Letters to the Editor
Amerigo
Published Letters: 955 Editor's Choice: 60
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Indians
[Read the article: King Kaufman's Sports Daily]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Surely the choice of names like Indians, Redskins, Braves,and Chiefs is intended to convey that the team in question are tough and honorable opponents, not primitives who are easy to massacre.
Most team names have these kind of qualities. Many teams are Wildcats, because they are supposedly hard to handle. Other large meat-eating cats, often threatened species like Tigers, Pumas, Panthers, and Jaguars are also popular and no one thinks they are pussies.
My local high schoolers are Bulldogs with a hint of tenacity, lovable ugliness, and possibly identification with the British oppressor.
Buccaneers and Pirates were definitely criminals and notorious for their violence.
That splendidly named city, Buffalo, seems to have had tremendous identity crisis problems in the past with teams like Buffalo All-Americans, Bisons, and Rangers, before settling on being Bills (because no one likes to get bills!).
However, if Native Americans are really offended by these team names, and think they mean that the teams are easily beaten, which I am not convinced of, then perhaps all teams ought to have to be changed to inclusive, non violent names.
All Americans is a no brainer for starters. You can hardly get more inclusive. Then United, as in Washington United soccer team is a good one too. The Ecumenicals is a good, all purpose name, or maybe the Monotheists, though this may cause offense to Hindus. The name Patriots is already taken, but could be much more widely used.
Oilers, Steelers, Jets and similar names that refer to old ungreen, carbon using industries just have to go. How about the Windmills, Solar Panels, Dynamos, and Sailboats?
The Browns, of course, should be the Greens.
Miami have got it right with the Dolphins, (and the Heat), but Buccaneers, no, though the Tampa Turtles sounds good and reminds us of a threatened species. My local team calls itself the Gators, but alligators have the double stigma of being both a threatened species and one that eats people, so how about switching to the Gophers--much nicer, don't you think?
And some names just need a quick update. Welcome to the Cincinatti Bangladeshis and the New Orleans Sinners.
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Nice reply...
[Read the article: Why me? What did I do to deserve Bell's palsy?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Well put. Religious people believe that everything happens for a purpose, even if we can't understand it.
I don't think so. I don't think there is any reason why this happened to the LW, at least not one that in any way has any relation to a conscious force picking out the LW.
Awful things happen all the time for no reason, but mostly we don't hear about them or care about them if they don't happen to us. If we did hear about everything bad that ever happens, we would go nuts and we would live like Howard Hughes.
A few months ago I was sitting at a table at a beach restaurant under a coconut tree (I know, I know) and a coconut fell with a mighty thud and brushed my shoulder as it passed by my ear. If it had hit my head, it might have made an amusing short article in some newspaper, "Paradise tourist skull cracked by nut." But, for no particular reason, I was lucky. I didn't deserve to be lucky, but I was.
Even being born is a miracle, living is a miracle, every damn thing is a miracle when you think about it, so you just have to accept what life hands to you.
We hope the LW will recover. A friend of mine once woke up one day with Bell's Palsy and recovered fully in a month or two. Maybe the LW will recover, or maybe not. All we can do is hope.
If she does not recover, or does not recover fully, then her perception of miracles will be recalibrated and things she took for granted erstwhile will make her very happy. Hell, I am starting to sound like Cary, but he is right.
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@ cat
[Read the article: Why me? What did I do to deserve Bell's palsy?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]How exactly does spending your money on quack medicine equate to taking charge of the situation? Why not sacrifice a goat, or something? At least you get to eat the meat.
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Things not going well...
[Read the article: "We got naked and got in the Jacuzzi"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Sometimes nothing goes right. Serving several years in the pen for bribery is bad enough--why get elected if you cannot enjoy the spoils of victory, right? ... but getting the uglier of two hoes sucks too, especially when you are going out of your way to promote California grapes, jacuzzis, the whole nine inches. I feel for you, bro.
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The whole point...
[Read the article: "We got naked and got in the Jacuzzi"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]... is that ultra rightist politicians who get full marks from the mullahs are ALWAYS fakes. It's just that they don't always get caught.