Post by FWS on Jun 25, 2014 14:27:23 GMT -6
Washington Times columnist argues Redskins should change their name to ‘Reagans’
By Dan Steinberg
Washington Post
June 25 at 10:51 AM
As summer afternoons in Washington are heating up, so are the Redskins name takes. You might want to put on some Hawaiian Tropic before proceeding.
Why not the Washington Reagans?
By Michael Taube, in the Washington Times
This idea isn’t being seriously considered, of course. But if people keep getting their knickers in a knot about the Redskins‘ trademarks every 10 or 15 years, why not change the team’s name to the Reagans?
For one thing, it would be the ultimate tribute to Ronald Reagan. Many Americans, and the vast majority of conservatives, would applaud this decision. He was a great man, a great patriot and a great president. If there was ever a world leader who deserved to have his name associated in a positive fashion with a sports team, it would be Reagan….
Meanwhile, Mr. Snyder is a well-known Republican in NFL circles….Only a conservative would ever honor Reagan’s legacy with this type of tribute, and Mr. Snyder appears perfectly suited to do it.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, how could the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office argue with this new nickname…Democrats want Washington’s NFL team to change its name. The Redskins‘ owner, Mr. Snyder, is the only person who can rightfully do this. Hence, if he chooses to comply and pays homage to a Republican president in the process, they’re stuck with it. Any further complaints would smack of political partisanship.
So Redskins sponsor FedEx is okay with that racist team name, too?
By Michael Tomasky, in The Daily Beast
Obviously, a federal judge so inclined could very easily find that the offensive name constitutes fighting words or slander. In fact, I find it difficult to imagine that a federal judge who isn’t a knuckle-dragging hellspawn of the Federalist Society could find in 2014 (or 2015 or whenever the case is decided) that the name Redskins isn’t slander.
But that’s for down the road. For now, what should happen? It seems to me, decent and like-minded citizens who are leading this fight, that your next target is FedEx….
Imagine the blow that would be: “FedEx Withdraws Name From Stadium Over Redskins’ Name.” Sure, some other whorish corporation would step in. Maybe Sambo’s restaurant! There still is one. Redskins’ Field at Sambo’s Stadium. In a perverse way, I’m almost for it.
Playing a name game with the Redskins
By Ben S. Carson, in The Washington Times
In the case of Dan Snyder, who owns the Washington Redskins, he is being demonized for standing up for basic American principles….This appears to be yet another case of purposefully induced hypersensitivity, providing yet another opportunity for unnecessary heavy-handed government tactics to infringe upon the peaceful existence of Americans.
I do not doubt for one minute that the Redskins organization would change the name tomorrow if it thought it was truly offensive to most Native Americans….We, the American people, must cease being distracted by peripheral issues and demand that our government officials focus their attention on the myriad problems that threaten to destroy our way of life. Like the ancient Romans, we are in danger of being distracted by relatively unimportant issues while our society crumbles beneath us. I challenge those who say I am exaggerating to a debate on this issue.
The power to stop the erosion of our values and to restore common sense and prosperity to our nation is in our own hands. We must shake off the passivity and vigilantly guard against manipulation.
‘Redskins’ Is bad business
By Michael Lewis and Manish Tripathi, in the New York Times
We found that the Redskins have indeed experienced decreasing brand equity over the past decade. Interestingly, the two N.F.L. teams with the most negative brand equity trends from 2002 to 2012 were the Redskins and the Kansas City Chiefs (another American Indian team name)….
We acknowledge that there could be other factors that explain the Redskins’ decreasing brand equity. But elementary principles of brand management suggest dropping the team name, regardless….
Our research, the marketing logic and the survey data all point to the same conclusion: Retaining the Redskins name borders on managerial malpractice. We suggest that Mr. Snyder reach out to American Indian community leaders to propose a new team name and set of symbols that honor Indians.