It’s out there somewhere, I think. Otherwise, the Simpsons wouldn’t be one of the longest running sitcoms on television.

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