I think you MISSED the basic premise of my message... Greg McManus On Thu, 22 Feb 1996, David Haberstich wrote: > You can call me culturally arrogant if you wish, but I find that >visitors who do not know how to behave in museums are just part of a >larger problem. A lot of Americans don't seem to know how to behave >according to the standards of the culture into which they were born. And >hey don't WANT to know how to behave in an "alien" environment like a >museum. They don't really care. They want to be able to do their own >thing and trash other people's environments as readily as they trash >their own. What SHOULD happen when ANYONE enters a place of business, >someone else's home, or a "cultural" center like a museum with which >they are not familiar is that they should take the trouble to learn the >prevailing customs and rules and treat people and objects with respect. >Whether we're talking about mishandling museum objects or dumping toxic >wastes, the name of that game is DISRESPECT. So I guess I must disagree >with the basic premise of Greg McManus's post. Whether the cause is >stupidity or cupidity, I think it's the loud, disrespectful, >"touchy-feely" visiting vandals in museums who are the culturally >arrogant! We seem to be moving into an era in which disrespect for >people and the environment is the prevailing culture: that's a culture I >personally cannot understand and cannot respect. Call it corny, but >REVERENCE for people and the history of the creative products of their >minds and hands is what got me into the museum business in the first >place. It's painful that so few people share that reverence. --David >Haberstich