Washington Redskins owner Daniel Snyder should not give in to outside political pressure coming from the cultural Left regarding the team’s nickname. This reflects the hyper-political correctness that has detrimentally taken hold of much of American society today.

In an interview with the Associated Press on Saturday, President Obama said that if he was the owner of the Redskins, he’d “think about changing” the team name.

Given that Obama operates in Washington D.C. and the Redskins have a very large and loyal fan base that feels a connection to the name, this is a controversial statement to make.

Not only is the name of the Redskins absolutely none of Obama’s business, but it also shouldn’t be a priority at a time when significant parts of the federal government have been shut down.

The Redskins’ name is a cultural representation of something that existed in American history, and was never meant to offend anyone. Banal as the representation may be, the intention is to honor the nature of Native American culture.

Native Americans understandably may not particularly like this form of cultural stereotyping, however colleges and sports franchises have a right to autonomy. The Washington Redskins are the property of Daniel Snyder, and he shouldn’t be compelled to change the name because interest groups and politicians urge him to do so.

There is legitimate heroism and romanticism evoked by classic Native American images, and this naturally goes with sports. Ethnic stereotyping may seem demeaning to some, but that doesn’t make it intrinsically racist either.

A poll conducted in 2002 by Sports Illustrated found that 81 percent of Native Americans who live outside traditional Indian reservations and 53 percent of Indians on reservations did not find the images discriminatory.

Liberal political activists have been quite successful in recent years at coercing various colleges and professional sports franchises to discontinue using any nicknames and mascots related to Native American culture. Look no further than here at Syracuse University.

Until 1978, the official SU mascot was the Saltine Warrior — a depiction of an Onondogan Chief. Student pressure to change the name resulted in Otto the Orange. More recently, feminist pressure caused SU to change from the Orangemen to the Orange. It’s blatantly obvious that the former sounded a lot better than the latter.

The cultural Left has ultimately pushed issues related to political correctness to absurd levels in recent years.

When taken to an extreme degree, political correctness has the potential to undermine and delegitimize our entire political, social and cultural discourse. When journalists become more concerned about not offending any particular interest group than in truth-telling, our news media becomes less trustworthy to the American people.

The truth is that Native American mascots by-in-large depict bravery and courage — two traits that are anything but derogatory.

If Snyder caves in to the political pressure from the Left, it seems likely that less inherently disrespectful names such as the Indians, Braves and Blackhawks would be forced to take a similar course.

The Redskins organization should become more active in attempting to garner the support of the Native American community. Florida State University was very successful in this. The Seminole tribe of Florida sanctioned the university to use the Seminole name.

Cooperation on these complex issues is within the realm of possibility.

The Redskins should explore solutions such as offering various employment opportunities and inexpensive tickets to Native Americans interested in football as a display of respect for the culture.

Native American mascots and team names will never be politically correct in the eyes of many cultural liberals. But they can be used in a respectful manner, and colleges and professional sports franchises have every right to self-determine their respective proper courses of action regarding these issues.

In the end, political correctness should not override the interests of our culture, specifically our sports franchises.

Ethan Demers is a senior political science and history major. His column appears weekly. He can be reached at [email protected].

Published on October 8, 2013 at 2:57 am