Thinking about taking a debate or critical thinking course at some point? If so, you may bump into a recent article written by ESPN's Rick Reilly, where the teacher will tell you, "Ladies and gentlemen - this is the finest example I could come up with to show you of how not to argue a point."
The article is entitled, "Have the people spoken?," and is a defense of the Washington Redskins team nickname.
Reilly mentions that his father-in-law is a Blackeet Indian and isn't bothered much by the team's nickname. He then talks about three high schools whom possess the same nickname, and that Native Americans in the area aren't at all offended by it.
Due to this, it seems obvious to Reilly the nickname is not at all offensive, is in fact honorary, and that we shouldn't even be discussing the matter, saying, "White America has spoken. You (Native Americans) aren't offends, so we'll be offended for you."
Yes, because due to a few Native Americans whom don't find the nickname to be all that offensive, it means they all don't, and it's just white Americans whom have a problem with it. Understood... Yet when I Google Native Americans against the Redskins name, I wind up with 960,000 results. I'll be darned.
Reilly then wanders off into fallacyland, where if one person is offended by a team nickname, then we have to consider changing it, saying:
"One person? I know an atheist who is offended by religious names like the New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. There are people who don't think Ole Miss should be the Rebels. People who lost family to Hurricanes. There are people who think Wizards promotes paganism. Shall we listen to all of them?
I guess so."
He also compared the Redskins nickname to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
It sounds like Mr. Reilly could use a bit of a history lesson. I'll allow NPR's Lakshmi Gandhi to do the honors. As he wrote in his recent article, "Are You Ready For Some Controversy? The History Of 'Redskin,'" Gandhi said this:
"Decades later, the word 'redskin' began to take on a negative, increasingly violent connotation. Author L. Frank Baum, best known for his classic The Wizard of Oz, celebrated the death of Sitting Bull and the massacre at Wounded Knee with a pair of editorials calling for the extermination of all remaining Native Americans. In one of the December 1890 pieces, Baum wrote, 'With his fall the nobility of the Redskin is extinguished and what few are left are a pack of whining curs who lick the hand that smites them.'"
and
"In 1915, the poet Earl Emmons released Redskin Rimes, a book so offensive I had to double-check to make sure it wasn't a parody of the racism of that era."
and
"Emmons' book was emblematic of the usage of the word 'redskins' in the late 1800s and early 1900s, as the word went from being an identifying term to a derogatory slur."
and
"And when the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian hosted a symposium on Indian mascots in February, museum director Kevin Gover, himself a Native American, said the word was 'equivalent of the N-word.'"
Reilly then closes his piece (of garbage) with this bit, which screams, "Please fire me, ESPN":
"The 81-year-old Washington Redskins name is falling, and everybody better get out of the way. For the majority of Native Americans who don't care, we'll care for them. For the Native Americans who haven't asked for help, we're glad to give it to them.
Trust us. We know what's best. We'll take this away for your own good, and put up barriers that protect you from ever being harmed again.
Kind of like a reservation."
I'll allow Dave Zirin of The Nation to respond. In response to Reilly, Zirin wrote the following from his article, "Rick Reilly and the Most Irredeemably Stupid Defense of the Redskins Name You Will Ever Read":
"I almost feel sorry for team owner Dan Snyder that Rick Reilly is now his loudest media advocate. Almost. When you defend the indefensible, you get the bedfellows you deserve, and more often than not, you hate yourself in the morning. A simple test for Rick Reilly: answer the challenge of Ray Halbritter of the Oneida Nation. Go to his house, look at his grandchildren and say, "My goodness these are some cute little Redskins.' If it is really a name of honor, you will make the trip and say it to the Halbritters. If you won't, then you are completely full of it. News flash: he won't."
and
"And here's a handy rule of thumb: if your team name exists only because there was a genocide, then you might need a new team name."
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/9689220/redskins-name-change-not-easy-sounds
http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/09/09/220654611/are-you-ready-for-some-controversy-the-history-of-redskin
http://www.thenation.com/blog/176260/rick-reilly-and-most-irredeemably-stupid-defense-redskins-name-you-will-ever-read#
The article is entitled, "Have the people spoken?," and is a defense of the Washington Redskins team nickname.
