DAMN IT I LOVE THE LEFT AND THEIR INTENT, but this shit pisses me off. Words change over time. The word "gay" originally meant "happy". It went on later to become a pejorative to demonize homosexuals. Yet today, gays are not demanding people not call them gay. I am an atheist, the word itself invokes visions of immorality and bad and evil in the minds of theists. I am not going to abandon the term because of the baggage of asshole bigots.
Now, I grew up in the DC area. So I grew up a Redskins fan. If anyone seriously thinks I view that word in a bigoted manor can go fuck themselves. I am an atheist. I don't assume because the word "atheist" IS used by many theists as a slur to demonize me by equating me being godlless to Po Pot or Stalin, that means ALL theists see the word "atheist' as evil, anymore than gays who use the word gay use it in the same way the people who use it as a slur do.
The Redskins name to ME is one of pride, one of toughness. I always saw them as the underdog, especially growing up hating the over hyped "America's team" the Cowboys. The name to me is one of David vs Goliath, and by no means TO ME having anything doing with bigotry at all. The thing I always loved about going to the games, when I had the money, is that it unified us. A fellow Redskins fan, unless in a luxury box, you could not tell what the person sitting next to you did for a living. You could have a lawyer sitting next to a truck driver, next to me, at the time, a 7-11 store clerk. You could have a republican sitting next to a democrat and at least for 3 hours, there was no politics. You could have a baptist sitting next to me, a catholic at the time. I even saw a Redskins catalog with a SIKH with a burgundy turban on pictured in the stands.
I loved them as a kid because they represented the fight in the little guy, the pride in the little guy. I think Native Americans do pluralism a disservice by not understanding that TIMES DO CHANGE and so do words. Otherwise, if you insist on times not changing, then argue with gays over the history of that word.
We can remember history without using guilt by association. Otherwise I'd call myself a Humanist because of the THOUSANDS of years theists have demonized non believers with the slur "atheist".
Now, I grew up in the DC area. So I grew up a Redskins fan. If anyone seriously thinks I view that word in a bigoted manor can go fuck themselves. I am an atheist. I don't assume because the word "atheist" IS used by many theists as a slur to demonize me by equating me being godlless to Po Pot or Stalin, that means ALL theists see the word "atheist' as evil, anymore than gays who use the word gay use it in the same way the people who use it as a slur do.
The Redskins name to ME is one of pride, one of toughness. I always saw them as the underdog, especially growing up hating the over hyped "America's team" the Cowboys. The name to me is one of David vs Goliath, and by no means TO ME having anything doing with bigotry at all. The thing I always loved about going to the games, when I had the money, is that it unified us. A fellow Redskins fan, unless in a luxury box, you could not tell what the person sitting next to you did for a living. You could have a lawyer sitting next to a truck driver, next to me, at the time, a 7-11 store clerk. You could have a republican sitting next to a democrat and at least for 3 hours, there was no politics. You could have a baptist sitting next to me, a catholic at the time. I even saw a Redskins catalog with a SIKH with a burgundy turban on pictured in the stands.
I loved them as a kid because they represented the fight in the little guy, the pride in the little guy. I think Native Americans do pluralism a disservice by not understanding that TIMES DO CHANGE and so do words. Otherwise, if you insist on times not changing, then argue with gays over the history of that word.
We can remember history without using guilt by association. Otherwise I'd call myself a Humanist because of the THOUSANDS of years theists have demonized non believers with the slur "atheist".
