The Name on the Field Is Being Reviewed...By The FCC

Cheeeeeeeers and Happy Throwback Thursday to you all.

Today, I’d like to take us all back to 1984. Nooooooooo not the year, but the book by George Orwell.  That’s right!!

Those crazy dystopians of Oceania formed a government that would have no part of allowing their success be thwarted by politically incorrect words and distracting historical facts allowed to be uttered, printed, or otherwise broadcast.

Well America 2014?  Meet Big Brother 1984 who by the way, goes by the name of, the Federal Communications Commission…I hope you enjoy the potential slippery slope of newspeak (or nospeak) on which the FCC may take us down.

Okay, okay…I am speaking in Big Brother-type hyperbole about the dangerous nature of what the FCC is about to consider, but I feel the need to discuss it.

Over the past couple of years, relatively small, yet vocal groups have been calling on Washington Redskins owner Dan “Crazy Horse” Snyder to change the name of his NFL Football team to something else, because well…they find the name Redskins to be offensive and a slur against Native Americans.

That’s fine, and really, my dissertation is not about whether one finds the name offensive or not, my concern is that George Washington University law professor John “Activist Wolf” Banzhaf has filed a complaint with the FCC to deem “Redskins” an offensive word and have it stricken from acceptable use on television.

And…the FCC is considering hearing said professor’s petition.  Really?

C’mon man!!  The Redskins have been called the Redskins since like 1932...That’s 82 years…82 years and only now are the war drums of political correctness beginning to be drummed in cadence to profound governmental level.  Unbelievable.

Sure the trademark agency has taken away Crazy Dan’s trademark and what not, but now the government may consider taking away the right of broadcasters to call his privately owned team what they are called.

The FCC should not take up this issue. First of all…

It’s none of the FCC’s damn business, and the law weighs heavily on that no damn business side. Secondly…

The only people who give a fuck about the nickname are people who drive hybrids, coastal folks who on Sunday watch the Mahjong Channel rather than the NFL, and white Americans suffering from institutional guilt.

Lastly…The other week during a ’Skins game, announcer Phil Simms refused to utter the name, Redskins. If Phil Simms thinks dumping the name is a good idea, you know it’s not.

Stick to keeping free speech and communication alive FCC. Concentrate on preventing huge cable companies from merging, keep the internet open and free, and quit wasting your time on things that the free market will dictate by the hotness of a team's cheerleaders.

Cheers!!

Matt-Man

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The Washington Redskins Name Should Not Go up in Smoke!!

Cheeeeeeeeers and Happy Hump Day Chuckleheads!!

Whether you are a sports fan or not, or more particularly, a football fan or not, you probably have heard that once again as happens every so often, that some folks want the Washington Redskins to change the name of their NFL franchise.

Every few years or so, this Native American sports moniker issue comes up, and has upon occasion come up with other sports teams from the High School level up to and including the professional level.

Well…As typical, the Washington Redskins are on the hot bench again as they are being attacked and ambushed through every media outlet known to man, by the heap big Oneida Indian Nation of upstate New York.

The Oneida Nation has spent much wampum buying ads that tout their outrage over the name “Redskins”, and are demanding that Washington Redskins majority owner Dan Snyder, change the name of his team…a team and business, that he owns…to something else.

Some members of Congress and other elected officials have even decided to walk down the Anti-Redskins political correctness Trail of Tears and have sent letters and smoke signals to Snyder asking him to change the name.

Hell, just the other day, even President Obama was asked whether the Redskins should change their name. The President replied that if he was the owner, he would consider changing it…perhaps…maybe mull it over.

Translation?

“I probably would, but since Northern Virginia and D.C. are bluer than hell electoral wise, love their Redskins, and don’t want a name change, Ima gonna do a rain dance around this issue.  Now pass me the Peace Pipe because the government shutdown and the looming debt ceiling crisis make me want to smoke.”

Listen…

I am sure to some Native Americans, the word may be offensive, but the word in its origin (nearly 400 years ago) was not, and was only made derogatory for a short period of time by a couple of authors in the early 20th Century.

Like most Americans, and most Native Americans, when I hear the term, the Washington Redskins, I don’t think of rabid American Indians on a scalping binge, I think of a lackluster NFL football team, and that’s all.

