The lives of Martin Luther King Jr and Sam Houston provide a model for bringing some sense of unity out of the divisiveness which characterizes political correctness in our time. Fundamental to that divisiveness is the concept of cultural determinism which holds that the sub culture into which one is drawn at a formative age becomes the pivotal and ultimate determiner of ones values or standards of judgement. Sub cultures are essentially genetically based, tied to race, which augments the separateness.

Reinforcing divisiveness is the concept is cultural appropriation. This is especially apparent in terms of the black versus the white race. The tendency here is to label as politically incorrect or racist, any action by a member of the white race centered on displaying or behaving in a manner associated with black culture while divorced from a proper context reflecting black culture.

Stemming from these divisive premises, the greatest sin in pluralism lies in surrender to cultural assimilation, the merging of a sub culture into the cultural mainstream thereby diminishing the sub cultures uniqueness. Tempering the presumed ill effects of cultural assimilation is acculturation. While bringing the representative of a sub culture into the mainstream, acculturation allows for retention of a basic obeisance to ones native sub culture.

It is against the background of acculturation so defined that Martin Luther King Jr and Sam Houston become models of cultural integration in an era under captivity to pluralist political correctness. Each of these men expressed the embrace of the dominant assimilated US culture as the goal of the society generally while continuing to pay respect to a sub culture with which they identified. Witness Sam Houstons pivotal role in the mainstream while also wearing apparel reflective of the Native American subculture, a habit finding socio political legitimacy in his having spent quality time with Native Americans.

Reflecting aspects of acculturation then, both King and Houston meet the test of political correctness. However, in two significant ways they both challenge political correctness. One of these ways lay in their ultimate allegiance to the Transcendent God of the Bible. This places them in the context of seeing each individual as significant, apart from and regardless of ones sub cultural and biological roots.

This transformational act of political incorrectness marks the path to releasing the individual from the narrow -based group think of cultural determinism to embrace identity with the Biblically-based roots of the countrys political and social institutions common to all.

Reinforcing commonality, both Sam Houston and Martin Luther King Jr were nationalists. In his I have a Dream Speech, King called for a coming together of heirs of slaves and slave masters to join in singing the refrains of America: My Country tis of thee. Then there was Sam Houston who, as governor of Texas, refused to sign Texas into the Confederacy due to his loyalty to the nation as a whole.

Featuring a broad-based and Christian-centered nationalism while yet respecting sub cultural roots, Sam Houston and Martin Luther King Jr. are models for a unity of substance even within a pluralist framework. Sam Houston, hero of San Jacinto and Martin Luther King Jr, the Great Dreamer, are worthy of emulation in a revitalized American History.

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Politically incorrect as correct: Sam Houston and Martin L. King Jr. - Huntsville Item

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Heres the latest on the brutal muzzling of free speech in America:

A new Cato Institute/YouGov national survey of 2,000 Americans finds that 62% of Americans say the political climate these days prevents them from saying things they believe because others might find them offensive. This is up from 2017 when 58% agreed with this statement.

Thats an increase of . . . 4 percent! Clearly George Floyd and the forces of political correctness have wreaked havoc on American culture.

On a more serious note, polls like this would be a lot more useful if they tried to dive into what people are afraid to say. If its something like Black people are lazy then Id say the increase to 62 percent means that Americans are increasingly wary of expressing racist ideas in public, and thats a good thing. On the other hand, if its something like Class-based affirmative action is a good idea then we might have a real problem. So which is it?

Continue reading here:

What Is It That People Are Afraid To Say These Days? Mother Jones - Mother Jones

During the past several weeks numerous protests have occurred across the country. Most of these protests have been peaceful and meaningful, but violence including rioting, burning, and looting were dominant early on. Part of the problem was the absence of any authoritative rule by officials to protect its citizens and their property from this type of behavior.

The fiasco in Seattle has finally come to an end as a section of the city was relinquished to protestors as a result of the do-nothing attitude of the Mayor of Seattle and Governor of Washington. The only things accomplished, besides a couple of murders, were the humiliation of Seattle and a lack of faith in the police department by officials.

