Redskins: an improper name... now what?

[Vigilance]

How does this make it more or less offensive? It sounds like that because the Native Americans were treated bad makes derogatory words towards them worse then other groups.

I can't believe this is a serious question.

Yes, groups that have been treated the worst tend to be a little touchy about people making sport of their ancestors' suffering. Makes one think maybe they haven't learned what an evil was committed. Makes one think maybe they find the subject amusing, something for sport during a half time show.

If Germany had a club with an anti-semitic name, it would be considered the worst kind of insult. The German people themselves recognize this. Look at the laws they have that the Holocaust must be taught, Nazi imagery is forbidden nationwide (except in a VERY strict historical context).

In other words, their behavior leads one to suspect they have learned a lesson about terrible acts committed not by them, but by their culture, that leads them to attempt to never forget or forgive, so that it may not happen again.

Other cultures handle this differently, by coming up with funny nicknames and warchants that distort and make an object of ridicule the culture they harmed. And apparently the common people don't care, as long as their football traditions are intact.

What about my traditions?

And btw... don't forget that they aren't saying the team can't use the word. They're saying they shouldn't be allowed to PROFIT off of t-shirts emblazoned with the name.

 

[Vigilance]

I'm not saying that the line isn't fuzzy. I'm saying that this isn't in the fuzzy part.

"Redskin" is an offensive term. Yes, really.

Here's the way the American Heritage Dictionary defines reskin for those for whom this is a gray area:

red·skin
n. Offensive Slang

Used as a disparaging term for a Native American.

Here's Princeton University's wordnet definition:

n : offensive terms for Native Americans [syn: Redskin, Injun, red man]

For those who want to say "what about the Braves and the Indians"... when someone starts talking about those teams, your arguments will be fine and valid at that time.

However right here and now, we're talking about the word redskin, about which there is no debate.

Chuck

 

[Numion]

If another person is offended by the sterotype you're portraying, it's racist (or sexist or classist or whateverist). Intent doesn't enter into it.

So there's a way to actually sue those fatbeards who play hot ninja lesbians?

 

[Vigilance]

So there's a way to actually sue those fatbeards who play hot ninja lesbians?

Only if they try to trademark it (to the best of my knowledge)

 

[Bront]

And as for the silliness about the Fighting Irish and Padres being offensive, go read a history book. No one ever offered $50 dollars for the head of an irishman in this country.

First of all, I wouldn't bet on that last point if I were you.

Second of all, while yes, the Padres was simply an odd example, the Fighting Irish and the Fighting Illini (University of Illinois) seem to be pretty similar, except the Irish mascot is a bit of a caracature while the Illini chief is not in any way.

And Crothain brings up a good point. Just because one group was treated worse through the course of history, why are words that describe them badly more frowned upon then?

You use the example "boy" as derogitory, that's a new one on me.

 

[Vigilance]

First of all, I wouldn't bet on that last point if I were you.

Second of all, while yes, the Padres was simply an odd example, the Fighting Irish and the Fighting Illini (University of Illinois) seem to be pretty similar, except the Irish mascot is a bit of a caracature while the Illini chief is not in any way.

And Crothain brings up a good point. Just because one group was treated worse through the course of history, why are words that describe them badly more frowned upon then?

You use the example "boy" as derogitory, that's a new one on me.

You can try to cloud the issue all you want Bront. No one is protesting "Fighting Irish" anywhere. What does that tell you?

And did you read my dictionary definitions above? The definition of the word is as a racial slur. That's ALL it means. It was never the name of a group of people like Irish or Illinois. It was something IMPOSED on them that they find insulting.

You can try to be a typical smart-mouth semantically-inclined internet poster about this issue all you want. It's a word in league with the N-word and the K-word. That's all it is, and that is all it will ever be.

And you are defending that.

Nice work.

Chuck

 

[frankthedm]

And Crothain brings up a good point. Just because one group was treated worse through the course of history, why are words that describe them badly more frowned upon then?

It is somewhat like talking down to someone who is dying rather than someone who was badly injured but is recovering more or less.

You use the example "boy" as derogitory, that's a new one on me.

I think that one stems from the use of "boy" to address a grown man as someone below the speaker.

 

[JediSoth]

They should just rename the team "The Washington D.C. Team" and be done with it. Someone could be offended by just about anything, so maybe we should just abandon team names altogether.

JediSoth

 

[Vigilance]

They should just rename the team "The Washington D.C. Team" and be done with it. Someone could be offended by just about anything, so maybe we should just abandon team names altogether.

JediSoth

So people are just too PC and touchy now huh? Funny that there is exactly one team, from all the pro sports franchises, under this kind of suit.

And also funny that the people making the suit aren't seeking damages, and aren't even telling them what they're allowed to call it.

All they're saying is you shouldn't profit off THIS ONE WORD.

Everyone keeps trying to make this something it isn't. It isn't about ANY OTHER WORD. Just one scurrilous word that has not been banished to the shadows as the N-word and K-word have, that should be.

 

[Crothian]

Everyone keeps trying to make this something it isn't. It isn't about ANY OTHER WORD. Just one scurrilous word that has not been banished to the shadows as the N-word and K-word have, that should be.

Those words though are not banished. I hear them used in a negative way more then Redskin. Posters are just expanding the thread. There was no way a thread like this was going to stay so narrowly defined.