I sat down today to dig a little deeper into this commercial that I see about a thousand times per day on almost everything I watch live. It drives me crazy, not so much about the content (although that makes me a little uncomfortable) it’s because I’ve seen it so many times.
It’s the LOVE is Love from the ad council commercial. These are the people who brought you Smokey the Bear and Mcgruff the crime dog.  Cool, memorable stuff from my childhood.
The thing is, my research didn’t uncover what I was expecting.  What I found was an interesting and warm approach toward the idea of love.  Albeit with some uncomfortable images of gay couples kissing.
What frustrates me is that the commercial we all see on TV is the edited version of the longer one that left me less offended. The longer version has young couples, old couples, mentally challenged people, “normal” people, and the uncomfortable gay couples. The TV commercial doesn’t even attempt to show “regular” people as the image of love, or at least as one of the images of love. The longer version does, at least in my opinion.
What I see in the shorter version is snapshot into what  think is happening in American culture today. The culture of the left is not inclusive. even though they attempt to own it, chain it up, guard it and train it to attack anyone who disagrees, thinks about disagreeing, or has ever thought about thinking about disagreeing. The issue doesn’t matter.  Like an anti-aircraft gun, mortar shells, or an F-15 jet, the issues are just the weapons of war, and the people and relationships on all sides of the issues are collateral damage.
I may be reading to deep into the editing of this commercial, but this is what I see as a Christian, heterosexual white male, who likes baseball, trail running, and history sees when hit between the eyes with issues that don’t normally make my daily radar. Really, when it comes down to it, i don’t really care if you are white or black, gay, trans, or whatever, just please get it out of my face and the face of my kids.  I think I stand with many, if not the majority of Americans who believe that being gay is not “normal” and with most christians who believe it is a sin. I also think that I stand with a majority when I say I am too busy worrying about my own life and my own sins to judge gays (or anyone for that matter) for their sins.
Again, the approach from the left is disingenuous when it seeks “inclusion” or “equality”. Many regular ole americans who happen to be gay may be seeking these things, but the political left sees an opportunity. Like any group of people, the opportunity to be a “tool” for some one else agenda leaves many as useful idiots.
What I see and feel is an attempt to read my mind. No, that’s wrong. If that were possible, the statements I make here and others like me wouldn’t serve the left’s purpose.  They couldn’t say (like they will) that I am hateful and homophobic, because they would be able to actually read my mind.  Now this technology does not exists…no matter what you’ve heard to the contrary.  But if it did, here’s what it would show:
I am afraid.  I heard the word “heteronormative” for the first time last week while researching black lives matter.  Apparently this word means “the assumption that unless it is already known, everyone is heterosexual”.  In other words, if I see a random person on the street, I assume he is straight. A recent gallup poll shows americans believe the gay population to be around 23% of the population, whereas the actual population is about 4%.  Either way you look at it, the law of averages simply suggests that that random dude on the street is straight.
Back to my fear. I am afraid that we are losing touch with reality, responsibility, and the understanding of what it means to have an inner struggle. Black lives matter echoes the left’s philosophy in stating that heteronormative thinking is