CASTLEGAR NEWS, Thursday, December 7, 1978 eo Nees ‘C00. CO00O0 ACROSS Kitchen worker tale Itahan for “they* Tramp Powder Attached Trips s Actor Young, 9 First wornan: 1 Atterwards 2 Scarlet and tire DOWN Further Scottish grandctutd Sea weed Types at hats ‘apone Soaring (clue to puzzle ar eBed poisesejo uo semsuy cos answer’ 8 Elevated (clue to puzsie InsWwer) eats s+ Of (eliminate) : 6 Carpenter's case 7 Abbreviation for Lorrain Musical sounds Improved Sparord fish Sted As one Map abbreviations Preminger Billboard Happily ---- alter For example Day _, _ One Man's Opinion Public Confession Contrary to what many people think, | do not have all the answers to the many problems confrenting our seciety. Since this [s my last column for 1978, | thought It might be wall to make a public confession, the essence of which has probably been obvious to the more knowledgeable of my readers, | have had but two objects for the more or less steady flow of opinion columns submitted this past two years. They are follows: Perhaps Just one man or woman who Is in a position of responsibility will be caused q to think and perhaps act on the thoughts provoked by these rather naive columns. Secondly, it could be that | may be expressing the thoughts of at least one other man or woman In our little town of Castlegar who feels Just as | do, yet does not possess the confidence to express thelr feeling In public, In most of the columns, | have tried to show at least a glimpse at both sides of the question. Some measure of success has been attained In this regard, because | have had people from opposite camps thank me for taking thelr point of view. suppose the main thrust of any attack positions | have taken can be directed at the lack of understanding shown by our politiclans and senior civil servants. | seem, also, to be hammering at the appalling ignorance and sheep-like trust of myself and others like me who are relying on the expertise, justice and judgement of our leaders. | would ilke to see more evidence of decisions for the public good and less emphasis on self-interest programs that can only feather the nest of the detriment of the rank and file who shuffle along In ignorance. Enough of the Baa future. t would like to thank all those many people who offered me encouragement to continue with these columns. | have spent dozens of hours staring at a blank page asking myself what | could rabble-rouse about this week. Then | would think about Mrs. M. T. or my loyal wife, : | would like to thank the editor and publisher for making room in their paper for opinion columns that may have hurt circulation more than they hélped. The most important thing these latter gentlemen did for me and us was rather fundamental—they altowed an uncensored, private opinion to be expressed In the public media with all the risk and responsibility that entails . . Humbug for this year. | propose to write columns of. encouragement and good cheer In the upcoming year when we will literally be In the . for this | am grateful. CHRISTMAS SHOPPING? GUITARS MAKE THE IDEAL GIFT MERRIMAN MUSIC | 227 - 102nd Street Blueberry Creek 365-3077 to the Chap wants to do a television TV: The Utmost Pap an shortic about me. | hae me doots about agreeing. | have deep suspicions about that particular medium, and a very low regard for the vast majority engaged in its machinations. First of all, TV is one of the most pernicious in- fluences on the imaginations and vocabularies of the young, to whom [ am trying to teach the subtleties and beauties and clarities of the English language. There is almost nothing to stretch the mind, to titillate the senses, to improve the language. Most television drama is one-dimensional. It’s laid out flatly before you. And if, once in a blue moon, there is an intelligent, suspenseful, sensitive and imaginative piece of work on. the screen, the mood is con- stantly shattered by noisy beer ads, or distasteful com- mercials about ring around the collar or underarm deo- dorant. 3 It’s a pity. Television, in the right hands, could be- come the most warming, en- lightening, enlarging e¢x- perience in the lives of many people, aside from their per- sonal experience with other human beings. Bur 90 per cent of it is gar- bage, aimed at the intelli- gence of a slow six-year-old. The tinny, a 1 “ap. plause."* The ever-increasing sexual innuendo. The cons- tant shouting of so-called comedians. The dull and der- ivative dance routines, The blatting and snarling of rock groups. And perhaps worst of all, those insane, greedy game shows, Jt is literal fact that I can searce refrain from throwing up when [ come across one of those, with the bellowing master of cere- monies, the fawning von- testants, and the idiotic au- diences. You know, when television began, it had a good many flaws, but most of them were technical, At the same time it had a vitality and reality that swept all before them. Drama was done live, and we had such great plays as Paddy Chayefsky’s Marty, Compare that reality and pathos with the slobbering, sugar-encrusted stuff like The Waltons. Compare shouting, leering Laverne and Shirley, or the late unlamented Maude with the great comics of the early days: Art Carney and Jackie Gleason, Sid Ceasar and Im- ogene Coca. You can’t. There is no comparison. Perhaps it’s because the big poobahs of television have treated their massive audiences with more con- tempt than any other me- dium has ever done, in- cluding the Hollywood of the big studios. And those appearing on television respond like fawn- ing puppets. Hockey players get into needless fights so that they can display the big macho on the screen. Foot- ball players don't just score a touchdown any more, and leave it at that. They do a dance, or they bounce the ball hard off the ground and fun around with theirarms up in self-congratulation. Learned and — intelligent professors allow themselves to be made ridiculous by rhe- ical questions from ig- t interviewers. Politi- cians allow themselves to be chivvied by churlish — re- porters, just to get their im- ages on the boub tube. Talented people in show business will appear on the Screen with an ape or an alligator, and allow them- selves to be insulted by a late- night-show MC, just to get in the picture, Only very occasionally does someone with great powers of articulation and a certain inborn arrogance, someone like Malcolm Mug- geridge, manage to break through the banality of the typical television interviewer. Only rarely does an inter- viewer, someone like Patrick Watson, break through the carefully guarded porridge of the interviewee. With very few exceptions does a news reporter depart from a delivery as monol- onous as a metronome. The National, Canada's 11 o'clock news, 11:30. i Newfie, is about as as a funeral service, We had smarmy Lloyd Robertson with the oiled tonsils, reading the news as though it were the phone book. Then we had contemptuous Peter Kent, who gave the impres- sion that he was doing us a favor. These days we have dull old solid, stolid George MacLean, who delivers the d Crap news as though it were a warmed-over —_pot-roast. Which it is, on most occa- sions. In short, TV is dull, dull, dull. | have great sympathy for two groups in our socie- ty. One is the oldsters and Waneta Junction YAMAHA Snowmobiles an SYD’S CYCLE LTD. 364-1366 Trail, B.C. * Fred: 365-2211 It Looked Like Wood to Me! Lien vos Home Can Have the Beauty of Wood Without the Problems © Tired of painting AGAIN [3 Bullding 8 new home? this year? ‘ Give us a call—Fryee Estimates Vinyl & Aluminum Siding, Soffits & Facia A&L Exterior Siding Dealers for Kaiser Aluminum Marcel: 365-2616 | shut-ins, who have so little left in their lives, and rely on television for a diversion, something to take the mind away from the aches and pains and the loneliness. What they get is a combina- tion of the utmost pap and crap that only a sadist could devise: cheap, ancient, Grade C movies; soap operas; sickening game shows. And the other group that gets my sympathy is young children. With a few excep- tions, such as Sesame Street, all they have to watch is pic- torial pablum, great, uplif- ting epics like The Flint- stones, or violent and bloody movies. What a pity, when the medium could educate their minds, stir their senses with color and music, and send their imaginations soar- ing. Andy Warhol, a New York pop artist, said everyone eventually will be a celebrity for fifteen minutes, If that's the case, include me out. The TV chap told me it would take only two hours of my time to make a two- minute epic about me and my column. 1 have no particular desire to look like a turkey for two minutes and spend the next two days feeling like one. ,, ~\ 7 1and 2 Islands Weekly Departures Ask for our special folder Super low price! 14 nights from 4 per person dbl. occ. Includes charter airfare, condominium or hotel accomodation and many extras. Non—credit union members welcome! 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