MovieChat Forums > The Art of the Steal (2009) Discussion > Breaking A Will

Breaking A Will

posted 14 years ago by jhvogelsang
8 replies | jump to latest

Barnes wanted to keep his collection at the North Latches Lane location he had built specifically for it. Readily accessible, the only difficulty is parking. I have viewed several times paying $5 per visit. I called and made reservations. You arrive at your scheduled time and spend the allotted 2-3 hours walking amongst the hundreds of terrific paintings on two floors and in many rooms. One cannot view the entire collection in one visit so you can go back again. Simple.

I followed the outcry over the museum's location, whether or not it was "Philadelphia's" collection to show and the subsequent trial to break the intent of Dr. Barnes' will. I thought that would not happen. I was wrong.

It should have remained a private collection, which it is, housed and provided for by Barnes ample estate and in the manner he stipulated. It has not.

The real crime to me is breaking a private, personal will and disregard for the intended recipients, Lincoln University of Pennsylvania, a minority liberal arts institution.

With all the fanfare over democracy and patriotism it is obvious that a combination of money and political influence can take whatever it wants regardless of an individuals private concerns.

That my friends is certainly not democracy.

[–] Noir-It-All 14 years ago

I totally agree.

I had a similar experience when my family visited the museum almost five years ago.

I'll be honest, six years ago, I was happy Philly got the museum as I am pro-Philly. It was a guilty pleasure. But, I regret it now because you lose something when you break a will, break a law. Dr. Barnes was special and his museum was special.

Watching the movie, I thought of something else: the new concert hall on South Broad Street. Attendance at concerts put on by the Philadelphia Orchestra there is down, even more than the national average. Like the Barnes, this orchestra is special and ground-breaking, the first to record its music yet many think that something was lost in the move from the Academy of Music to this off-putting new space. Will the Barnes' new home experience some unexpected downturn? Because what goes around comes around.

"Two more swords and I'll be Queen of the Monkey People." Roseanne

[–] eddie_willers 14 years ago

That my friends is certainly not democracy.

Not to sound too picky, but that's exactly what a democracy is. (Majority Rules!)

An atrocity like this is one of the reasons why the Founder's adamantly rejected a Democracy set up a Republic instead.

[–] macktan894 14 years ago

Majority rules is also called the rule of law and here the law was broken.

[–] daryl-b-t 13 years ago

Not to sound too picky, but that's exactly what a democracy is. (Majority Rules!) "

Not really. One of the roles of Democracy is to ensure the rights of minorities.

[–] jimmysmitsimdb 12 years ago

daryl-b-t "Not really. One of the roles of Democracy is to ensure the rights of minorities."

The classic definition of a democracy is two lions and a sheep deciding what to have for dinner. Like the poster above said, that is why we have a Republic. And a bicameral Congress. Pure democracies are bad. Mob rules and everything.

[–] daryl-b-t 12 years ago

A democracy (by which I mean the system of government in most of the western world) is a very sophisticated system designed to make government and rule as just as possible. It's not perfect but it's a long way from mob rule.

[–] jimmysmitsimdb 12 years ago

daryl-b-t "A democracy (by which I mean the system of government in most of the western world) is a very sophisticated system designed to make government and rule as just as possible. It's not perfect but it's a long way from mob rule."

As far as I know, no country uses a democracy. A republic is not a democracy. Don't confuse the two.

[–] daryl-b-t 12 years ago

Are we being so literal then?

Like most of our leaders have no trouble preaching the virtues of democracy to the rest of the world, they're meaning of course the principles on which our western governments are founded on.

Beginning with the Constitution's adoption, America has been a Republic. But the dominant trend over the last two centuries has been to make it into a democracy as well, a representative democracy, also known as a democratic republic.

For the sake of an argument it's well discussed on the page where that quote comes from

http://www.williampmeyers.org/republic.html