August 29, 2016

"A professor at the University of Iowa is concerned that the school’s hawk mascot, Herky, looks angry..."

"... and its appearance could be contributing to a culture of violence, depression, and even 'suicide.'"
“I believe incoming students should be met with welcoming, nurturing, calm, accepting and happy messages,” clinical professor of pediatrics Resmiye Oral, wrote in an e-mail to the school’s athletic department...
This is so 3 years ago. Remember the angst when UConn made its husky less nice?
UConn basketball coach Geno Auriemma said the logo “is looking right through you and saying, ‘Do not mess with me.’ This is a streamlined, fighting dog, and I cannot wait for it to be on our uniforms and court.”

In response, [the feminist student] wrote, “What terrifies me about the admiration of such traits is that I know what it feels like to have a real life Husky look straight through you and to feel powerless, and to wonder if even the administration cannot ‘mess with them.’ And I know I am not alone.”
It actually is kind of sad when you can't get it just exactly right — fighting and tough and yet infinitely lovable:

63 comments:

dreams said...

We have an angry bird at the University of Louisville.

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=louisville+cardinals&FORM=IARRTH&ufn=louisville+cardinals&stid=9a2ea0f7-ac14-e27d-c1b5-9bb2c8255cbe&cbn=EntityAnswer&cbi=0&FORM=IARRTH

virgil xenophon said...

LOL! People should check out Louisvilles Cardinal mascot. Only Cardinal mascot/emblem in the nation (of which there are several) with fierce teeth showing between its beaks.

mezzrow said...

I don't need no stinkin' badger.

Rob said...

My suggestion as the model for a revamped mascot. That oughta weird out the Hawkeyes' opponents.

mockturtle said...

Oh, my word! What has become of us! Maybe they could offer counseling to deal with the trauma of an angry mascot.

virgil xenophon said...

HI dreams! I didn't see your post while I was typing furiously away. We lived in Louisville '76-'94 in Old Louisville @1408 S Third St. (3rd & Magnolia) Go Cards! (Except when they play my LSU Tigers :) )

Fernandinande said...

“I believe incoming students should be met with welcoming, nurturing, calm, accepting and happy messages,”

People believe a lot of things, but if acts on that belief she won't tell people who like the mascot that it's a naughty mascot that's warping their young minds.

It may sound like a joke to you, but Oral believes that the issue of the mascot’s appearance is not something to be taken lightly

People believe a lot of things.

— not only because it could it be making some students feel uncomfortable, but also because it might be “conveying an invitation to aggressivity and even violence.”

Or it *could be* making some students feel comfortable, and it also *might be* conveying an invitation to do sports and have fun.

Why is this believing person a "clinical professor of pediatrics"? Is being from Turkey, or being a turkey, grounds for affirmative racism?

dreams said...

"(Except when they play my LSU Tigers :) )"

Louisville and LSU are both going to be good this year in football.

Virgil Hilts said...

One of the nice things about A.S.U. is that their mascot is still essentially Satan, but every few years activists try to get ASU to gut Sparky, take away his pitchfork or make him look less diabolical.

virgil xenophon said...

@Rob/ "weird out" doesn't even BEGIN to describe the effect..lol

Left Bank of the Charles said...

Is it Professor Oral, Dr. Oral, or Faculty Senator Oral? Twitter is going to want to know.

However, this is a problem that has already been solved: "The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics hatched Perky as their mascot. She is Herky's cousin and came to life in 2002. Perky makes monthly visits to the UI Children's Hospital pediatrics floors, as well as special appearances from time to time. Herky mascots help bring Perky to the UI Children's Hospital and all Perky events."

Tommy Duncan said...

Why did Omaha Beach come to mind when I read this?

David said...

Part of a theme. The professor may worry that his penis isn't small enough.

Virgil Hilts said...

One of the videos (for the Wisconsin game!) where they tried to soften Sparky's image.
http://host.madison.com/sports/college/football/badgers-football-arizona-state-intro-video-for-saturday-night-scary/article_b2522ebb-1128-596c-bf36-06abd915279b.html

Lucien said...

This type of thing is balanced out by painting the visiting team's locker room pink, though . . . Isn't it?

Bad Lieutenant said...