Protesting has since moved on to the defacing of monuments, destruction of statues including those of past presidents and opposed to slavery, and the burning of the flag. One needs to question if this is an attempt by some to advance a new socio-economic format, void of history, which suits their idealistic values or simply idiots who lack knowledge of the background and historical significance of the statues they are indiscriminately destroying.

History belongs to us all. We study and learn from history, we do not bury it.

2020 is the 75th Anniversary of Allied victory in WW II. We need to honor and remember those who were a part of this war and the memory of those who gave their lives to preserve the freedoms of democracy.

Protesting is one of those freedoms, the abuse of our country is not.

WW II had much to do with hate. Racist and hate are words used often in today's society. They are strong words. When used, little thought is given to their meaning and to whom or what they are directed at. Maybe someday respect and understanding can replace them.

Our country is not perfect, but it is the best there is. Our country will survive along with its freedoms for all, but the distraction of political correctness, the desecration of history, and the destruction of democracy cannot be tolerated.

Chuck McKee

Marengo

Read this article:

Letter: The destruction of democracy cannot be tolerated - Northwest Herald

On June 7, in the English city of Bristol, protesters removed a statue of the local slave trader Edward Colston. In the days that followed, the city became the center of a debate on the ethics of public objects, as local governments up and down the country came under pressure to follow suit and renounce Britains colonial history.

While statues of slave traders might constitute the most obvious symbols of Britains imperial legacy, what about the objects obtained through colonial oppression?

Rightwing factions were eager to decry the move as political correctness gone mad. But far from signaling the end point of our collective awakening to the crimes of colonialism, it seems to be just the beginning.

Slowly but surely, many more people are becoming aware of the deeply depraved foundations on which many other artifacts and indeed, entire organizations, were founded. The pressure on museums, galleries, and public institutionsnot just in the United Kingdom, but in France, the United States, and throughout the worldhas never been so great.

But while statues of slave traders might constitute the most obvious and egregious symbols of Britains imperial legacy, what about the objects obtained through colonial oppression?

There are the famous cases of the Maqdala treasures (seized from Ethiopia in 1868) held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the Parthenon Marbles (shipped from Athens in 1803) at the British Museum. But they are just the tip of the iceberg.

And though not all artifacts found in British institutionsor, say, the Louvre in Pariswere obtained from looting, the majority were nevertheless swindled under less extreme forms of violence, such as coercion or deeply unequal trade agreements.

The downfall of the Colston statue has thrown a spotlight on Britains historical misdeeds and revived public interest in the question of restitution.

Janet Suzman, chair of the British Committee for the Reunification of the Parthenon Marbles, is determined to ride the momentum. We need to ask the British Museum, she declared in a statement during a silent protest at the British Museum on June 20, whether they would havethe decency to provide visitors with the full story: How did these incomparable pieces of sculpture, torn from the greatest building in the western world, get to sitout of contextin the grey grandeur of Room 18?

This question raises several key points: One is the fundamental injustice of a ruling culture having looted, and continuing to profit from, the relics of another sovereign culture. But Suzman has also highlighted how museums, in a less apparent but far more insidious way, will often present items so that they appear without any wider historical context.

Just as colonial powers reduced whole communities and cultures to mere subjects, some museums are often guilty of flattening their collections into a cabinet of curiosities.

In some sense, just as colonial powers reduced whole communities and cultures to mere subjects, some museums are often guilty of flattening their collections into a cabinet of curiosities.

Tristram Hunt, a former Labour Party politician now serving director of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, has argued that museum collections are first and foremost about education. But museums do not exist as neutral entities simply showcasing objects of historic significance. They are in and of themselves deeply political objects.

From their very conception, to their programming and hiring policies, museums serve to entrench and preserve a very specific set of values and beliefs. In the case of some of the most well-known museums, that belief was firmly rooted in a commitment to the spectacle of imperial accomplishmentand today, they remain overwhelmingly staffed by an army of affluent white people.

It is not just a question, then, of whether museums should remove or return certain objects, but whether the institution as we know it needs to change. Removing symbols of the slave trade might go someway to addressing the biases of history, but this effort will not be completed until we address the underlying assumptions of the four walls in which they are housed.

