Wednesday, February 18, 2004

You can't make this stuff up

Reuters | Goodbye Slaughterville, Hello Veggieville?
A vegetarian group wants an Oklahoma town named after a family that helped settle the state to change its name to Veggieville because they think its sounds a lot better than Slaughterville.

The city council of Slaughterville, Oklahoma, a town of about 3,000 in the center of the state, was due to discuss next week the proposal by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

...Slaughterville was named after a family that helped settle the area in the 19th century. The family ran a dry goods store and blacksmith shop.
There are two possibilities. (1) PETA does not imagine for one moment that the city actually will change its name. In that case, this is pure publicity. (2) PETA thinks the city might actually agree to change its name. In that case, this is self-delusion on a pathological scale.

It says something about PETA that either possibility is credible. But then, when we think of realistic goals rationally attained, how many people think PETA? Hands...anyone...? That's what I thought.

(In my hometown, there is a well-respected family whose last name is Rape. I never thought twice about it until I went to college. And I've known a few Slaughters in my time, all of whom were kind and gentle people.)

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