Guys, You gotta believe me when I say I'm not making this buffoonery up. Apparently a black female congresswoman from Texas feels the hurricane naming system currently in use is too "lilly white" and does not reflect the diversity of the victims of said hurricanes. Does she really want to hurricanes to be called Shontavius, Denarius and Raekwon? Imagine the backlash from the black community upon learning a hurricane was going to be named Shanaynay. This all raises some questions in my mind: Exactly what are so-called black names"? Who would decide if a name was "black enough" or "too black"? If a particularly violent hurricane were given a "black name", would she then claim the naming system was even more racist than it was before they were given black names? Since there are now more Hispanic than blacks, shouldn't we therefore have move "hispanic names" than "black names" or would that not be fair? I know her constituents are outraged knowing that there are larger issues like jobs, healthcare and education that need addressing while she plays with this. I know I would be. How embarrasing. I don't believe for a minute she is representing the views of those who voted her into office. I know for a fact this mess will not contribute to the betterment of the black community. What's your take? http://afromerica.com/knowledge/politics/interestgrps/jacksonlee.php
I disagree for two reasons: first, changing the system would imply something was actually wrong with it. Secondly, she would probably use the numbering system as "proof" of racism--something along the lines of "rather than include us, they stopped using names altogether".
The term “Hurricane” might be considered discriminatory as well, due to the inordinate amount of press and media coverage such disasters get in relation to other natural disasters. This could be taken to infer preferential treatment on the part of the media. Numbering or lettering disasters could very well be considered demeaning to their individuality as a disaster. Perhaps the best approach would be to just list them as: “The natural disaster formally known as hurricane [Origination Date of Record – [Latitude & Longitude of first documented occurrence, and time of day based on Greenwich Mean Time]” Subsequent hurricanes in a given year can be listed as: “Distinguished Associate Natural Disaster [Origination Date of Record] – [Latitude & Longitude of first documented occurrence and time of day based on Greenwich Mean Time]” I seriously doubt the good people of Texas are so preoccupied with the naming of hurricanes, that they demand their representative pursue this issue in precedence over other societal issues such as unemployment, taxation, healthcare, etc. I have no doubt she’s well-intentioned, but could this seriously be a matter that deserves focus from a person in her position with all the other pressing issues facing her constituents daily lives? The world never ceases to amaze me.
Why would anyone want an event that can be as catastrophic in terms of life, property, and the environment want this event named to reflect them or their racial/ethnic affiliation? Talk about bad press.....
Well, I for one would be proud to see all hurricanes with East ior West Carpathian names. Attila Balazs Carol Dezso Erzsebet Filaret Gheorghe Haralamb Ileana Jeno Konrad Lajos Magdolna Nicolae Odon Petru Quirin Radu Stefan Traian Urban Viorica (no W) Xenophon (no Y) Zizi
If I remember correctly, hurricanes had historically been given female names due to the "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned," sort of mentality. An angry woman? Duck and cover! Feminists objected saying that characterizing women as being angry, destructive killers is not a good thing, and shouldn't mens names be included? I guess that the answer was "yes" because right now we've got hurricane Ivan threatening New Orleans (as I understand it, that city actually sits below sea level and if it's hit by a substantial hurricane, it will basically be underwater for a long time). So now the Black Caucus wants in on the action. I'm curious about the logic, however. Something like, "Hey, we're just as angry and destructive as any white person...why don't WE get a hurricane?" I'd like to offer a solution. The National Weather Service, or whoever "names" hurricanes, must pull the names from some fixed list of names. I would simply ask the good Congresswoman to submit a list of male and female "Black" names and then include them in the list. I'd love to see the list she develops. I suspect that she'd delegate this task so as to avoid further embarrassment. My own opinion, who cares about the names? We could simply use the first letter of the alphabet and so avois all gender or racial characterizations (they do it alphabetically anyway). So, it wouldn't be Hurricane Frances, it would be Hurricane F. In the record books it would be Hurricane 2004F. Who freaking cares!? This is just a politician being political. There's an ulterior motive here, you just know it. Jack
I remember in the mid '70's when the hurricane controversy came about, I got into an argument about how silly it was to focus on equality by demanding hurricanes be given men's names. I suggested we change hemorrhoid to herrhoid. The conversation ended rather abruptly!
