Feminist Looking Glass

What hypocrisy by the CBS TV network!  As you probably know, CBS is allowing a 30-second anti-choice (I always use “anti-choice” rather than the “anti-abortion” used by many) ad to appear during the Super Bowl.  It is expected to show Tim Tebow (an ultra-religious very well-known former Heisman-award-winning college quarterback) and his mother, Pam, saying that she had been advised to have an abortion when she was pregnant with Tim, that she decided against an abortion, and that, oh, how bad it would have been if Tim had never been born because he is such a great person and could never have won the Heisman trophy if he had not been born.

For the 2004 Super Bowl, CBS turned down the United Church of Christ when it wanted to air a Super Bowl ad that celebrated diversity and welcomed gay and lesbian Christians to the denomination.  CBS says that it used to have a policy that would not have allowed controversial ads, but that it changed its policy a while ago.   And so, now, CBS is allowing the Tebow anti-choice ad, which is reportedly produced and paid for by Focus on the Family (James Dobson’s group), a conservative anti-choice, anti-gay group.

Many groups have expressed their outrage to CBS, but it has not yet pulled the ad.  Because of the outrage, CBS said that it would consider ads from other political advocacy groups.   And what did it do next?  Well, it rejected an ad for the gay dating web site Mancrunch.com.  Can there be any doubt what CBS is doing?  It is showing its intolerance, bigotry, and obvious strong corporate right-wing leanings.

My guess is that CBS will back down before the Super Bowl and will not show the Tebow ad.  But, even if it does, I would be wary of paying much attention to what is ever said on CBS news shows.  They might be going the route of Fox News.

One other thing.  The whole theme of the Tebow ad is bogus. Pam developed complications with her pregnancy when she was in the Philipines.  Doctors there recommended that she have an abortion.  (Gloria Allred says that there are inaccuracies in that story because abortion was illegal in the Philippines at the time and intends to file suit.)  And, so, even if the story is true, the important point is that she was allowed to have a choice.  Choice should be the focus of the entire debate on abortion.

The theme is also bogus for more philosophical reasons.  First, if there had never been a Tim Tebow, no one would know or care.  It is never plausible to think about what never occurred.  Second, if Tim Tebow had become a serial killer, would Focus on the Family now want to air an ad?  In other words, for every Tim Tebow whose mother decided against an abortion and the son grew up to be famous, there are just as many mothers who decided against an abortion whose sons grew up to be bad adults.  Maybe some pro-choice group should seek to use that as a Super Bowl ad.