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Re: Eskimos: change your name

Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2017 8:43 am
by DanoT
All of the so called objectionable names where chose not because they denigrated anyone. Quite the opposite, in fact, as the names were meant to honour ferociousness or power.

I keep thinking about the scene in Ghostbusters where the guys are supposed to clear their minds but all the Dan Akoroyd character can do is think about the Jet Puff Marshmallow Man.

I bet the Winnipeg mayor and all the politically correct and know it all liberals would be quite happy playing against the "Edmonton Marshmallows". OTOH the terrorist blue Bombers would have to change their name as well to the "Winnipeg Wimps".

But why stop there. Red is a colour but derogatory toward 1st Nations and people who descended from slaves now refer to themselves not as Black but as African-Americans, so the Ottawa team should change their name to the Ottawa Political Elites.

There are probably some bird lovers in Quebec who find the gong show that is the Montreal Alloettes to be an insult to bird lovers everywhere. I don't have a good alternate name but sending some more federal tax payer money to Quebec to help subsidize the province usually fixes all.

Cat lovers can't be too happy with Hamilton either, and so it goes as there is no end to political correctness.

Re: Eskimos: change your name

Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2017 8:43 am
by B.C.FAN
maxlion wrote:
Thu Nov 09, 2017 8:09 am
Robbie wrote:
Wed Nov 08, 2017 7:28 pm

So kudos to the Eskimos team and fans that they do NOT purposely mock Inuit music and dance.
This seems like slight grounds for praise.

In my work, if I were to insist on using insensitive ethnic descriptors in my official correspondence, not only would I quickly be called to account, but it would severely impact my ability to serve the people I am paid to serve.

It baffles me that there remains so much resistance to showing basic courtesy to the first peoples of this country. I have to wonder what motivates this resistance.
People are resistant to change, especially with a traditional brand name. Look at how the names Redskins, Braves, Indians, Chiefs and Blackhawks have endured in the U.S. despite occasional protests. I have heard few complaints about the Eskimo name until recently. Perhaps this is the start of a movement for change. Perhaps it will fade away as most of the American protests have.

Re: Eskimos: change your name

Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2017 9:13 am
by maxlion
DanoT wrote:
Thu Nov 09, 2017 8:43 am
All of the so called objectionable names where chose not because they denigrated anyone. Quite the opposite, in fact, as the names were meant to honour ferociousness or power.
...

There are probably some bird lovers in Quebec who find the gong show that is the Montreal Alloettes to be an insult to bird lovers everywhere. I don't have a good alternate name but sending some more federal tax payer money to Quebec to help subsidize the province usually fixes all.

Cat lovers can't be too happy with Hamilton either, and so it goes as there is no end to political correctness.
Are you suggesting that Inuit people are ferocious animals like tigers and birds? Is tigercat a derogatory name for tiger? Is being disrespectful to Inuit a good way to combat the silliness of political correctness? Not sure where you are leading here Dano.

Re: Eskimos: change your name

Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2017 9:17 am
by DanoT
maxlion wrote:
Thu Nov 09, 2017 9:13 am
DanoT wrote:
Thu Nov 09, 2017 8:43 am
All of the so called objectionable names where chose not because they denigrated anyone. Quite the opposite, in fact, as the names were meant to honour ferociousness or power.
...

There are probably some bird lovers in Quebec who find the gong show that is the Montreal Alloettes to be an insult to bird lovers everywhere. I don't have a good alternate name but sending some more federal tax payer money to Quebec to help subsidize the province usually fixes all.

Cat lovers can't be too happy with Hamilton either, and so it goes as there is no end to political correctness.
Are you suggesting that Inuit people are ferocious animals like tigers and birds? Is tigercat a derogatory name for tiger? Is being disrespectful to Inuit a good way to combat the silliness of political correctness? Not sure where you are leading here Dano.
I should have included a few emojis like I did in previous posts as I am making fun of Politically Correct Know it Alls. :wink:

As far as the Edmonton Eskimos go, they chose the name Eskimo when it was far more common a word than Inuit and was at the time not the least bit derogatory. I suspect that the choosing of the name was in part an acknowledgement of the close ties between Canada's most northern city and Canada's most northern people.

Re: Eskimos: change your name

Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2017 9:18 am
by Robbie
It's a controversial issue when it comes to sports nicknames associated with certain groups of people and I'd say for the most part, the contemporary group does not mind seem to mind at all.

There's the Boston Celtics, but I don't think the Irish-Americans or anyone else who may have Celtic ancestry seems to mind. The Vikings are the ancestors of contemporary Scandinavians, including the Swedish. But I don't hear much backlash from the many Swedish-Americans in Minnesota, including I'm sure the various Swedish players who played for the Minnesota Wild - even though Vikings may have killed lots.

It looks like though, for newer (< 25 years) franchises then the issue of political correctness comes it and will be scrutinized if the team is named after a group of people. For example, if a sports team is called the Ninjas, most definitely the Japanese groups will rebel. Originally, Vancouver's NBA team was supposed to be called the Mounties but got too much backlash even though other teams like Texas Rangers have been named after other law enforcement groups. So while it's easier to scrutinize a new name for a new team, it's much, much harder to attempt to actually change an existing sports team's nickname.