Taking seriously this fever dream that our traditional culture destroys some people, perhaps if we let them be destroyed, the survivors would be the better for it? Instead, the culture that we are morphing into destroys other people, who are arguably more valuable, without really benefiting those who for brevity's sake I shall call the weak. Why do we elevate the weak? Why are the weak driving the bus?

traditionalguy said...

A mammal can only look so mean. But a bird is a DINAOSAUR!

n.n said...

Angry, and those claws, they are natural-born shredders. Guests, beware.

Earnest Prole said...

Logo fierceness may be overrated if this one is any indication.

Real American said...

these retards should just kill themselves. if these little things make you upset, life is not for you.

Wince said...

Just tell the professor it's the mascot's "anal sex face" and he'll have to back off lest he be accused of homophobia.

lonetown said...

Chief Wahoo gets them pretty upset too (and he's smiling).

YoungHegelian said...

I believe incoming students should be met with welcoming, nurturing, calm, accepting and happy messages

I never thought I'd say this, but I'm starting to miss Jonathan Edwards.

Yancey Ward said...

And I fear what is to become of The Onion.

mockturtle said...

YG, we should all miss Jonathan Edwards.

Big Mike said...

He needs to transfer to UC Santa Cruz. Because there is nothing more "welcoming, nurturing, calm, accepting and happy" than a smiling banana slug.

wildswan said...

I think that we should field college football teams of kittens - it would be fun to see them running around the field, bumping onto each other, tumbling over each other. Then we give the kittens out to 22 diverse children who release balloons into a sky filled with droplets, thus rainbows would appear.

Then the puppy team vs. the kitten team. Cheering is by hand twittering

Then the wolf puppy team - which eats the kitten team. The twenty-two diverse children take the puppies home and have them for dinner using a diverse recipe.

Then the hawk babies vs. the chickies.

Then the playoff - wolf puppies vs. hawk babies. Hand twittering is supplemented by species-correct wolf howls vs. hawk screams. Fierce mascots are peddled by furtive men in raincoats and flashed by masked fans.

Francisco D said...

David,

Resyme is woman. I sort of know her. She's a well meaning person with way too much time on her hands. Also note that Iwa City is one the the furthest Left of all college towns. One has to signal their virtue there frequently.

buwaya said...

wildswan, you have a semi-Laslo going there, but its much more violent-creepy than Laslo-creepy.

Still, talent is talent.

Anonymous said...

... this type of thing coincides with what I perceive to be the high rise in ukulele music in commercials, along with happy-go-lucky whistling to accompany.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

The Comfort Eagles would be a good name for a sports team.

buwaya said...

"I believe incoming students should be met with welcoming, nurturing, calm, accepting and happy messages"

This is justified how? What is the good of this "calm"?
Her entire world-view is evil, in her context. It is the ideology of paralysis and suppression, because the goal is paralysis and suppression.

In my day the slogan was "Up against the wall m..f...ers!"
It was rather silly under the circumstances of the day.
These days however it seems like just the thing.

ndspinelli said...

When the tough, aggressive Dallas Green was hired by the Cubs in 1981 to toughen the franchise up, the first thing he did was change their mascot. For generations, the Cub looked docile and cuddly. He created a sneering, angry Cub. I see the franchise has gone back to a cuddly version.

who-knew said...

Why is a professor of pediatrics worried about college students. They are adults not children.

mockturtle said...

She's a well meaning person with way too much time on her hands.

I'd like to believe that but I'd be inclined to agree with buwaya. Evil. People like this woman are trying to turn our youth into a feminized, noncompetitive bunch of sheep, easy to lead, easy to manipulate.

who-knew said...

Also, as a matter of small interest: Geno Auriemma is the women's basketball coach at UConn.

Paddy O said...

I'm concerned about how much concern she is concerned about concerning Herky. I worry that she is displacing a concern that concerns her own concerns.

n.n said...

mockturtle:

Keep the girls feminine and the boys masculine. Equal and complementary. Each individually rugged, capable of leading, competing, and self-awareness.

Joe said...

The demonization of outward displays of anger is a common tactic of feminists. Nevermind that feminists tend to be the angriest people I've met, but their anger, and that of Dr. Oral, is apparently the correct type of anger.

Anger can, in fact, be a very positive emotion that drives us to better things, and in being openly angry at morons.

ga6 said...

"welcoming, nurturing, calm, accepting and happy" people make the best victims....

Sgt Al

mockturtle said...

