It's 2014, and There are Still Phony Wars on Everything, Even Dads I Guess!

It's a new year, just teeming with possibilities, knowns and unknowns.

Now, as much as I like to declare myself a visionary while playing video games, I am not.  I can't tell you what will happen tomorrow or the next day or the day after that with 100% certainty, but I can guess as well as anybody. And, my guess is that life, as great and shitty as it is, will continue much the same as it has in the past. 

The malcontents will grumble, the optimists will smile brightly, and all the phony "wars," like the "War on Dads," will continue to rage on.

Yes, the latest hot, phony "war" has to do with moms versus dads from what I can tell.  I guess a part of this "war" stems from the dads out there that feel like they have to unfairly prove themselves as legitimate caretakers of their children and active members of their families.

This saddens me!

In my eyes, there is nothing to prove.  You're either an active participant in your child's upbringing and an active member of your family, or you're not.

If you feel like you have to prove your worthiness as a parent to people other than your family, maybe, or yourself, then there might be a problem.

It's just not that healthy to worry so much!

Anyway, the reason I bring this up is because somebody pointed out the latest ads for the Olympics to me, saying that they were all mom focused and pointedly ignored the dad's role in child rearing.

I've seen the ads, and it's true.  Dad's are by and far ignored, but does it matter?

No, it doesn't matter to me anyway.

The ads are tailored to the specific demographic that the companies recognize as their main consumer.  

That's all.

It's not that they don't care about Dads.  They care about money, and they are willing to ignore fathers in these ads in order to get more of it from mothers, their main consumers. In that sense, running this "Thank You, Mom" ad campaign is absolutely brilliant.

Why make it into anything other than a smart marketing ploy?

Being ignored by this ad campaign doesn't equal being at war or otherwise embattled. 

The lack of recognition as a legitimate parental figure doesn't mean there is a "War on dads" either, and this ad campaign really has nothing to do with that anyway. All it is doing is taking a few moments to thank the mothers out there who helped there kids along the way.  

Yes, dads helped too, of course, but that is widely recognized as sports are supposedly a male dominated thing where it is assumed that fathers take a primary interest. It's not, however, as widely recognized that mothers are just as interested and play just as vital a supporting role when it comes to their children and sports as fathers do.   

The fact that these ads take the time to recognize moms in this capacity is poignant not because dads are ignored, but because moms were ignored for so long.

P.s. When us dads are feeling devalued we should take some time to stop and think about what it is like, and has been like, for mothers.  It'll make our gripes seem ridiculous by comparison. Talk about devaluation not being taken seriously by society.