Hail To A Name Change.....
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I am 53. I have been a Redskins fan ever since I was a kid. And I have to admit, there would have been a time when I would have argued to keep the name. I grew up not knowing history, or actually caring about history as a kid. Back then, all I knew is that I didn't want to get beaten up by bullies, and why didn't girls like me. Watching the Redskins growing up was my escape.
But lets face it, just like religion, the biggest reason someone attaches themselve to something, is because it is local and familiar and "Root for the home team". If I had been born in England, I'd more likely be a soccer fan. If I had been born in Saudi Arabia or Iran, I'd most likely be a Muslim. If I had been born in India, I'd most likely be a Hindu or Sikh and grow up being a fan of cricket.
Sports is no different. But being older and wiser, as fond as my memories will always be about the Redskins history, like when John Riggins busted a run to defeat Miami in the Super Bowl, there still is no getting arround the team's name.
But lets be honest about Danny's sudden reconsideration about the name of the team he owns. If we didn't have this pandemic, and the Skins didn't suck, and they were winning Super Bowls like the Pats have for decades, does anyone really think Fedex or Nike would have put pressur on him to change the name?
The name change is good. I am all for it. I wont lie in saying I will still be fond of the memories, but I get the movement to change the name.
Washington's NFL team needs a new name. I am all for it. But for the love of PETE DANNY, stay the fuck off the field, stop being so concerned with money, let your staff do their job. Jack Kent Cook was no dummy, and he stayed out of the way, and he let Bobby Bethard and Joe Gibbs do their job.
I don't care what new name we end up with, JUST STOP SUCKING!
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
Check out my poetry here on Rational Responders Like my poetry thread on Facebook under Brian James Rational Poet, @Brianrrs37 on Twitter and my blog at www.brianjamesrationalpoet.blog
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You still don't know your history. The use of "redskin" was a self adopt identification that was used throughout the 18th century and likely as early as the 17th century. It comes from French translations of Natives in the Illinois and Missouri territories, the French peaux rouges translated to the English "redskin". It didn't become a perjorative until the 19th century, when Americans were at war with them and in the process of killing them all. But then, when you are at war with someone, virtually any reference to that group becomes a perjorative in the opposing culture- after all they are the "bad guys". Nazi is still a perjorative, Arab is certainly frequently used as a perjorative in the minds of many, American is a perjorative in the minds of many. Yankee has been used as a perjorative.
Now you want to know what is fucking insulting and spitting on the graves of the men who died fighting the American invasion- calling them "native americans", they sure as fuck didn't see themselves as, nor want to be, American. They fought wars, gave up their lives in an attempt to not be "American". The phrase "Native American" is one that was created by, and pressed on them by the very government that nearly annihilated their ancestors. Suppose Germany had won WW2 and the Nazi's decided to call us Amis Germans, same thing. They neither saw themselves as "natives" (their religious beliefs couldn't tolerate the very idea of owning land- speaking of being native to this or that geographical boundary was nonsensical), nor "American". They identified as tribes.
The tribes never really banded together and never saw themselves as the same people- so lumping them all together is a bit insulting on its face. If you want to refer to them politely, you would bother to know which tribe they belong to and refer to them by the name of the tribe.
What is fucking insulting as all hell is removing all imagery of minorities from advertising. I'd be more than a little insulted if the country was dead set on erasing any reference or memory of my ancestors from popular culture. The term redskin is only perjorative if you are a racist. If you are walking around being offended by every cartoonish reference to this culture or that culture, then you are, if fact- racist as fuck.
If, if a white man puts his arm around me voluntarily, that's brotherhood. But if you - if you hold a gun on him and make him embrace me and pretend to be friendly or brotherly toward me, then that's not brotherhood, that's hypocrisy.- Malcolm X
Amazing how leftist doctrine is that white people invaded North America, destroyed native American culture, brought mass disease, starvation, homelessness and environmental destruction to the Native population. Yet today, the same thing is not possible due to mass immigration. Immigrants now are nothing but a benefit according to these same people. How is that possible unless white people are evil or are some kind of virus?
I wonder if when waves of white settlers arrived, were there nativist Indians saying this must be stopped, but they were silenced by others in the tribe saying that would be racist and xenophobic. Did they want to build a wall to keep out Europeans, but were shut down?
The logical answer is of course whites moved here due to population pressures and immigrants today do the same. We can't solve our racism problem until we admit there is just too many fucking people trying to share a tiny biosphere with other humans and species. That is the problem, racism is just a symptom not a cause of our woes. When will people wake up to this reality and stop buying the we'll all get along if we just silence all the racists?
