AAS 201 Debate: Are Native American mascots/images offensive - Essay Example

Native American Indian mascot The use of Native American Indian Mascots has raised much concern with the question being whether the using of Native Indian American mascots should banned. Many people in the United States of America and various other places in the world admire the Romanism and heroism evoked by the Native Indian American image (Aguirre & Turner 7). Due to this factor, the Native Indian American image has been used to create company logos for soft drink companies, cloth line companies such as ‘Indiana’ and various sports teams especially in the American football and NBA series.

However, the modification of the original symbol of the Native American Indian culture has led to a poor representation of American Indian people. Several high schools in the United States continue to use American Indian mascots after the banishing attempts of its use in the 1970s (Aguirre & Turner 21). Many legal representatives and non-American Indians argue that the use of Native American Indian mascots is aimed at honouring and preserving the culture of the American Indian people. Few other people argue that the use of Native American mascot represent American Indian people in an inauthentic and stereotypic manner regardless of the intended goals.

The major argument point is that old American Indian people have ceased to exist in the modern society thus their image and culture is viewed more as a myth than the perceived reality. This aspect portrays a negative intend in the use of Native American Indian mascot as opposed to the view of many people who perceive the use of Native American Indian mascots as a method of preserving the strong culture practiced by the ancestors of the American Indian community. In addition to this, the use of Native American Indian mascots is perceived to portray functionality in the culture.

The culture is fictionally viewed to be wild, barbaric and savage which may imply that the Native American Indian culture practices inhuman behaviuors. This notion is portrayed by various sport teams as the enthusiasm brought by mascots is to destroy the opponent in an animalistic manner. In this case, the culture is affiliated with spirits of distraction (Aguirre & Turner 52). On the other hand, other people may view this as appositive aspect as the tough attributes of the Native American Indian culture acted as the driving force towards the acquiring of independence in America.

The Native American Indian culture has been historically characterized as figurative thus losing its factual value which has led to the impression that the use of Native American mascots is meant to create a default image of the original American Indian culture. Due to this notion, the Native American culture has been blurred by the modern American practices. The use of Native American Indian mascot has been affiliated with the slogan of being a true American. This is because the United States of America is made up of multi-racial states which make it hard to derive the original culture of the American people (Aguirre & Turner 93).

The Native Indian American culture is the only culture that was explore before the coming of the British colonies thus is viewed as the original American culture. In this case, the Native American Indian mascot’s images may appear to be offensive but cannot be banished easily because they represent the true feeling of being an American. This is portrayed by the culture’s factual aspect and not the figurative aspect in which it is being used to represent a culture souvenir. Work CitedAguirre Adalberto.

Jr & Turner Jonathan H. American Ethnicity: The Dynamics and Consequences of Discrimination: New York. McGraw-Hill Education. 2010. Print