One of the main contentions made against restitution is the difficulty of tracing the lineage of a given artifact to one community or moment in time. Several artifacts looted through colonialism belong to territories that no longer exist, such as Turkeys claim on the plundered goods of the Ottoman Empire.

Denying the necessity of returning these objects on the grounds of complexity is an excuse. Restitution is achieved through careful research and consideration of the diplomatic benefits taken on a case by case basis.

There can be no blanket approach. Every object must be given the same specificity of care and nuanced treatment that we would any other matter of diplomatic consideration and international relations. As cultural institutions continue to wring their hands over how to respond to the recent wave of Black Lives Matter protesters, they would do well to start here.

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The Spoils of Colonial Oppression - Progressive.org

Months before elections for a new government, the pollsters get busy making their predictions. This is particularly noticeable when looking at the minefield of American politics. Thats more a game than information on which the partys campaign managers can base their strategy.

I strongly believe that in the United States, with its diverse cultures and ethnic origins, a so-called representative sample of 1,000 people cannot be reflective of the whole nation. Furthermore, unlike with face-to-face questioning, by choosing various socioeconomic areas, todays hit-and-miss phone polls do not guarantee a fair cross-section. Thats why the 2016 presidential election produced a result that was different from the cut-and-dried expectation.

Not only does the interviewer not know if he really speaks with a voter, but unlike in a face-to-face encounter, he also has no way to judge the honesty of the reply. So I set no store by any polls, except the one on Election Day. It is known that when standing in the booth, many people revert to their traditional view, which is different from their more recent intention.

The voting is also influenced by the weather and drastic political developments. Lastly, it is a means by politically motivated pollsters to raise your concern that your chosen candidate might lose, and therefore encourage you to vote. But it is the floating voter who decides the election. All the pundits and political commentators, yours truly included, make hit-and-miss predictions. The moral of this story is: Dont raise your blood pressure, because you can only do your duty and que sera sera.

Now a brief word about todays America.

For Americans, however, it is worth getting excited about the left-wing extremists who infiltrate and then take over every legitimate protest movement. The outrage over the killing of George Floyd was the trigger to adopt the slogan Black Lives Matter for their unconstitutional activities.

Of course black lives matter, just differently expressed, it is nothing new. Generations have fought for it. How else was slavery abolished and segregation made illegal? Its protagonists were peaceful people.

The extremist elements of the new Left in America are searching in ever wider circles to change the fabric of society. Now they found that the name Redskins of the Washington NFL team no longer fits their perception of political correctness and racial justice.

So, as a result of protests and mounting pressure from its main sponsor, FedEx, which holds the naming rights of their stadium. And despite the team owners statements some years ago that they would never change the name, they have now decided to drop the Redskins name and logo. It is all part of the far-reaching tentacles of the George Floyd revolution.

A statement issued by The National Congress of American Indians read: We commend the Washington NFL team for eliminating a brand that disrespected, demeaned, and stereotyped all native people. There are however many native-American voices who are not offended by the name.

Now that statues of Christopher Columbus and George Washington have been toppled, will the capital city of the United States also be renamed so that soon the history of the United States will be unrecognizable? And is the Empire State Building next?

Does that name not conjure up memories of the colonies? The elections in November will decide the future of that great country. Will it remain the leader of the free world or become a slave to a new radical socialism, a society where the mob rules and where there is no protection for the law-abiding citizen.

The writer is the host of Walters World on Israel National Radio Arutz 7, and The Walter Bingham File on Israel Newstalk Radio, both of which are broadcast in English.

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Explaining the futility of pre-election polls - The Jerusalem Post

Carmel High School is reconsidering its mascot in this current reckoning over racial justice. A group of current and former students at Carmel High School wants to change the mascot, a cartoon Catholic friar called Padre. This week, Carmels school board announced it intends to establish a committee to discuss the issue.

Emily Robinson, class of 2011, is one of more than 2,000 alumni and students who signed a petition to change the schools mascot. The Padre reflects the Spanish history of the Carmel Mission, and some say it ignores the violent treatment of Native Americans.

Robinson said the call to change the Padre mascot is part of broader conversation going on around the country about how history is framed.

What are the things that we have held up as icons, as sacred? Are those sacred to everyone or are they glorifying something that shouldnt be glorified? Robinson said.

