Redskins, Who Should Get To Keep Their Racist Name, Still Jerks For Running Fake Grassroots Support Website

Failures

from the jerkskins dept

Wed, Dec 23rd 2015 12:10am — Timothy Geigner

As we've previously discussed the trademark issues surrounding the Washington Redskins team name, and as I've personally flip-flopped on the question like I was running for public office to represent salmon on a dry dock, none of that coverage has ever called into question that the team is run by some number of jackasses. Dan Snyder, who owns the team, has gone out of his way to attack all kinds of media and blogs over coverage of the team and its antics. Well, back on the name of the team, even if they got a big gift from a court in a related lawsuit, it turns out the team has been engaging in a bit of subterfuge to try to drum up support for the mascot as well.

But, thanks in part to an errant tweet, the team has been found out. Fans of the team and its name may recognize the Twitter account "Redskins Facts", which purports to be a grassroots conglomeration of fans that back the name of the team.

Redskins Facts is supposedly a grassroots organization aiming to create support for a mascot named after scalping Native Americans. However, it is run by a PR firm, not fans, and the team has carefully skirted around precisely designating it as independent. As SBNation points out, the Washington Post fact-checked the site’s claims and found them misleading.

While Washington was in a close game with Chicago, some suspicious tweeting went down. These two tweets, sent from two purportedly different organizations that have no affiliation with each other, look pretty similar. Given the exact similarities between the two tweets, this is almost certainly a copy/paste job.

pic.twitter.com/j1nJm4Rx6H
— Dan Steinberg (@dcsportsbog) December 13, 2015

Oops. While many have long suspected that the PR firm running the Twitter account had been hired to do so by the team, because there isn't another logical explanation that would make any sense, this copy/paste job between the team's official account and the "Redskins Facts" account seems to confirm it quite nicely. The Redskins Facts website, indeed, has an entire "About Us" section that is nothing short of a series of misleading claims that would probably be more appropriately called lies.

So, even as the legal side of things is going to end up leaving the Redskins to trademark its dumb, racist team name, the fact that the team pulls these kinds of antics ought not be lost in the meantime.

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Filed Under: astrotufing, dan snyder, grassroots, pr, redskins, redskins facts, trademark
Companies: washington redskins

43 Comments

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Glenn, 23 Dec 2015 @ 2:23am

Don't like "Redskins"? How about "Rebels"?
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2015 @ 3:58am

I know the best chewing tobacco is Redman. One look at the teams helmet tells me that the name isn't meant to be derogatory, just the opposite in fact. Now if the teams motto was "the only good Injun is a dead Injun" or "lo, the redman" one might have a case. I hope they never change it, it gives the morons something to complain about and keeps their opinions about the real problems at bay.
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- Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2015 @ 5:12am
  
  Re:
  Wouldn't it be great to have a team called the whiteskins? Their helmets might look like a hood or something.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2015 @ 5:01am

I can't believe you covered a football team having an astroturf campaign and never used the word "astroturf".

The joke was right in front of you.
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- Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2015 @ 5:23am
  
  Re:
  "Astroturf" is trademarked.
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- Trails (profile), 23 Dec 2015 @ 6:54am
  
  Re:
  Yeah he really fumbled that.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2015 @ 6:22am

It was well known and admitted at the time that the Redskins owned/ran the Redskins fact account. This "story" is the result of those trying to make a story out of nothing
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- Dan S., 23 Dec 2015 @ 11:59am
  
  Re:
  It was well known and admitted at the time that the Redskins owned/ran the Redskins fact account. This "story" is the result of those trying to make a story out of nothing.
  
  So everyone please stop talking about it! And don't ever bring it up again!
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Haywood (profile), 23 Dec 2015 @ 6:36am

USA used to be a fun place to live
Before we started concerning ourselves with hurting someones feelings. Grow a set and cowboy up. I'm not saying racism doesn't exist, but a little ribbing if far and away from a lynching, or even not being hired or some other serious shit.
No one was ever exempt, though some groups like the Poles seem to attract a bit more. In conclusion, you get more of what you dream about, and (less desirably) what you fear. Life goes where the thoughts guide it.
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- Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2015 @ 6:47am
  
  Re: USA used to be a fun place to live
  "USA used to be a fun place to live"
  
  And when was this, exactly? Perhaps it was back in the good old days when men were men, women knew their place and white privilege was a way of life rather than a sad commentary. Amirite?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Haywood (profile), 23 Dec 2015 @ 6:50am
    
    Re: Re: USA used to be a fun place to live
    Call it what you want, all this bitching isn't making things better for anyone, except chronic complainers.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2015 @ 7:35am
      
      Re: Re: Re: USA used to be a fun place to live
      Or people could "man up" and stop whining about changing their beloved team mascots.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - AJ, 23 Dec 2015 @ 7:49am
    
    Re: Re: USA used to be a fun place to live
    "Amirite?"
    
