To the editor:
Re: UBCO class calls on Kelowna Chiefs to change name
Who is stoking the fires of discontent? I very much hope that the Kelowna Chiefs will not change the name of their team, although the logo could use a makeover or replacement, eg. with a number of Chief head coverings, like a firefighter’s helmet, a police officer’s head gear, a marine cap…
If the white man’s word chief is considered insulting, what shall we call the chief of police, the chief steward, a chief engineer, or the “Little Miss Chief” products, which have appropriated a supposedly white man’s word for her brand?
I am sick and tired of this sensitivity and political correctness. It has gone too far when books like To Kill A Mockingbird are banned because of one word. What an opportunity this offers parents and teachers to use this book to educate instead.
In my opinion, many of the words were chosen without ill will and, possibly, even with reverence. By renaming world-renowned locations, like Squaw Valley, the proponents of political correctness may kill jobs of their own; by reclaiming so-called stolen items from museums worldwide, to bring them home, they then may be subjected to natural disasters, like earthquakes and be all lost at once, whereas if they were spread around, they will serve to educate many more people. By destroyed statues and other commemorative mementoes, because the person so honoured may have failed along the way, one also destroys the artist’s labour and creativity and I consider that ill will.
Why not use your pent-up rage and anger and channel it instead towards improving the lives of your fellow travellers?
Until recently, Canada has been held to high esteem, but such petty problems are making us a laughing stock, if not subjects of contempt and I doubt very much that the politically correct proponents indented such an outcome.
Sylvia Schoepf
West Kelowna