Sports Mascots

The subject of sports mascots jumps into the news reports every once in a while. The politically correct folks try to force a team whose mascot is some variant on an American indian theme to change its mascot. They have no idea how to address the root causes of racism in society, so they wrestle with words and images instead. They think that if you erase the picture, the prejudice disappears, too. These efforts are a silly waste of time, money and energy. The criticisms are fallacious and inconsistent.

• The critics argue that these mascots are demeaning to native Americans, but that's wrong. The mascots celebrate the strength, bravery, and tenacity of native Americans. They characterize a sports team, not a person. Only people who are already prejudiced or those who are insecure, find any other meaning in them.
• They argue that the images are stereotypes, but that's not the case. The images are no more representative of a modern native American than a photograph of Geronimo is, and nobody thinks that they are.
• They attack only the mascots that relate to native Americans. Apparently it's ok to charicature the Celts, the Trojans, the Cossacks, or whomever. Maybe it would be better to eliminate mascots altogether.
• If someone is prejudiced against native Americans, these images will neither increase nor alter that prejudice. The majority of intelligent souls who are not prejudiced will not change their views as a result of exposure to the symbols and mascots.

I live in California, but when I lived in Ohio, I liked the Cleveland Indians. And I occasionally wear my Cleveland Indians baseball cap as a simple protest against those who get all riled up over this non-issue.

Chief Wahoo represents only one thing to me--a baseball team. In fact, if someone wants to call their team the Retired Engineers, and use a cartoon of a nerd carrying a slide rule (or a calculator) as their mascot, I will not object.

The sports mascot activists should redirect their energies into some significant cause, such as helping the homeless or reducing pollution. As far as the team logos go, it's pretty simple--if you don't like an image, just ignore it. Go watch the Celts instead.