    No your a fucking retard. You know damn well what he's saying, your just twisting it around to appease your sense of entitlement you jackass. Anyone that uses sexism and/or racism as a weapon to further their entitlement mentality is just as bad as the racists themselves.
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2015 @ 9:28am
      
      Re: Re: Re: USA used to be a fun place to live
      What entitlement?
      Exactly what was assumed to be granted without question?
      
      Ad hom - acknowledgement that you have no argument.
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - AJ, 23 Dec 2015 @ 11:26am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: USA used to be a fun place to live
        The entitlement being your right not to be offended by a name. You think they should "man up" and change the name of their "beloved team mascots". I say no one gives a fuck if your offended in the first place.
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        Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2015 @ 12:13pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: USA used to be a fun place to live
        Except I never claimed to be offended.
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        AJ, 24 Dec 2015 @ 3:53am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: USA used to be a fun place to live
        "Or people could "man up" and stop whining about changing their beloved team mascots."
        
        This comment suggest you are either offended, or are sympathizing with the people that are offended. Either way, your a fucking retard. Amirite?
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
        
        Anonymous Coward, 24 Dec 2015 @ 6:11am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: USA used to be a fun place to live
        It was a sarcastic response to prior "Grow a set and cowboy up" made by a different poster. Guess you missed that.
        
        It may suggest many things to many people, apparently I was unclear in this matter.
        You seem to be offended by the possibility of others being offended or even the possibility of someone understanding why others might be offended. I do not find your behavior offensive, a bit pathetic maybe, but not offensive.
        
        On a side note, do you know what the word retarded means?
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        AJ, 24 Dec 2015 @ 7:00am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: USA used to be a fun place to live
        I am offended by people trying to limit free speech because they find the speech "offensive". I understand that they are offended by the speech. I even understand WHY they are offended, and in some ways sympathize with them. But what is unacceptable is someone being forced to change, or even suggesting someone change their name, because a hand full of pussies find the name offensive.
        
        It's obvious by your replies to the original poster that you're race baiting. Any normal non-retarded (learning impaired) person can see that the original poster was simply suggesting that all insults and "ribbing" are not necessarily racist or sexist simply because you take it that way. That people should not have to alter their speech and/or humor simply because someone is offended by it. That we should be leery of becoming a society of easily offended, political correct, overly-sensitive, pussies.
        
        "On a side note, do you know what the word retarded means?"
        
        I do. I'm using it as an euphemism in place of "Shit-for-Brains". Your petty ass attack on my grammar is an obvious attempt to deflect from the original issue, and is very troll-ish. Because your argument is childish, and pathetic, your grasping for a meaningful way to "get the upper hand". The problem with that is no one gives a fuck about your pathetic sensitivities and you just come across as a troll.
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        Anonymous Coward, 28 Dec 2015 @ 9:43am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: USA used to be a fun place to live
        Wow, what an amazing summary of self interest and rationalization.
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    - Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2015 @ 9:29am
      
      Re: Re: Re: USA used to be a fun place to live
      Oh, and one more thing ...
      
      You're ignorant of your own language.
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      - AJ, 23 Dec 2015 @ 11:31am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: USA used to be a fun place to live
        "You're ignorant of your own language."
        
        What are you? 12?
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        Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2015 @ 12:10pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: USA used to be a fun place to live
        This is priceless.
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        Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2015 @ 12:11pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: USA used to be a fun place to live
        What are you? 12?
        
        Heh, talk about "ad hom".
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    - Haywood (profile), 23 Dec 2015 @ 12:36pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: USA used to be a fun place to live
      you're
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- Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2015 @ 7:38am
  
  Re: USA used to be a fun place to live
  As a Pole, I'm curious to know in what way we've attracted any more ribbing or whatever. This is not meant to start a debate or argument or anything; I'm just curious. Outside of the "screen door on a submarine" jokes that my babcia used to tell me, I've never really heard any anti-Polish sentiments.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2015 @ 8:22am
    
    Re: Re: USA used to be a fun place to live
    The Poles have a much bigger sense of humor than everybody gives them credit for. It's no longer politically correct but in the 1970s it was rare to find a bookstore that didn't have a book of 'polish jokes'. Other ethnics had their share of joke books but the polish jokes were the best sellers.
    
