September 24, 2004
What's In A Name, Ad Infinatum
Leftover from yesterday is this piece from Eugene Volokh, guest blogging for Glenn Reynolds at MSNBC and taking a hard look at how we name sports teams:
I’m not wild about professional sports teams naming themselves after brutes, either: Pirates, Raiders, Buccaneers, even Vikings, who weren’t just Norsemen but those specific Norsemen who were chiefly famous for looting and pillage. . . I don’t oppose American Indian team names -- and neither do most American Indians, according to the recent Sports Illustrated survey described here, which I looked at closely and which seems to me to be quite scientifically valid -- precisely because calling a team Indians or Seminoles is a sign of respect and praise, not condemnation.
I don't buy his take on why we use Indian names -- which have been chosen as a sign of respect specifically because Native Americans were such fierce, and at times, pitiless, warriors. After all, it's not any accident that we give weapons systems names like Tomahawk, Apache and Blackhawk.
Saying you shouldn't name a team the Vikings because of their warlike nature, and then turning around and saying it's ok to name a team after Native Americans tribes that were often just as warlike as the Vikings is a case of creating a distinction when there isn't any difference at all.
At the end of the day, both sorts of names honor cultures that deserve respect -- warts and all. To do otherwise is to simply engage in a sort of political correctness that Volokh usually condems out of hand.
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Posted by:
at September 24, 2004 10:21 AM
Agreed. Unlike other team names, though, I'm not so sure that "Redskin" is a term of respect.
Posted by:
at September 24, 2004 10:34 AM
Better than Potomac Drainage Basin Indeginous Persons....
(hat tip: TMQ)
Posted by:
at September 24, 2004 11:39 AM
The Potomac Drainage Basin one is hysterical, BTW. Better than Jersey/A and Jersey/B - but not better than Flaming thumbtacks.
Posted by:
at September 27, 2004 05:25 PM
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