Native American Propaganda Research Paper

If you were to question an individual from another country on what they assume about American’s, a common sentiment for many individuals is that we are an ignorant and often racist society; among other qualities such as being obese and lethargic. If you were to inquire my opinion on the matter, then I would not argue against any of those claims. As Americans, we are often compassionless to others, especially in regards to their cultures and this seems to happen innately for us. For most, we do not envision that our actions or habits would be interpreted as ignorance, but the point about offending another culture or individual in particular is that you cannot dictate to them that what you have done or said is not offensive because obviously …show more content…
Propaganda has been utilized by a plethora of people over the years and what transpired was nothing shorter than mass genocide in copious instances. The precarious circumstance of the Native Americans is no different either. Professional sports team’s mascots and logos are nothing short of dehumanizing, offensive and patronizing to the image of the Native American. If you take a look at the statistics regarding Native American inspired mascots, some two thousand plus sports teams across the country have appropriated Indians and taken their names for their sports teams. Including names such as “big reds,” “savages,” “Cherokees” and the list goes on and on. For various Americans, they do not have any knowledge about the “true Native Americans” that are alive and living within this country today. Instead, what comes to mind is often a dated preconceived notion of what is often depicted within old western movies rather than the normal people that they actually are. This issue has become so universal that even Ithaca college is being affected by this pressing matter. In an article posted on The Ithacan, a petition of sorts was sent to the president of the college and the athletic director “urging them to adopt a policy to refrain from engaging in athletic competition with non-Native colleges and universities that maintain American Indian imagery in their sports mascots.” (Kaufman) If this policy was enacted, then consequently, the higher education institutions will begin to feel the pressure to comply with the NCAA’s demands and redesign a new mascot for themselves. Granted that this circumstance is merely on the collegiate level, the imperative concept is that this issue is more universal than it is commonly believed. In another example of collegiate action, “Stanford University, which opted to drop