My latest in PJ Media:
Baseball, like the other major sports, has become insufferably woke, and so the Texas Rangers — like the Cleveland Indians and football’s Washington Redskins — are likely not long for this world. Buoyed by the scalping of the Washington Redskins, the Washington Post’s Karen Attiah, who wants white women to consider themselves lucky that she isn’t calling for “revenge” for their voting for Trump, is now calling for the Texas Rangers baseball team to change its name, because, doncha know, the Rangers were supposedly “white supremacists.”
Now, I myself have cautioned against looking for consistency or rationality from the left, but Karen Attiah’s demand is irrational far beyond even the attacks on statues of Frederick Douglass and Ulysses S. Grant from people who claim they’re lashing out against racism.
Karen Attiah apparently doesn’t realize that she has now entangled herself in a giant contradiction. After all, we have been hearing for years now that the Redskins, Indians, and the like had to change their names because they insulted and belittled Native Americans. But if that is true, and the law enforcement Texas Rangers were really the genocidal racists Attiah claims them to be, shouldn’t the baseball Texas Rangers actually keep their name, so as to insult and belittle Texas Rangers?
Attiah can’t have her cake and eat it too, no matter how hard she tries. If sports nicknames are negative and insult the people the teams are named after, and what she says about the historical Rangers is true (it isn’t: an actual historian of the Rangers, Dr. Jody Edward Ginn, details in his book East Texas Troubles that the Rangers helped break up a white gang in East Texas, and convicted them on the basis of testimony from black victims), then it’s altogether fitting and proper for the baseball Rangers to bear that name. But she is assuming in this case that sports nicknames actually glorify the people the teams are named after, and so it won’t do, not at all, to have a team named after the Texas Rangers, as these “white supremacists” must in no way be glorified.
But if the Texas Rangers baseball team constitutes praise for the Rangers, wouldn’t Indians, Redskins, Braves, and the like be favorable portrayals of Native Americans, in which case there would be no need to change the teams’ names?
There is much more. Read the rest here.
gravenimage says
Washington Post: Now That We’ve Finished Off the Redskins, the Texas Rangers Must Go
………….
Good lord…
curious george says
gravenimage,
We are at war. A war for the soul of the USA.
I can’t say this enough. With the left, the issue is NEVER the issue, it’s the narrative that matters.
“Socialists must explain to the masses that they have no other road of salvation except the revolutionary overthrow of their government.”
– Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924)
“The organized minority will beat the disorganized majority every time.”
– Vladimir Lenin (1870-1924)
And that is exactly what’s happening!
gravenimage says
Grimly, this appears to be the case.
CogitoErgoSum says
I think the teams new name should be the Deadskins. That’s what the the folks in the D.C. area used to call them when I lived there many years ago.
mgoldberg says
The Washington Foreskins?
The Washington Thin Skins?
gravenimage says
🙂
Reziac says
Well, if the name is really about insulting someone, they should be renamed the Washington Palefaces…
Wellington says
Just more proof that political correctness and multiculturalism (pc/mc), each an invention of Western Leftism, and not overwhelmingly denounced as these twin idiocies should be—including by many who are moderates and conservatives, cowards that they are—are slowly killing the West.
Aiding this monumentally idiotic, suicidal and hypocritical endeavor is the Islamic world, which would like nothing more than the destruction of the very civilization that pioneered liberty as no other civilization remotely has, Islam being in its very theological blueprint an inveterate enemy of liberty.
Meanwhile, Leftists, in full moronic mode, seem to want to tear down conventional Christians and others who oppose something like gay marriage far more than they want to tear down Islam, which actually calls for the killing of gays, all the while Leftists make excuse after excuse for Islam. Conclusion here: Islam is evil and Leftism is stupid. And both are obnoxiously self-righteous—and monumentally wrong—and mortal enemies of freedom.
Nutty world. A world that is difficult to respect any more—most anywhere (another example being the thugs running China). And tending to prove the hypothesis that life is an idiot, a hypothesis about human life I do not wish to accept, but asserting the contrary is getting all the more difficult to refute with each passing year, even with each passing month.
Mankind is on the brink. I do fervently hope that “the better angles of our nature” will prevail, but I am not confident such will occur. For proof of a very possible dreary result, just start with how the Washington Redskins, the Cleveland Indians and the Texas Rangers are “endangered species.” They shouldn’t be if we lived in a rational, informed and live-and let-live world.
Ah, but we don’t. And therein lies the rub.
James Lincoln says
Wellington,
One possible ray of hope in regards to Leftist indoctrination on most college and university campuses:
A conservative group called Turning Point USA has recently launched a brand-new initiative that encourages donors to redirect their money to more noble causes – rather than their Leftist college and university alma maters.
