Who's culture are you discussing in our multicultural society?  I suspect
the museum professional's culture.  In your museum's mission statement I
suspect that there are some references to serving and educating the
public (all cultures) Museum professionals must make accomodations for
those that want to lick paintings and see what marble genitals feel
like-  if they are to thrive and not just survive.

On Thu, 22 Feb 1996, David Haberstich wrote:

>  You can call me culturally arrogant if you wish, but I find that
> visitors who do not know how to behave in museums are just part of a
> larger problem. A lot of Americans don't seem to know how to behave
> according to the standards of the culture into which they were born. And
> they don't WANT to know how to behave in an "alien" environment like a
> museum. They don't really care. They want to be able to do their own
> thing and trash other people's environments as readily as they trash
> their own. What SHOULD happen when ANYONE enters a place of business,
> someone else's home, or a "cultural" center like a museum with which
> they are not familiar is that they should take the trouble to learn the
> prevailing customs and rules and treat people and objects with respect.
> Whether we're talking about mishandling museum objects or dumping toxic
> wastes, the name of that game is DISRESPECT. So I guess I must disagree
> with the basic premise of Greg McManus's post. Whether the cause is
> stupidity or cupidity, I think it's the loud, disrespectful,
> "touchy-feely" visiting vandals in museums who are the culturally
> arrogant! We seem to be moving into an era in which disrespect for
> people and the environment is the prevailing culture: that's a culture I
> personally cannot understand and cannot respect. Call it corny, but
> REVERENCE for people and the history of the creative products of their
> minds and hands is what got me into the museum business in the first
> place. It's painful that so few people share that reverence. --David
> Haberstich
>