The mascot has been part of the school for almost 80 years, and not everyone thinks changing it is a good idea. Theres a counter-petition, and many of the nearly 800 people who signed it say changing the Padre would abandon tradition for the sake of political correctness.

To me, theyre taking away history, tradition and basically legacies, said Mike Scardina, a graduate of the class of 1999, who started the counter-petition.

The decision to change the Carmel High School mascot, and potentially pick a new one, is ultimately up to the Carmel Unified School Board of Education. Board President Karl Pallastrini said the district is willing to explore changing the Padre mascot, but the top priority is making sure schools are able to safely reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Its something thats of importance. But clearly getting kids back and teachers back in a safe environment is job one for the district, said Pallastrini.

The Carmel Unified School Boards policy currently does not outline a process for changing a schools mascot. This week, the board announced it is designing that policy and using other districts guidelines as a reference. The next step will be to establish a committee of students, alumni and taxpayers to hear community feedback.

But for recent grad Ella Foster, community discussion isnt enough.

What I would like to see is eventually for it to change, Foster said. I dont think theres another solution really.

The conversation around the Padre mascot has sparked a discussion about Carmels history. Symbols of Spanish influence are visible throughout the city, from the iconic mission to streets named after Father Junipero Serra, a Spanish Catholic priest. Over the past month, some Junipero Serra monuments in California have been pulled down.

Bill Schrier, a social studies teacher at Carmel High, says he plans to use the mascot to ask students deeper questions about community identity.

Asking them to wonder why do you think Carmel High chose the Padre? What does it mean to us now? What might it mean to other people?

Kylie Yeatman, class of 2020, said seeing anti-racism protests and calls to dismantleConfederate statues around the country have inspired her peers to call for change in their own community.

People have realized we should have the freedom to voice our opinion, even if its something thats relatively small. Its not small in our lives, she says.

The Padre mascot has been questioned before. But this is the first time so many people have spoken up. The school board indicated it will look at the issue, but hasnt set a timeline. So Padre will keep his job for now, but no one knows for how long.

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Carmel High School Rethinks The Legacy Of Its Mascot - 90.3 KAZU

Nowadays, no writer in any field exercises the influence Pauline Kael wielded as a film critic. Hired by the New Yorker in 1967, she was handed a platform at Americas most culturally prestigious publication at the moment when film was about to change. A younger generation of filmmakers was on the rise and along with their generational cohort across the world, they were intent on doing things differently.

Rob Garvers documentary What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael locates her in the smart wing of a cultural ferment where vigorous debate was encouraged, hurt feelings be damned. And lets be clear: Kael could be hurtful as well as thoughtful and many of her remarks had a cruel edge. By the time political correctness became widely fashionable, Kael was semi-retired, partly from the shaking hands of Parkinsons and partly because the revolution ended in defeat. After the 1970s, Hollywoods second golden age, big studio American films were largely rotten in conception, imaginatively impoverished, falling far short of Kaels demanding standards.

During those boom years of Mean Streets, The Godfather and Nashville, Kaels prose had the ability to make readers see movies in new ways. They were arguments and many critics, fans and filmmakers argued back. David Lean was devastated by her contempt and Ridley Scott was outraged by her review of Blade Runner. Kael didnt get Blade Runner when it was released 1982. Maybe she was already losing touch.

But during the 70s, many critics across the U.S. read Kael like a map, following her direction in their own quests for meaning. According to What She Said, Kael often worked the phone, calling critics in her thrall and convincing them to see it her way. She was feared in the industry. And inspiring to aspirants, as one of the documentarys interviewees, Quentin Tarantino, insists.

People dont tend to like a good critic, Kael said in one of the documentarys archival interviews (she made the TV talk show circuit in the 70s). Too many critics are softies, she explained, or star struck. Kael didnt care what the studio publicists thought. They didnt invite her to advance screenings but she went to pictures when they opened, like any member of the public, and sometimes took audience reaction into account.

