Good-Bye, Redskins

[syrakusos]

I'm reminded of the "niggardly" episodes that popped up once in a while during the past few decades. Reality didn't matter. Very stupid people were highly offended by the word and its mere phonetic similarity to another word, and that's all that mattered. Their hatred and bloodlust needed to be sated. Reputations and careers needed to be destroyed. So "niggardly" became racist! People were smeared. They were sent to sensitivity reprogramming camps. They were required to do public penance.

J

Once again, you lack facts. Allow me to supply them. You are referring to my article for Loompanics, "Censorship in Cyberspace" c. 1992.

Niggardly Attitudes Kennita Watson, whom I met on Libernet, told me this story: When I was at Pyramid, I came in one day and "fortune" had been disabled. I com- plained to Operations, and ended up in a personal meeting with the manager. He show- ed me a letter from the NAACP written to Pyramid threatening to sue if they didn't stop selling racist material on their machines. They cited a black woman who had found the "...there were those whose skins were black... and their portion was niggardly.. .'Let my people go to the front of the bus'..." fortune, and complained to the NAACP. I suspect that she (and the NAACP) were clueless as to the meaning of the term "niggardly". I (as a black woman) was embarrassed and outraged. Because of the stupidity of a bunch of paranoid people, I couldn't read my fortune when I logged out any more. 

[Jonathan]

Once again, you lack facts. Allow me to supply them. You are referring to my article for Loompanics, "Censorship in Cyberspace" c. 1992.

No, I was not referring to your article. I was referring to several events that I had heard about from various news sources. I was unaware of your article until just now.

Edited to add after a quick search:

These are the type of events that I was referring to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_about_the_word_%22niggardly%22

J

[Jonathan]

I swing both ways.

--Brant

Racist! Scottish-hater!

J

[Jules Troy]

Redskins was always an insult, at best (and not much good), it was a crude name, lacking even the poetry of Bruce Springsteens "Born in the USA": So, they sent me off to Vietnam, to go and kill the yellow man. The name Redskins was from the time of the Yellow Peril and the White Mans Burden.

Some of my conservative comrades on Objectivish message boards for fans of Ayn Rand continue to defend the Washington Redskins. Most recently, on Galts Gulch Online, a video appeared in which Native Americans give their support for the team. Neither a convenience sampling nor a statistically valid survey can disprove the racism behind the mascot name. In point of fact, their arguments on behalf of the insult only raise basic problems with all such mascots.

Minnesota Vikings, the Michigan State University Spartans, the Trojans of the University of Southern California, all seem harmless enough. So, the Atlanta Braves and similar mascots fall into that latitude. However, even as Cleveland should keep the Indians, the cartoon of Chief Wahoo should be re-imaged.

The Fighting Irish are not known for their wars against others, not even in defense of Ireland. They mostly fight among themselves, so famously at Donnybrook Fair that we can drop the capital letter of the locale and just keep it as a common noun. The Boston Celtics are honorific; but the Drunken Irish of Notre Dame are embarrassingly archaic.

We have occupations: Milwaukee Brewers, Dallas Cowboys, Houston Oilers (gone), Pittsburgh Steelers, Seattle Mariners, even the Pittsburgh Pirates, hearkening back to the wild frontier days of the western Allegheny region.

We have no shortage of animals: Ravens, Eagles, Seahawks, Bears, Bruins, Cougars, Wildcats, Stallions, Broncos, Colts, Marlins, Sharks. I like the pun of the Huskies for the University of Connecticut. As long as I lived in Oho, I never perceived the buckeye as an aggressor, or even much of a defender. Although the symbol works well enough for Ohio State University, they never have to face any Redwoods, Pines, Oaks, or Maples and gratefully, no Termites or Ash-borers.

Maybe someday Earth First activists will object to our forcing animals to fight each other for entertainment. For now, the names seem harmless enough. It is difficult to imagine cheering for the Bricks, Rocks, Asphalts, or Concretes.

But, then, English football teams do well enough just being United, although some escutcheons do display mythical beasts. Manchester United has a devil but so does Duke University of North Carolina. Too bad we will never see them play against the New Orleans Saints, the Los Angeles Angels, or the San Diego Padres.

In the Star Trek: Enterprise series, the Andorian captain Thylek Shran calls Jonathan Archer, pinkskin. It was intended at first as an insult, but came to be something of a soubriquet as their friendship evolved over the years. However, the Andorians met the Vulcans first; and even had a brief war and many subsequent border skirmishes. Yet, Shran never referred to greenskins.

In the Original Series, Dr. McCoy similarly teases Commander Spock about his green skin, as well as his ethos of logic, and other points of difference. It is all meant to be accepted as jocular. However, Captain Kirk never engages in that except for the few times when his mind was being compromised and he needed to get a subtext message through: I am not me. I am in trouble here. And you are about to be. When the NCC-1701 Enterprise first sees a Romulan, the navigator, Lieutenant Stiles, makes a comment about Spock and Captain Kirk relieves him of duty. No racism is tolerated on the ship, or in the Federation.

Originally posted on Necessary Facts here.

[Jules Troy]

Bones made fun of Spock's green blood, not his skin. Sheesh what kind of Trekkie are you!? ?

[Selene]

Now who will call this gallant Navajo Nation President an "apple?"

[Selene]

I found this quite interesting...

In 2005, the Indian language scholar Ives Goddard of the Smithsonian Institution published a remarkable and consequential study of redskin's early history. His findings shifted the dates for the word's first appearance in print by more than a century and shed an awkward light on the contemporary debate. Goddard found, in summary, that "the actual origin of the word is entirely benign."

Redskin, he learned, had not emerged first in English or any European language. The English term, in fact, derived from Native American phrases involving the color red in combination with terms for flesh, skin, and man. These phrases were part of a racial vocabulary that Indians often used to designate themselves in opposition to others whom they (like the Europeans) called black, white, and so on.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2013/12/18/redskins_the_debate_over_the_washington_football_team_s_name_incorrectly.html