At 10:44 AM 2/20/96, Kersti Krug wrote:
>
>I'm responding to Rebecca Ann Wells' story about how Lisa Simpson's
>"disovery" of truth in a museum case made "the Historical Society look
>very unprofessional."  She (Wells, not Lisa) regretted that "museums in
>the media seem to be looking foolish."  Though I agree that this was an
>unnecessarily stupid TV plot, I think it's only when the media targets
>"our" profession that we notice these things.  I've become particularly
>aware recently of how foolish, incompetent, and just plain stupid people
>are made to look in commercials.  (Is there a media plot afoot?)
>
I suppose I should rise to the defense of the Simpsons, at least in part.

While I agree that the museum professional did look silly, leaving a glass
case wide open while going to microwave his meal, there seemed to be a bit
of social commentary that is being discussed on another thread about whom
we serve.

In the story line of the Simpsons, when the truth was uncovered about the
founder of Springfield it was much easier to suppress the truth than to
bring it to light. While I don't think museum professionals really do that,
how often have attempts to bring new information to light been met by jeers
from some segments of society of "revisionist history" by
"academic/cultural elites"? One recent attempt to deal with all sides of a
story by a major U.S. museum comes quickly to mind.

We have our cultural myths, and when new information comes to light that
challenges our cultural myths, some people will get upset. The Simpsons is
just a cartoon, but at times I have found some very insightful social
commentary (although a bit unorthodox).

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John Chadwick, system analyst
New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science
1801 Mountain Road NW
Albuquerque, NM 87104
[log in to unmask],     http://www.aps.edu/HTMLPages/NMMNH.html
phone: (505) 841-2843 FAX (505) 841-2866
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