It's not so much the belief in celebrating mistakes that caused this park to get the name "Exploding Whale Memorial Park." It's that they put up an online survey, and the alternatives were things like “Bridge View Park” and “Siuslaw River View Park.” It's how that British ship (almost) got stuck with the name “Boaty McBoatface” and some town in Estonia ended up with a marijuana leaf on its flag....
I just love #Estonia! The rest of the European Union, especially Sweden, has so much to learn from Estonian civilisation. The commune of #Kanepi just voted to let a #cannabis plant grace its local flag. Hurrah hurrah! https://t.co/HNFYGtFOFn #marijuana #EU
— Alexander Bard (@Bardissimo) March 9, 2018
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It's how Louie Louie became the state song of Washington.
"Exploding Whale Park" is a metaphor for American society in 2020.
[/obvious]
If the beach where the whale exploded was within the city limits of Florence, OR, it'd be more interesting, but it's not.
How did Hillary recover from the explosion?
The news report from 1970 is quite hilarious. Reporter deadpan description is classic
https://youtube.com/watch?v=xBgThvB_IDQ
There was already a park where the whale was blown up, one mile south of the river, amusingly named "South Jetty Beach Day Use", run by the US Forest Service.
Thar she blows!
(I'd forgotten about this)
Outstanding news report. I miss the good old days of a reporter just telling the story without any hook to pin it on Trump or Republicans or white people or straight men. Not sure it would even get reported these days. Oh wait, yes I am.
There was a public survey for the naming of a new athletic team in NYC a couple years ago. The most popular choice by far was the "Pizza Rats," after a popular news photo of a rat eating a discarded slice on a stair in a subway station.
We're all cynics now.
I'm the first person to post about the whale on Althouse. I forget why I did.
Did anybody watch community? In that show, the Community College ended up with a flag with an anus on it
I first heard about this in college during the 1970's, and assumed it was an urban legend. I'm glad it's not.
I would have loved being part of the conversation that concluded with "Yeah....that's a good idea!!"
This is an example of why "democracy" is mostly a charade. Our supposed betters give lip service but, when it goes against what they want to do, they give the supposed rulers (cracy) comprised of the "demo" the finger.
Boaty was another.
A more serious examples were the HMCS Uganda in ww2. The Canadian govt polled the crew about whether they would volunteer to serve in the Pacific after German surrender.
2/3 of the crew said no. Not that they would not serve. They would and did. But they didn't want to and would not "volunteer".
For this they got branded "mutineers" and "cowards".
And the current example stressing us in the face: the 2016 election. The demos voted but the folks in power didn't like the way they voted and have been trying to overturn the election ever since.
They probably would have succeeded with a lesser man than Donald trump.
Hooray for democracy! Provided the demos vote the way the rulers want.
John Henry
There’s nothing wrong with formalizing the memory of little absurdities. That’s how you get local color.
Thanks, Michael, for providing that 1970 newscast -- it perfectly recalls my childhood on the Oregon coast.
So, that's one vote for statues, history, and learning. Perhaps discernment is implied.
According to Inga, the whale explosion occurred after some guys with hawaiian shirts were seen sneaking around the area......
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