    I still have a "Polish Coffee Mug" - the handle is on the inside!
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    - AJ, 23 Dec 2015 @ 8:26am
      
      Re: Re: Re: USA used to be a fun place to live
      I have a "Polish Shot Glass", the bottom is round and off center so no matter how you set it.. your drink spills....
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    - Mikael (profile), 23 Dec 2015 @ 8:49am
      
      Re: Re: Re: USA used to be a fun place to live
      Their "sense of humor" has/had nothing to do with it.
      
      "Some of the early 20th century Polish jokes might have been told originally before World War II in disputed border-regions such as Silesia, suggesting that Polish jokes did not originate in Nazi Germany, but a lot earlier, as an outgrowth of regional jokes rooted in historical social class differences. Nonetheless, these jokes were later fuelled by ethnic slurs disseminated by German warlords and National Socialist propaganda that attempted to justify the Nazi crimes against ethnic Poles by presenting them as dirty and relegating them as inferior on the basis of not being German."
      
      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_joke
      
      http://www.polamjournal.com/Library/Fighting_Defama tion/The_Origin_of_the_Polish_Joke/the_origin_of_the_polish_joke.html
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      - Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2015 @ 9:32am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: USA used to be a fun place to live
        Waiting for AJ to call you names.
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  - Anonymous Coward, 29 Dec 2015 @ 4:07am
    
    Re: Re: USA used to be a fun place to live
    Some ribbing but mostly crotches. Don't tell me you have never seen a pole dance.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2015 @ 6:54am

So...
I am a technology worker... and the name of this site is disparaging to me and you should change your name!

Techdirt is just a euphemism that was intended to disparage tech workers as nothing but dirt! It is an insult to all technical personnel who work in the trenches helping ungrateful and ignorant people!

Sure some say dirt is a slang for news, but I choose to believe that the operators of this site really intend it to be disparaging and therefore I am offended!

Techdirt, if you really see redskins as an offensive term that needs to be changed then you should follow your own rules and change your name to something LESS OFFENSIVE TOO!!!

See there, anyone can act offended if they get stupid enough! Those JERKS are no different than YOU JERKS!
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- Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2015 @ 7:39am
  
  Re: So...
  Ummmmm - given the skills, anyone can be a technology worker. Or conversely, seek employment elsewhere. Your choice.
  
  Do you see the difference? If not, then that is part of the problem.
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- Dark Helmet (profile), 23 Dec 2015 @ 2:47pm
  
  Re: So...
  Guess you forgot to read the headline where I said the team should keep its racist name?
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  - Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2015 @ 11:03pm
    
    Re: Re: So...
    You mean they should be *able* to, not that they *should*, right?
    
    I'm personally ambivalent as to whether they change the name, so long as it's not due to government pressure.
    
    It's very late right now, so maybe in the morning I'll consider whether my support of the right to anonymous speech trumps my dislike of a corporation using it to astroturf. Right now I can't decide.
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    - Dark Helmet (profile), 24 Dec 2015 @ 6:28am
      
      Re: Re: Re: So...
      "You mean they should be *able* to, not that they *should*, right?"
      
      Yes, exactly. I thought that was clear from the repeated times denoting the name as racist.
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cat, 23 Dec 2015 @ 8:26am

Mascot?
"mascot named after scalping Native Americans" Wasn't 'redskin' just a derogatory term for any Native American? Where does the scalping come in?
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- Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2015 @ 9:35am
  
  Re: Mascot?
  Ask some Atlanta Braves fans about their Tomahawk Chop
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- Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2015 @ 12:07pm
  
  Re: Mascot?
  Where does the scalping come in?
  
  In the "exaggeration" part of being politically correct.
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- Ruby, 26 Dec 2015 @ 12:22pm
  
  Re: Mascot?
  From the 1700's, when the government paid a bounty for dead "Indians". People who killed them could collect their reward by scalping the murdered Native and the presenting their skin to the proper officials.
  
  The collected skins were often referred to as "Red Skins" and, while some etymologist disagree, many consider that the origin of the term. (http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a29318/redskin-name-update/)
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Thomas (profile), 23 Dec 2015 @ 8:40am

No One Has to Change any Names
No one is demanding the Washington football team changes it's names. A number of fans have asked them to because they find it offensive, but this is a free country, you are allowed to ask for things.

The only thing that's changed is that Dan Snyder lost *protected* speech on an offensive term.
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- Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2015 @ 12:08pm
  
  Re: No One Has to Change any Names
  No one is demanding the Washington football team changes it's names.
  
  Bull.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Dec 2015 @ 11:41am

The Drunken Scots is a much better mascot and name.
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