Taxation is the price we pay for failing to build a civilized society. The higher the tax level, the greater the failure. A centrally planned totalitarian state represents a complete defeat for the civilized world, while a totally voluntary society represents its ultimate success. --Mark Skousen
That is like saying "gay means happy" so we should be ok with saying faggot.
"Fag" or "Faggot" used to mean " cigarette" in England. Pretty sure San Fransico would never want their NFL team named "The Sanfrancisco Faggots".
The term ALSO refered to the slur of war paint, and blood and savagry.
It is still a slur, no matter how you slice it.
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
Check out my poetry here on Rational Responders Like my poetry thread on Facebook under Brian James Rational Poet, @Brianrrs37 on Twitter and my blog at www.brianjamesrationalpoet.blog
Sure you want to go there?
The name "Redskin" is a slur, and there is no way around it.
Otherwise Germany should have a soccer team named the "Swastickas" based on that symbol's origin.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swastika#:~:text=The%20word%20swastika%20comes%20from,or%20tantric%20aspects%20of%20Kali.
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
Check out my poetry here on Rational Responders Like my poetry thread on Facebook under Brian James Rational Poet, @Brianrrs37 on Twitter and my blog at www.brianjamesrationalpoet.blog
BTW, If you want to stupidly and faslely call me a bigot, then the folks who painted "Black Lives Matter" in front of Trump Tower this weekend, be my guest, because that makes them bigots too.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=664830734244796
"We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus -- and nonbelievers."Obama
Check out my poetry here on Rational Responders Like my poetry thread on Facebook under Brian James Rational Poet, @Brianrrs37 on Twitter and my blog at www.brianjamesrationalpoet.blog
The phrase "black lives matter" is about as racist and bigoted as you can get. We all know you're a bigot, the first thing you see about anyone you interact with is their minority status or lack thereof.
If, if a white man puts his arm around me voluntarily, that's brotherhood. But if you - if you hold a gun on him and make him embrace me and pretend to be friendly or brotherly toward me, then that's not brotherhood, that's hypocrisy.- Malcolm X
brits still refer to cigarettes as "fags." i know several brits and i don't know that i've ever heard them say "cigarette." also, a type of british lunchmeat very similar to bologna is called "faggot."
as for me, i prefer native american peanuts.
"I have never felt comfortable around people who talk about their feelings for Jesus, or any other deity for that matter, because they are usually none too bright. . . . Or maybe 'stupid' is a better way of saying it; but I have never seen much point in getting heavy with either stupid people or Jesus freaks, just as long as they don't bother me. In a world as weird and cruel as this one we have made for ourselves, I figure anybody who can find peace and personal happiness without ripping off somebody else deserves to be left alone. They will not inherit the earth, but then neither will I. . . . And I have learned to live, as it were, with the idea that I will never find peace and happiness, either. But as long as I know there's a pretty good chance I can get my hands on either one of them every once in a while, I do the best I can between high spots."
--Hunter S. Thompson
Actually, it would be more like calling them the San Francisco Gays- or more pleasing to the ear- San Francisco Queens and having a drag queen as the mascot. If that happened, it isn't the LGBTQ+*∞ crowd that would be upset by the name, even though both gay and queen have been used as slurs, but both have also been routinely used as self-identifiers. It is the homophobes who would lose their shit at such a name change, not the gays. That is the name change that NEEDs to take place. The 49ers is a lame name, the San Fransico Queens- fanfuckingtastic.
The slur became a slur 200-years after it became a reference. It was a slur precisely because there was a lot of bigotry against natives, after all, there was an all out war going on. Usually, in wars, any reference to anyone on the other side is filled with prejudice. If they were referred to as "the good people" the term good would have become a slur.
When Redskins was adopted as the team name is most definitely was not meant to be a slur. You don't name your team after something you hate, after all, for those on the team and fans of the team, the team name is how they self-identify.
Language has context, the intent behind the language is FAR more important than the words. There is absolutely no stretch of the imagination that the Redskins adopted the name with the intent to slur anyone. Nor is there any rational reason to believe that anyone roots for the Redskins with the intent to slur anyone.
If, if a white man puts his arm around me voluntarily, that's brotherhood. But if you - if you hold a gun on him and make him embrace me and pretend to be friendly or brotherly toward me, then that's not brotherhood, that's hypocrisy.- Malcolm X
native american potatoes are good too...
I like native american cigarettes.
This is the history of humanity:
People become racists in the name of fighting racism.
People become fascists in the name of fighting fascism.
People kill in the name of stopping killing.
No one ever stops to think about a rational cause and solution to our woes.
Taxation is the price we pay for failing to build a civilized society. The higher the tax level, the greater the failure. A centrally planned totalitarian state represents a complete defeat for the civilized world, while a totally voluntary society represents its ultimate success. --Mark Skousen