Greg Stigers writes:

>One of the criticisms that some parts of the Islamic world levels against
>the U.S. is that we export our popular culture, and that this popular
>culture is obscene. This is one of the few charges I take seriously.

Oh, come now. This is like the United States holding Colombia responsible
for the fact that a bunch of US citizens use drugs. If they don't like
the popular culture, they shouldn't partake. What, is someone forcing
them to tune in reruns of _Baywatch_?

The idea that the person offering temptation is responsible for the
corruption of the person who succumbs to it is the basis of Mark Twain's
short story, "The Man Who Corrupted Hadleyburg" (available from Project
Gutenberg at
<ftp://sailor.gutenberg.org/pub/gutenberg/etext98/hdlyb10.txt>). A fun
read. Such a pity that its happy ending is pure fantasy.

-- Bruce


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