In an early essay, Kael attacked the auteur theory first developed by French critics in the 50s and popularized in America by the Village Voices Andrew Sarris in the 60s. The theory held that many Hollywood directors were authors of their filmsthat recurring traits and themes, the stamp of their own personalities, were identifiable throughout their oeuvre despite the interference of studios and censors and the collaborative nature of the medium. Ironically (or did she change her mind?), Kael came to champion the great directors of the 70s, drawing attention to their individual films as part of a larger body of work. Robert Altman and David Lynchs career benefitted from her attention. So did Steven Spielberg. Vulgarity is not as destructive to an artist as snobbery she wrote in her review of Fiddler on the Roof (she praised it as the most powerful movie musical ever made). Pretense is what she most despised in cinema. Kael was an early defender of trash movies, holding that gems can sometimes be discerned gleaming in even the rankest garbage bin.

Fearless, highly subjective, sometimes insensitive, Kael was the enemy of self-righteous message peddlers and maudlin tearjerkers, of academics whose turgid theorizing obliterated the pleasures of moviegoing. Although she cultivated followers, Kael insisted that a critics job is to stimulate thinking and encourage you to develop your own opinions.

To read more 'I Hate Hollywood' blog posts, click here.

To read more articles by David Luhrssen, click here.

David Luhrssen lectured at UWM and the MIAD. He is author of The Vietnam War on Film, Encyclopedia of Classic Rock, and Hammer of the Gods: Thule Society and the Birth of Nazism.

Jul. 24, 2020

10:37 a.m.

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The Sharply Pointed 'Art of Pauline Kael' - Shepherd Express

-Kamloops this Week

Kamloops Mounties are aware of posters in town promoting the hate group Proud Boys Canada and have distributed copies to officers so they are aware, but the local detachment has had no interactions with anyone claiming to be with the group.

RCMP staff Sgt. Martin Van Laer said police received a report on July 12 from someone using the detachments online reporting tool. The person said they came across the poster along a walking trail near 366 Waddington Cres. in Sahali and removed it.

We dont have anything else than this one report so far, Van Laer said.

Kyle Mardon was headed into the Royal Bank of Canada branch in the Columbia Place Shopping Centre on July 11 at about 7:30 a.m. when he noticed a copy of the 8.5-inch-by-11-inch sign on the outside of that building.

The promotional flyer for the Proud Boys asks people to contact them via email and lists their tenets, which include minimal government, maximum freedom, closed border, anti-racial guilt, anti-political correctness, glorifying the entrepreneur and venerating the housewife.

Founded in 2016 by Canadian right-wing activist and Vice Media co-founder Gavin McInnes, the Proud Boys is an all-male, far right group with a history of street violence. Members are to swear off masturbation and declare themselves Western chauvinists who refuse to apologize for creating the modern world. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Youtube have all banned the group from their platforms.

READ MORE: Revelstoke RCMP search for 3 suspects involved in semi-truck crash, evading police

Mardon said he was surprised and disgusted to see the groups poster, adding he didnt think such organizations existed in Kamloops.

Upon seeing it, he took a picture of the sign and ripped it down, but didnt report it to police.

The group may seem innocuous, but their leaders and a large percentage of their members are considered white supremacists he said, noting his wife is of Indian descent and he doesnt want their children to have to face discrimination.

Mardon said he was aware of the groups online presence, but noted this was the first time he had come across a posted flyer. He is concerned the group may be operating in Kamloops.

I do not want to see such groups as the KKK, Antifa or Proud Boys getting a foothold here they are not wanted, Mardon told KTW, noting Canada is a multicultural society that accepts everyone regardless of where they are from or what they believe.

The last thing I want to see is any group becoming violent or racist towards any other group of people, he said.

As he drove away from the bank, Mardon said he noticed another copy of the sign posted on a nearby dry cleaners store and assumes there are others.

Other copies have the signs have been spotted in Kamloops and reported on social media by people who note they, too, have removed the messages.

READ MORE: Mexican consulate wants answers after assault on farmworker by Abbotsford police

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Far-right Proud Boys posters popping up in Kamloops - Smithers Interior News

Our nation is once again badly divided, and with a critically important national election coming up I hope people will stand back and take a clear eyed look at what is happening. Emotions have reached the boiling point and it seems to me we are looking at a lot of very upset people planning to go out and vote against Donald J. Trump. His opponent doesnt seem to excite many people but a vote against Trump is the point so he'll do just fine. But in fact all those "against" votes will actually be "for" something and we will only come to know exactly what that is after January 2021.

