While perusing the blogosphere today, I noticed about two-thirds of all posting titles include the word Arizona. It seems Arizona is the new healthcare or Paris Hilton. By the way, since I just used the words Paris Hilton, my blog will be linked to about fifty more sites. With this in mind, I’d also like to say Alec Baldwin, Steve Jobs, Lebron James, Glenn Beck, and Acacia Berry. Oh, and why don’t I throw in Ken Burns to see if the NPR show page will pick me up.
But I digress, this blog is not about listing names or subjects such as socialist, American Idol, Obamacare, Chuck Norris, or Snuggie. No, this blog is about Arizona! Just a month ago Arizona was among the forgotten states of our land. Arizona was barely mentioned outside of the occasional John McCain or Grand Canyon related story.
Oh how times have changed. Arizona is now the darling of the media landscape. From boycotts to buycotts everyone is thinking and linking the word Arizona.
Which got me thinking. This whole controversial law thing can really put a lackluster location on the map. Forget about tourism boards, just make a wacky law or two and you’re sure to get the travelers in droves. With this in mind, I’ve come up with a few suggestions for other states to increase their internet buzz and possible tourism dollars.
Missouri could make a law changing their state nickname from “The show-me state” to the “Show-me your papers state.”
New Hampshire’s motto could be tweaked a bit by the legislative process. Instead of “Live free or die” they could insert “Live free or die with the appropriate papers.”
Florida could change their motto from “In God we trust” to “In God we trust, but in you we are less certain, so please show me your papers.”
Indiana’s motto could be altered from “Crossroads of America” to “Crossroads of North America.”
The legislator of Idaho could vote on a bipartisan bill slightly rewording their motto from “Esto perpetua” to “You’re in Idaho! Speak American!”
Even Rhode Island could get in on the internet publicity if they’d only consider changing their state motto from “Hope” to “Hope you have your papers.”
The possibilities are endless. No name states could become the talk of the world if they would only consider passing one really incendiary law.
Just to be fair, Arizona has not changed their state motto. Their official motto is “Ditat Deus” which means “God enriches.”
Even so, Arizona may want to reconsider changing their motto if publicity dies down. Maybe they could just lengthen it a bit to something such as “God enriches Paris Hilton, George Clooney, Madonna, Youtube, Brad Pitt, Sandra Bullock, boy in a balloon, and whatever else optimizes our position on Google’s search engine.”
Douglas Bursch is the author of Posting Peace: Why Social Media Divides Us and What We Can Do About It. He also hosts The Fairly Spiritual Show podcast.