Letters, May 15, 1995

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(4 of 5)

Your inexplicably ebullient article "Viva Las Vegas!" [SHOW BUSINESS, April 24] on new musical extravaganzas was offensive -- not so much in its snide negativity toward Broadway, which admittedly has declined in quality in recent years, but in its obsequious drooling over the virtues of Las Vegas, a town that had no quality to begin with. Broadway has faltered not because it isn't enough like Las Vegas but because it has become too much like Las Vegas. The legitimate American musical theater, which is the reason there is a Broadway, is an art form, whereas the splashy Las Vegas musical revue, the reason for which is questionable, is mere entertainment. In your glib comparisons, you confuse art with entertainment.

Matthew Wimmer Fredericksburg, Virginia

OUR BATTERED PLANET

As John Skow notes in his assessment of "our sad planet's health" [ESSAY, April 24], industrial moguls await fulfillment of their dearest wishes: the gutting of environmental laws. It's interesting that when conservatives rail against "special interests," the ones they deride most seem to be the ones whose primary goal is to help people: labor unions, environmentalists and advocacy groups for the disadvantaged. Yet these same conservatives lovingly embrace a different cadre of special interests that, if they realize their dream of deregulation, will happily dance on the bodies of the people made ill by pollution and maimed or killed through occupational injury. And all the while these pet interests of conservatives will rake in the money and dutifully hand it over to the politicians.

Margaret Bamber Washington AOL: Bambi7653

The lurking dismantlement of endangered-species protection coupled with the destruction of priceless habitats is the paramount atrocity of materialism's ruthless tyranny. Only the most crass secular humanist could take delight in the decimation of the last vestige of pristine creation. How mortifying to ponder the reality of religious groups that are not galvanizing to preserve God's natural wonders.

Brien Comerford Glenview, Illinois

PRIVATE HELP FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS

Re your report on how fund raising has become a way of life in the public schools [EDUCATION, April 24]: I see no problem with parents' trying to bolster their children's education by giving donations. It is the parental contributions to the local pta that allow for the improvement of the technical aspects of the public schools. If affluent parents have to contend with red tape when they want to donate funds for a particular purpose, they will be discouraged from giving money in the future. Leave people to handle their own resources.

Melodie-Allyn BenEzra Poughkeepsie, New York

You showed how the public school systems in this country really work. Parents need to get involved, but when they make the effort, school administrators say get out of the way. I applaud the efforts of parents who want their schools to be the best.

Jim Haaf Jefferson City, Missouri aol: Grndsource