Hopeless Idiots

I haven't commented on the University of Mississippi brou-ha-ha over the Colonel Reb mascot/logo up to now. It's pretty obvious that some PC folks in the administration are embarrassed to have to be seen with that hate-filled symbol of white bigotry at their official functions with other schools. ("Ugh, do you see what he's wearing? How Neanderthal." "Let's snub him, to make our point. Oooh, brie!") They keep citing a loss of potential athletes, and hinting at a loss of revenue, but fail to provide any names, institutions, businesses, or even, God forbid, actual numbers. That's the sign of an argument based not on facts but on emotion.

Ole Miss started a contest to find a replacement mascot. They've coughed up two candidates today. Both are failures. Why?

Because both are white! That's right, the replacements for the hateful white patriarch are themselves both white. In fact, one is nothing more than a redressing of Colonel Reb in modern day athletic drag. Even the names are bad: Rowdy Rebel and Rebel Bruiser.

I can't wait to hear from the campus feminists and pacifists. The new choices are not women-inclusive on a campus that's half female, and they both celebrate violence ("Bruiser"?). That "Rowdy" designation will probably bring out the MADD forces, protesting that "rowdiness" leads to "drunkeness" which leads to violence against people and highway death. Yeah, should be fun.

I should note that Chris Lawrence of Signifying Nothing has covered this issue on his blog. Click here and start scrolling down. A very good blog, by the way; always recommended.

These folks at Ole Miss are proving that they don't have a coherent vision they want to project, but a deep embarrassment for their past, one they just want to get rid of. Sorry kids, but the past is the past. Embrace it, own up to it, acknowledge the wrongs, work on the future by focusing on the rights. Then you can look for the mascot that fits that vision.

But not before.