Super Bowl LI is super politicized which is super annoying

Politics are gradually seeping into everything that we see.

It’s impossible to even watch athletes throw a ball without seeing some sort of political statement being made during breaks. Most of the more controversial Super Bowl commercials involved rhetoric about President Donald Trump and his administration’s recent passage of executive orders, especially in regards to immigration.

Everything else is already highly politicized. Is it against the rules to let sports fans enjoy something as simple as people tackling each other without having to constantly be reminded of current events that are already impossible to ignore?

Everyone knows the things that are happening in this country and how Muslim refugees and immigrants alike are getting the short end of the stick all because of the president and his political platform.

But since everyone is already discussing these commercials, why not break them down?

The fact that people are boycotting Budweiser for its commercial is beyond comprehension. Every American should have felt pride when watching that commercial. It is the quintessential American dream to come here as an immigrant with nothing but an idea and now, 141 years later, own a sizeable portion of the market.

It goes to show that America is for anyone who is willing to put in the work to succeed here.

The only people who would have gotten inflamed about the commercial are the type who would have gotten in immigrant Adolphus Busch’s face and told him to go back home if they could have. If this commercial aired any other year, no one would have cared. It would have been just another patriotic horn-toot.

But thanks to the political climate that we live in, people love to create relationships about anything that could possibly relate to politics. Budweiser even said that they were not trying to make a political statement with the advertisement.

84 Lumber, on the other hand, went on the offensive and made its commercial bluntly political and then included the rest on their website. Whether the intent was to get you to go to their website to buy lumber or actually just watch the rest of their commercial is up to the viewer.

So far, viewership for Super Bowl LI was lower than the previous two. If sports continues to become politicized, this trend will most likely continue. Politics isn’t good for business. It divides people, which normally wouldn’t matter.

Discourse and disagreement help people understand each other, but why divide people who have all come together to enjoy a sports event? It just doesn’t make sense. This year, the Super Bowl felt more like political statements occasionally interrupted by a football game.

Hopefully this does not become a frequent occurrence.

Opinion editor Thomas Dwyer is a broadcast journalism sophomore and can be reached at [email protected].

Tags: politics, Super Bowl LI