(Which is inadvertently funny because we actually have a football team called "The Packers.")

Washington D.C. is where we keep our monuments to history including living monuments. Washington wasn't there for his monument, Lincoln wasn't there for his Memorial. So what.

Most of your political correctness seems to be based on guesswork.

That kind of one track thinking is why we're not called England of America. Nasty case of conflict losers' commiseration you got there.

Before the white man came, the area that is now D.C. was crawling with Native Americans.

History don't begin with the white man.

True, but DC isn't unique there. Every city can say the same thing. What makes DC unique is that it's the nation's capital. The team name should reflect what makes this city unique.

So let's rename the team to the Washington Power Mad Ego Maniacs.

Or The Dividers.

Or The Crack Mayors.

Oooooh...The Lobby.

:D

I'm waiting for the cracker industry to stop using the word 'cracker'. It's racist, and highly offensive.

I'm also waiting for reparations from when the gubmint took my land and killed my ancestors with small pox-infected blankets.

Whir mah check?

Dana, shut up with your political correctness already.
Honestly. You're gone mad on it.
You'll be banning Jebus next.

UT, you're on alert five, stand ready to unban JBKlyde!

I don't think anyone outside of a cultural group has any standing to decide who is and is not a legitimate representative of that group, especially when they're organized to the point of having official spokespersons.

If there were an actual disagreement amongst Native Americans as to who should speak for them; and some were saying "nah, keep the name, we like it" and others were saying "find a new name, that's offensive"; I would accept the argument that we should wait and see. But there is no such debate.

The way I see it, Native Americans are fairly cohesively saying, repeatedly and forcefully, that they consider "redskin" a derogatory term, and that naming a football team that does not honor their heritage.

Insisting that it does is tantamount to saying: "I know better than you how to commemorate your history."

It's not just their history, it's our history and there have been other cultural groups in better position to give an accounting of it from the time it became a shared history (especially pre-conflict) for the purpose of commemoration. They're not just asserting who makes that decision for their own culture, they're aggressing to make that determination for all cultures. Disagreeing with that is tantamount to saying I know better than you how to commemorate my part of our shared history together. I wouldn't aggress against Native Americans for having a football team called the Palefaces or even the Forked Tongues if that's what commemorates their part of our shared history. If they can't reciprocate, that's their problem:

"No matter how badly you are broken, you can always build yourself back up. It takes time. Don't let your struggle become your identity."

It's either imperialistic or a complete failure of language to call someone by a derogatory slur and then say, in response to their offense and in all seriousness, "I'm honoring our shared cultural history."

I'd accept the point if the owners of the team were being ironic, or even a little introspective -- if the whole thing was being done to call attention to the rapacious conquest of North America by European colonists. But it's not. It is a continuation of that same conquest, concurrent with denying it ever happened.

Native Americans are entirely justified in saying 'I know better than you how to commemorate my part of our shared history together.' That's the point.

"Someone"?! Which someone are you talking about? The football team calls itself the Redskins and they're not complaining about being offended. They're not pointing to any living Native American and saying You're a redskin. How history addresses groups of people who have passed on before us is not the purview of any one culture. Also, honoring is not the same as commemorating. People commemorate both successes/triumphs and failures/disasters, the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. The only failure in language I've seen here is yours.

That's only half a point. They don't get to make that decision for everyone, it's too subjective, it's too political. They do have input just like everyone else ... one person, one vote. They can sway as many votes as they're able; but, the polls aren't in their favor. Their recourse is to sway small groups of people in key positions as did the people they despise.

Considering your level of understanding, your acceptance is not required.

Ok. I am out of this discussion. It's gone through the fucking looking glass into bizarro land.

I was only here for political correctness Nazi entertainment; so, if Dani's out, I'm out too.

Good because we skipped right over a discussion of the fudge industry in Green Bay.

Were there any fudge recipe Nazis?

I really think some people should go read a few history books and learn what nazis actually were.

Someone on a message board suggesting reasons why using a racially loaded word might be offensive is not a nazi.

Now, if I had the power to detain you for using those words, maybe you would have a case. I don't. Clearly.

Quite a few people on here and elsewhere claiming that people should not be offended by such words, on their own or someone else's behalf. Sticks and stones may break our bones and all that. So take some of your own medicine - ignore the people who are telling you the words nigger and retard are offensive. Just ignore them. As long as they have no right to imprison you for using those words then why get so upset?

People also claim they are 'not allowed' to use certain words. Except that isn't really true is it? You are allowed to use those words. Nobody is banging down your door or setting the dogs on you for doing so.

What you actually mean is that you are 'not allowed to use those words without incurring some sort of social consequences'.

Freedom of expression does not protect you from the social consequences of the things you say. If you say something offensive, people will be offended. If you didn't realise that word was going to be offensive to others, then you learned a lesson: that word is something that will cause offence. Whether continue using it once you've realised it is likely to cause offence is entirely your choice. But you are not, nor have you ever been, protected from the other person's anger or disdain.

Yay! My political correctness Nazi came back. They always come back to the scene of their righteousness to :dedhorse: .

Yeah, my bad. I keep forgetting the cardinal rule: do not feed the troll.

That's because it's not just what you do, it's who you are.

Troll feeder?

I wonder if feeding bread to trolls causes a nutritional imbalance? Maybe there is safe to feed troll food out there. In little bags.

:corn: