Bill Roop’s whining over the criticism of his billboards (Sept. 26, Bristol Herald Courier, page A5) sounds a bit hysterical, but then that’s not unexpected from someone in advertising, most of which is bent on stunning the critical consciousness. Advertising, after all, is the economic form of propaganda, and, as its techniques are intended to create illusion, we learn early on not to take it very seriously, just as we should not take Mr. Roop’s effort to muzzle Tom Taylor, supervisor of the Monroe district, very seriously either. One would think that if Mr. Taylor finds Mr. Roop’s billboards to be an ugly blight on the landscape, cluttering up the roads that the taxpayers have funded, he has the right as both a citizen and a supervisor to say so. Mr. Roop says that he has been disparaged by Mr. Taylor’s remarks, meaning apparently that his ego has been wounded. But Mr. Taylor’s critique was an aesthetic one, motivated by his concern for the good of the whole community, which he would like to protect from visual pollution. Mr. Roop, on the other hand, has mounted what looks like a vendetta or a publicity stunt – or both.
Robert Denham
Glade Spring, Va.
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