@Joe The demonization of outward displays of anger is a common tactic of feminists. Nevermind that feminists tend to be the angriest people I've met, but their anger, and that of Dr. Oral, is apparently the correct type of anger.

Anger can, in fact, be a very positive emotion that drives us to better things, and in being openly angry at morons.


You are spot-on, Joe. Anger does not equal violence. The Bible says, 'Be ye angry and sin not.'

sean said...

University professor is about the only occupation from which we have come to expect comments this fatuous. (Maybe professional wrestlers can give the professors a run for their money.) It's really appalling that tax money from hard-working welders and plumbers is siphoned off to support people like this.

Anonymous said...

Do they still sell "Fuck 'Em, Bucky" shirts on the mall?

mockturtle said...

Competitive sports are a good outlet for aggression for both players and fans. I'll bet this Gorgon is against them. One has to wonder what happens when natural, youthful aggression is stifled over a long period.

Known Unknown said...

She's a well meaning person with way too much time on her hands.

Fuck the well-meaning.

-C.S. Lewis
(paraphrased)

Original Mike said...

I'm all for turning the Hawkeye mascot into a pussy.

Original Mike said...

Blogger Lucien said..."This type of thing is balanced out by painting the visiting team's locker room pink, though . . . Isn't it?"

I can't wait for Professor Oral to expound on this affront.

mockturtle said...

Would she approve of dildos on backpacks, do you think?

Chuck said...

I thought that yet another Iowa tailback tearing his ACL in August was what led to anxiety, depression and suicide in Iowa City.

http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/airbhg-angry-iowa-running-back-hating-god

Crimso said...

“I believe incoming students should be met with welcoming, nurturing, calm, accepting and happy messages"

Because that's what the world has in store for them.

And agreed on the Louisville cardinal with teeth. Traumatized the hell out of me. Could only attend for 11 years.

Virgil: spent a lot of time over the years with friends who lived on Magnolia (or was it Burnett? Hazy times) near 1st during the 80s. I miss those days greatly. But the teeth. The teeth. I had to go.

walter said...

You know..some people just leave behind the whole high school sports/mascot bullshit when they venture into that new phase in life...especially if they're working their asses off to pay for it. Others find themselves decades later waddling around in collegiate athletic wear long after being the least bit athletic.
But I do remember the one time I went to a Badger game and saw a "Fuck 'em Bucky!" T-shirt for sale that had the dear mascot between the legs of a young co-ed holding up one finger in defiance. Oh..it was along time ago..especially culturally.

walter said...

Oh..I also remember some of the dumb as stumps sports scholarship folks struggling to put sentences together in a University that was fairly selective regarding the general population.
Fuck 'em Bucky, indeed.

One Eye said...

IIRC, it was Wisconsin basketball coach Bill Cofield who added the snarl to Bucky Badger in the late 70s.

Danno said...

Maybe we should all be Golden Gophers and be the wuss team in just about every sport!

Brando said...

Does this mean they're soon going to ban Klansy, the hilarious cross-burning mascot of Nathaniel Forrest College? Is no tradition sacred anymore?

Curious George said...

Brutus the Buckeye is always smiling. Contending annually for the National championship will do that.

Wilbur said...

Don't get University of Illinois alumni started on this topic.

When they did away with Chief Illiniwek (not a mascot, BTW), I figured the University can do without any more of my charitable contributions. Let them get it from the tiny leftist minority who secured the Chief's ouster.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Whatever happened to birds and beasts can break my bones but logotypes never hurt me?

Known Unknown said...

Professor Oral should be glad she's never met Herky's cousin Jerky.

Known Unknown said...

Maybe Herky's pissed off because Iowa has wasted so much money on Kirk Ferentz.

Bad Lieutenant said...

Au contraire, Herky should be glad he's never met Oral's cousin Anal.

Fernandinande said...

Defendant: "I killed those people because a mean-looking cartoon character contributed to a culture of violence."

Judge who reads Dave Barry: "In that case, sir, you are free to go."

mikee said...

My alma mater, Texas A&M, has as an official mascot a female Collie dog. They are on number 8 or so. She is named Reveille, after the original dog, a stray hit by a Cadet's car on the way back to campus from an away game, who barked loudly upon hearing the trumpet that woke students up way back when.

When I was there, Reveille was trained to bite people wearing vertically striped black & white shirts, and she loved attending every football game.