Quote:
Originally Posted by skinsguy
I honestly believe the difference of opinions among those people who are not Native American, is a politically driven one - not one where they are personally effected by the name. Just my opinion. Especially when political figures are trying to get involved, those on one side or the other is going to be supporting their political "team" in anything. Certainly there are exceptions to the rule, but there are those who are so staunchly for their political party that they'll go along with anything that party says or does, and will argue for those actions - even if they don't understand what it is they are fighting for. And I believe when President Obama and a few other political figures came out against the name, that was enough to sway a few sitting on the fence, over to the "change name" camp.
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Agreed. As someone who's spent the last few years ridiculing my republican friends over a few things, I can't help but see some of their warnings about other things in action on this issue.
I don't know if the vast majority of people see things this way, but I'm certainly on the same page as you at this point.
Quote:
Originally Posted by skinsguy
The bottom line is, if there is overwhelming evidence, damnable evidence that the name of the team is derogatory, and an overwhelming majority of Native Americans agree that the team name is racist, then the name should change. But if there is NOT overwhelming evidence (and so far, there hasn't been), nor an overwhelming majority of NA's coming out against the name, then fighting for a name change simply doesn't make any sense.
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But therein lies the issue for me that is going to forever make it difficult for me to change from the keep-the-name camp to the change-the-name camp.
If, up until a point, there was no significant proof of disparagement etc, then why should I put any stock into that changing over time?
If when the team was named... when the cases were previously fought... when the name was trademarked... if there was no problem then, why should I give any credit to the idea that there is a problem now or in the future?
If there never existed a problem then the whole platform upon which the change-the-name camp sits goes away... Simply rallying more people onto their non-existent platform doesn't do anything for me.
They may able to recruit more in the future under the guise of righteousness and 'making a difference' because, from where I sit, the trend of people wanting to be a part of that sort of thing seems to continue to grow - especially as more and more people become reliant on the internet as a means of social interaction and source of happiness.
But it's not going to change anything for me. I'll see it exactly for what it is.. a bunch of phony nonsense that's been talked into 'existence,' but not really...
This isn't an issue that changes over time... or at least, it shouldn't be.