Prosperity and progress, one would believe, should imply a state of well being and a degree of ease with varied lifestyles and viewpoints. Not always it seems and not necessarily. Both in fact are promising ingredients for excess. Take a look at some of the sillier controversies to appear in the American media over the last few weeks to see what I mean. It is a biased selection no doubt but a good indicator of the inventive ways of the human mind.The controversy over Sensation, the show of British artists at New York's Brooklyn Museum, goes on and on. More than a month ago Mayor Rudi Giuliani, provoked by some of the exhibits, mainly Damien Hirst's formaldehyde-soaked shark and pig and Chris Ofili's elephant dung-smeared painting of the Virgin Mary, announced that he was withholding annual funding to the museum. The museum went ahead with the show and sued the mayor to recover the funding. The debate has since muddied just about everybody : Giuliani's potential opponent Hillary Clinton whodeclared ambiguously that she was offended but supported the principle of free speech; museum officials who were said to be considering caving in to Giuliani's demands; sundry observers who took sides in letters and TV shows; the artists for creating a sensation rather than art; the art audience for its weakness for cocktail parties and controversy; everybody for inflating the commercial value of what many call a lame collection etc. etc. The only element to have come out looking good is Chris Ofili's painting of the Virgin Mary which most critics seemed to agree is actually aesthetically appealing. Ironic? Or just appropriate?The Monica Lewinsky scandal may have run its course but aftershocks are still being felt in faraway places. Last month, Gary Bauer, a Republican candidate in the presidential stakes, ordered the wooden door of his campaign headquarters office to be replaced with a glass one. The move was initiated after two of his former aides claimed they left because he frequently closed his doorto meet one-on-one with his female deputy campaign chief. Not that anybody believes anything at all improper took place, but in the post-Bill and Monica scenario clearly, new obsessive standards of transparency are being set. Opinion of course was divided. Bauer apparently suffered with his base on the Christian right. Understandable when you consider the view put forward by people such as Charles Black, a political advisor to Presidents Bush and Reagan: ``Many Christians believe that to avoid temptation, men and women just shouldn't be alone when one is married.'' How a fishbowl requirement would impact women's chances of professional advancement is another matter.``I'm not this debonair guy,'' Bauer commented in bewilderment, ``and I don't understand how we can set a standard that says young professional women can never rise to a point with a male boss that they're not able to give confidential advice.'' Joe Trippi, a Democratic consultant, found himself agreeing. ``It's crazy that it's gotten to thispoint. It's probably the one and only time I agree with Gary Bauer.''Religion plays a role in another controversy with Bible literalists who have been challenging scientific lessons about the origins of life now adding the origin of the universe to their list. The Kansas school board which voted in August to remove evolution from its education standards also deleted a description of the Big Bang theory of cosmic origins, the central organising principle of modern astronomy and cosmology. The Big Bang theory based on decades of observation and research claims that the universe originated in a colossal explosion of matter and radiation some 15 billion years ago. The `young earth creationists' as their opponents are known, however, claim that cosmic history could be condensed to a mere thousands of years. Mainstream scientists are appalled at the debate. ``It is the denial of what understanding we have of the origin of the universe in terms of modern science,'' claimed Jerome Friedman, a physicist and Nobellaureate. Pro-creationists are dismissive of such claims. ``I can't understand what they're squealing about,'' says John W. Bacon, a board member who voted for the changes. ``I wasn't here, and neither were they. Based on that, whatever explanation they may arrive at is a theory and it should be taught that way.''Speaking of theories one that has parents up in arms is a study that reported 121 infant deaths over an eight-year period due to `overlaying' instances in which a parent or caretaker accidentally suffocated a baby while both were sleeping in the same bed. The findings led the government, in the form of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, to tell parents not to sleep in the same bed with their babies. Though the CPSC was quick to clarify that this was merely information and not an edict, doctors, advocates of breast feeding, anthropologists and parents were united in their belief that this time the `federal nanny' had gone way too far.To round off, a bit of Hollywood trivia. Filmmakers andarcheologists have banded together in an endeavour to dig under the sands of a village in California to uncover the remains of a movie set that lies buried there. No ordinary movie set this but the plaster replica of ancient Egypt from the Cecil B. DeMille epic, The Ten Commandments. Misgivings exist. Observers fear that what will turn up will be just plaster. And Peter Brosnan, a fervent participant in the venture, admits: ``Digging up a fake Egyptian city in California is hard to do without laughing.'' But there it is.
