Monday, August 31, 2015

Mt. McKinley / Denali

   Yeah, I figured this wasn't going to go down without a fight...
   I guess I can understand fans of William McKinley being bummed... But a couple of points:
   First, it's merely an official name change. Nothing prevents people from continuing to refer to it as 'Mount McKinley.' Because that's how names work. 'Mt. McKinley' refers to the mountain in question as much as 'Denali' does. If you want to refer to it that way, knock yourself out.
   Second, 'Denali' is a much, much cooler name with a much cooler history than 'Mt. McKinley.' I can't imagine there being any argument about these points from anyone.
   Third, Athabascan is part of our heritage. It's not some alien lingo, in case that's what's bothering people. Though I don't know why it would.
   Fourth, the state of Alaska asked for this change.
   I understand that President McKinley should be honored, but that consideration is outweighed by other considerations. We can--and perhaps should--find a new way to honor him.
  I'll admit that I'm biased here because I've long thought that 'Denali' is just a way, way cooler name.


1 Comments:

Blogger Pete Mack said...

Not to mention that essentially no one in Alaska calls it McKinley. I was there last year--it was universally "Denali". That ship sailed a long time ago.

5:40 PM  

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