Geronimo

81

_ wrote:

aerial wrote:

What about the Dallas Cowboys. You think the cowboys are offended.
If people keep crying wolf on things that do not really matter, soon no one is going to care, because everyone is offended at some time or another. Where is the tolerance you constantly preach

:? Uh... "cowboy" is an occupation, not a race of oppressed & disrespected peoples. And I'm sure you think you're being very clever with the whole cowboys & Indians thing, but all the cowboys I know ARE Indians, so I think your comment is just ignorant all around. And I have never preached that we should tolerate the disrespect of others. :?

what were the vikings? clearly, they should be offended.

gimmesometruth27

81 wrote:

_ wrote:

aerial wrote:

What about the Dallas Cowboys. You think the cowboys are offended.
If people keep crying wolf on things that do not really matter, soon no one is going to care, because everyone is offended at some time or another. Where is the tolerance you constantly preach

:? Uh... "cowboy" is an occupation, not a race of oppressed & disrespected peoples. And I'm sure you think you're being very clever with the whole cowboys & Indians thing, but all the cowboys I know ARE Indians, so I think your comment is just ignorant all around. And I have never preached that we should tolerate the disrespect of others. :?

what were the vikings? clearly, they should be offended.

are we just watching sports center and thinking of teams that offend people?

naming a team after the vikings, a people who sailed across the ocean, many say before columbus, and helped settle the new world. i don't see why nordic people would be offended by them. the vikings, when put on merchandise is portrayed as a badass, not a caricature like the cleveland indians...

_

81 wrote:

_ wrote:

aerial wrote:

What about the Dallas Cowboys. You think the cowboys are offended.
If people keep crying wolf on things that do not really matter, soon no one is going to care, because everyone is offended at some time or another. Where is the tolerance you constantly preach

:? Uh... "cowboy" is an occupation, not a race of oppressed & disrespected peoples. And I'm sure you think you're being very clever with the whole cowboys & Indians thing, but all the cowboys I know ARE Indians, so I think your comment is just ignorant all around. And I have never preached that we should tolerate the disrespect of others. :?

what were the vikings? clearly, they should be offended.

I think you're missing the point. It's not that anyone SHOULD be offended; it's a matter of whether people ARE offended. But you know this, of course, and just don't care.

81

maybe that was the point. every other group that is represented by a major league franchise is proud of it. just a few indians get all bent out of shape over it.

Jason P

_

_

81 wrote:

maybe that was the point. every other group that is represented by a major league franchise is proud of it. just a few indians get all bent out of shape over it.

And I think the contextual reason for that has been elicidated repeatedly in this thread.

Jason P wrote:

_

Yes?

Jason P

_ wrote:

Jason P wrote:

_

Yes?

Mariamaniatis

I guess we should scrap our Apache attack helicoptors and Tomhawk Missiles while were busy being obsessively PC.

Mariamaniatis

Byrnzie wrote:

arthurdent wrote:

someone's always going to get their panties in a wad about something

:roll:

Sorry, was your three-day hard-on over the killing of a bunch of Arabs softened by a dose of intelligence?

Is your ten year hard on over the death of 3000 Americans gone now?

Byrnzie

Mariamaniatis wrote:

Is your ten year hard on over the death of 3000 Americans gone now?

That's clever of you.

Keep 'em coming, genius.

whygohome

I have absolutely no idea what it is like to be a Native American; however, I am pretty sure that if a baseball team were named the New York Wops, I wouldn't care. I would laugh. Then again, Italian Americans weren't slaughtered at the founding of this nation.

It's so easy for people to run their mouths when they aren't the ones being offended. It is similar to people who support the wars in the Middle East from the comfort of their couch. Get off your ass and enlist, tough guy.

America......

brandon10

whygohome wrote:

I have absolutely no idea what it is like to be a Native American; however, I am pretty sure that if a baseball team were named the New York Wops, I wouldn't care. I would laugh. Then again, Italian Americans weren't slaughtered at the founding of this nation.

It's so easy for people to run their mouths when they aren't the ones being offended. It is similar to people who support the wars in the Middle East from the comfort of their couch. Get off your ass and enlist, tough guy.

America......

This might be the first thread ever that I have agreed with Aerial. But I really do. For the most part I believe these teams were not named in a derogatory way. They did it out of respect for their power and their ability to fight. Names like Blackhawks, Redskins, and braves should be viewed as positives. And most Natives I know are proud that their heritage is being used in a positive manner. Many even wear those teams jerseys and hats. Those names are only negative to you if you see all things about being an American Indian as negative. We had a local hockey team called the Winnipeg Warriors. The name was based on the strong fight of the natives. I see that as quite a positive. But I'm sure some would find a way to make it a negative.

And I agree with Aerial that we all need to sit back and relax once in a while. Someone will always be offended about something. Life is too short to always be worried about pleasing everyone.

brianlux

whygohome wrote:

I have absolutely no idea what it is like to be a Native American; however, I am pretty sure that if a baseball team were named the New York Wops, I wouldn't care. I would laugh. Then again, Italian Americans weren't slaughtered at the founding of this nation.

It's so easy for people to run their mouths when they aren't the ones being offended. It is similar to people who support the wars in the Middle East from the comfort of their couch. Get off your ass and enlist, tough guy.

America......

This is so right on. We just keep adding to the insult. Also, so often many of us white Americans talk with great empathy and admiration for Native Americans as if we really know what that is all about and, as you say, we just don't. This idea hit me over the head very strongly in this poem by American Indian author Sherman Alexie:

Go, Ghost, Go

At this university upon a hill,
I meet a tenured professor
Who's strangely thrilled
To list all of the oppressors --
Past, present, and future -- who have killed.
Are killing, and will kill the indigenous.
O, he names the standard suspects --
Rich, white, and unjust --
And I, a red man, think he's correct,
But why does he have to be so humorless?

And how can he, a white man, fondly speak
Of the Ghost Dance, the strange and cruel
Ceremony
That, if performed well, would have doomed
All white men to hell, destroyed their colonies,
And brought back every dead Indian to life?
The professor says, "Brown people
From all brown tribes
Will burn skyscrapers and steeples.
They'll speak Spanish and carry guns and knives.
Sherman, can't you see that immigration
Is the new and improved Ghost Dance?"
All I can do is laugh and laugh
And say, "Damn, you've got some imagination.
You should write a screenplay about this shit --
About some fictional city,
Grown fat and pale and pretty,
That's destroyed by a Chicano apocalypse."
The professor doesn't speak. He shakes his head
And assaults me with his pity.
I wonder how he can believe
In a ceremony that requires his death.
I think that he thinks he's the new Jesus.
He's eager to get on that cross
And pay the ultimate cost
Because he's addicted to the indigenous.


P.S. I love that picture of your dog! Sweet!

brianlux

In keeping with my last post, check out anything you can find by Paiute Indian tribe member, author and poet Adrian C. Lewis. This guy is also the real deal. Vortex of Indian Fevers is a great and powerful book of poetry.