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Library: The Hurricane Naming Policy
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Author: darol
Date:Oct 18 2009
As we all know, the hurricanes have been named for a long time. First it
was used to simplify the warning system and to separate hurricanes from
other ones toi avoid confusions. Let's revise the history behind the
naming policy first.
For several hundred years, the hurricanes were named after the
saints, but our current naming practice dates back to the end of
the 19th century. The practise of giving storms people's names was
introduced by an Anglo-Australian meteorologist Clement Lindley
Wragge and he used female names and names of the politicians who
had offended him, as well as names from history and mythology. Later,
and even today, the World Meteorological Organization has been
in charge of deciding the hurricane names.
In keeping with the common English language practice of referring to
named inanimate objects such as boats, trains, etc., using the female
pronoun "she," names used were exclusively feminine. Because tropical
storms and hurricanes are often destructive, some considered this
practice sexist. The WMO responded to these concerns in 1979 with
the introduction of masculine names to the nomenclature.
Let's return to the present day and think about this for a second.
In terms of equality, this new approach seems fair, and logically
there is no any flaws in it, but what feels silly to me is that
we have a historical system that offends women and we fix it by
equally offending everybody. This is exactly what is wrong with
today's society. Equality triumphs over everything and makes
sensible solutions to problems seem entirely secondary. Has
anyone ever thought that we could throw the old-established
naming policy out of the window and start naming the hurricanes
after something else? And actually stop offending anyone? Of
course not, because asking questions is far less important than
throwing rocks at people, as long as you stone men, women, white
people, black people, asians, heterosexuals and homosexuals so
that nobody leaves the spot without the same amount of serious
injuries that prevent you from walking.
Why in the hell are we playing a miserable game of solitaire
that cannot be won? Aren't we all on the losing side balancing a
metaphorical lead scales to measure that everyone gets the
exact same amount of contaminated water?
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