6 — Wednesday. October 17, 1990 - North Shore News INSIGHTS NEWS VIEWPOINT Can't be half guilty RNOGRAPHY OR not por- nography? The ages-old question was recently weighed by jurors in the highly-publicized Mapplethorpe obscenity case in the United States. Was the museum that organized a show- ing of the American artist’s works — among them graphic photos depicting adult men in sado-masochistic poses and children with their genitals exposed — guilty of displaying pornography in a public place? The jury was made up of working-class Americans who rarely ventured into galler- ies — average citizens who didn’t know art but knew what they liked. The prosecution hoped that the lack of artistic expertise of those citizens would result in an anti-intellectual response and that they would therefore quickly dismiss the shocking images as nothing more than pornography. But that strategy was only partially ef- fective: the uninitiated jurors (one of whom described the photographs as ‘lewd, grotesque, and ° disgusting’’) deferred to defence witnesses who described the work as art and explained that ‘‘art doesn’t have to be beautiful.’”’ Fortunately for American aritsts, and those brave enough to support controver- sial work, those accused of such overex- posure can’t be found half-guilty. it is apparent in the continuimg ari v=r- sus pornography debate, as in other ques- tions dealing with freedom of expression such as censorship and hate literature, those who don’t hold an opinion will be forcefully given one by those who do. LETTER OF THE DAY Water quality still good Dear Editor: North America, The water District and health authorities. It was disappointing to read your Sept. 21 editorial Unwell water commenting on the recently released Greater Vancouver Water District report on drinking water quality, which unfortunately add- ed a colorful position of melo- drama and indignation over the issue rather than sticking to the explanation, tone and facts of the report. To set the record straight, Greater Vancouver’s drinking water quality is the same now as it has always been and it continues to be one of the best sources in Publisher .... Managing Editor Timothy Renshaw Associate Editor .... Noel Wright Advertising Director . Linda Stewart North Shove News, founded in 1969 as an independent distributed from the mountainous watersheds, which are closed to public access, comes totally from rainwater 2nd snowmelt and hence has had no opportunity for con- tamination. It does not get much better than that anywhere. The water has not changed over the years, but the guidelines and standards to judge it by have become much more stringent and the lab testing more sensitive through new procedures. The water is perfectly safe and is tested and monitored continuously by the Greater Vancouver Water suburban newspaper and qualitied under Schedule 111. 1139 Lonsdale Avenue, Paragraph Ill of the Excise Tax Act, is published each Wednesday. Friday and Sunday by North Snore Free North Vancouver, B.C. Press Lid. and disttiuled to every door on the North V7M 2H4 Shore. Second Class Mail Registration Number 3885 sSubscaptions North and West Vancouver, $25 per year 59,170 (average, Wednesday Maikng rates available on request. Submissions are it welcome bul we cannot accept tesponsibility for Friday & Sunday) unsohcited matetial including manuscripts and prctures a oo which should be aCcompaniec by a stamped, addressed % & . SI envelope. SDA DIVISION ne Entire contents © 1990 North Shore Free Press Ltd. All rights reserved. The proposed program, which is estimated to cost from $100 mil- lion to $500 million, is intended to upgrade the level of bacteriological protection and esthetic quality to meet the new standards and the public’s expec- tations and to make sure that Greater Vancouver continues to maintain its well deserved reputa- tion as one of the best tasting and natural drinking water sources in North America. J.R. Morse, P.Eng. Chief Engineer Greater Vancouver Water District ......Peter Speck —eeen sn ee Display Advertising 980-0511 Classified Advertising 986-6222 Newsroom 985-2131 Distribution 986-1337 sunaarTeronrspersrmeee — — SUDSCTiptiONS 986-1337 Fax 985-3227 MEMBER North Shore owned and managed Now, tell us all about Bill ruining B.C:! IN THE ongoing battle between the media ard the politi- cians there are no saints. Of necessity, both are sinners and thus Bill Vander Zalm’s beef about media witch hunts is, to a point, valid. The journalist’s job, it’s been said, is to *‘comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable’’ — the theory being that by afflicting the latter we reduce their chances of afflicting the former. The ap- plication to so-called democratic government is obvious. As Brian Mulroney is magnificently demonstrating, gov- ernments under our present system are ‘‘democratic’’ only every four years. Once elected, caucus loyalty to the boss turns them into four- year dictatorships — going through the motions of listening to the peasants, but in effect do- ing whatever they wish. Automatically, therefore, the media’s duty is to keep a con- stantly critical watch on govern- ment. To maintain any democratic balance, the media must be the former's natural adversary from one election to the next. In practice, however, it’s not quite as siraple as it sounds to be a fair and entirely truthful adver- sary — assuming you think that even government is at least entitl- ed to fairness and truth. And for this we ourselves are much to blame. We have a very short at- tention span and we love to be titiNated. Only two media present the do- ings of government with complete and objective truth: Hansard and its TV equivalent, Channel 34’s continuous coverage of the Com- mons. Both demand an enormous amount of time and, for 99 per cent of voters, can be incredibly boring. So what’s left? Tight space in newspapers for any individual news item. TVS 10-second clip. And fierce com- petition among all media for a busy, TV-addicted audience that wants fast information, preferably packaged as ENTERTAINMENT — in short, drama and conflict. That’s what. I'm sure you can make your own way from here, dear reader. Because Bill Vander Zalm mis- led the public — knowingly or not — about his shares in Fantasy NEWS photo mike Waketleld A KIWANIS gift to tizeless Rete McKay from Club past presi- dent Don McKay (see column item). Noel Wright a Ls ae HITHER AND YON Gardens, it’s argued he could also mislead voters on matters vitally affecting them. But until this is proven, is it really of any concern to them whether he owned, on paper, 83 per cent or 8.3 per cent of a business run by his wife? It made a great story, however, of a type endlessly duplicated by the media in their watchdog role. Such stories are fun and shed in- teresting light on the personalities of our elected servants. The only problems being that they tell us nothing about how government is actually HAN- DLING our affairs and they scare many of our ablest citizens from entering public service at all. The Fantasy Gardens soap opera shows signs already of backfiring by casting Vander Zalm as an ‘‘underdog,”’ a sound elec- tion label for any politician. So if the media also believe he’s running B.C.’s economy, they’d now be safer to stick with trying to prove THAT by next April. Un-sexy though the story may be! TAILPIECES: The survivor of perhaps the North Shore’s most remarkable couple is with us no longer. I first met Arthur and Anne Cragg on a very special wedding anniversary three years ago in the trim Westview Drive bungalow he buil: for them in 1946. Not a Golden nor a Dia- mond Anniversary — this was their 75th! — and they were still clearly as devoted to each other as on that July day in 1912 when they stood at the altar in Prince Albert. The love affair continued for to more years, until Anne’s death last December, aged 97, just seven months before Arthur's 100th birthday. Twelve days ago he slipped quietly away to rejoin his sweetheart ... Honored the other week by the North Van Kiwanis Club was Rete McKay, coordinator of City and District parks events and for years a tireless worker in other communi- ty activities — including a long association with their own club ... And a very happy 43rd anniver- sary tomorrow, Oct. 18, to Woodcroft’s Jack and Phyitis In- sull. eee WRIGHT OR WRONG: Treat flattery like chewing gum — enjoy it for a short while, but don’t swallow it.