Dennis Fodor, parenthetically:

>(Though every time I go to the Metropolitan opera and read the plates
>graven with the names of donors, I cringe, having known personally known
>some of them as intellectual misfits to that sort of setting.)

I Say: Hey, let 'em donate.  Better than hoarding it, eh?

I used to feel this way at the [substantially less prestigious] Santa Fe
Opera.  It seemed wrong that the ignorant rich could afford to look down
upon little ol' me for being a poor long-haired kid, however much or little
I loved the music or knew about it (or anything for that matter).  But I
gradually came to realize that the rich who -do- deign to support the
arts, ignorant of music or no, condescending or no, should be praised and
not maligned, for the exact reasons put forth on this thread:  Since the
government obviously ain't gonna do it for us.

Stickin' it to the Man
Whenever I Can,

Bob K.