The Super Bowl Domestic Violence Hoax Continues Even in the Most Sacred Places

I was sitting in a capacity crowd church located in the state of Delaware the Sunday before Superbowl Sunday a few years ago. This was my first time in attendance, and I was there at the invitation of a friend who attended the church.
The congregation was was warm and friendly, and the music was beautiful. However, during the corporate prayer portion of the service, one of the staff ministers stood behind the pulpit to lead the congregation in prayer. Before she began the corporate soliloquy, she said something that--quite literally--hit me like a ton of bricks.
She implored that we remember that Superbowl Sunday was the one day in which the most acts of Domestic Violence would occur, and to please pray for those women caught in the throes of this national plague.
When I heard this, I nearly fell out out of the pew. Due to my past experiences with state-sponsored false allegations, it was extremely disconcerting for me to actually hear this "noble lie," this myth propagated in a house of worship  during its time of prayer.  You see, this very sincere but misinformed individual was perpetuating one of the many myths regarding Domestic Violence -
"The Great Super Bowl Hoax"

This myth ironically began the same year--1993--that (then) Senator Joseph Biden would sponsor Legislation to ratify the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) into law . The myth would spread like wild fire throughout the media. It has long ago been debunked, but continues to serve the purpose of radical feminist in their portrayal of the average guy as a violent predator and a product of a toxic pathological masculinity

Christina Hoff Sommers, American Enterprise Institute resident scholar and equity feminist, tracked the rumor from its inception and, along with such journalists as Washington Post reporter Ken Ringle, demonstrated that despite the hysteria, women have never been in any greater danger on Super Bowl Sunday than on any other day.
Sommers explained that while such dramatizations may serve a purpose for some activists, domestic violence is too serious a problem for such exaggerations and opportunism.
See also:
http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/opinion/forum/2011-02-03-sommers04_st_N.htm

Whether through deliberate ingenuousness or sincere gullibility, the end result is the same:  the perpetuation of a "noble lie" for the furtherance of one's cause -some might even call it propoganda.

Gordon Smith
Port Orange, Florida (Formerly Felton, Delaware)
302-242-0299