Quote:
Originally Posted by Itse
This actually has a really simple answer: because what North Americans think of vikings is irrelevant even to the people who might under some marginal conditions be associated with vikings (but really almost never are).
On the other hand, what North Americans think of native Americans (and yes those groups overlap) affects the lives of native Americans every day. Which means that responsible, moral people should either help or at least not hinder the slow process of getting rid of harmful native American stereotypes.
Hypothetically if there was a place where Scandinavians were significantly racially discriminated against, in that cultural context it would not be okay to dress up as a caricature viking. But since there really isn't, we're free game.
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If these groups didn't take the stance of "People are not mascots" you might have a point, but the fact of the matter is that this is the stand these groups always take. So by their definition it is wrong to name any team after a group of people.
If they want to get rid of offensive names names like the Redskins fine, but there is nothing offensive about Chiefs, Seminoles or others. They are no more offensive than the Vikings, Celtics, Fighting Irish... etc.