The PBS/NPR/NEA Funding Cutback Email Warning Is Just Evil Chain Mail

Last significant update: 02 March 2001

This information can be freely reproduced in any medium, as long as the information is unmodified.

Thanks to Roger Burns for first bringing this to our attention on 20 April, 1999. Sorry to take so long to put it on line here....

This is a chain mail letter about something that was indeed true in 1995, and (a) is no longer but (b) still circulates after 6 years. This is ample demonstration that while the idea may have been noble, the method of using chain mail is always wrong. Here is the text, with comments:

NPR/PBS Petition - Quick Sign

The Supreme Court has agreed to hear the issue of whether
public funding to an artist can be linked with the idea of
whether the art is "decent." After the Robert Mapplethorpe "scandal"
not so long ago, Congress passed a law that for an artist's art to
receive public money via the National Endowment for the Arts, it must be
deemed decent.

On NPR Morning Edition this morning, Nina Tottenberg said that if the 
Supreme Court supports Congress, it is in effect the end of NEA.

I suspect that the purpose here is not to be sneaky, but note the "generic date" of "yesterday". Had it said instead e.g., "On March 31, 1998, ...", then you'd probably ignore it if you saw it today.

Note also that it's "Totenberg", not "Tottenberg". By the way, on the above date there was a commentary by Ms. Totenberg on this case coming before the Supreme Court; see www.npr.org (leaving our site) for the Real Audio segment, but the petition discussed here predates that report by three years.

Then, there's the question of Congressional funding:
Funding for NPR/NEA & PBS.

PBS, NPR (National Public Radio), and the arts are facing
major cutbacks in funding. In spite of the efforts of each
station to reduce spending costs and streamline their services, some
government officials believe that the funding currently going to
these programs is too large a portion of funding for something which is
seen as not worthwhile.

Currently, taxes from the general public for PBS equal
$1.12 per person per year, and the National Endowment for the Arts
equals $.64 a year. A January 1995 CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll indicated
that 76% of Americans wish to keep funding for PBS, third only to
national defense and law enforcement as the most valuable programs for
federal funding.

See? 1995. That should sound warning bells, though sometimes things are delayed. But not CNN polls, for heaven's sake!!!

Each year, the Senate and House Appropriations committees
each have 13 subcommittees with jurisdiction over many programs and
agencies.

Each subcommittee passes its own appropriation bill. The
goal each year is to have each bill signed by the beginning of the
fiscal year, which is October 1.

The only way that our representatives can be aware of the
base of support for PBS and funding for these types of programs
is by making our voices heard.

Please add your name to this list and forward it to friends who believe 
in what this stands for. This list will be forwarded to the President 
of the United States, the Vice President of the United States, and 
Representative Newt Gingrich, who is the instigator of the action to cut 
funding to these worthwhile programs.

Newt? Yet another sign that this is old news....

This petition is being passed around the internet. Please
add your name to it so that funding can be maintained for the NEA,
NPR & PBS.

Please keep this petition rolling. Do not reply to me.

Actually, replying to the originator would be much better than this -- and better yet would be

• a web petition

• not sending this huge appeal in email, but instead putting a URL in one's .sigfile with a pithy comment to get folks to read it.

Please sign and forward to others to sign. If you prefer not to sign
please send to the e-mail address indicated. This is being forwarded to
several people at once to add their names to the petition. It
won't matter if many people receive the same list as the names are being
managed. This is for anyone who thinks NPR/PBS is a worthwhile
expenditure of $1.12/year of their taxes, a petition follows.

If you sign, please forward on to others.

If not, please don't kill it - send it to the email
address listed here: wein2688@blue.univnorthco.edu or
kubi7975@blue.univnorthco.edu

Ah. Now we know who is likely to be responsible for this. And speaking of responsible, take a look at the excellent web page the University of Northern Colorado (leaving our site) has put on line about this. It says it all, and I commend them for doing this. Moreover, I encourage all other organizations and businesses that find themselves in similar situations to do the same, and to keep the URLs constant and active in perpetuity.

****If you happen to be the 150th, 200th, 250th, etc.
signer of this petition, please forward a copy to:
wein2688@blue.univnorthco.edu . This way we can keep track of the lists
and organize them. Forward this to everyone you know, and help us to keep 
these programs alive.

Six years! Keep it alive, indeed. :-(

Thank you.

NOTE: It is preferable that you SELECT the entirety of this letter and then 
COPY it into a new outgoing message, rather than simply forwarding it. In 
your new outgoing message, add your name to the bottom of the list, then send 
it on. Or if option is available, do a SEND AGAIN.

[170 signators snipped]

They were well-meaning ... but chain mail is evile, no matter how you slice it.

Please do not forward this -- or any other hoax -- to all your friends.

Instead, you should reply to the sender -- and as far back up the email chain as you have energy -- informing the originators that this is a hoax. For this particular hoax, I suggest that you provide a pointer to this URL (http://www.umich.edu/~virus-busters/hoaxes/pbs_npr.html)
For virus or hoax info, please see our main page (http://www.umich.edu/~virus-busters/) or go to another reputable site, like The Urban Legends Reference Pages (leaving our site).

   -BPB

visits to this page since 02 March 2001 17:22 EST