What's in a Name, Lynchburg?

In the 2007 film "Shooter,"  some scenes near the climax are depicted as taking place in Lynchburg, Virginia.  There's no question that the people who made this movie did a great all-around job, and it already has a solid seat in the first row of the Assassination genre of American movies.   But no one can tell me that those filmmakers didn't pick Lynchburg purely because the name suggested a lot of mindless mayhem and for no other reason.   Lynchburg (pop: about 65,000) is the nearest city of any size to here, but aside from a scene that looked as if it was set in a Sam's or a Wal-mart, the film showed nothing whatever that suggested the place so familiar to us.   As cities go Lynchburg is an unusually sedate, unexciting place, with no history of mindless mayhem that I'm aware of, now or in more ancient days..   Like any city it has a lot of buildings and streets and not much else, but the film showed only some very remote countryside where one of the characters could in a short while be taught all the niceties of sniper shooting.

Nevertheless, this film should remind us that, because of the suggestiveness that it carries, Lynchburg should start thinking seriously about changing its name, a move that is way overdue.

Naturally those who live there would immediately start yelling bloody murder should this idea ever get out.    "It's just a name and nothing else!" they will scream with all the righteousness in the world.   (Among other things, Lynchburg is the home of the Jerry Falwell crowd of religious fundamentalists.).

All the same, there must be some good reasons why the U.S. contains no Shitville, Indiana, or a Fuckaduck, Arizona (unless it's in Spanish).