Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 18, 1995 TAG: 9503210003
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
He's right when noting that Hitler, Mussolini and Stalin all used state-run broadcasting to transform the masses into fanatic, nationalistic zealots. Let's obliterate ``Sesame Street'' before another child masters such anarchistic skills as counting by fives, and uses this skill trying to mesmerize you and me.
Must we tolerate ``Reading Rainbow,'' classical-music concerts, that degenerate Barney or Garrison Keillor with his atheistic ``Prairie Home Companion''? We know when we're being brainwashed. Lake Wobegon is a metaphor for a working-class, socialist/utopian society. I was told that Wobegon is Moscow spelled upside down in Russian letters. Burton's right when he says a free society of taxpaying citizens shouldn't be forced to pay for such drivel.
A Feb. 27 article (``Few worries for TV children; also no school, no family'' from The New York Times) told of a study on children's programming that uncovered some very disturbing facts. It seems public television goes out of its way to portray some imaginary, wildly diverse society with 65 percent of the population in children's programming being nonwhite. What's more, kids on PBS programs hardly ever lie, hit or engage in anti-social activities. Our world isn't that way.
Commercial television, with its population composed overwhelmingly of white kids - most of whom lie, hit, cheat and steal to get along - is more mainstream. That's the society I see. Commercial television has its drawbacks, but at least you can't accuse it of being highbrow.
Burton's right about the 10th Amendment. So, turn off, America. Or better yet, don't turn on in the first place. It's in our bones to avoid repression. And while we're at it, let's get rid of those snotty museums, libraries, mindless public schools and universities, sprawling military bases and tedious national parks that cost us so much in taxes and only benefit a segment of society.
PAGE CHICHESTER
ROANOKE
Some things should be left un-hip
I'M UPSET with the first couple of paragraphs of Dwayne Yancey's Big Boy article (Feb. 22, ``Hoo boy! A bad-boy Big Boy'').
Even if I weren't a First Union employee, I'd still be impressed by the beauty of the First Union Tower on Roanoke's skyline. When this building was first built, many of my friends talked of how nice it looked. I think it adds much to our fine downtown area.
What is a shock is to take a national landmark that many (including me) grew up with and making it ``hip.'' Isn't anything sacred anymore? Does everything have to be updated to the '90s?
I'm all for nostalgia. I just hope that Elias Bros. Vice President Bill Morgan's legal department can keep away the earring and tattoo. Let's keep some things as they were when people of my age group (40 to 50) were growing up. We need some of those memories unchanged.
BRIAN D. BOWMAN
ROANOKE
Science is not the culprit
IN RESPONSE to Justin Askins' March 6 commentary ``Science, it seems, is not an exact science'':
After reading his assessment of the field of science, I wonder what has made him speak with such reckless generalization against scientists. He certainly doesn't justify his stance in his rambling diatribe.
He suggests that science is a ``mythology'' that has led to such problems as overpopulation, ozone depletion, and air and water pollution. But, in the first place, the reason that science isn't a mythology - which Askins pointed out - is that it's falsifiable. If observations don't support a theory, then the theory may be wrong, and more information may be necessary to further understand the particular phenomenon. In this fashion, scientists continually revise and refine our understanding of how the world works. Mythology, on the other hand, differs in that particular ideas may be held without any empirical support.
Second, it's backwards that he blames science for problems like those mentioned above when it's science that has revealed the existence to these problems and offers solutions! There's a fundamental difference between what discoveries are made in science and what technologies are used or misused by society based on these discoveries.
MATTHEW B. LOVERN
BLACKSBURG
Beagle is simply not tuned in
I FOUND Ben Beagle's Feb. 23 article ``4 solid hours'' very silly, and I'm not sure what the point was. Why is a man his age watching MTV anyway? Of course, he's not going to get it. MTV is probably as much fun for him to watch as playing bingo is for me. MTV is targeted for teen-agers and 20-somethings. VH1 is probably more up Beagle's alley.
He also made the videos he viewed sound like pretty, but not understandable, pictures set to music. But a majority of MTV's videos are very artistic, and are what some call ``mini-movies.''
MTV has more than just videos. It has critically acclaimed shows and specials including the ``Sex in the '90s'' series; ``The Real World,'' a question-and-answer forum with President Clinton; and the documentaries ``A Generation Under the Gun'' and ``Straight Dope,'' which helps educate today's youth on today's problems.
If your newspaper plans to do future articles on youth-oriented entertainment, at least let one of your younger writers cover it (if there are any).
BLAKE S. BENTLEY
ROANOKE
by CNB