Friday, September 4, 2015

McNali


This image went viral on the Book of Faces as a commentary on Mount McKinley's nom de plume molting back to its original - and customary with the majority of locals - name, which will obviously ripple throughout the business community with unintended consequences.


Dovetailing with President Obama's visit to Alaska, the US Secretary of the Interior made it legit when she at last acted within her official capacity to restore - not rename - the title of North America's highest peak to its traditional, indigenous name of Denali.


Which of course touched off an avalanche of, uh, butte-hurt from the poutraged haters who all somehow overlook the fact that Alaskans - and their largely Republican legislative delegations - have been petitioning the federal government for a rename for forty years.


But it does give us another sneak peak at the delicate sensibilities on display, along with the usual culturally insensitive and privileged opinions (emphasis mine):
"You just don't go and do something like that," (Governor) Kasich said. "In Ohio, we felt it was appropriate. A guy saw that mountain when he was one of the first up there ... named it after the president."


In the meantime, life goes on and most folks have other, much more important issues to debate. Like will there not be enough snow again for this year's marquee mushing races, and who's the lead dog?


One (of many) indications that there's a deep bench of stupid in this election cycle's clown-car of candidates, was the serious consideration given to the idea of building a wall (patron Saint Ronnie would not be pleased) not just between us and Mexico, but between our northern neighbors. Alaska shares 1,538 miles of the US/Canadian border (total length 5,525 miles - the longest international border in the world), and is a constant threat to our national security on account of it being permeable to decent, cheap ale and rogue bands of migrating terrorist caribou (and their damned "anchor calves"). Bieber and Nickelback aside, there's the cultural contributions of Rush and k.d. lang I'll miss with any embargo.


But wait! Fear not, as for every action there is an immediate reaction (kinda like tipping over dominoes of dumbness), and with eye-rolling predictability another prospective presidential personage has stepped up in support of reigning in this egregious Federal overreach. We ought to be grateful that Denali's other translation - "Great One" - hasn't caught the attention of Trump's massif ego, as it already occasionally sports a legitimate toupée.

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