"Gut the Gophers" Homecoming sign has Illini fraternity in hot water

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Per the News Gazette:

Members of a fraternity are expected to meet soon with University of Illinois officials following its posting of a sign that depicted a knife-wielding American Indian posed over a gopher.

The giant paddleboard placed on the Delta Chi lawn during Saturday's homecoming game against the Minnesota Gophers featured a Chief Illiniwek-like character in a headdress leaning over a gopher. Painted on the sign were the words, "Gut the Gophers."

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/local/2014-10-28/frat-meet-ui-officials-over-homecoming-sign.html

Go Gophers!!
 

Move along. Nothing to see here. How is this worse than our student section screaming that they are going to rape (even if it's supposed to be maim), pillage and eat the babies of the opposing team at every basketball game?
 

How to win friends and influence people.
 

It was supposed to be GUT THE GOLFERS..
 

Sad that it is the case but in this day and age I am not surprised at all that the University is going to come down on them for this. Hopefully they will just get a reprimand and not any sort of suspension/expulsion but again I wouldn't be shocked if they are all kicked out of school because the University will be afraid of some sort of PR nightmare.
 




MNVCGUY said:
Sad that it is the case but in this day and age I am not surprised at all that the University is going to come down on them for this. Hopefully they will just get a reprimand and not any sort of suspension/expulsion but again I wouldn't be shocked if they are all kicked out of school because the University will be afraid of some sort of PR nightmare.
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Yes, the PR police are such a bad thing for being upset / offended by a clearly racist rendering of an American Indian. How dare they. But I get it, you're a real straight shooter. Ain't affraid to say nothin' to nobody. A real man's man and the rest of us are just sensitive little babies that are probably vegan too.
 





maroonedinCA said:
Yes, the PR police are such a bad thing for being upset / offended by a clearly racist rendering of an American Indian. How dare they. But I get it, you're a real straight shooter. Ain't affraid to say nothin' to nobody. A real man's man and the rest of us are just sensitive little babies that are probably vegan too.
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How is it racist? The American Indian depicted on the sign is their freaking mascot, the Gopher is ours....why does everything always have to have some far reaching meaning these days? They are not saying all Native Americans are savages out hunting Gophers with knives. There are plenty of cases where being PC is extremely important but this was clearly targeted at the football game, it doesn't need to be made into something it isn't. At some point you would hope common sense would come into play.
 

MNVCGUY said:
How is it racist? The American Indian depicted on the sign is their freaking mascot, the Gopher is ours....why does everything always have to have some far reaching meaning these days? They are not saying all Native Americans are savages out hunting Gophers with knives. There are plenty of cases where being PC is extremely important but this was clearly targeted at the football game, it doesn't need to be made into something it isn't. At some point you would hope common sense would come into play.
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The depiction of this American Indian uses the exact same charicatures used in Chief Waahoo for the Cleveland Indians which has been deemed racist and protested by American Indian groups and is ultimately being phased out because of it.
 

Ok, can someone explain to me what the issue is here?...
 




I think the Illini football should have to vacate the win, thus making us 7-1 and put all this non sense behind us.


But seriously, this is an issue? For dumb. :confused:
 

How times have changed:

when I was a high school senior, my home town was playing Mable-Canton for our Homecoming FB game. our Senior class float had the theme:
"Hiroshima, Nagasaki, Mable-Canton." Something tells me that wouldn't fly today..........
 

maroonedinCA said:
The depiction of this American Indian uses the exact same charicatures used in Chief Waahoo for the Cleveland Indians which has been deemed racist and protested by American Indian groups and is ultimately being phased out because of it.
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I get that people are probably offended. None of us are in any position to tell someone what should offend them.

But where is the line drawn on how to deal with it? I'm sure people are offended that student groups pass out free Bible's to students on the mall at the U. Does that mean they need to stop because people are offended? Should the atheists protest giving out such an offensive book in their opinion?

