Warning: the following post will subject you, the reader, to extremely high levels of cognitive dissonance. The New England Patriots are now wearing the white cowboy hat, instead of the black one; at least temporarily.
You may think the Patriots are the bad guys, but on this issue, the one that matters the most right now in America, they are on the right side of history. Over the weekend, the New England Patriots loaned their team plane to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students and their families who traveled to Washington, D.C., for the March For Our Lives rally.
As conservative pundit David Frum indicated, this is exactly what social change looks like.
The New England Patriots loaned its team plane to Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students and their families traveling to Washington, D.C., for the #MarchforOurLives rally. https://t.co/2RCu617H2y pic.twitter.com/iRVynjlXG9
— ABC News (@ABC) March 24, 2018
Risk-averse corporate entities making highly visible contributions to formerly controversial causes is exactly what profound cultural change looks like https://t.co/J1RnXbKCxY
— David Frum (@davidfrum) March 24, 2018
Frum, during an appearance on MSNBC’s “The Last Word with Laurence O’Donnell” said of the New England Patriots:
“The image that stayed with me (from the weekend’s activism) is the Patriots’ plane ferrying people to the march. I mean, it’s the Patriots, so when amoral corporations, or corporate entities, which are very risk averse, ultimately decide that this thing which used to be too risky, isn’t too risky anymore, in fact maybe this is a side we want to be on- that’s what cultural change looks like.”
“It’s not the heroes that make cultural change, it’s the opportunists.”
O’Donnell then pointed out how Pats Owner Bob Kraft is actually a friend of the President’s. “If you change people’s minds, you change legislation after,” Frum added.
When Frum referred to the New England Patriots as “an amoral corporation” it may have sounded like a slam to many, but he’s just pointing out business school 101. All corporations exist for one purpose and one purpose only- drive increased returns on investment to shareholders. That is the morality of a corporate entity, plain and simple. It’s up to the government and the rule of law to enforce that corporation to behave in an ethical matter.
With America overwhelmingly in support of common sense gun laws and total gun legislation reform, Kraft is making sure to align himself with what is popular and marketable right now. Frum is right- it is an act of opportunism, not benevolence.
However, what really matters is finally bringing common sense gun laws, vital to protecting our basic public safety, is what truly matters.
This is a serious public health crisis that needs to be addressed and overhauled, how the New England Patriots reached the realization doesn’t matter as much as the fact that hey, they did make the realization.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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