On the other side of the argument, I hear folks say…

“Well, you’d be up in arms if they were called, The Washington Niggers!!”

To which I say…Yes, I would be up in arms, and I wouldn’t watch them…and neither would most other Americans, and the franchise wouldn’t survive, because that term connotes nothing but hate.

Redskins on the other hand?  Eh…Look at the logo…It’s not a disrespectful logo.

At least here in West Central Ohio where I have grown up and spent my entire life, Indians are revered. And I say Indians because we don’t call them Native Americans much.  We call them Indians and their people are a rich ingredient of our history.

This area is the cradle of the Shawnee, the Miami, the Ottawa, the Delaware, and the Wyandot tribes among others.  It’s home to Tecumseh, to Cornstalk, and to Blue Jacket, and that is why the Columbus Blue Jackets of the NHL are thusly named.  Great leaders of men, one and all.  And we respect them here in Ohio, and...

I am pretty sure that Washington Redskins fans have no ill will against “the Red Man” either.  Win or lose, they love their Redskins.

Dan Snyder can do whatever he wants, which of course knowing Dan Snyder he will, but I say keep the name the same.  It’s a nickname and the logo is much more respectful than that of the Cleveland Indians…

However, if pressure comes to bear and Snyder can take it no longer, he could always change the Redskins name to something else that involves animals or nature, and do it with a big ol' screw you to the PC Police…

Something like...

The Washington Sitting Bulls.

The Washington Red Clouds, or…my favorite…

The Washington Crazy Horses!!

Of course, if RG III gets hurts again, Snyder could always name his team…

The Washington Wounded Knees.

Cheers!!

Matt-Man

mattmaniws@ymail.com
@mattman_iws
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Mayhem in the AM Shut Down by the PC Police

Hola all you politically correct folks out there! Well, the PC Police got ‘em another one, or uh, three on Monday as the three DJ’s from the “Mayhem in the AM” show on 790 the Zone in Atlanta got canned for their “insensitive” and “offensive” remarks on the air. What did they say? Well, they mocked former New Orleans Saints player Steve Gleason who is suffering from ALS. If you would like to hear the 2 minute segment you can RIGHT HERE.

I don’t know anything about the history of these guys so I don’t know if this is more or less offensive than their usual shtick. I also don’t know if it rises to level of deserving to be fired over. It was certainly lame, and completely unfunny, and I can see how people found it insensitive and even OUTRAGEOUS.

This comes on the heels of my spending some time reading and digesting Patton Oswalt’s “A Closed Letter to Myself About Thievery, Heckling and Rape Jokes” If you haven’t read it, I do recommend that you set aside a free afternoon and do so if you’re a fan of comedy. (It’s kind of long.)

Although I do love and follow comedy very much, I’m not a comedian. I’m not a stand-up comic and I’m not a professional humorist. I occasionally say or write something that is funny, but that’s usually by accident. But, I am the cohost of the (usually) number one rated comedy show on BlogTalkRadio. This doesn’t make me any kind of big expert on comedy or anything like that, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have opinions on comedy either. (BTW, a big pet-peeve of mine is all these people who just up and call themselves comedians and suddenly declaring themselves the equal to people like George Carlin, Bill Hicks and Chris Rock.)

These radio hosts who did the lame bit on Steve Gleason aren’t comedians either though. They’re shock jocks who are hired to … well … shock people! You know, all these “morning zoo” shows are pretty much the same. And most radio station and network owners are basically like sports team owners when it comes to steroids. They’re fine with it as long as it doesn’t cause TOO much controversy or cost them money.

For a country full of people who love to brag about how “politically incorrect” we all are, we sure do demand the complete and total destruction of someone’s entire livelihood when we decide they’ve said something mean or offensive, don’t we? We are all about wagging our finger at folks who get out of line or go too far. Good thing we’re all so pure and perfect in our own lives and none of us ever tell any off-color or race or gender joke ourselves or we would look like a bunch of hypocrites, huh?

