Tsunami now a sensative word?
Yeah, Todd Long got attacked by a Bobcat in FL and hes a coaster enthusiast. Ask him if he thinks the names should be changed?
Chuck, who just knows theres a BOBCAT ride out there somewhere
I will now be changing my name so as to not offend...
Impulse-ive said:
People die. They die horribly, they die pleasantly, they die being crushed by floats while dressed up as Pluto and they get run over by trucks.
Any specifics of people getting run over by steam rollers? Or any sort of rollers used in manufacturing? Specifically any sort of rollers that send something through to a process that would place something in some sort of fluid? IF SO... add Hershey's Roller Soaker to my previous list of rides that conjure up traumatic images of death, destruction or pain to at least some group of our general population.
By the way... my mother tells of a kid she knew when she was a kid who was killed when the toboggan he was sledding on smashed into a tree. That's pretty grusome and disturbing to think about. Therefore, all Chance Toboggans MUST be renamed (come to think of it... let's just destroy them outright... Not because of their names, but simply because they are Chance Toboggans.)
Know of any innocent by standers who were killed by richochetting bullets? Let's threaten PKD with legal action!
Where the heck to we stop!
If the ride were announced now, then yes, I think it would be a little insensitive, but nothing more than that. The name for the ride was most likely chosen long before the event happened.
Just because tsunamis occur less frequently than tornados or hurricanes does not make them any less of a NATURAL disaster. It happened before, it happened now, it WILL happen again and some people WILL inevitably lose their lives.
Here's an issue to think about: This year there were several hurricanes in Florida, as there are every year. What was special about this year was the relentlessness of the storms, arriving one right after another without giving the people of Florida a chance to recover (didn't one storm even move past Florida and change directions to hit it again?). Yet at the end of hurricane season, Six Flags annouced a brand new "Hurrican Harbor" water park. Lets not forget about the dozen or so previous water parks with the same name.
If you take away names that relate to incidents, you take away something that could provoke thought about said incidents. Without thinking about those incidents, they cannot be remembered. Now go donate something to the cause if you haven't already!
Kev
Wait, yes I can. It's January.
So which of those recently killed 160,000 people and left millions homeless?
TeknoScorpion said:
But why, then, Jeff, do we see so many Cyclones, Tornados, Quakes, Tsunamis, Blazing Furys, Fires in the Hole, Wildfires, Avalanches, Lightnings, etc.?
I personally don't care one way or another. My point is still that as a business owner I would apply a certain sensitivity for the times. It's still not anything more than that.
Jeff - Editor - CoasterBuzz.com - My Blog
Mr Doom said:Here's an issue to think about: This year there were several hurricanes in Florida, as there are every year. What was special about this year was the relentlessness of the storms, arriving one right after another without giving the people of Florida a chance to recover (didn't one storm even move past Florida and change directions to hit it again?). Yet at the end of hurricane season, Six Flags annouced a brand new "Hurrican Harbor" water park.
Forget Six Flags and their "Hurricane Harbor"... read my previous posts...
Cypress Gardens named their wooden coaster "Triple Hurricane". Take that apart in detail... a park in Florida names its coaster "Triple Hurricane" AFTER three major hurricane's hit the state in a few weeks time. While SF's Hurricane Harbor is not in Florida and is not named for specific hurricanes, Cypress Garden's "Triple Hurricane" IS in Florida and IS named to reflect the 3 storms that hit the state.
While body count from the hurricanes in Florida was a mere fraction of the count in South East Asia as a result of the Tsunami, try telling someone in that state who lost a family member or saw their house destroyed around them that it was not a traumatic experience.
But the amazing thing is... no one seems to have objected to the name "Triple Hurricane" beign given to a wooden coaster in a park who's grand "re-opening" was acutally delayed a bit by the very storms that the coaster is named after!
EDIT: I stand corrected by the follwing post from Brian Noble... sort of. Bottom line is... a coaster being named "Triple Hurricane" AFTER three hurricanes ravage your state is a hell of a lot more specific than an attraction named "Tsunami" before a tsunami devastates South East Asia half a world away.
*** Edited 1/7/2005 6:07:25 PM UTC by SLFAKE***
Jeff said:My point is still that as a business owner I would apply a certain sensitivity for the times.
Sensitivity for the times... yes... okay... I will agree with that.
Let's use the one of the newest coasters out there as an example.
Clementon's new coater Tsunami received that name over a year ago when it was still in the planning stages.
HAD the disaster in South East Asia occured a few days or weeks before that name was chosen for the coaster... or even when the coaster was still in the planning stages even after the name was selected... then that would have been not the best name to give it and could be considered "insensitive".
However... the fact is that the coaster received its name and opened and operated under that name BEFORE this disaster occured. No need in that case to change it.
