Lonn, I took it from a different perspective:

1.  I was glad to see them admit that it wasn't the
appropriate venue.

2.  I felt it honorable that they had committed to a
legal contract and presumably knew that breaching that
agreement could have significant legal and public
relations backlash.

I walked away from that note thinking that, perhaps,
those who enter into such agreements might further
scrutinize future activities and that, most probably,
based on what was transpiring here, there was a
significant ripple at the administrative level of the
museum.  If the peer group felt this strongly about
the topic, the institution was paying heed.

The film is a propaganda piece targeted to be viewed
at a location to add more credence to the propaganda. 
Unless the museum takes positive public relations
corrective measures, there will continue to be
significant backlash in the days ahead.

As for those who indicate the Smithsonian is going
commercial, I remember volunteering in 96 for the
150th.  It was already commercial then.  Corporations
were sponsoring the major exhibits and attaching their
name thereto.

Now about this "those people" and "I'm a Christian"
counter, and the additional comment about power v.
knowledge, there is a culture war brewing here in the
USA.  Our political branch is receiving heavy funding
and advice from right-wing Christian groups.  Some of
the backlash of that is many Americans are playing
"Emperor's New Clothes."  They're afraid to say that
the Emperor is naked lest they be perceived as being
unChristian.  So they attempt to demonstrate just how
"Christian" they are, wearing it as though it were a
badge, all the while doing very unChristian things. 
Being a Christian is acting it, not proclaiming it as
though it entitles the proclaimer to some exalted
status over those who are not shouting out their
faith.

For those outside the US--of which there are quite a
number here--remember, too, that there are many from
the US on this list, and we sometimes get enveloped in
the machinations of our political leanings.  People
for the American Way have been monitoring the
right-wing encroachments into everyday living.  See
http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=111 
A Kentucky judge was come under scrutiny of late by
telling offenders to go to church instead of to jail: 
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2002294657_church01.html
 It is one thing to be religious.  It is another to be
overbearing.  Regrettably, the Right Wing religious
groups that promulgate such things as ID have become
overbearing in many walks of American life.



--- Lonn Taylor <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Dear Sally,
> 
>      Dr. Samper's statement concerning the ID film
> is one of the saddest things that I have ever read.
> It means that the Smithsonian is completely in the
> hands of the development officers and the special
> events and business enterprise people, a process
> that was beginning when I retired from the Museum of
> American History three years ago. From my own
> experiences with development offices at the
> Institution, I am sure that the scholarly staff at
> Natural History had no say at all in the decision to
> screen this film. What has happened to the
> Smithsonian should be a lesson to all museums: when
> the fund-raisers take over, all scholarly
> considerations go out the window, because they have
> different goals and march to different drummers.
> Someone, perhaps a new secretary, needs to reassert
> scholarly leadership at the Smithsonian. 
> 
> Lonn Taylor
> Fort Davis, Texas  


Indigo Nights
[log in to unmask]

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