?P#S CHANNEL 9 execu-
tives may not realize it yet,
but they are in danger of
losing s good number of
their once-loval subscribers.
By Peggy Frendell-Whitaker
Contributing Writer

1 have noticed a disturbing
trend in which people who once
only admitted to watching
Pdasterpiece Theatre, nature shows
or Knowledge Network program-
ming are now openly boasting
about viewing habits that include
sitcoms of the Married With
Children variety.

What makes this trend par-
ticularly worrisome is that it is the

very powerbrokers of Vancouver’s
downtown core who are at the
forefront of this turning tide: men
and women who act as role
models for cur young and who
occupy positions the rest of us can
but aspire to.

My intense sociological research
on this subject has been with two
members of the local Corporate
Elite (CE), whose actions first
tipped me off as to the seriousness
of our situation.

‘Hey, member of the local
Corporate Elite,"’ I said to one a
while back, “‘I can’t help but
notice that you channel-flip, often
until 4a.m., between several tele-
vision shows that have been rated
unsuitable for any viewer with a
modicum of intelligence, taste, or
desire to lead a normal, fulfilling
life.”

And to the second, a man who,
for the purposes of this article I
will refer to as ‘*Peter,”’ since that
is his real narne: *‘Hey, Peter, 1
can’t help but find it incongruous
that your entertainment hours are
devoted to watching B-Grade
movies featuring seven-foot ants
preying on suburbanites when,
seemingly, your working life re-
quires you to have the intelligence
necessary to alleviate crises in
which the fate of the free worid
hangs in the balance.”

Both men’s exaggeratedly pa-
tient replies were similar cnough
to make me wonder if pre-
fabricated defences have been
faxed, couriered, and inter-office
memoed among those members of
the local CE who are organizing
this plot to turn us into a nation

of TV weenies.

“le’s my way of relaxing,"’ they
both explained with that touch of
paternal condescension that prac-
tised members of the CE are so
good at.

Friday, June 19, 1992 - North Shore News ~ 7

INSIGHTS
Tuning out with Channel Zero

“After an incredibly gruelling
day at the office, I've just got to
turn my mind off and unwind.”’

Since then, this ‘‘I’ve got to
relax’’ justification has grown to
the point where it has become a

mark of prestige to be found wat-
ching the most inane drivel, in-
dicating the amazingly taxing day
the viewer has undergone.

Now, just try to tell them that
perhaps America's Funniest Home

Public inquiry needed into moth spraying

Dear Editor:

Although not a single eggmass
was found, Agriculture Canada
embarked on their $6 million
spray program anyway.

This was done, we were told, to
prevent a ‘‘possible’’ infestation
of Asian gypsy moth. But surely
this is carrying the practice of
prevention to the heights of ab-
surdily.

This is the first time in history
that any human population has
been subjected to four aerial
sprayings of Bacillus thuringiensis
kurstaki (BTK). The long-term
effects of this experiment, which
saturated a densely populated ur-
ban area with massive amounts of
pesticide, are impossible to
predict. Even the current spray
programs in Washington and

Foundation thanks supporters

Dear Editor:

On behalf of the Heart and
Stroke Foundation of B.C. and
Yukon, I would like to thank and
congratulate the volunteer leaders
and canvassers who worked so
hard during West Vancouver's
door-to-door campaign last Feb-
ruary.

Thanks, also, to all those who
said ‘‘yes’ when the canvasser

came to call.

Because of your efforts, we
have exceeded last year’s con-
tributions in West Vancouver.
This money will go a long way in
the fight against heart and stroke
disease.

Marsha Munsie

Regional coordinator

West Vancouver and Sunshine
Coast

Oregon are limiting their number
of aerial applications to a max-
imum of three sprayings, irrespec-
tive of weather conditions.

There are records of the Asian
gypsy moth having visited Van-
couver many .imes in the past. It
has come down here from China,
Korea and in shrubs from Japan
in 1912. More recently, it was
brought here by a Russian
freighter in 1982.

There has never been a spray
program before, nor an infesta-
tion, as this moth is unable to
adapt itself to our climate.

However, consider for a mo-
ment the dilemma we would be in
if Agriculture Canada had been
right and this moth really was
gnawing its way through our
greenery. Based on their claim
that this is a one-time only
eradication program, their ap-
proach would have been totally
ineffective. BTK is not an eradica-
tion product and has never before

been used for this purpose. It is a
contro] agent only, and as such is
approximately 60% effective.

This fact is quite dramatically
borne out at present by the
swarms of butterflies and moths
seen floating around everywhere.
Even if this pesticide was 100%
effective, the only way to prevent
more moths from jumping ship in
future would be to maintain the
current quarantine for all time. Of
course, this would have a far
more devastating effect on the
economy than any perceived
threat from the gypsy moth.

In view of this, there is no
doubt that Agriculture Canada
rushed headlong into this totally
unnecessary spray scheme, refus-
ing to allow even a token amount
of time for research and study.

A full public enquiry should be
held without delay.

Dianne Wharton
Society Targeting the Overuse of
Pesticides (STOP)

44... it has become a
mark of prestige to be
found watching the
most inane drivel,
indicating the
amazingly taxing day
the viewer has
undergone. 99

Videos or Studs are time-wasters
and mind-suckers.

That kind of remark will earn
you a withering stare, expressing:
“IF you can sit there and watch
educational programming, you
obviously haven’t had nearly as
important a day as I have.”

As this attitude spreads through
corporate boardrooms and takes
hold in the highest echelons of our
society, it will soon become a ma-
jor mistake to leave the PBS
Channel 9 magazine on your desk
where colleagues, or, God forbid,
superiors coutd see it and form
their own conclusions.

People inviting the bass over to
dinner will be careful to snap the
TV off only after she has
witnessed the fact that they have
‘been watching appropriately
mindless programming.

ft may even get to the point
that job applicants, instead of
undergoing handwriting analysis
tests, will have to answer TV triv-
ia questions that test their knowl-
edge of television personalities like
Vanna White and the ongoing
“plot’’ of Married With Children.

And those of us who aren’t
willing to give up our preference
for more challenging televisual
feasts will have to go undercover.

What really concerns me is that
this trend might spread to the
print medium. Will we one day be
displaying supermarket tabloids
on our coffee tables and re-
questing that the New York Times
Book Review be delivered in a
plain brown wrapper?

Let's hope not. Because for this
non-member of the focal Cor-
porate Elite, a good book is the
very best way to relax.

Lottery could
settle debate

Dear Editor:
If the West

Vancouver
School Board is willing to
gamble on an 11% increase in
property values by 1994 to pay
for a new Caulfeild school,
why not organize a lottery for
the citizens of West Vancouver
to guess the average value of
the Hillside lots?

The lottery could be orga-
nized su that each participant
paid $5 for the privilege of
guessing the 1994 lot value,
and in exchange for the privi-
fege of participating in the
event to sell off Hillside, the
school board will be abie to
shore up the operating costs
and hire back teachers with the
monies earned — $1.5 million
if everyone in the district par-
ticipates.

Andree Vajda Janyk
West Vancouver