Redskins Cave to PC Pressure

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The NFL team formerly known as the Washington Redskins finally caved to PC pressure and has dropped its name and logo.

Washington owner Daniel Snyder warded off pressure for years to change the team's name, but on July 13 the Redskins finally succumbed. Despite names that are objectively much worse within the world of sports, there's no greater evil in today's "woke" culture than displaying differences and variation among human beings.

"Today, we are announcing that we will be retiring the Redskins name and logo upon completion of this review," a team spokesman recently declared.

In a society whose values are upside down, this is not surprising. On a closer look, however, it raises some serious questions.

The saga of the Redskins name goes back to 1971. It was at that time, after 38 years of being the Washington Redskins, that the first public complaint was heard. It is insulting to indigenous people, the team was told. In the 1990s, the controversy reignited for a short time, but not much came of it. In 2009 courts got involved, backing the team.

Native Americans have no problem with the name, the Redskins owner claimed. Having an American Indian representing the team should be seen as a compliment, the team believed. In 2013, Redskins owner Snyder publicly vowed the team will never change its name.

What happened between then and today? Money happened.

In June, Nike, FedEx and PepsiCo were among a group of corporations whose investors threatened to end their relationship with the Redskins unless it changed its name. FedEx, in the middle of a multi-million-dollar stadium naming rights deal with the team, wrote in a private letter it would pull its signage from the stadium unless there was a name change. Target, Walmart and Amazon also removed team gear from their websites.

Corporate money tells the story on the practical, visible level. But in the wider context, this story displays the values of our post-Enlightenment, post-Christian culture.

The Redskins saga reveals that society's unhealthy obsession with egalitarianism is valued more than preserving good over evil. There have been no calls for professional, college or high school teams named after the Devil and demons to change their names. To mention a few, the New Jersey Devils, the DePaul Blue Demons and the Duke Blue Devils are names that glorify evil beings and promote the concept of Hell — and they get a free pass. Some teams even have a picture of Satan himself as their mascot.

What's more, some pro teams are named after occultists that conjure up spirits and practice the magic arts, like the Washington Wizards and the Orlando Magic. There are also numerous teams named after people known for a history of rape, murder and pillaging of innocent people, like the Pittsburgh Pirates, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the Oakland Raiders and the Minnesota Vikings. No calls are being heard for any of these teams to change their names.

Today's obsession with not offending people blinds us to the fact that we find real evil attractive. In the world of secular humanism, an emblem of a brave Native American is unacceptable — but teams named after demons, the occult and murderers are fine. We find human variation offensive and personified evil magnetic. Ultimately, we'd rather offend God than white liberals with corporate money.

And no one seems to know what principle to take from this forced name change going forward.

If liberal America is truly offended by the Washington Redskins, what might this mean for the future of the Chicago Blackhawks, Cleveland Indians, Atlanta Braves, Kansas City Chiefs and Golden State Warriors, not to mention the Florida State Seminoles and numerous other teams named after the bravery of indigenous people?

Would there be complaints if they were the Washington Native Americans? If "Redskins" is specifically offensive, why do we use skin color to refer to other races, with terms like "white" and "black"? No one now is repeating the mantra "African-American Lives Matter." Many questions have been left unanswered.

Perhaps the recent sentiment will take a turn toward teams with insignias of white people, claiming they're racist for representing teams that are often majority black. In the current climate of anti-American sentiment, will the New England Patriots be forced to change its name? Will other teams with white people in their emblems like the Boston Celtics, Minnesota Vikings and Notre Dame Fighting Irish be seen as bigoted? Will sports be left only with plants, animals and demons to represent them as mascots?

It has been recently announced that until the team formerly known as the Redskins agrees on a replacement name, it will simply be known as "The Washington Football Team." In the meantime, team names that raise hell to motivate players to win games are getting a free pass.

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