Bill Lee, the Tennessee governor, on Friday said he favored a proposal to rename Nashville’s international airport after legendary country singer Dolly Parton, who died three days earlier at age 80.
In a statement, Lee said he and the managers of the airport in Tennessee’s capital city – where Parton resided – wanted to create “a lasting tribute to her indelible legacy and the generations of people she inspired”. He said he had spoken previously to the 11-time Grammy winner and her team, who were “touched by the idea”.
“Dolly Parton’s extraordinary life is forever woven into the fabric of our state,” Lee said, noting that Nashville airport is where Tennessee welcomes the world.
I think it’s more acceptable to do it for someone who’s already dead, not the least because that means it can’t be an effort to stroke their ego in an attempt to curry favor.
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Heres the really cool part! We can just…not name things after dogshit people! If you live in a country where they name things after dogshit people, consider that you, yourself, live in a dogshit country!
That can be difficult enough to evaluate in the moment that I’m more willing to forgive it if the namesake is dead, and while I woukd prefer such names be changed that can be an even greater ordeal.
I will also forgive a place getting named after a living person if they funded it themselves, not the least because that seems like a good incentive to get rich people to fund infrastructure.