The problem with amateurs such as these guys on 790 the Zone is that after the “shock joke” there usually isn’t anything else. We’re not professional comedians so the “shock joke” isn’t usually part of a bigger picture or a deeper critique of society or culture or whatever. That’s why people like Carlin and Chris Rock are so great. There’s subtlety to their jokes or stories about black people, white people, stupid people, fat people etc that is actually saying more about society and our culture than the people they’re supposedly mocking. I don’t know about “rape jokes” though. Those are kind of hard to do.

Generally I don’t care about what comedians decide to joke about. I feel like they should feel safe and free to bring up any subject up there on stage. They certainly aren’t free from the consequences of what they say, or above being criticized though. Radio hosts on the other hand have to worry about bosses and advertisers and if they go too far and damage the show and kill the revenue then they’re goners.

That’s what’s so awesome about blogs and podcasts like I’m With Stupid. We are free to say or write whatever we want. People might disagree, quit reading or listening and maybe even let us know we suck, but at least we can’t get fired from it.

And, thank God we can’t get fired otherwise we would have been sent packing a looooooooong time ago!

Jayman3768@gmail.com
Facebook.com/Jayman68
@Jayman_IWS   

Jeremy Lin, Jason Whitlock and Political Correctness

Hola internet peeps of any and all ethnicity, gender, religion or sexual orientation.  

If you’re not an NBA fan you might not know about Linsanity that is sweeping the nation. It’s the over the top amazement that little known, undrafted Jeremy Lin of the New York Knicks is suddenly destroying everyone he plays against. I have to admit, I got caught up in it too while he was in the process of 38 Lintastic points on the Lakers.

Jeremy Lin is Chinese-American. Why is this important? Well, because he’s an Asia dude, and Harvard grad no less, playing in the NBA. If he were black or white, it would be a nice story, but he wouldn’t be considered a Phenom. And, there wouldn’t be stereotypical Asian jokes made at his expense either. On Friday night Twitter was overflowing with them. But one … AND ONLY ONE … has people OMG OUTRAGED! And, it was by none other than good old Jason Whitlock…

Get it? Asian guys have small penises. Funny, no? It’s not? Actually, it is. Come on, admit it, you’ve made the Asian dude has a small penis joke too. Maybe not on Twitter, because if you did it on Twitter you couldn’t pretend to be super sensitive never made a joke based on racial stereotypes guy when other people do.

Yeah, I get it, you hate Whitlock. You hate his schtick. His act gets old with you. He’s a troll. Whatever. You say Whitlock is a “racist” who screams “racism all the time” but then tweets “racist” remarks. But, that’s not true. Jason Whitlock only screams racism when there isn’t any racism to be found. And when there is real, legitimate racism? He defends what is said. THAT’S his schtick. You can hate it, and him, but please at least get it right.

In fact, I dare say that anyone who makes the claim that Whitlock “screams racism all the time” is actually, just applying their racist belief that all black people scream racism all the time.

Also stop taking Twitter, Tumblr, Blogs, Facebook and YOURSELF so damn seriously people. Lighten up. There’s a huge difference between making jokes based on racial stereotypes and saying “I have absolutely nothing against African-Americans. … I just hate Niggers!” As someone I know did last week. Now THAT’S racism!

We all make jokes based on stereotypes all the time. Whether it is about whites, blacks, Asians, Hispanics, men, women, fat people, and people from a particular region of the country and on and on, we’ve all made these jokes. You can’t be offended by one, but laugh at others. It’s all or nothing. Take one side or the other and stick to it.

So, the stereotype is that Asian dudes have small penises. Is that such a bad thing to have to live with? I haven’t seen any Asian dudes naked, so I can’t comment on this personally. But, look at it from Whitlock’s point of view. He’s black. The stereotype for black dudes is that they all have HUGE cocks. Which stereotype is easier to live with?

If you’re an Asian guy who has an average sized cock, and women expect it to be much smaller, they’ll never be disappointed. But, if you’re a black guy and you have a teeeeeny-weeny wee-wee, think of the emotional problems that would cause knowing that every woman would be disappointed with him?

See Asian guys? Sometimes stereotypes can actually be turned into a positive.

*EDIT* Jason Whitlock was browbeat and shamed by the ninnies and crybabies into issuing an apology for being a human being and engaging in the very same activity that 90% of the people bitching engage in all the time.

Jayman
Email: Jayman3768@gmail.com
Twitter: @Jayman_IWS

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