To add one thing on to this. Parks can change names of their attractions at their will. They own the damn things, they can call them what they want. IF a park has an attraction that is named Tsunami (or uses that word in its name), and if they want to change it because of the disaster, fine... that is their choice. However, they should not be pressured to do it because someone, somewhere has their sensitivities bruised because it reminds them too much of the disaster half a world away.
If a person directly affected by this disaster would contact the park... then they should be listened to (though right now I believe people directly affected by this have a lot more on their minds right now than looking up names of attractions at amusment parks that they previously never heard of).
However, parks should not feel the need to bow to pressure put on them by "do gooders" who are watching the TV news and seeing the events half a world away unfold, simply because it seems like "the right thing to do" to them.
*** Edited 1/7/2005 6:10:02 PM UTC by SLFAKE***
Charles Nungester said:Im sure your having nightmares about something that effects you very little.
Yes, Give to those who need it, Grieve for the people who lost their lives/ Tsunami is a word, Not a race, religion, sexual preference or anything else derogatory.
Chuck
I really don't understand your agressive remark. Obviously you would like to start an argument.
My statement was just saying that most people are aware of this tragedy, and amusement parks probably don't want their attractions to create images of this in peoples minds when they are tyring to get away from reality.
If it were a wave pool, then I'd probably consider it...
Overall, I think the POINT is that there's WAY more going on than "insensitivity", and if you're taking time to get outraged at the use of a word, then maybe you could spend that time more productively doing something to HELP...???
TeknoScorpion said:
In this thread, people were saying the same thing as most on this thread are. Well, except for one Obvious person, who apparently didn't think it was a big deal then. Why such a change now?
You are more than merely unfunny...or less I should say. You completely lack the ability to put Point A and Point B together into a coherent conclusion.
What I'm saying here AND there are the exact...same...thing. Don't you get it? Exactly how thick are you? To what extent does your family tree have to closely resemble a low-lying, densely populated shrub to miss it?
You can't compare events that happened decades ago and events that are still happening NOW and fresh in people's minds. I said that in that thread (regarding WWII terminology) and I've said that in this thread. Again and again.
Maybe next time I should add little review questions at the bottom of my post and a few dozen people to repeat the same thing you just read twelve times over. Would that help?
Oh, and by the way...the tsunami isn't something that happened. It's something that's happening. They're still counting bodies. People are still dying of tsunami-related injuries and hardship. A few good-hearted donations didn't make all that disappear last week.
Heaven forbid this inconvenience us in the form of perhaps three coasters on earth changing names. Oh, the damage to our track records. What a world, what a world.
-CO
NOTE: Severe fecal impaction may render the above words highly debatable.
I'm not the one who builds them or makes those decisions.
Oh...by the way, most of my family is of a particular group who were marched to those gas chambers, thank you very much. So if you'd like to believe it has no effect on me personally, Moosh--you're wrong.
-CO
NOTE: Severe fecal impaction may render the above words highly debatable.
Tsunami=Wave
Now when one strikes the western hemisphere should everything named Wave be changed?
How about a fad, The lattest WAVE? Pretty soon there won't be a word you can use that doesn't OFFEND SOMEONE.
Now I don't believe in blatantly offending someone. I simply believe that saying the word Tsunami is not the same thiing as calling people racial or biggoted names.
Black7 Im sorry for sounding aggressive. I simply don't put dark images in the word Tsunami.
The vision of the disaster it or the earthquake (Which is the true culprit in the first place) Or a volcano, or major fire, or haullicaust or mass murderer. Thats whats disturbing.
Someone says Tsunami to me and I think wicked coaster. Someone says disaster to me and I think Shri-Lanka, Indonesia, Inda at this moment.
So how about that Disaster Transport huh?
Chuck
If this is exclusively a business decision, then it is a bad one. If these parks with rides/attractions named Tsunami (or any derivative) want to make a decision that is good for business, then “embrace” the opportunity, don’t run and hide from it. Take the opportunity to do some good…Instead of changing the ride name, give $ to the relief efforts. Tell the public that you considered changing the ride name, but realized that would cost money and if they were to spend that money, then it would be much better served going to relief efforts. Or sell souvenirs online with the rides name/logo and say that all proceeds from the sale go to relief efforts and that policy will continue throughout the 2005 season (as I am sure relief efforts for a tragedy of this magnitude will still be going on). Embrace this as an opportunity to help, not as an opportunity to be a rational coward.
Chuck - I live 500 feet from and about 4 feet above the Pacific. If a tsunami were to come and wipe out my house and kill my roommates I still wouldn't be offended by some coaster in New Jersey being named Tsunami. Now, if that coaster were named "Southern California Killer Tsunami" then yeah, I'd have a problem.
I understand the difference between the two.
Closed topic.
