College Mascots

OK, it seems a trivial matter, only hardly worth a big brouhaha, at least an intellectual one.  But earlier this week, the Amherst College board of trustees voted to rid the college of its mascot/nickname, "Lord Jeffs."  In a way, it's quite comical.  The board felt compelled to officially banish what has always been an unofficial mascot/nickname.

But I think it has a bit more meaning than that, more than one of my classmates insinuated, "a diversion" from confronting more significant issues.  It seems as if the student body (and the faculty) have reflected a growing sense, almost a requirement, that people have to "do something."  If we are not "doing something," we are part of the problem.

That's misguided.  I remember a Wall Street Journal editorial, some years back, in the midst of the ObamaCare debate in Congress.  Critical of some ObamaCare supporters claiming, "We have to do something," the editorial turned around an old saying, urging Congress to "Just stand there; don't do something."  It seems to me that, "just standing there.....," would have been a wiser and more prudent thing to do than what Congress did.

It reminds me of the old joke about a drowning man.  Hearing his pleas for help, a doo-gooder (and I do mean "doo") who wanted to "do something," found a life ring and rope.  The doo-gooder tossed them to the foundering (as opposed to floundering) man.  When certain the non-swimmer had the life ring, the doo-gooder let go of his end of the rope and moved on to doo another good deed (that is, to "do something.")

I wrote about this some months back, when the "Lord Jeff" controversy broke.  OK, I'm an old fogy and nostalgically look back at my experiences as a "Lord Jeff."  I admit it.  But I really think there's been a misguided (I hope I'm not overusing that word.) reading of history.  Again I ask, what if there was a letter from Lord Jeffery Amherst that proposed using cannons and muskets against the Indians in the war against them?  Would that letter have been better than the one found where he approved of giving smallpox-infected blankets to them?  Could we have kept the mascot/nickname then?  And how do these professors, esp in history, and students feel about Abraham Lincoln?  After all, he approved and encouraged the total war, even against the civilian population in the South, tactics and strategies of US Grant and William Tecumseh Sherman.  Oh, those tactics/strategies won the Civil War, in fact, shortened it.  And we could go on and on.

The argument that Jeffery Amherst and "Lord Jeffs" are "ours" rings hollow.  Is Amherst College a bigger item than, say, the United States of America?  Isn't the US "ours," too?  Then, where are the "83%" who are demanding we rename, eliminate, etc. much of the US which reflects people who they don't like or whose activities they don't like?  Yes, I can, but won't, list a good number of current personalities.

I think "doing something" has taken precedence over more reasoned thought and reactions.  After all, one student, likely reflecting most of the 83% who voted to have the trustees remove "Lord Jeffs," said, "If the mascot makes any of us feel uncomfortable, then let's just do away with it."  There we go again, feeling "uncomfortable."  All these "microaggressions."  No "safe spaces."  What's a college education coming to these days?

Of the "outrage" some students and faculty have expressed, at the racism of the "Lord Jeff" mascot and nickname, I find it very selective outrage.  No doubt, there have been some heavy donors to the college who have sordid background and activities, too.  Now, are the students and faculty going to demand that those monies donated be returned?  That buildings constructed with those monies also be torn down?

Do these students feel "entitled" to dictate to the college, that is, through its board of trustees and a compliant administration?  After all, is Amherst College theirs, theirs any more than it is mine (and the other alumni)?  And if they can dictate this, what's next?  Is demanding to pick the college's teachers (other than choosing them by choosing this course or that) out of the realm of the future?