After all, it’s money that feeds the Leftist beast.
Perhaps it could lead to “conservative” diversity – and a sense of balance?
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/conservative-group-launches-divestu-to-redirect-donations-away-from-liberal-colleges
Wellington says
Hope springs eternal, James. And I say this minus all sarcasm and—with hope.
It’s never too late to save the best of mankind regularly imperiled by the worst of mankind, but the best had better hurry because we’re running out of time.
Brian Ozzy says
Spot-on Wellington.Sanity is losing to the world of the idiots!
Eli says
In my opinion, team leaders have behaved cowardly by submitting to the bully demands of the Marxists BLM. If the Indians haven’t protested it or considered it offensive, why should they? How many Indians have protested the names? We thought the names were given in recognition and honor of the Indians, and have the memorabelia among our treasured keepsakes, not thrown in the trash. Why does it take it take the Marxist group of intimidation to get people to cower? Omar said they would get people to bow. Venezuelans have warned us, that if they continue to bend to the Communist demands, of the monuments, landmarks, laws and education, communism will control us. People need to understand the communist goal in the fake numbers of covid, altered mail in ballots, and shutting down of economy.
James Lincoln says
Interestingly, a 2016 poll conducted by the Washington Post showed that 90% of Native Americans were okay with the name “Washington Redskins.”
Wouldn’t be interesting if these same Native Americans boycotted the new Washington “whatever’s” ?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/new-poll-finds-9-in-10-native-americans-arent-offended-by-redskins-name/2016/05/18/3ea11cfa-161a-11e6-924d-838753295f9a_story.html
gravenimage says
Yep.
Wellington says
Yep.
dhans says
We could name the teams, baseball1, baseball2, baseball3…oh wait…I forgot, math is racist.
gravenimage says
I decided to see if things were this far gone–sadly so:
“Seattle Schools Propose To Teach That Math Education Is Racist—Will California Be Far Behind?”
https://www.hoover.org/research/seattle-schools-propose-teach-math-education-racist-will-california-be-far-behindseattle
Never mind that math is pure knowledge, and is effected by culture less than perhaps any other field.
GreekEmpress says
I read that nowadays you can ask a simple question to determine if something is racist:
Q. Does it exist?
A. Yes.
Conclusion: It’s racist.
That’s where we are now.
Michael Copeland says
There is only one thing for it now, we’ll just have to blacklist whitewash.
gravenimage says
Grimly true…
JMB says
Hello Graven Image; I have just read that link. Are these people totally paranoid? Just what do they want? OK, it seems that the only acceptable degrees from our universities from now on will be soft subjects such as a PhD in the histories of feminism, racism and/or Christian oppression of traditional medicine systems! I have just had a discussion with my son (who runs a business) and is worried that the whole of society is fast becoming totally dysfunctional. I have told him to persevere because people who can do something useful will eventually come out on top, including my 2 grandsons who are both doing engineering degrees.
Reziac says
One strongly suspects that “Math is racist” is actually being promoted (behind the scenes) by our global competitors. China’s Confucius Institutes on our campuses are not there to build cultural bridges; they’re specifically funded by the CCP for the purpose of stealing research. And wouldn’t it be easy to inject a bit of science-is-racism to boil off our higher education and let them pull ahead?
gravenimage says
Many of them just seem intent on tearing down the civilized West, JMB. Most haven’t given much thought to what they want to replace it with. Meanwhile, hard-Leftists and Jihadists have very clear visions.
Most people are not like this–but there is also very little resistance to this insanity. It reminds me of the 1960’s and ’70s, where much of society just lost their minds for several years, and caused lasting harm to the West.
FYI says
allah probably won’t agree with ‘baseball3’;’say not ‘three’-CEASE!it is better for you'{koran 4:171}
allah doesn’t like the number 3.
Is differential calculus racist?
If you differentiate y with respect to x{dy/dx}isn’t that failing to respect x’s right to be considered equal with y?Integral calculus of course is more inclusive.Do Prime numbers discriminate against even numbers?2+2=BLM not 4.
Is it OK to make coffee?Will the Lefties fly into a rage?Will the antifart Leftist FASCISTS complain and start attacking innocent statues?
So If I make a cup of coffee{..BCM,because Black Coffee Matters..}and add some milk{..white supremacist bias.. }add in some Brown Sugar{..insulting to Hispanics/Indians..}eat a bacon sandwich{islamophobic}it must be imbued with some deep significance and surely upsets some virtue-signalling crybaby Leftist snowflakes.
Or maybe it ‘s just a cup of coffee:That’s ALL it is.
sometimes a movie is just a movie:it doesn’t have to have some deep significance.
