Claudia touches on an aspect of this discussion which I've been ruminating
about... Not so much our sins of commission but rather our sins of ommission
-- what IS the "chilling effect" of yahoo-ism -- seems obvious to me from
the relative paucity of "controversial exhibits" that many (most?) museums are
gun-shy
(I have a related experience in getting permissions to print an Internet
dialog -- about wetlands -- two or three of the discussants declined to
have their Internet messages published citing specifically the general
"climate" in Washington, D.C. and their fears of reprisals or even just
being perceived as environmentally "controversial") -- what IS the cost
to the quality of our public discourse, to our national "culture" of allowing
cynicism and bigotry to intimidate, to control, our political/cultural
expression?

I second the notion of our community organizing for more effective reponses...
(and not just at the national/AAM level...)
Tom
                Tom Moritz  Academy Librarian
                California Academy of Sciences
                Golden Gate Park
                San Francisco, California  94118
                415-750-7101 -- VOICE
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                Internet: [log in to unmask]


On Wed, 3 Apr 1996, Claudia Nicholson wrote:

> So Greg Koos says:
>
> >These attacks are conducted in order to further inflame the American public.
> > That is why Newt & Co. misinfrom people about the contents of the exhibits
> >and their themes.
> >>
> And I say that museums should respond.  My question is, how?  Many of us
> work for entities of government--we cannot talk with the press except after th
e
> approval of 12 layers of bureaucracy!  Others of us work for private non-
> profits, which depend upon public goodwill and contributions.  With all
> due deference to Hank Burchard and his fellow scribes, most members of the
> press SEEM to be interested in the "sound bite" or "pithy quote".  Some-
> times, an explanation of the contents of an exhibit or the reason for an
> inflammatory object therein takes more than a sentence.
>
> Can we develop a series of short, on-point responses to the kind of silly
> posturing politicians do over our serious, well-thought-out exhibits?  And,
> what exactly is the venue in which these responses could be made?
>
> Claudia Nicholson
> Curator of Collections
> South Dakota State Historical Society, Pierre
>
> [log in to unmask]