Offensive Mascot Names:
On paper all this fussing over whether certain mascot names are inappropriate or slurs against some group is sort of frivolous. When I was in high school the mascot name was Indians. I honestly can’t indicate that I ever paid any attention to the name—it could have been Tigers or Goldfish or whatever. I certainly didn’t perform any better because of the nickname. I certainly didn’t picture myself as some sort of Indian running around the track.
Given the above, which probably fits most of us, the solution to these hooplas about mascot names is quite simple. If a mascot name offends some group or most of the group or a lot of the group, then just pick another mascot name. Intent is not the point. The intent behind the name could have been complimentary or anything else. If I call someone a colorful or cute nickname and they find it insulting or whatever, I just stop using the nickname. I might call someone the “energizer bunny” as a compliment for their endless energy, but if they see it as making fun of them, I simply accept that feeling, and don’t use the nickname. What is the point of giving them a long lecture on how you do not mean it as an insult, blah, blah, blah.
This continued tug of war over the name Redskins is silly and inane. There probably is no malice—after all, most of the native Indians are long dead, they lost—the whites won—and not a single, even tiny, bit of land in North America is a sovereign country run by, and inhabited by, any North American Indians. That is probably a real bone of contention and injustice. What the owner of the Redskins needs to understand is the ethics of the matter. When he (or his predecessors) decided to name a mascot it is not their call as to whether it is non offensive---it is the call of the group whose name or description being used. If they don't like it, just choose another name. If the original intent was to honor the Indians why were no Indians involved in selecting the name? Most any other group to be honored are included in the process. Finally the Indians claim the term is offensive because red skins were the proof needed to collect certain bounties on Indians. Frankly if someone decided to honor whites by referring to them as Paleskins, it does sound a bit sarcastic and offensive.
I suppose the name of the Washington Redskins could be changed to the Washington White Skins, BUT probably some blacks—these days proud of their skin color—might be offended. I doubt there are any real Indians on the team to object about the term redskins. Then again, people with my football abilities are not on the team either, so I wouldn’t really feel represented by the name Washington Whiteskins, even though I have white skin. Maybe it would have to be changed to Washington Talented Whiteskins. No, no—Maybe Washington Talented Whiteskins and Blackskin Brothers. No, wait—we are supposedly in an age where color does not matter so much, this would not fit these days at all. Look, if the Washington Redskins really want to come up with a meaningful name, one that properly portrays the team, they might want to pick a factual, non debatable name——LIKE——The Washington LastPlacers. Now there is a name current and non debatable except to the owner of the team who would scream—“I am not in last place in this country, the Indians are.”
The poor American Indians----disease killed off most, guns most of the rest. The remainder were assigned to reservations, a few awarded casinos somewhere down the hereditary line, and their reality today is that of a historical footnote. I reckon out in a few raggedy bars, in forlorn economically worthless barren wastelands, scattered here and there, the remnants of the once proud inhabitants of a fertile land of nature---- there in these bars many Indians would puzzle why they should give a shit about this controversy over a mascot name. Freedom for them is just another word for nothing left to lose. They have their own national anthem: it's called the Ballad of Ira Hayes by Johnny Cash.
/www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKDLQWEvubc
The poor American Indians----disease killed off most, guns most of the rest. The remainder were assigned to reservations, a few awarded casinos somewhere down the hereditary line, and their reality today is that of a historical footnote. I reckon out in a few raggedy bars, in forlorn economically worthless barren wastelands, scattered here and there, the remnants of the once proud inhabitants of a fertile land of nature---- there in these bars many Indians would puzzle why they should give a shit about this controversy over a mascot name. Freedom for them is just another word for nothing left to lose. They have their own national anthem: it's called the Ballad of Ira Hayes by Johnny Cash.
/www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKDLQWEvubc
