Tuesday, April 26, 2005
Lead Us Not into Temptation
But deliver us from over-zealous city council members. Please deliver us from them.
By way of JL of Modern Kicks, guesting this week at Grammar.police, comes this item from Massachusetts. Here's the lede:
By way of JL of Modern Kicks, guesting this week at Grammar.police, comes this item from Massachusetts. Here's the lede:
NORTH ADAMS -- The North Adams City Council will review today an ordinance proposed by Councilor Robert R. Moulton Jr. "on moral grounds" that would prohibit displays of nude artwork in downtown shops, galleries, sidewalks and public places.The proposed ordinance doesn't have the universal support of Moulton's colleagues on the council. Says one, William Donovan:
In his letter to the council, Moulton stated that he wants councilors "to look into adopting some kind of city ordinance to prohibit the public display of any picture, artwork, painting or statue that shows any nude or partially nude male or female that would be covered on a public beach."
"There must be more to this, because what's on the surface here is something that the City Council should not consider," said Donovan. "If we pass that, we're going to look like a rerun of the Beverly Hillbillies."Actually, if I'm remembering my 1960s sitcoms correctly, the Beverly Hillbillies showed a pretty healthy attitude toward public display of the female anatomy. Maybe Donovan should have referenced something a bit more puritanical and a bit more local--something like The Scarlet Letter or The Crucible, perhaps.