Every president brings his or her party, its core beliefs and leaders, and its governing principles to Washington. I advise people to think very clearly about the Democrats taking control, and what they profess to do once they gain the power they have been lusting after since Hillary Clinton was ignominiously (and legitimately) denied it in 2016.

Its hard to say from their legislative accomplishments in the past three years because they have had few. But they sure have been against Donald Trump since the night he won election and they have attacked and hounded him relentlessly, including heinous charges of potentially treasonous involvement with Russia which (shockingly to all the Democrats and their media collaborators) were proven to be totally baseless. In fact, it is undeniable that the Democrats in Washington have focused on the undoing of Donald Trump to the exclusion of virtually all else, and it's all about power, not effective governance. Every time one of their thrusts comes up empty they generate a couple more, all based on their accusations of racism, collusion and other odious characteristics they see in the man. They have painted with a broader and broader brush. Now all Trump supporters are characterized in the same negative light and even such important historical figures as George Washington and Thomas Jefferson are being condemned for their perceived shortcomings, naturally enough as seen through the prism of the Democrat Party left wing.

To better understand where the Democrats want to take the country please take a close look at their kingmakers, Bernie Sanders, AOC and their supporters. There is no doubt at all about what they plan to do with political power, and even less doubt that Joe Biden and the party leadership have already knuckled under to them. Without the vigorous support of their left wing the Democrats have serious fear of losing the election. So some sort of deal has been made. We are left to connect the dots to determine exactly what that may be.

Its a revolution they want. Full stop. A total makeover of the American way of life complete with onerous regulation, knee jerk opposition to large businesses and sky high taxes to fuel their flights of fancy, including The Green New Deal, Defund the Police and Free Just About Everything. Not to mention smothering political correctness, open borders, sanctuary cities and tolerance of the homeless armies and armed gangs now making many major American cities virtually unlivable.

If you doubt this just look at their many public statements made to date. It's all out there for everyone to see but they are not emphasizing it at all. Instead it is the relentless get rid of Trump message they have been fixated on since the man was elected. And it seems to be working.

I believe what many well meaning Americans will be voting "for" is a commitment to a total makeover of our society and our economy, one that is solely focused on everything perceived by the strident voices on the left to be wrong and not at all concerned or even aware of the drastic impact it will have on all the many things that are right. And they are very intolerant of any conservative voices raised to oppose them. They have taken control of three critical areas in modern American life: the media, education, especially higher education, and Hollywood. This has enabled them to control public consciousness and opinion to a shocking extent, especially among young people, and now they are poised for the payoff.

If you ask me, before the revolution starts, most folks would be very happy if we could first get a little closer to the booming economy, plentiful jobs and rising incomes we enjoyed prior to coronavirus back in 2019. We would be well advised to heed the advice of a Democrat of earlier times, John F Kennedy, who understood the importance of economic prosperity when saying "a rising tide lifts all the boats". That is exactly what we need now. Our economy has been ravaged by this black swan event, millions are jobless and millions more have seen the work of a lifetime crash and burn. And we are on the threshold of a crushing decline in tax revenues at the local, state and federal level, money required to run the country in the most basic sense, not to mention funding the dreams of revolutionaries. But none of this is being fully discussed in the current political climate.

I dont think it takes a genius to understand restoring economic vitality should be job one now. Even those who may want major systemic changes should agree, the means to provide for that will be a necessary precursor to any such thing happening. I would think most people, focused on their daily lives, their work, incomes and family budgets understand it clearly.

If you want to move from the current economic instability into a massive experiment, untested, predicated on idealistic worn out precepts of socialism (if not Marxism), then by all means vote Democrat. But if you want a practical recovery from the economic mess we find ourselves in, please reconsider. If we can get the national economy back in shape, we'll have plenty of time for revolution later on.

Ken McCord of New Castle is a retired small business owner with a keen interest in contemporary affairs. His education is a result of visiting 80-plus countries in a lifetime of world travel.