Reilly mentions that his father-in-law is a Blackeet Indian and isn't bothered much by the team's nickname. He then talks about three high schools whom possess the same nickname, and that Native Americans in the area aren't at all offended by it.
Due to this, it seems obvious to Reilly the nickname is not at all offensive, is in fact honorary, and that we shouldn't even be discussing the matter, saying, "White America has spoken. You (Native Americans) aren't offends, so we'll be offended for you."
Yes, because due to a few Native Americans whom don't find the nickname to be all that offensive, it means they all don't, and it's just white Americans whom have a problem with it. Understood... Yet when I Google Native Americans against the Redskins name, I wind up with 960,000 results. I'll be darned.
Reilly then wanders off into fallacyland, where if one person is offended by a team nickname, then we have to consider changing it, saying:
"One person? I know an atheist who is offended by religious names like the New Orleans Saints and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. There are people who don't think Ole Miss should be the Rebels. People who lost family to Hurricanes. There are people who think Wizards promotes paganism. Shall we listen to all of them?
I guess so."
He also compared the Redskins nickname to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.
It sounds like Mr. Reilly could use a bit of a history lesson. I'll allow NPR's Lakshmi Gandhi to do the honors. As he wrote in his recent article, "Are You Ready For Some Controversy? The History Of 'Redskin,'" Gandhi said this:
"Decades later, the word 'redskin' began to take on a negative, increasingly violent connotation. Author L. Frank Baum, best known for his classic The Wizard of Oz, celebrated the death of Sitting Bull and the massacre at Wounded Knee with a pair of editorials calling for the extermination of all remaining Native Americans. In one of the December 1890 pieces, Baum wrote, 'With his fall the nobility of the Redskin is extinguished and what few are left are a pack of whining curs who lick the hand that smites them.'"
and
"In 1915, the poet Earl Emmons released Redskin Rimes, a book so offensive I had to double-check to make sure it wasn't a parody of the racism of that era."
and
"Emmons' book was emblematic of the usage of the word 'redskins' in the late 1800s and early 1900s, as the word went from being an identifying term to a derogatory slur."
and
"And when the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian hosted a symposium on Indian mascots in February, museum director Kevin Gover, himself a Native American, said the word was 'equivalent of the N-word.'"
Reilly then closes his piece (of garbage) with this bit, which screams, "Please fire me, ESPN":
"The 81-year-old Washington Redskins name is falling, and everybody better get out of the way. For the majority of Native Americans who don't care, we'll care for them. For the Native Americans who haven't asked for help, we're glad to give it to them.
Trust us. We know what's best. We'll take this away for your own good, and put up barriers that protect you from ever being harmed again.
Kind of like a reservation."
I'll allow Dave Zirin of The Nation to respond. In response to Reilly, Zirin wrote the following from his article, "Rick Reilly and the Most Irredeemably Stupid Defense of the Redskins Name You Will Ever Read":
"I almost feel sorry for team owner Dan Snyder that Rick Reilly is now his loudest media advocate. Almost. When you defend the indefensible, you get the bedfellows you deserve, and more often than not, you hate yourself in the morning. A simple test for Rick Reilly: answer the challenge of Ray Halbritter of the Oneida Nation. Go to his house, look at his grandchildren and say, "My goodness these are some cute little Redskins.' If it is really a name of honor, you will make the trip and say it to the Halbritters. If you won't, then you are completely full of it. News flash: he won't."
and
"And here's a handy rule of thumb: if your team name exists only because there was a genocide, then you might need a new team name."
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/9689220/redskins-name-change-not-easy-sounds
http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/09/09/220654611/are-you-ready-for-some-controversy-the-history-of-redskin
http://www.thenation.com/blog/176260/rick-reilly-and-most-irredeemably-stupid-defense-redskins-name-you-will-ever-read#
Oh my gosh...has anyone researched a little on who is trying to change the name? How about the murder of Tammy Mahoney May 8, 1981. On Oneida Indian Reservation...gang raped at a trailer party and brutally murdered and her body hidden so the fbi couldn’t make arrests..12 to 14 witnesses and a grand jury never called..Expose the NAMES of who did this and stop the hypocrisy...this is a much more pressing matter...to bring Justice to those responsible...and to let Tammy be brought back to Long Island, however small so her family can have peace. Not all is as it seems up there on the reservation.
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