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- From: mildred@sunny.brooks (Aunt Mildred)
- Subject: Re: support for the arts in the US
- Message-ID: <1992Dec14.024140.5900@bmerh85.bnr.ca>
- Sender: news@bmerh85.bnr.ca (Usenet News)
- Reply-To: nadeau@bnr.ca
- Organization: Bell-Northern Research Ltd., Ottawa
- References: <1gdnomINN3or@agate.berkeley.edu> <1992Dec13.042309.25048@bmerh85.bnr.ca> <1gesthINN9bt@agate.berkeley.edu>
- Date: Mon, 14 Dec 92 02:41:40 GMT
- Lines: 79
-
- In article <1gesthINN9bt@agate.berkeley.edu> curtis@cs.berkeley.edu (Curtis Yarvin) writes:
- >
- >The difference is that presumably you are old enough now to pay
- >for your own artistic voices, and do not have to stick a gun in
- >the back of poor Great-Aunt Mildred, who has not read anything
- >but TV Guide since 1974 and cannot tell artistic voices from
- >the mating calls of plumbing.
- >
- >Do not automatically assume that you are superior to old bag
- >Mildred and thus have a right to take her money; even were the
- >former true the latter is not, I think, the sort of precedent
- >you want to be setting.
-
- Well, I'm certainly glad Rheal, my nephew, told me about this. Such an
- impertinent young man you are, Mr. Yarvin! "Old bag", indeed! I hope
- you enjoy feeling so superior to your elders!
-
- Now, it's true I don't read as much as I used to - my eyes tire so
- quickly now, you know. But really, to suggest that makes me totally
- ignorant! Manners simply aren't what they used to be, let me tell you.
-
- Really, you sound just like my crabby neighbour, Mr. Neelan. Such a
- crank, you know. You should hear him: "Government shouldn't be paying
- these baby bonusses - a perfect waste of taxpayers' money. No one
- forces people to have children, so they can damned well support them
- themselves." (I apologize for the language, but it really isn't my job
- to clean up Mr. Neelan's language, is it?)
-
- That's easy for an old bachelor like him to say, when no woman was
- willing to put up with him.
-
- Then, the other day, he's up in the most frightful temper, because the
- government has delayed construction of yet another freeway. "How is the
- business of the nation supposed to take place without proper roads," he
- complained. Well I guess I'm in no position to comment on that, since I
- never did learn to drive - my husband would have been most upset if I'd
- suggested it, you know, and once he passed away, I simply couldn't be
- bothered. I do wish, though, they'd make it a bit easier for an old
- woman to take a bus to the Senior's Centre.
-
- But then Mr. Neelan is always complaining about things. The CBC, for
- example, he just hates the CBC. "Frightful waste of taxpayers' money",
- he says. "Unfair competition to the private networks." Well, I think
- he's just mad because Hockey Night In Canada doesn't show as many
- Toronto Maple Leaf games as they used to.
-
- Well, I'm just an old woman, but I do think it would be sad if that Mr.
- Mulroney was to cut funding so the CBC couldn't make those lovely shows
- anymore. I really did love Anne of Green Gables, you know. And what
- would life have been without Tommy Hunter for all those years?
-
- Well, Mr. Yarvin, I may not be a great art expert, but I did enjoy
- visiting the National Gallery last year. Such a lovely building, you
- know, and some lovely paintings in there. I certainly don't understand
- all that modern art, but I even enjoyed that Voice of Fire that caused
- such a fuss. Very pretty, you know, even if it is only three stripes.
-
- And while I don't read much anymore, just Reader's Digest now and then,
- I was ever so proud when that young man, I wish I could remember his
- name, won that prestigious Booker Prize over in England. If he ever did
- receive any grants from the Canada Council, I would say that was money
- well spent, since he brings all of us such honour. Why, it makes me
- wish my eyes didn't tire so quickly, so I could actually read his book;
- the fellow on television said it was ever so interesting.
-
- Anyway, Mr. Yarvin, all that talk of sticking guns in my back is
- nonsense. I pay my taxes like a good citizen, and I thank the Lord for
- letting me live in a compassionate society like ours. Of course, I do
- think things get frightfully expensive at times, but I really don't see
- how cutting a few millions here and there on art would make much of a
- difference. Why, if they really wanted to save money, I think they
- would do better to improve the trains and busses so people wouldn't need
- to drive everywhere; then they wouldn't need to spend all that money on
- those noisy roads. But please don't tell Mr. Neelan I said that - he
- complains enough as it is!
-
- Affectionately yours,
-
- Aunt Mildred
-