Effort to defend Commanders name continues to backfire

[jobberone]

The effort to continue to defend the Redsk*ns name continues to backfire. From the reliance on high school teams using the name (which has been quietly abandoned) to the “all caps never” approach (which has been publicly abandoned) to stubborn reliance on the results of a nine-year old poll (which should be abandoned) to Rick…http://stats.wordpress.com/b.gif?host=profootballtalk.nbcsports.com&blog=&post=2216904&subd=nbcprofootballtalk&ref=&feed=1
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[WV Cowboy]

Then who did we beat last night?

 

[jobberone]

Then who did we beat last night?

Yeah. Who was that masked man?

 

[ologan]

Then who did we beat last night?

The "Lambskins"!

 

[65fastback2plus2]

PC junk gets on all of my nerves.

If we want to be really PC, calling them "indians" is incorrect too...they only called them that thinking they had arrived in india.

 

[Nova]

PC junk gets on all of my nerves.

If we want to be really PC, calling them "indians" is incorrect too...they only called them that thinking they had arrived in india.

Why?

I've never understood why it bothers so many people to be politically correct... or at least politically polite.

Is it unwillingness to adapt to change? Laziness? Is it the fear of a misstep in the wrong setting if you forget to use the PC word? A genuine inability to care enough to be cordial? Or is it the unlikely circumstance that you actually like the risk of offending people?

 

[sacase]

Why?

I've never understood why it bothers so many people to be politically correct... or at least politically polite.

Is it unwillingness to adapt to change? Laziness? Is it the fear of a misstep in the wrong setting if you forget to use the PC word? A genuine inability to care enough to be cordial? Or is it the unlikely circumstance that you actually like the risk of offending people?

Its really very simple, people look for reasons to get offended. For example, my GF is Dominican, from the time we started dating, she calls me Gordi...meaning chubby. She calls my friend Flaco....skinny....The other day she was talking to another Dominican and calls be morena.....brown. All it is is a descriptor, there is no offense given nor should one be taken. But people LOOK for any reason to be offended. Example...if you call someone with a mental handicap ********, its like you are making fun of them. Now we have to say mentally handicapped. When you look up the word ******** in the dictionary, there is nothing saying it is offensive. If you say someone is ******** (and they actually are) you are properly using the word and there should be no offense taken. But people just don't like the word. Now, 10 years from now, mentally handicapped will become to "harsh" of a word and it will evolve into something else. PC is just stupid.

 

[Nova]

Its really very simple, people look for reasons to get offended. For example, my GF is Dominican, from the time we started dating, she calls me Gordi...meaning chubby. She calls my friend Flaco....skinny....The other day she was talking to another Dominican and calls be morena.....brown. All it is is a descriptor, there is no offense given nor should one be taken. But people LOOK for any reason to be offended. Example...if you call someone with a mental handicap ********, its like you are making fun of them. Now we have to say mentally handicapped. When you look up the word ******** in the dictionary, there is nothing saying it is offensive. If you say someone is ******** (and they actually are) you are properly using the word and there should be no offense taken. But people just don't like the word. Now, 10 years from now, mentally handicapped will become to "harsh" of a word and it will evolve into something else. PC is just stupid.

Yeah, but somewhere along the way these words shed their original meaning to take on something offensive that often times supplants the original.

Words change. That's just a fact. It's why if you traveled back in time to the dark ages, you'd have a hard time understanding English speaking people because of different idioms, undertones, references, sentence structure, etc.

Example? "******" is an verb meaning "to slow down". It took on a different meaning (and part of speech) to refer to mentally handicap and eventually became offensive as it was used as an insult.

Plus, you just can't tell people what should and should not offend them. I don't see why people can't seem to grasp that concept.

Even if someone doesn't mean to offend someone, they still can.

Now if someone is on the side where they just don't care whether they've offended someone, then that's something different... just wish people would stop rationalizing and own up to it.

"Yeah I offended them. But I just don't care."

That doesn't make anyone an inherently bad person, because some things are just not worth caring about.

You can offend just about anyone, but the question is how acceptable is it in society? That's where being politically correct comes in.

Just a few guidelines to help keep strangers from offending other strangers for things they can't change, or at least minimize the damage.

 

[sacase]

HAHAHAHA my post just proved my point. I had no clue it was censored out.

But on to the the convo. Point being western society has come to a point where it tries to make everyone feel special in their own right. Newsflash, everyone isn't special. Accept it and live your life the best you can. Nothing wrong with that at all.

Here is the lit miss test....was offense meant to be given? Let's be real and honest with each other. We know if people meant to give offense or not when they are speaking to us. If you truly do not know, then that is your problem and not mine. I think that is one of the things I enjoy about the Caribbean and South America. You can speak plane and no one takes offense. One of the problems we have is we cannot speak plane to each other. By not allowing that it makes problem solving much more difficult.

Example, If I call you indian or native american....it means the same thing....why get offended.

 

[Rockport]

Some people go out of their way looking for a reason to be offended.

 

[sbark]

let the forces of public opinion via ticket sales, merchandise sales persuade Dan Snyder, its his private property----it shouldn't be by the force of DC

 

[landroverking]

Couple of things.
First how about the Washington Cherry Blossoms. Every spring they are the talk of DC.


Second


Washington Commanders. Yes the fine people inside the belt way should want
"Washington" taken out of the name.
LOL.