A cup of coffee with milk …is just a cup of coffee with milk.
James Lincoln says
Back in the 1960s, my father brought my brother and I into Boston Garden many times to see the Boston Celtics – right in the middle of their dynasty. We always had good seats, right near the scorekeeper.
I remember my dad saying “you’ll never ever see basketball played like this again” – and he was right, with the great Bill Russell leading the charge it was all about the team, not individuals.
Come to think of it, in “woke” 2020, the Boston “Celtics” evoke Irish Catholics!
They’ll be the next to go…
PRCS says
A twofer for the mob.
White Catholics.
Relic says
Texas Two Step
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBG2IxzEn7g
GreekEmpress says
Thanks for posting, Relic!
I had forgotten what a a great series that was!
PRCS says
Robert,
Ain’t no way the mob can label the ‘Oakland Athletics’ as racist/white supremacist name, eh?
Right? Right?
Robert Spencer says
They’ll find a way. I’m through with baseball. And clearly baseball is through with me.
gravenimage says
So sorry to hear this, Mr. Spencer–this is my team, as well.
And Football and Basketball have over all been even worse.
Donovan Nuera says
Solution: Boycott all woke teams. Boycott the who league (or root only for the “normal” teams). Money talks. Would love a team to make their name and mascot “Fat Cat Ladies”
Chrissie01 says
It is astonishing how precisely Spengler anticipated and described the front lines of the late Western period:
“‘Equal rights’ are against nature, are the signs of the degeneration of aging societies, are the beginning of their unstoppable decay. It is intellectual stupidity to want to replace the structure of society, which has grown up through centuries and is consolidated by tradition, with something else. One does not replace life with something else. Life is followed only by death.
And that’s what it means in the deepest sense. One does not want to change and improve, but to destroy. From every society degenerate elements are constantly sinking downwards, degenerate families, degenerate members of highly-bred sexes, mismatched and inferior in soul and body – just look at the figures in these gatherings, pubs, parades and riots; somehow they are all miscarriages, people who instead of a competent race in the body have only self-righteousness and revenge for their failed lives in their heads, and of whom the mouth is the most important part of the body. It is the yeast of the great cities, the real rabble, the underworld in every sense, which forms everywhere in conscious contrast to the great and noble world and unites in hatred against it: political and literary bohemianism, degenerate nobility like Catilina and Philip Egalite, the Duke of Orleans, failed academics, adventurers and speculators, criminals and prostitutes, dawdlers, imbeciles, mixed in with a few sad enthusiasts for some abstract ideal. A hazy sense of revenge for some bad luck that ruined their lives, the absence of all instincts for honor and duty, and an unrestrained thirst for money without work and rights without duties bring them together. Out of this haze come the daily heroes of all riff-raff movements and radical parties. Here the word freedom acquires the bloody meaning of sinking times. Freedom from all cultural ties is meant, from every kind of custom and form, from all people whose standard of living they feel in dull rage to be superior. Pride and poverty borne in silence, silent fulfilment of duty, renunciation in the service of a task or conviction, greatness in bearing a fate, loyalty, honour, responsibility, achievement, all this is a constant reproach for the ‘humiliated and offended’.
“Years of Decision”, Munich 1933, p. 66/67
Written in 1933, Oswald Spengler, The Decline of the Occident..
isn’t it accurate?
gravenimage says
Wait–you hate equal rights, while equality before the law is the cornerstone of Western values?
You know who else hates equal rights? Islam.
Chrissie01 says
“Culture in its superiority is the ENEMY. Because one cannot understand its creations, cannot appropriate them inwardly, because they are not there ‘for all’, they must be destroyed.
(op. cit., p. 69)
“Here the contrast between the real Bolshevism, which is breeding in the underground of all ‘white’ peoples and to which this democracy and socialism itself belongs, and the hatred which is accumulating in all the colored populations of the world against white civilization as a whole, including its revolutionary currents, is evident.
But how does the ‘society’ of Western European civilisation (…) respond to the fact of this progressive revolution from below, which has long since despised and mocked its liberal precursor and the freedoms demanded by the political Enlightenment, namely the press, associations, assemblies and universal suffrage, after having exploited them to the utmost extent of decomposition? It is a chapter of shame that remains to be told to the future historian. Built on the primordial human facts of domination, status and property, she has endured, ‘understood’, celebrated, supported the nihilistic attack on it. This intellectual suicide was the great fashion of the last century.
It must be said again and again: this society, in which the transition from culture to civilization is taking place at this very moment, is sick, sick in its instincts and therefore also in its spirit. It is not resisting. It tastes its mockery and decomposition.
