I must have much more to be concerned about than being offended by a simple
nickname.  Do people that you meet every day assume you like to fight
because you are Irish?  I suppose I haven't met those people.  So people
associate drinking with being Irish, so what, maybe it is an excuse for
people of Irish descent to blame their problems on.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Sean Pickett" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, August 06, 2005 9:02 PM
Subject: Re: NCAA bans Indian mascots, nicknames from postseason events


> My ancestry is 62.5% Irish and I enjoy Irish culture very much (my
> favorite sport, more than ice hockey, is hurling).  I find the
> "Fighting" in Irish to be very offensive and see no need for it (I
> also see no need for it in any nickname).
>
> Sean
>
> On 6 Aug 2005 at 19:54, Ken Kretsch wrote:
>
>> I remember hearing an individual on TV once - I believe he was on
>> Charlie Rose - and as I recall the argument goes something like this:
>>
>> The European Americans did their utmost to exterminate Indian
> Culture
>> on the North American continent, from which the Indians never have,
>> nor probably ever will recover. What the Indians find offensive is
>> that, as they see it, the only thing we palefaces seem to value is
>> their stereotype for aggression as a symbol of our sports teams.
>> (Building dioramas of Indian villages to decorate casino lobbies
>> doesn't count.)
>>
>> This argument probably doesn't hold for the Irish, who have
> flourished
>> in modern times (granted after many decades of second class
>> citizenship.) Further, we value Irish culture; we drink Irish
>> beverages, sing Irish songs, listen to Irish tenors, read Irish
>> literature, and every March 17th, we're all Irish!! True, this is
>> somewhat superficial, but it's more that what we do for the culture
> of
>> the aboriginal North Americans.
>>
>> Note that this is not my argument, although I sympathize with it.
>> Interestingly enough, the guest on the show, a member of the Lakota
>> tribe, as I recall, said that the term "Native American" is not
> seen
>> as an improvement over "Indian". Among themselves the Indians refer
> to
>> their nation, e.g., "He's Lakota" or "She's Mahican".
>>
>> Ken
>