 

[Idgit]

The acid test I use for these cases is 'would you be willing to call a stranger in a bar by this name?' If so, it's probably not generally considered to be offensive. "Barkeep: two beers, please. One for me and one for my Jewish friend!" No problems. "Barkeep, two beers, please. One for me and one for my red-skinned friend." Honestly, that's just not something I'd be comfortable saying. I have a hard time believing a lot of people *would* be comfortable with it, but, then again, I could be wrong. I'll take you guys at your words if you suggest you collectively would be.

That said, it's not a matter of political correctness. It's a function of what you'd ordinarily be comfortable with saying in polite company. It's Social Correctness. Social correctness, in my opinion, is a perfectly fine reason not to use a term or expression. The goal in a polite discussion, or in a polite society, is to not be needlessly offensive if you can help it. Sure, there are situations where it's more important to illustrate a point than it is to spare feelings, but 'because I thought it'd make a good name for a football team' isn't exactly one of those situations, is it?

 

[65fastback2plus2]

Why?

I've never understood why it bothers so many people to be politically correct... or at least politically polite.

Is it unwillingness to adapt to change? Laziness? Is it the fear of a misstep in the wrong setting if you forget to use the PC word? A genuine inability to care enough to be cordial? Or is it the unlikely circumstance that you actually like the risk of offending people?

I just dont wear my feelings on my sleeve.

I'm part american indian (cherokee), part German and a whole host of other things I am sure.

I can say Ive ever been offended by a term used to describe someone. My wife hates "******" and says its demeaning...I still use it to describe people when it is deserved. Shoot, there was a whole "dont use the R-word campaign".

 

[Wheeltax]

It doesn't affect me one way or the other. The way one of our local sportscasters here put it: "If you started a new franchise today, would you call it the Commanders?"

The answer is probably no.

 

[burmafrd]

The acid test I use for these cases is 'would you be willing to call a stranger in a bar by this name?' If so, it's probably not generally considered to be offensive. "Barkeep: two beers, please. One for me and one for my Jewish friend!" No problems. "Barkeep, two beers, please. One for me and one for my red-skinned friend." Honestly, that's just not something I'd be comfortable saying. I have a hard time believing a lot of people *would* be comfortable with it, but, then again, I could be wrong. I'll take you guys at your words if you suggest you collectively would be.

That said, it's not a matter of political correctness. It's a function of what you'd ordinarily be comfortable with saying in polite company. It's Social Correctness. Social correctness, in my opinion, is a perfectly fine reason not to use a term or expression. The goal in a polite discussion, or in a polite society, is to not be needlessly offensive if you can help it. Sure, there are situations where it's more important to illustrate a point than it is to spare feelings, but 'because I thought it'd make a good name for a football team' isn't exactly one of those situations, is it?

as has been said, only those looking for a reason to get offended will be. you talk about socially correct- there is no difference between that and PC. No difference at all. Just others trying to say what we should do and say and THINK. Frankly they can stick ANY kind of 'correctness' where the sun don't shine.

 

[WV Cowboy]

Couple of things.
First how about the Washington Cherry Blossoms. Every spring they are the talk of DC.

Washington Commanders. Yes the fine people inside the belt way should want
"Washington" taken out of the name.
LOL.

I heard someone say they should change their name, .. to the D.C. Commanders because it is degrading to use Washington in the name.
LOL

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Some people go out of their way looking for a reason to be offended.

Sure.

And many people do not go out of their way looking for a reason to be offended and have something offensive thrown in their face and celebrated.

For me, it's about those people who are offended making a concerted effort to let the world know how offended they are. Where I think it's a slippery slope is when somebody may say something offensive one time, people have some initial outrage but have shown no effort beyond saying they are outrage and that person is fired or their livelihood is damaged in some way.

I know the sentiment on this board was that people were greatly offended when the Atlanta sports radio show made a bad joke in poor taste towards Steve Gleason. I guess it's not a PC issue when it comes to somebody with ALS, but it is a PC issue when it comes to Native Americans.

To me, the difference is that many Native Americans have decried the Commanders name for decades and have done just about everything possible to protest the name. Whereas those that were outraged by the Atlanta radio show were likely going to do nothing in the way of protesting it and the company jumped the gun anyway and fired all 3 radio personalities.

I would like to think the league should be above a team using a term that is a very well known racist term against Native Americans. It's not like a radio show where people actually have to tune into a particular channel on the dial and listen to that very program at that very time. The Commanders name is unavoidable when it comes to discussing the NFL.






YR

 

[rynochop]

The acid test I use for these cases is 'would you be willing to call a stranger in a bar by this name?' If so, it's probably not generally considered to be offensive. "Barkeep: two beers, please. One for me and one for my Jewish friend!" No problems. "Barkeep, two beers, please. One for me and one for my red-skinned friend." Honestly, that's just not something I'd be comfortable saying. I have a hard time believing a lot of people *would* be comfortable with it, but, then again, I could be wrong. I'll take you guys at your words if you suggest you collectively would be.

So would you feel comfortable in the bar with a stranger in a cowboy hat and boots next to you and say 'Two beers please...one for me and one for my cowboy friend here.'

 

[Idgit]

So would you feel comfortable in the bar with a stranger in a cowboy hat and boots next to you and say 'Two beers please...one for me and one for my cowboy friend here.'

Yep. Wouldn't you?