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That said, do you know of cases where a sports team actually DID change their nickname?

This is notwithstanding franchise re-locations:
Quebec Nordiques -> Colorado Avalanche
Winnipeg Jets -> Phoenix Coyotes
Atlanta Thrashers -> Winnipeg Jets
Hartford Whalers -> Carolina Hurricanes

Also notwithstanding are cases in which a team based out of the city folded or moved, and then was reincarnated with a new franchise in the same city:
Ottawa Rough Riders -> Renegades -> Redblacks
Houston Oilers -> Texans
Minnesota North Stars -> Wild

More common is if the physical city/region name changed while maintaining the same nickname:

Florida Marlins -> Miami Marlins
Phoenix Cardinals -> Arizona Cardinals
California Angels -> Anaheim Angels -> Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

So again....with all that said, are there cases in which the SAME continuing sports franchise suddenly changed their nickname?

I can think of a few and in all of these cases, it had absolutely nothing to do with complaints or backlash with the nickname's group of people it was referring to.

NBA: Washington Bullets -> Washington Wizards
NFL: Tennessee Oilers -> Tennessee Titans
NHL: Mighty Ducks of Anaheim -> Anaheim Ducks (simply a shortening of the name)
MLB: Tampa Bay Devil Rays -> Tampa Bay Rays (another shortening)
CFL: Montreal Alouettes -> Concordes -> Alouettes (I know in the first change it can be argued it was a folding albeit a very short one and didn't interrupt the season), Baltimore Football Club -> Baltimore Stallions

Finally closer to home:

A-League: Vancouver 86ers -> Vancouver Whitecaps
W-League: Vancouver Breakers -> Vancouver Whitecaps Women

So again, in these cases it had nothing to do with ethnic complaints about the nickname and as such, it looks it's very unlikely that a sports franchise will change its nickname unless it's in the form of a relocation or reincarnation as indicated above.

Re: Eskimos: change your name

Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2017 3:37 pm
by TheLionKing
Wonder when someone is going to call out Cleveland for naming their team the Browns ?

Re: Eskimos: change your name

Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2017 4:04 pm
by maxlion
TheLionKing wrote:
Thu Nov 09, 2017 3:37 pm
Wonder when someone is going to call out Cleveland for naming their team the Browns ?
Probably never.

"The name of the team was at first left up to Paul Brown, who rejected calls for it to be christened the "Browns".[22][23] The franchise and the local newspaper, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, then held a naming contest to publicize the team, promising a $1,000 war bond to the winner. In June 1945, a committee selected "Panthers" as the new team's name, named after a failed American Football League (AFL) franchise in Cleveland which only lasted part way through that professional league's single season in 1926 (although as a semi-professional team the Cleveland Panthers existed between 1919 and 1933). It is unclear whether "Panthers" was the highest vote-getter, or if it was second-highest behind "Browns", which was again rejected by Paul Brown.[24][25] George T. Jones, who been the secretary for the Panthers under the AFL team owner General Charles X. Zimmerman (who died in November 1926), had become manager of the re-established semi-professional Cleveland Panthers in 1927 and had the rights to the name. Jones apparently demanded several thousand dollars from the new franchise owner, Arthur McBride, for the use of the name. McBride refused to pay, reopened the contest, and selected the Browns name for his team.[26] At this point, Paul Brown bowed to popular sentiment and agreed to the "Browns" name.[25]

Brown remained uncomfortable with the idea of the team being named after him. For some time after, he would occasionally cite an alternate history of the team name, claiming that they were actually named after boxer Joe Louis, whose nickname was "The Brown Bomber". This alternate history of the name was even supported by the team as being factual as recently as the mid-1990s, and it continues as an urban legend to this day. However, Paul Brown never held fast to the Joe Louis story, and later in his life admitted that it was false, invented to deflect unwanted attention arising from the team being named after him. The Browns and the NFL now both support the position that the team was indeed named after Paul Brown."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_Browns

Re: Eskimos: change your name

Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2017 5:43 pm
by DanoT
Here is an interesting take on the Edmonton Eskimos name that is worthy of consideration:
http://edmontonjournal.com/news/politic ... ed-eskimos

Re: Eskimos: change your name

Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2017 6:39 pm
by maxlion
https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/2016/05 ... eral-laws/
Obama signs measure to get rid of the word 'Eskimo' in federal laws

Changing attitudes toward the word "Eskimo" were recognized at the national level on Friday when President Barack Obama signed legislation that replaced that term with "Alaska Native" in federal laws.
...

"When we were labeled Eskimos, that labeled us as less than human to white Americans," said Ronald H. Brower Sr., an instructor at the Alaska Native Language Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. He refers to himself as an Inuk — which most people call Inupiaq — and grew up in Barrow. "It is my hope that this change will bring a more positive relationship between the U.S. government and the aboriginal people in the U.S., especially with Inuk and Athabascans."
...

