Arthur Blank’s Comments Blown Out of Proportion
I hate to admit that the blogosphere is responsible for many bad things in the current media atmosphere since it would be an act of self-criticism. While blogs allow a greater number of people to express their opinions, the blogosphere places a premium on reactionary rhetoric in order to draw in higher page views. I try not to engage in this type of rhetoric because I think that bloggers need to be above reproach to supplant traditional media outlets.
The uproar over Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank’s comments on Monday evening shows the trigger-happy nature of today’s media. Blank was asked by Tony Kornheiser if there was a possibility of jailed quarterback Michael Vick returning to the team after his 23 month sentence ends. Blank responded that there were a number of conditions that would need to be determined including his physical condition which may be affected by eating fatty foods like fried chicken and the interest of other NFL teams in his services. The “fried chicken? part is catching the imagination of overly sensitive writers around the country.
I would like to note that I have written extensively on racial issues in other blogs. My work with CensorSpace included an immediate condemnation of Michael Richards’ racist tirade as well as commentary about a rash of racially motivated actions at places like Clemson University. Arthur Blank is not a racist based on past actions. The fried chicken comment (which I hate to even talk about because it sounds so dumb) is innocuous.
I understand that fried chicken is seen as a stereotypical term for African Americans but we have to look at things in context. Blank has been supportive of Michael Vick in the past and there are few people in the Falcons organization who would claim ignorance on the part of the owner. If he had said that Michael Vick was going to eat pizza, would have be offending Italian Americans? My fellow bloggers, calm down and let’s get outraged over other issues including a potential war with Iran, the 2008 election and problems with our economy.
December 19th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
Any uproar over an innocent comment like that is absurd. I don’t care if your black or white, there is obviously no racial reference in the comment, so chill out, people. Like Nick said, would there have been a backlash if it had been pizza? Hardly. And as far as I can tell, most of the people at the KFC drive-thru here in my neighborhood are mostly white soccer moms with a minivan full of kids, even though there are a lot of black folks living here in my ‘hood. Or neighborhood. Whichever is least offensive.
January 31st, 2008 at 7:04 pm
I think there was a racial reference, but I don’t believe his intentions were malicious.