----- Original Message -----
From: "phillip holmes" <insuranceman@xxxxxxxxxx>
You know, I'm sure there were hundreds of sides that were the equivalent of Britney Speers'
"oops i did it again". Pop music doesn't necessarily need to be preserved if it takes resources
away from something truly unique (interviews, broadcasts, lectures, etc.) or productive. I'm
sure many of us got into this because of a love for music, but you know there's lots of crap out
there that doesn't merit being saved. Maybe one of you can look me in the face and tell me that
we MUST preserve the outputs of The Backstreet Boys and Vanilla Ice. I say fine, YOU pay for
it. But if their entire catalog was "sent to the cornfields" by Billy Mumy, I wouldn't miss a
minute of sleep.
One VERY important point! No one of us has such perfect taste as to be
inherently qualified to say "save THIS" and/or "trash THIS" as far as
some ultimate uber-archive might be concerned!
We can make such decisions (and usually do, if only by what we buy
and what we don't!) for our own personal "archives"...but we can't
in any realistic way say "This is what civilization must preserve
and include in its histories..." and the implied "And this NOT..."
Steven C. Barr