I apologize for this cathartic posting which I will
now inflict on you, bunch of patient friends.

There are a number of issues having to do with
what has been called political correctness that
rub me (and I know many others) quite the wrong
way.

Like that Spanish should be widely taught in the
US so the large community of hispanics will feel
more at home and not lose its heritage. I say, if
they want that, send their kids to private schools
that offer that or to special classes paid by those
so inclined, but America's language is English and
those who live there should communicate mainly
in this language. I know a guy who is a US citizen,
lived there for 15 years and can hardly speak a word
of English... how absurd.

Native Americans have successfully lobbied to have
the human remains found in digs returned to the
ground in order to respect their beliefs.

In Egypt king Tut's body was kept in his tomb rather
than in a museum, but that is equally absurd because
if he could be aware of his surroundings, the notion
that all his treasures are gone would offer him little
comfort. Besides, it is doubtful that there his remains
will be better preserved than at a museum.

The key to this matter is conservation. The human
remains are reburied partly because archaeologists
think that they have acquired all the information they
could get out of them, but techniques evolve and when
new studies could be made, the remains will probably
be vanished forever due to the action of the earth that
does not stop trying to merge them with the soil around
them. Dust to dust, ashes to ashes...

Museums are not circuses, they are very respectable
and dignified places where human remains, far from
being mocked or despised, are treated with deep
respect. I myself when I die, if after centuries whatever
is left of me is dug up and I become a subject of study,
if I could feel anything, it would be pleasure at those
people bringing me back to life, so to speak, through
their interest and wahtever I can contribute to future
human knowledge.

Rather than bow in the current wimpish surrender to
all sorts of outlandish demands by pressure groups,
we should perhaps try to educate people so that they
realize that they themselves and those who passed
away long ago, benefit from even dead, being able to
contribute to their species, the same as they endeavoured
to do while living, in order to feel useful and valuable
to their communities. That is, in my humble opinion,
far better than rotting away in a hole in the ground.

Luis