“As you can see, the logo and mascot are completely offensive. Well, you can see, but to let you see, you’d have to see it, and we won’t take responsibility for letting you see it, because you shouldn’t. Trust us.”

Last August, the showboating Washington Post editors announced that they would no longer use the name of the city’s NFL team when writing about the city’s NFL team. It’s offensive you know. Well, to some. Well, to a theoretical some, those who want to make an ideological and philosophical point while forcing political correctness down the throats for the vast, vast majority of sports fans to whom “Washington Redskins” is the name of a well-loved (if lousy) football team, and nothing more or less, and no statement negative or positive about Native Americans at all.

In this the board is emulating the school that wouldn’t let a little deaf boy sign his own name, “Hunter,’ because the sign language designation was a hand-and-fingers approximation of a pistol, and pistols are offensive to even more people than politically incorrect team names are. This is really, really crazy stuff, even more for a newspaper than a school, in which it was just cruel. Newspapers are supposed to convey information clearly and unambiguously. Making symbolic stands requiring the self-censorship of words is a breach of professional duty and trust. The editors’ duty is to their readers, not to a theoretical Native American who reads a the footballs scores and has the vapors when he reads “Redskins.” (I still doubt that there are such people.)

Over the weekend the Post produced an embarrassing editorial that fulfilled all my dire predictions about the new policy:

MEMBERS OF the board of education for the Lancaster school district in Upstate New York felt an obligation to “set an example” for students and the community. So despite a great deal of pressure — including threats they would be driven from office — board members decided to stop using a school mascot and team nickname that slurs Native Americans. [ What nickname? What mascot? Indians? Braves? Black Hawks? Chiefs? Warriors? What’s the slur? Activists say any reference to Native Americans is a slur, a cultural misappropriation. What is the Post talking about? Can we judge if it’s a slur or not? Please?? Must we trust that it’s a slur because the editors say it is?]

“We realize that traditions are sometimes hard to leave behind, but we do need to rethink traditions when they have become hurtful and perceived as disrespectful of others, even unintentionally,” said Superintendent Michael J. Vallely . It’s a message that sets an example we hope others will follow.

[HOW CAN THEY FOLLOW A MESSAGE WHEN YOU WON’T TELL US WHAT IT REFERS TO???]

Monday’s unanimous decision by the Lancaster Central School District came over the objections of many in the crowd who, shouting and booing, packed the room. There’s no question there was affection for a name that has been an important tradition for the community for nearly 70 years. [What name??? Isn’t the name central to the story? Doesn’t basic journalism competence demand that the name be stated at the very beginning?] But, as school board members explained, their examination of the issue — which included discussions with students, parents and local Native American tribal leaders — left no doubt that the name was a slur. [WHAT NAME!!!! Don’t readers get to weight in? Do the have to accept the assessment of people they don’t know without even knowing what was decided about what name?] Equally important was the point that tradition is larger than what a sports team calls itself. The achievements of students, athletes and faculty did not, as board president Kenneth Graber said, happen “because of a word or a symbol.” [What word? What symbol? I STILL DON’T KNOW WHAT THE HELL YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT!!!!]

There was a veiled reference to Washington’s football team, which has the same name as that which Lancaster dropped but that, to date, sadly lacks the small school district’s thoughtful approach to the problem. [“Wait, I don’t follow that football game thingy. That’s the one with the funny shaped ball, right? What name of the Washington team? I want to catch up: what this about? Someone? Anyone?“] Lancaster’s leaders are but the latest to realize that times have changed and so should they. How long must it take for the National Football League and its Washington franchise to absorb the lesson?

This is inexcusable, insulting, childish, foolish, incompetent, unprofessional journalism. The newspaper’s duty is to tell the story, not ban names and phrases based on the editors whims and alliances to groups and ideology.