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Guest View: We dont need a revolution now - Foster's Daily Democrat

HOT NAME

How long will our beloved hockey team remain the Calgary Flames? How long until the powers of political correctness remember that our team used to be the Atlanta Flames and that the name pays homage to the burning of Atlanta, in 1864 by U.S. Gen. W.T. Sherman during the Civil War? Sherman, by the way, was such a white supremacist, that he refused to allow Blacks to join the army. His intolerance was so intense that he fought with U.S. President Abraham Lincoln over the matter, even after being reminded of the Emancipation Proclamation. But he was a kind man by the standards of his day, and although a self-confessed racist, wanted slavery made more humane. The name that honours Shermans burning of Atlanta was kept by Calgary as it was thought a good name for a city at the heart of the oil and gas industry. It is a good name and with luck, it will avoid a political correctness name change.

ALLEN BRYANT

(Stay tuned.)

THE HORSE ALWAYS WINS

I did a little search. Found a new name for Edmonton football club. Espinosa is defined as a hawthorn that is a tough, wiry, and sharp spiked plant that you dont want to mess with if you dont want to get hurt unless you get Stampedered by a tougher horse! Sounds perfectly logical and fitting to me.

VAL WEBER

(We really need the CFL to return to games on the gridiron not rebranding exercises.)

KEEP OPEN MIND

I have a special interest in the conversation about being required to wear a mask 100% of the time when out in public. I do believe that those who can, should wear one wherever necessary when in public spaces where there is the possibility of contact with strangers. However, there are probably some like myself who have allergies or COPD, that when you have to wear a mask for even a short period of time you feel like you are being suffocated. I always have one with me and I wear it when necessary but my condition prohibits me from standing in any kind of lineup for any period of time. I always carry a handkerchief with me so that I can cover my mouth and nose quickly. If questioned I would gladly explain to anyone the situation but being accused is different. All Im saying is, dont jump to conclusions.

MURRAY MCANDREWS

(You raise some valid points.)

SIR JOHN, EH!

People trying to remove John A. Macdonald from all places in Canada need to give their heads a shake and study history in detail and everything J.A. did. This is especially true for those in B.C. who were successful in getting his statue removed in Victoria. If it wasnt for John A. and his building of the CPR, our neighbours to the west would be preparing to vote in their presidential election this November.

LEN RING

(Our past leaders were hardly perfect. And history likely wont judge us that way, either.)

NO BETTER

Im not sure Alberta is under good leadership anymore. Zero progress is attracting business to our province. Zero progress in helping our health-care system. Now, this is quite embarrassing to me because I voted for Mr. Kenney. I fully understand there has been a small timeline to fix the devastation the NDP caused in only four years but I am seeing zero progress in all problems our province needs to see progress in. The health-care workers deserve whatever they ask for. Our doctors are being disrespected. Without these heroes whats left? Can you show me anything Mr. Kenney has done to help anything? Poor leader of our party I believe more interested in getting himself ahead instead of Albertas citizens.

YANCY JONES

(Pretty harsh view, given what the province has been through with the pandemic and economically.)

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Letters to the Editor, July 25, 2020: Fanning the flames - Calgary Sun

The Washington Redskins football team has decided to scrap its offensive nickname, another victory for the interests of inclusion and social justice currently sweeping the country.

The teams owner, Dan Snyder, has steadfastly resisted the change over the years, and he received recent support from President Donald Trump, who is four-square against political correctness.

But the teams fate was sealed when its biggest corporate sponsor, FedEx, signaled it was ready for a change, and Amazon quit selling Redskins apparel. Nothing talks louder than money in the National Football League.

The Redskins saga had a sketchy history. The nickname was created in 1933 by owner George Preston Marshall, a segregationist who was the last holdout in the NFL when it came to integrating players. He capitulated in 1962 when he was threatened with loss of his stadium.

Washingtons decision continues a new woke trend on the part of the NFL. Commissioner Roger Goodell said the league has been slow to acknowledge the social justice concerns of players, has decided its OK for players to kneel on the sidelines, and has even suggested that outcast quarterback Colin Kaepernick is employable.

Im OK with making the change if it makes Native Americans feel better. Theyve taken enough grief over the centuries from their European interlopers, even when you account for the fact they introduced tobacco and syphilis to their European tormentors.

