When political commentators and the media get it wrong, they should admit it.
One of our writers, at our behest, wrote, “For those of you that are looking forward to enjoying the 51st Super Bowl without a political agenda, forget it. Social justice liberals refuse to let any truly neutral pastime go untouched.”
And continued, “The arena of sports entertainment should be a place where people can escape from politics and simply enjoy one another.”
So, we were wrong. Lady Gaga did not go political and instead turned in one of the greatest Super Bowl performances in recent memory. She sang, she flew, she danced. She indeed made us “escape from politics and simply enjoy one another.”
The one semi-political part of the performance was at the beginning when she sang a mix of classic American patriotic tunes. Nothing controversial there. It was actually inspiring.
After her performance, many left-leaning politicos took to social media to mock those who boycotted the performance. Instead of taking the higher ground like Lady Gaga, they took it as a moment to rub into the conservative boycotters’ faces that they were the ones who politicized the performance before it even happened.
Maybe that trash talk was deserved, or maybe this is exactly what was supposed to happen.
Remember what set conservatives off.
“Well, I don’t know if I will succeed in unifying America,” she said at a pre-Super Bowl press conference. “You’ll have to ask America when it’s over. The only statement I’ll make in the halftime show is the message I’ve been making throughout my career. I believe in a passion for inclusion. I believe in the spirit of equality, and the spirit of this country, one of love and compassion and kindness. So, my performance will uphold those philosophies.”
Inferring that her goal wasn’t to unite the country caused legitimate concern. If you read these comments, it’s hard not to think she was going to get at least a little political.
Maybe this was all a setup.
Lady Gaga — like President Trump — is one of the best promoters and masters of manipulating the media. She did not rise to fame at such an early age by change. Her ability to understand the masses can empower her to dominate the hits charts for nearly a decade.
Maybe, she wanted more eyeballs on her big show. Maybe she wanted to make her haters look dumb. After all, she said this at a press conference. Isn’t the point of a press conference before the show to get more interest in the show? While she may have gotten a few boycotters, she gained far more of us who tuned in to see what she would say or do.
So, we were not only wrong about Lady Gaga, but we may also have been outsmarted by her too.