(op. cit., p. 84)
“The Western civilization of this century is threatened not by one, but by two world revolutions of the greatest magnitude. Neither of them has yet been recognized in its true scope, depth and effects. One comes from below, the other from outside: class struggle and race struggle. One is largely behind us, although its decisive blows – for example in the Anglo-American zone – are probably still to come. The other one began with determination only in the World War and is very quickly gaining firm tendency and shape. In the decades to come, both will fight side by side, perhaps as allies: it will be the most serious crisis that the white peoples – united or not – will have to go through together if they still want to have a future.
(op. cit., p. 147)
“In Africa it is the Christian missionary, above all the English Methodist, who in all innocence – with his teaching of the equality of all people before God and the sin of being rich – ploughs the soil on which the Bolshevik missionary sows and reaps. Moreover, from the north and east, already advancing against the Zambezi (Nyasaland), the Islamic missionary follows his tracks with far greater success. Where yesterday there was a Christian school, tomorrow there will be a mosque hut. The warlike, masculine spirit of this religion is more understandable to the Negro than the doctrine of compassion, which only takes away his respect for the whites; and above all, the Christian priest is suspect because he represents a white master race against which Islamic propaganda, more political than dogmatic, is directed with wise determination.”
(op. cit., p. 156)
“The rabbit may fool the fox. Man cannot deceive man. The colored man sees through the white man when he talks of “humanity” and eternal peace. He scents the inability and unwillingness to defend himself.”
“Years of Decision”, Munich 1933, p. 66/67
“The culture in its superiority is the enemy. Because one cannot understand its creations, cannot appropriate them inwardly, because they are not there ‘for all’, they must be destroyed.
(op. cit., p. 69)
gravenimage says
No, Democracy is not Bolshevism. Good grief…
jar233 says
remember the USA is not a pure democracy we are a democratic republic. pure democracy is mob rule like we see on the left coasd the mob demands they get in democracy. its the republic that is capable to protect all democratic socialism will most likely only elect politicians once and all rights will disappear. look at russia putin got law passed that he is president until 2036 before then he possibly could declare him czar.
gravenimage says
This is a given, jar–yes, we are a democratic republic. A democratic republic is not socialist.
Chrissie01 says
This is a translation of parts of Oswald Spengler’s “The Decline of the Occident”, written in 1933
Star North says
Well, to continue this ‘narrative”, now that they have the Armed Forces looking to rename military bases, one can assume the next demand will be to disband the U.S. Army Air Cavalry units??
Tim Carlo says
Who cares, all this is are idiots like Karen seeking their fame…which is fame to failure..She will be tossed aside like the rest of us, she just don’t know it yet..Bring a parachute Bitch because the rabbit hole is deeper then you think…LOL
Aunty Podes says
It is no use whatever trying to apply logic or reason to anything Karen Attiah says or does. Behind her eyes there is a vacant space.
Eleanor says
Another nasty piece of work, and probably far more dangerous than Omar and AOC.
Reziac says
The joke is on them. The term “Redskins” was invented BY American Indians, to refer to *themselves* (in contrast to the “Pale Skins”).
Oh no, now it’s cultural appropriation!
SF says
Uh… they forgot the planters peanuts.. you know… redskins…
OLD GUY says
It seems all it takes is one person to come up with an outlandish idea and everyone of these stupid followers jumps onboard. Making things go viral appears to be the goal, not common sense. Next they will be offended by cream in your coffee because in turns black a lighter color, must be racist. These people just want to keep pushing the racist agenda to once again cause political separation. The DEMOCRATS have used this process for years and are really pushing it to new heights with this crap.
Rarely says
I guess the NY YANKEES are next or maybe the Dallas Cowboys (Dallas Cowpeople ?). What about the LA Kings? Don’t the New Orleans Saints offend atheists?
When appropriately viewed everything is offensive.
grandpahalfdime says
I’m confused, who gives a shit about the NFL, MLB, or any of the rest of them.
The whole professional sports gig has become more of a political pile of shit than anything that deserves my time.
drew webb says
Won’t the Indians have to change their name ? Didn’t Columbas call them Indians first cause he thought he had found India?
gravenimage says
This team has long been targeted, Drew.
Deeperinfo says
I propose the Freedom Caucasians.
I would not consider that an insult, even if vaguely Russian.
It’s that “Washington” thing I saw in the racist newspaper that is named after a slave-owners whipping post. Gross.
So Change the “W” word to Freedom and the “P” word to “Placed in a dark whole”.
Now we have the proud “Freedom Caucasian’s” NFL team and the “Freedom Placed in a Dark Whole” newspaper.
Is that what they meant?