But Washington will have to tread carefully on naming a new nickname (still under consideration as I write this) given our increased sensitivity to every real or imagined slight. Other mascots have not kept pace with the times, and you have to wonder how much pressure will be applied to college and professional teams with insensitive nicknames now that the Redskins have capitulated.

Stanford University started the trend in 1972 when it dropped the Indians nickname and eventually settled on Cardinal the color, not the bird. Out went Prince Lightfoot, to be replaced by the tree presumably a reference to El Palo Alto, the towering coastal redwood that looms over downtown Palo Alto and inspired the citys name.

University officials foolishly let the students decide on a new mascot, and they overwhelmingly chose Robber Barons, in honor of the universitys founder, Leland Stanford. (The school is actually named for his son, Leland Stanford Jr. University.) School officials were not amused.

But other schools and professional organizations chose not to follow the lead of Stanford in removing objectionable nicknames, somewhat surprising given the trend toward protecting people from hostile ideas, hurtful thoughts, and other things they dont like. Thus we find the Central Michigan Chippewas, Florida State Seminoles, Louisiana Lafayette Ragin Cajuns and San Diego State Aztecs still playing football at the Football Bowl Subdivision level.

There are several other teams with problematic nicknames among the 130 schools at the highest levels of the sport. Environmental warriors cant be happy with polluters like the Alabama Crimson Tide or the Tulane Green Wave, not to mention pests like the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.

People who get nervous around bad weather have a hard time warming up to the Iowa State Cyclones, Miami Hurricanes, Carolina Hurricanes, Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Tulsa Golden Hurricanes. Then there are the mellow folks who can do without the Illinois Fighting Illini and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Speaking of religion, people who regularly ponder good and evil could find themselves wresting with the New Jersey Devils, Arizona State Sun Devils, Duke Blue Devils, and the Wake Forest Demon Deacons, not to mention truly bad people like the East Carolina Pirates, Texas Tech Red Raiders, Tampa Bay Buccaneers and (yes) Pittsburgh Steelers. (The Tampa Bay Rays used to be known as the Devil Rays until public opposition forced a name change. The team actually got better.)

Some people might object to the monopoly my fellow Catholics have on naming saints, which would make the New Orleans Saints, Los Angeles Angels, and San Diego Padres problematical.

Nicknames can bring up subjects that make people uncomfortable. I suspect the name of the Colorado Avalanche makes some operators of posh ski resorts in the Centennial State squirm when the touchy subject is raised. The Milwaukee Brewers are clearly sending the wrong message to the youth of America. Then theres the San Francisco 49ers, an era that still congers up bad memories for many of Californias Native Americans. The New York Giants and the San Francisco Giants are problematical in a time when were fighting obesity.

Some nicknames can just add more fuel to our politically-charged times. We have the New York Yankees and the Washington Capitals, as opposed to the Old Miss Rebels. For people who prefer to find common ground, theres the New England Patriots.

Then there are nicknames that make absolutely no sense. The Los Angeles Lakers? Theyre originally from Minnesota, the Land of 10,000 Lakes. The Utah Jazz? New Orleans. The Memphis Grizzlies? Vancouver, B.C.

If they are going to change the name of the Washington Redskins, what about the Cleveland Indians, Atlanta Braves, Kansas City Chiefs, Chicago Blackhawks and the Golden State Warriors?

I think professional and college teams should take a page from the recent trend of minor league baseball teams and just lighten up. I get a smile whenever I think about the Lansing Lugnuts, Savannah Sand Gnats, Montgomery Biscuits, Richmond Flying Squirrels, or Albuquerque Isotopes. My favorite college nickname is the UC-Santa Cruz Banana Slugs (Once a Slug, always a Slug.)

As Washington considers its new nickname, it might want to reflect on the teams poor performance during Snyders reign while at the same time honoring black pioneers in the days of segregated sports. To me, the Washington Generals is a natural.

George Boardman lives at Lake of the Pines. His column is published Tuesdays by The Union. Write to him at boredgeorgeman@gmail.com.

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George Boardman: What's in a nickname? Plenty in these times of hyper sensitivity - The Union of Grass Valley