Monday, October 20, 2008

YES on R

The SF Bay Guardian are not inclined to endorse Prop R, which seeks to change the name of the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant to the George W. Bush Sewage Plant. Their position:

This one has tremendous emotional and humor appeal. It would
officially rename the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant the
George W. Bush Sewage Plant. That would put San Francisco in the
position of creating the first official memorial to the worst president
of our time — and his name would be on a sewage plant.

The
problem — not to be killjoys — is that sewage treatment is actually a
pretty important environmental concern, and the Oceanside plant is a
pretty good sewage treatment plant. It's insulting to the plant, and
the people who work there, to put the name of an environmental villain
on the door.

Let's name something awful after Bush. Vote no on Prop. R.


At first, their position seems to have merit, but when you discover that the plant workers' union, and the workers themselves support this measure, the Guardian's POV seems clouded by too much PC.

My response to the Guardian:

YES on R! C'mon, Bay Guardian. You're turning Political Correctness into a mockery.

Firstly, if the union representing the workers endorses this, your lack of endorsement is trumped.

Secondly, none of us little people had a say in Bush becoming president, SCOTUS made that decision for us. We also didn't have much of a voice in deciding whether or not our sports parks were named Pac-Bell, 3-Com, Monster, or AT&T. But the people of this city own the Oceanside plant, so we should have a chance to name it what we will. We should choose to name it after George W. Bush, for these two reasons: 1) it's a joke that we in this city get to be in on and laugh at, and 2) it actually attaches something good to Bush's name, both of which might help to alleviate some of the pain we've had to deal with due to his presidency being inflicted upon us. As an aside, since W's never felt it necessary to "honor" this city with his presence, let the city honor him in this unique way.

YES on R!

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