>Is Baltimore alone?  Has anyone else noticed this tendency in MN and
>other AAM publications and forums?  When I go to meetings, conferences,
>and symposia here and around the country I have heard similar stories.
>Why doesn't Museum News cover these issues with more perspective and
>thought?

>Matthew A. White

Some simplistic answers from my 23 years in the field are:

1) No one likes to point out that the emperor has no clothes.

2) The new girlfriend always looks better than the faithful old wife.

3) Politicians build monuments to themselves rather than simply hacking their
   predecessors' names off the old monument and replacing it with their own.

4) America usually destroys the old in favor of the new, even if the new
doesn't work.

5) Feel good sells better than feel bad.

6) Professional journals are often window dressing to display
accomplishments for         politicians and prospective employers, not as
forums for debate, trials and
   tribulations.

Can anyone add to this list?
----------------------
Byron Johnson, Director
Texas Ranger Hall of Fame and Museum
P.O. Box 2570, Waco, Texas 76702-2570
E-Mail: [log in to unmask]
------------------------------
"...Unless a people are educated and enlightened it is idle
to expect the continuance of civil liberty or the capacity
for self-government."
Texas Declaration of Independence,  March 2, 1836.