"I think this is a great move and I laud President Obama's recommendations," said Maria Shaa Tlaa Williams, director of the Alaska Native Studies program at the University of Alaska Anchorage. She is Tlingit. "Eskimo is an older colonial term. Many of the European arrivals used pejorative terms that were often not the self-designative terms that local Indigenous people used, and were not accurate."

https://www.niyc.ca/media/media-release ... be-changed

Media release from Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (National Inuit Council)

ITK has demanded that the Edmonton Canadian Football League team stop using the moniker “Eskimos” as part of an ongoing fight against colonization in the name of reconciliation. This stance has been supported by many Inuit, although I fully understand and appreciate that not all Inuit view the term as offensive.

The colonial legacy of naming is about power and control. The issue of Inuit being used as a sports team mascot matters because this is the way this legacy continues to play out in popular culture. This issue is about our right to self-determine who we are on our own terms. We are not mascots or emblems. In a time when we still struggle to be heard, where there is vast indifference to our socio-economic condition, where we still fight for acceptance and respect from Canadians every day, dominant society continues to use us, a minority Indigenous people, as their mascots for their sports entertainment. Allowing this practice is a fundamental departure from how we wish to be treated in all other conversations we have with Canada.

Consider the legacy of naming in our experience. In the past, non-Inuit imposed their own names onto our lands and bodies in place of centuries-old Inuktut ones. Inuktut place names were systematically substituted for English names that then became part of the basis for Canadian land ownership. The Inuit land claims movement was in large part a fight to remain visible on our own terms at a time when our place names, history and society were literally being wiped off the Canadian map. At the same time, Government of Canada initiatives imposed serial numbers and dog tags onto our people instead of recognizing traditional, given names.
...
This is why we need unity. I believe that we can stand and fight together and support one another even on Inuit issues that some individuals may not have a negative personal association with. In the beginning of the residential school lawsuit discussions, some Inuit stated they did not have traumatic residential school experiences; some Inuit felt that their education through residential schooling allowed them to be successful in life. If those Inuit, many of whom were the most successful in our society, had decided that because they were not negatively affected personally then they would fight against the lawsuit, we would have not been included in the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement, the Truth and Reconciliation process, or any of the health supports that have been offered to date for all Inuit residential school survivors. Unity won.

So for all my fellow Inuit who are not offended, please consider that many Inuit are offended by the term. Many Inuit do not want to be mascots. We cannot divorce this particular issue from our colonial relationship with Canada. I ask that we stand together across Inuit Nunangat and say, for the good of Inuit in Canada, we will combat colonization while supporting healing, reconciliation, and mutual respect in all its varied forms.

Re: Eskimos: change your name

Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2017 8:45 pm
by TheLionKing
Seems to me that it's another case of Much Ado about nothing.

Re: Eskimos: change your name

Posted: Thu Nov 09, 2017 9:51 pm
by Huge Talent
Sounds like they're going to change it, as they should. Nothing good comes out of stubbornly hanging on to an apparently disrespectful nickname.

Re: Eskimos: change your name

Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2017 12:18 am
by KnowItAll
I nominate Frackers

Re: Eskimos: change your name

Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2017 9:15 am
by JohnnyMusso
Yesterday, the Edmonton mayor called for the Eskimos to change the name and a representative of the Inuit community called for it too.

It is true back when they selected the name, Inuit was not used, it was Eskimo. I remember that from my childhood growing up in the 60's. It was not offensive or derogatory then.

But now it is and I now feel they should change it and probably will in the future.

The answer is simple. Just change it to Edmonton Inuit. They named themselves after the group, so they can still do that, but now go with what is acceptable now Inuit than Eskimo. I doubt they do that, but that is my suggestion.

Re: Eskimos: change your name

Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2017 9:34 am
by Robbie
JohnnyMusso wrote:
Fri Nov 10, 2017 9:15 am
The answer is simple. Just change it to Edmonton Inuit. They named themselves after the group, so they can still do that, but now go with what is acceptable now Inuit than Eskimo. I doubt they do that, but that is my suggestion.
But this will ruin the alliteration and will requite a brand new logo from their already famous interlocking EE logo.

There was a change before in 1910:

Edmonton Exquimaux -> Edmonton Eskimos

Re: Eskimos: change your name

Posted: Fri Nov 10, 2017 9:55 am
by Sir Purrcival
Why? Are they Inuit? Seems to me that is just as silly as Eskimo's. Not to mention the initials on the helmet would be hilarious. What's to say that true Inuit aren't going to be equally unhappy with that name being attached to a city team no where near their territory. If the Esks, change their name, so be it but if they are going to do so, they had better find a name that makes no references to any ethnic group because at this point, anything that remotely smacks of anything ethnic is fair game for protest. I find it quite ironic that the name that natives are so offended by was actually coined by other natives. It is a slang meaning "Raw meat eaters". Well last time I checked, Inuit historically have lived to large degree on raw Caribou, Seal, Whale and Polar Bear; a practise still carried on today in keeping with their own traditions.
Anybody remember the Michaile Jean controversy with her eating raw seal heart? A lot of people didn't like that and I would bet dollars to doughnuts that a lot of Inuit basically took the attitude of "don't like it, tough, that is our culture".