Deciding to be neutral and only point fingers after Tuesday’s senseless mass shooting at a Uvalde, Texas, elementary school, which left 19 kids and 21 total dead, is a beyond puzzling stance for Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank to project.
But here we are.
In a statement released Friday morning per The Athletic, Blank, who also owns the Atlanta Falcons, didn’t want to dive into politics. Yet he had no problem in his next breath taking shots at politicians on both sides of the aisle.
“Part of me thinks our political process is broken. On both sides. It has been hijacked, in my opinion, by extremists,” Blank word-vomited. “I think there is a lost art to compromise. I’m an independent thinker, appreciate everyone’s opinion. There’s a lost art to debate, but I’m going to stay out of the political debate because that’s now why I’m concerned.”
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My retort would start by extending the marvelous words of James Downey in the film Billy Madison: “What you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it.”
On one side, you have legislators asking for basic background checks that a overwhelming majority of Americans support. Senate Republicans blocked a bill on Thursday to create domestic terrorism offices within federal law enforcement agencies. That was in response to a supermarket mass shooting in Buffalo that left 13 people dead, 11 of whom were Black. There also has been no action taken on H.R.8, the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021, passed by the House of Representatives over a year ago and all 50 Republican members of the U.S. Senate has refused to hold a vote on.
But sure, Arthur. The whole “both sides” rhetoric works pristinely here. A tiny bit of research would show you’re wrong. But let’s try to piss off no one in Georgia, one of the most politically contested states in America, by pissing off everyone. It’s not all claptrap coming from Blank’s camp though.
It was also announced on Friday that Blank’s foundation granted $100,000 each to the Sandy Hook Promise and The Health Alliance for Violence Intervention. His monetary contribution should be standard to help the gun pandemic in America. Blank can’t get out of his own way, however. The statement about the donation drops the word “bi-partisan” despite his view that our political system is broken.
How on Earth does that make sense? I get that Blank’s voice holds weight and adding it in a positive way to the conversation about making schools safer and limiting mass shootings in America should be beneficial. It should also be a basic requirement to have your facts straight before speaking up. Do better, Arthur.
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