Western Washington University may get rid of its Viking mascot, Victor E. Viking, because…well,
you know. The school is currently conducting an investigation to help it make a
final decision on the issue. The writing may be on the proverbial wall, though,
as Viking Union, a building on the school’s campus, has already been renamed,
per the recommendations of a “strong majority” of the university’s Legacy
Review Task Force.
The LRTF had issued a statement saying: “The
Task Force was concerned about the harm caused by asking all members of the
Western community to identify with a figure that is potentially exclusive on
the basis of both ethnicity and gender. Furthermore, the Task Force found names
idolizing conquest as out of line with the university’s contemporary values
around honoring local Indigenous communities. Task Force members who did not
recommend renaming in this report proposed the building name be evaluated
alongside the mascot by a separate committee.”
This
is not the first time that WWU has considered changing its mascot. A 2015
effort to vanquish Victor claimed the Viking mascot was “hyper-masculine”
and “aggressive.”
This came as no surprise to me. I have previously written that
it is surprising to me that the cancel culture clowns haven’t already insisted
that the National Football League’s Minnesota Vikings change the team nickname and
mascot, given the Vikings connotation with raping, pillaging, plundering and
subjugation. Major League Baseball’s Cleveland Indians and the NFL’s Washington Redskins
both were forced to jettison their long-time nicknames within the past year or
two.
If “Victor E. Viking” is dispensed with, perhaps Pat E.
Polygender will replace him.
For his sake, let’s hope there is a “sanctuary city” somewhere for
discarded misfit mascots. And those who loved them.
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