The first thing any reader needs to know is that the vast, vast majority of Native Americans were never offended by the Washington Redskins’ mascot or logo. Certainly, there are offensive ways of representing Native Americans in sports and in other areas — Chief Wahoo comes to mind, as do mocking versions of native dances and rituals. But the Redskins did not engage in those, and people noticed.
A 2016 poll conducted by the Washington Post, the very organization most active in campaigning for the Redskins’ demise, found by a 10-to-1 ratio that Native American respondents were not offended. In fact, surveys have suggested that the most common emotion the name inspires is pride. They are proud that Washington’s football team wanted to associate itself with and commemorate the ferocious, courageous reputation of the “braves on the warpath” who once terrorized their enemies wearing (at least in some tribes) the red warpaint that originally gave rise to the name “Redskin.”
This all stands to reason — after all, no one names their team after something they think is stupid, inferior, or weak. They name their team after something they think is awesome.
Native Americans’ positive attitudes toward his organization allowed Redskins owner Dan Snyder to resist years of crusading and “white-knighting” by academics and activist-journalists at the Post. But Snyder finally met his match this summer, when FedEx, the Redskins’ major sponsor and namesake of their stadium in Landover, Maryland, tried to get out ahead of the zeitgeist by demanding that the Redskins’ name be dropped. At that point, Snyder had little choice.
It must have been a frustrating defeat — to have to watch self-indulgent, smug white people soothing their own egos in this manner. But in the end, money is money. Football teams exist to make a profit, not to make a point.
Still, whether intentionally or not, Snyder may have stumbled upon something wonderful when he decided what the team will be called in the coming season. In fact, we hope he sticks with the chosen new name permanently. This is how you lose a battle against political correctness without giving up the war.
The Washington Football Team (or as most people will call them all season, the Redskins) probably won’t enjoy any more success on the field than they usually do. But their bland, no-frills name will stand out. It will remind everyone how easy it is to be offended if you want to be. Every name will soon be on the chopping block (the Braves, the Rangers, the Chiefs, the Buffalo Bills, the Cowboys, the Vikings, the Rebels, the Fighting Irish, the Aggies), and nothing will be safe in the long run. Even animal and inanimate names will be deemed offensive. Weren’t broncos used to transport slaves? Don’t hurricanes kill women and non-whites disproportionately?
So, why not get out ahead of all this and have no name at all?
Like the all-consuming Nothing devouring the world of The Neverending Story, the forces of political correctness threaten to obliterate every cultural and historical or even just interesting reference in modern life — even in an area as lighthearted as sport. And those demanding it are invariably society’s most privileged and most ignorant of anything that matters.
This is why the mob’s demands must never be honored with sincerity. Its sensibilities must never be legitimized, because they are fake. A mob that is willing to tear down the statue of an abolitionist just because it is old is a mob too ignorant to be offended about anything.
That’s why Snyder’s choice of “Washington Football Team,” which mirrors the name the Post had already been using for years, sets exactly the right tone. It takes the mob’s culture-less, ideologically rigid mentality to its ultimate conclusion. Washington has no name, and soon, no one else will, either. We hope that the Redskins stick to their new name rather than coming up with something else that will just offend someone eventually anyway. It’s easier than dealing with the perpetually pretend-offended.
