London, GB | Formerly of New York, Buenos Aires, Fife, and the Western Cape. | Saoránach d’Éirinn.

Classic Beck

I’ve heard tell that the ‘Indian head’ is a ‘racist depiction’ of Native Americans. But it should be obvious that the Indian mascot is not meant to depict present-day Native Americans, so how can this be the case? Native Americans have changed a great deal over the course of history. So have people of all ethnicities. That’s why I’m studying English at Dartmouth College rather than wearing a bearskin and sacrificing holly-crowned virgins to Wotan. That’s why people of Scandinavian descent don’t dust off their battle-axes and sack Minneapolis whenever the Vikings play.

— Stefan Beck, the Dartmouth Review, 12 May 2003
Published at 8:32 pm on Monday 27 November 2006. Categories: Quotations Tags: .
Comments

Written like a true bad boy…

— Mrs. Peperium 28 Nov 2006 8:48 am

That’s why people of Scandinavian descent don’t dust off their battle-axes and sack Minneapolis

…though I’m sure the thought occasionally crosses the mind.

I’m Irish and Catholic, I keep on looking at the great cathedrals, Abbeys and churches in England still in the hands of the ancient enemy…

and the thought does not fail to cross the mind…

battle axes…

Woad…

wicker chariots pulled by little long-haired horses…

hmmm…

— hilary 28 Nov 2006 11:59 am

If only the Indian “mascot” were nothing more than an Indian head image on a piece of letterhead or a shirt. Beck’s being willfully ignorant if he thinks that’s all a mascot is, and that it doesn’t require somebody to put on war paint and do war whoops at hockey games.

— Wotanist 15 Oct 2007 3:23 pm

Beck’s being willfully ignorant if he thinks that’s all a mascot is…

Indeed, and he has not said that’s all he thinks a mascot is.

— Andrew Cusack 15 Oct 2007 8:05 pm
Leave a comment

NAME (required)

EMAIL (required)

WEBSITE (not required)

COMMENT

Home | About | Contact | Paginated Index | Twitter | Facebook | RSS/Atom Feed
andrewcusack.com | © Andrew Cusack 2004-present (Unless otherwise stated)