The world is full of offensive things. Let's pick our battles. Encouraging everyone to get outraged over every thing that offends them just creates unnecessary outrage.
 

afurry91 said:
I get that people are probably offended. None of us are in any position to tell someone what should offend them.

But where is the line drawn on how to deal with it? I'm sure people are offended that student groups pass out free Bible's to students on the mall at the U. Does that mean they need to stop because people are offended? Should the atheists protest giving out such an offensive book in their opinion?

The world is full of offensive things. Let's pick our battles. Encouraging everyone to get outraged over every thing that offends them just creates problems.
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If you can't tell the difference between people being offended by bibles and people being offended by racist caricatures I don't know what to tell you.
 

maroonedinCA said:
If you can't tell the difference between people being offended by bibles and people being offended by racist caricatures I don't know what to tell you.
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What sounds stupid to one group of people may not sound stupid to another group of people. Should a student comedian be suspended for making a racist joke at a local comedy club? I'm sure the university doesn't want him to represent the school in such a way, and I'm sure they have every right to suspend for that in their student code of conduct. But should they?
 

afurry91 said:
What sounds stupid to one group of people may not sound stupid to another group of people. Should a student comedian be suspended for making a racist joke at a local comedy club? I'm sure the university doesn't want him to represent the school in such a way, and I'm sure they have every right to suspend for that in their student code of conduct. But should they?
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One racist 'joke' is taking place on the grounds of a University organization (fraternity). This 'slippery slope' aruguement is tried and true (Washington Redskins supports) but all indications are that it doesn't hold up in reality.

And yes, if the student code of conduct allows for a suspension, and the university acts on it then I would have no problem with that either. You're shifting the discussion away from "was this offensive" to "should they be punished if it's offensive".
 

maroonedinCA said:
One racist 'joke' is taking place on the grounds of a University organization (fraternity). This 'slippery slope' aruguement is tried and true (Washington Redskins supports) but all indications are that it doesn't hold up in reality.

And yes, if the student code of conduct allows for a suspension, and the university acts on it then I would have no problem with that either. You're shifting the discussion away from "was this offensive" to "should they be punished if it's offensive".
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Perhaps because the "was this offensive" is entirely subjective?
 

Have the frat offer a public apology to anyone offended. That should be good enough for a CYA. This BS stuff is really getting ridiculous.
 

Was it offensive? Yes. Was it stupid? Yes. Was there any ill-intent? I don't think so. These guys found what they thought would be a fun way to illustrate "gutting the Gopher". It was insensitive for them not to see why this is offensive, but I think it would be pretty absurd for Illinois to go overboard on their punishment to scapegoat some well-intentioned college kids for poor delivery.
 


How is this any less RACIST than this sign or any native american logo, anywhere?

logo-notre-dame.jpg

short answer, it's not.
 

Gopher028 said:
How is this any less RACIST than this sign or any native american logo, anywhere?

View attachment 3028

short answer, it's not.
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Yes anyone should be unhappy that they are associated with the rape enabling, sending a young man to his death institution called Notre Dame.

Oh yes the mascot is beyond silly.
 


upnorthkid said:
Perhaps because the "was this offensive" is entirely subjective?
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So what if it's subjective? What does that matter in the least bit. I could call your mother awful names but you can't get defensive because your reaction would be subjective.
 


maroonedinCA said:
So what if it's subjective? What does that matter in the least bit. I could call your mother awful names but you can't get defensive because your reaction would be subjective.
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No because you can't argue with someone over a subjective decision when they're going to hold hard and fast to their opinion regardless because there is no scientific evidence to disprove a subjective stance. Thus what's the point of arguing. It'd be like calling your mom ugly and you saying she's pretty. It's a matter of opinion and really has no basis in arguing between 2 people. That said, I don't care what your opinion is. I don't find it offensive. Some people will. How we choose to punish them, which is what furry was suggesting, is more a matter of debate.
 

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