[Le Grande Orange]

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

Whose copyright laws? Japan's or the United States'?

It's well established under U.S. copyright law that you cannot copyright facts. You can copyright specific arrangements and presentations of facts, but not the facts themselves. Player names and statistics are clearly facts. Team and league names are also facts, but they may also be trademarks. Trademarks are a separate matter.

Originally Posted by jcard

1. One group of people unilaterally choosing to use their perceived identification of another group of people is problematic, more so if this is based on some attributes monolithically ascribed to that group

2. This is true even when the embodied traits are putatively positive

3. And even more so when those characteristics are ones commonly represented by natural (Lightning, Heat, Hurricanes, etc.) animal (Panthers, Wildcats, Predators, etc.) or abstracted archetypes (Spartans, Warriors, Titans, etc.): aggression, battlefield courage, violence, destruction, etc..

I think you cited the wrong quote of mine. I think you meant to quote this:

Originally Posted by Le Grande Orange

You can change the latter while retaining the former. (Changing team logos every few years is common now, no doubt for cynical merchandising reasons.)

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with the word "Indians." It's just a noun. The logo being outdated or no longer appropriate is a separate matter.

Now to my response:

Originally Posted by jcard

1. One group of people unilaterally choosing to use their perceived identification of another group of people is problematic, more so if this is based on some attributes monolithically ascribed to that group.

In your opinion, one with which I do not agree. My position is simple: I wholeheartedly reject all attempts to Newspeak the English language. Any and all Syme types should be resolutely ignored. Languages change naturally on their own, no political sledgehammering required.

Indians is a noun, no different than Italians or Californians or Amish. It has no intrinsic meaning beyond its function as a noun. If you happen to think it does, that's a you problem.