--- Lynne Ranieri <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>      Is our obligation merely to present the issues to the viewer
> (as in an exhibition), in as unbiased a way as we can, to let them decide how
> they feel about it?  Does that mean we should show what some members of our
> society deemed the "benefits" of slavery, for instance, in addition to its
> horrors, in order that visitors to our museums can decide for themselves how
> they feel about it?

Personally, and I don't know what the current museum exhibit philosophy is
(Maybe Fritz Waidacher can chime in on this as it's more of his area) but I
think that objects, culture and time periods should be shown in as
non-judgemental fashion as possible so that people can decide for themselves
what they think.

While I do agree that some practices like slavery are universally abhorrent,
some people tend to get really irked if you tell them what to think (me for
example :). Even if the situation is obvious, letting people make up their own
minds is far more powerful and lasting than telling them how bad something was.


For example, at the National Holocaust Museum in DC, there is a box car that
you can walk through that's either an actual or a replica of the ones used to
transport victims to the camps. Walking through that tiny box car with only
tiny cracks between the boards for light is far more powerful for conveying the
horrors of those trains than a pannel explaining how bad those horrors were.
And even if you do explain the box car in detail, some people will still be
skeptical unless they can see it for themselves.

There's an adage that goes "Tell someone there are a billion stars in the
galaxy and they'll believe you. Tell them that the paint is wet and they have
to touch it." While few people will deny something happened during a time
period, if you want them to have an opinion of it, you'll need to let them
figure it out for themselves - touch the wet paint so to speak. Else you'll
have a bunch of people walking around saying "well it doesn't look wet to me!"

Deb

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