>>Jim,
>>
>>One thing that I've always believed is that "political correctness" is an issue that wastes far more time than it's worth. I'll give a couple of examples. One that was worth it, and one that isn't.
>>
>>There's a town in southern Illinois named Pekin. The name comes from the fact that it's on the same parellel of longitude as Beijing (formerly Peking) China. As with most towns it has a local high school. In the mid-1960's the team nickname was the "Chinks".
>>
>>That's one case where being "polically correct" was wholly appropriate. Now let's look at the other side.
>>
>>The University of Illinois was recently cited (along with 17 other Division I schools) as having an "abusive or derogatory" team mascot or nickname by the National Collegiate Atheletic Association (NCAA).
>>
>>Admittedly, the mascot, Chief Illiwek, is meant to be a native american. The costume that he wears was presented to the school by native americans.
>>
>>As far as the nickname (the Fighting Illini) goes, there is no association with native americans other than the name of the state. The state gets its name from the Illinois river. The Illinois river was so named (it's the French spelling) because of a group of tribes referred to as the Illiniwa that lived along its banks.
>>
>>The name "Illini" is simply a foreshortening of the state's name that was first coined by the student newspaper over 140 years ago. The "Fighting" part is a reference to those alumni that fought in World War I.
>>
>>Of course, there's always the argument presented by the PC police that there are never any references to white people. No??? How about the following:
>>
>>The Notre Dame Fighting Irish
>>The Minnesota Vikings
>>The Michigan State Spartans
>>The University of Southern California Trojans
>>(and my favorite)...
>>The Purple Paladins of Furman University.
>>
>>There are more. Some rather obscure references, but references nontheless.
>>
>>Don't we have better things to do?
>
>We sure do!!!

Jim,

I've always believed that if you go looking for something to be offended by, you'll probably find it.