The fire-and-brimstone South
I just got back from a week in New Orleans for a work conference. The sign above was what greeted every passenger in the taxicab on the ride from the airport to the hotel on our first day. (No, really — each seat in the vehicle was equipped with this sign.)
Welcome to Louisiana, I guess?
Some might just laugh (at first I did, because really, how else can you react to something so absurd?), but really, I hate this kind of fire-and-brimstone bullshit for which the Deep South has a well-deserved reputation.
It’s symptomatic of a sick society — one that assumes the very worst about people, like the inane notion that there are so many homicidal taxicab passengers that a permanent sign is needed to threaten them (and everyone else, including international tourists who might already view the United States as a Bible-thumping or Wild West society, because, well, we are) with execution, as though such a medieval penalty will somehow dissuade the very few who actually are troubled enough to commit such an act.
As though in-your-face reminders of the iron-fist proclivities of a violent, militant culture will solve any societal problems of any kind, real or imagined. Obviously not — Louisiana has had the highest murder rate of any state per capita for years, despite its (very well-publicized use) of the death penalty.
If this is the way the city of New Orleans or the state of Louisiana would like to welcome its visitors, they ought to rethink their approach.
End of rant. Other than this, it was a great trip.
