Ole Miss are now the Black Bears, congrats on caving to a bunch of PC nonsense! (Charleston: transplants, neighborhood)

[SacalaitWhisperer]

There are black bears in Mississippi, however there are not a lot of polar or panda bears in Mississippi last I checked.
You're right, you do have a dumb argument. I'd go a step further and call it stupid.

Maybe since it is "old miss" you'd best be represented by a grandmother and the mascot could be an old lady
since the football team plays like Betty White without a snickers bar.

[savage71chevelless]

Sad day for the State of Mississippi. Keep on bowing to the politically correct agenda of the left America.

[peppermint]

Originally Posted by savage71chevelless

Sad day for the State of Mississippi. Keep on bowing to the politically correct agenda of the left America.

I would guess that certain folks said the same thing on September 30, 1962, the day James Meredith was escorted onto campus by US Marshals. That's not a group of folks I'd like to have much in common with.

[wellwater]

Originally Posted by kazoopilot

The name needed to change. The image of a slave-owning "rebel" is very offensive to black Americans, as well as to all non-whites.

Is there anything that's not offensive? Should I change my last name too? That might be offensive to someone. How bout we change the country's name too? Instead of United States, we The Happy Gettiniton states of this side of the world!!! I like it.

[poptones]

It's kinda stupid, but blaming this on the political left is equally stupid. The name change happened because fo pressure from the NCAA and THAT is where the money is. A bunch of whining old school southerners choosing to get their education at cow college (and good luck with that medical or law degree lol) isn't going to make a dent in the Oxford economy compared to the NCAA refusing to give Ole Miss a proper play schedule.

I hadn't thought of the Colonel Sanders connection before. That might be a fantastic point but for the fact I've never seen "The Colonel" waving a rebel flag in his old tv spots (and I am old enough to remember them).

I still think they need to go with Colonel Angus...

[Tama]

If a symbol or expression is connected to events or behaviors that were determined to be degrading or horrific by general standards then I can see a
removal of it. We wouldn't want a team to be "the Nazis" for instance or how about "the Charlie Manson" band or whatever.

Maybe I don't know the history of Colonel Reb--but why is a rebel colonel more offensive than the name Rebels itself? Are they a connotation of evil?

I say no. Yes--the South had slaves but the South was and is more than that history and the Confederate Army represented more than just slaveholding.

The bear seems silly. I am sure everyone will get used to it. But that Colonel seemed innocent enough to me. And he had a certain regional flavor--the bear sure doesn't have that.

So--though symbols can represent evil--somehow Colonel Reb seemed like a nice guy--and if someone is offended that is not the criteria. It should be deemed offensive by society in general. Has that been decided? Or is it just some market force responding to perceived notions of widespread opposition?

Or perhaps anything that relates to, is reminiscent of, or originates from the Old South is automatically supposed to have no redeeming value.

[poptones]

OK, enough of the revisionist history. The civil war WAS COMPLETELY ABOUT SLAVERY, therefore "the rebels" were all about DEFENDING slavery. There is simply no way to get around this when we're talking about events so well documented. Read the last words of Jefferson Davis to the Senate when he resigned and then try to argue the war wasn't about slavery. Many apologists like to wsay "it was about state's rights" but yeah - STATES RIGHTS TO KEEP SLAVES. The south had one economic engine, and that was cotton - and the cotton industry depended upon SLAVES to keep it running. You can try to redirect the conversation anyway you like, but at every turn you are going to bump up against the very same obstacle: slavery.

Look, I fly the Bonnie Blue proudly from my house; its the flag closest to my door so it always brushes against me as a I walk out the door to my car. I like being a southerner and I consider it important we never forget our history - but "remember" doesn't mean "romanticise." To keep the godwin going I'll continue the point just made: Hitler gave us the Volkswagen and the Autobahn (the grandaddy of the US highway system) and even high grade encryption (which makes our banking possible today) but that doesn't change the fact WWII was about spreading one madman's xenophobic view of the jews throughout the world. I'll openly admit I even love Nazi art, but that doesn't mean I should act surprised when others dont share my objective ability to separate the art from the context, nor am I going to share this admiration with others without carefully explaining that my interest in the art does not reflect an embracing of anything other than ideals purely of form and design.

Some opera houses to this day will not allow the playing of Wagner or of Carl Orff. People have the right to be offended; you can be all in their face and sometimes that's good, but it's important to choose one's battles wisely - and fighting over which polyfoam cartoon to have dance around a football field seems pretty trivial to me. How many of you so up in arms over this even have the state flag flying from your house, or know the story of the Bonnie Blue?

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by kazoopilot

The name needed to change. The image of a slave-owning "rebel" is very offensive to black Americans, as well as to all non-whites.

Looks like we are both on the same page. I don't think of it as "PC". The controversy I am seeing is not unlike what happened in my high school and a high school a few miles away from where I lived. In my high school, the Confederate flag was banned. The rule was that if you had a Dixie Outfitter shirt at school, you either had to get another shirt, or you would be punished. That year there were fights in school over the Confederate flag. After a while, the principal gave up trying to enforce the rule. At the other high school in question, there was an incident where some Black students walked out when "Dixie" was being played. A fight nearly started.

[SacalaitWhisperer]

Originally Posted by Tama

anything that relates to, is reminiscent of, or originates from the Old South is automatically supposed to have no redeeming value.

No, just the really stupid racist stuff has no redeeming value anywhere on the planet, except in Mississippi... it seems.

[mississippimagnolia]

Originally Posted by SacalaitWhisperer

There are black bears in Mississippi, however there are not a lot of polar or panda bears in Mississippi last I checked.
You're right, you do have a dumb argument. I'd go a step further and call it stupid.

Maybe since it is "old miss" you'd best be represented by a grandmother and the mascot could be an old lady
since the football team plays like Betty White without a snickers bar.

Where are you even from? It's not "Old Miss"...it's Ole Miss. Not the same thing.

Do your homework before you post. The Black Bear is a reference to a Faulkner story. It has nothing to do with bears in Mississippi.