On Sat, 2003-11-29 at 17:56, Noel J. Bergman wrote: > Jason van Zyl wrote: > > All I'm trying to express is that the name is not being used > > in any derogatory sense and that the name Geronimo is being > > used in a positive light. > > Tell that to the people protesting sports teams using the name "Braves" or > "Redskins", or anything else having a Native American reference. Tell that > to the colleges who have changed their mascots under pressure, e.g, > Dartmouth University and St. John University.
I don't believe the cases are analagous at all. In the case of a mascot where you have some buffoon parading around a field dressed as a caricature of an indigenous person to my mind is certainly offensive. I can certainly see why folks would take issue with that. > Now you may wish to think that the controversy is foolish or even stupid, I never labelled anything I was talking about as foolish or stupid. I'm saying that the use of Geronimo in this case was well intentioned and in fact an attempt in a small way to honour Geronimo, not denigrate native Indian American culture. > as > did > http://www.thetowntalk.com/html/6C03C7A6-781C-4F6C-A430-D0EDEF8D9AD6.shtml, > but those who are protesting don't believe that anyone who cannot trace the > family tree back at least 18,000 years on this continent gets a vote. > It should be left up to the project unless Geronimo is truly deemed inappropriate. Simply stating it to be inappropriate doesn't make it so and I don't think anyone has shown that the name Geronimo in the context it is being used is in fact inappropriate. The developers may wish to avoid the whole issue by renaming the codebase to something else but not be forced out of the name because it's perceived to be controversial by some. -- jvz. Jason van Zyl [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://tambora.zenplex.org In short, man creates for himself a new religion of a rational and technical order to justify his work and to be justified in it. -- Jacques Ellul, The Technological Society --------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
