PAGE 4, WEDNESDAY MAY 18, 1983, WHITBY FREE PRESS whitby Voice of the County Town Michael Ian Burgess, Publisher- Managlng Edito The only Whitby newspaper Independently owned and operated by Whitby residents for Whitby residents. tiblshed every Wednesday rpu by M.B.M. Publishing and PhoI;ography inc. Phone 668611il The Free Press Building, 131 Brock Street North, P.O. Box 206, Whit4y, Ont. TIMOTHY lAINES Communlty Editor ELIZABETH NOZDRYN Advertlslng Manager Second Cias Mail Regatration No. 5351 Age of video entertainment is upon us The age 0f home video entertainment Is upon us. As the pilce 0f video cassette recorders con- tinue to decline, we are lining Up at the, fast- expanding concept-0f video stores. Sure, we'il rent a movie, we can watch i t ln the comfort of our homes and besides that it costs iess than paying out f Ive hard-earned bucks to see the movie ln a theatre. The video boom has ais o brought Pay TV into Canada. Let's combine video recorders with this idea of watchIng first run movies at a nominal charge. Now we don't have to rent movies. We can scan the television listings, pick out the best programs, and with the aid 0f one blanik cassette, we have an Instant movie which can be pulled out of the cobwebs at any time and enjoyed. The best. thing about these video recorders is we don't even have to be watching a programn wlle we're taping It. We can watch a hockey game with the satisfaction of knowing that the latest horror flick is winding its way on to that biank video cassette. And then we can boast for the next couple of weeks. Weili, lve got ail of those ciasslcs on tape. i haven't really had timne to view them, but I hear they're good. The truth of the matter is that we haven't seen anything yet. Pay TV has so much more potential. We've oniy enjoyed this concept of paying extra for premniere entertainment since February. We only have the selection of three channeis - First Choice, Superchannel and C-Channei. First Choice' and Superchannei. concentrate heavily on first run movies, with the occasional sports event or concert thrown ln. 0f course, First Choice also offers their Playboy weekend when ail programming looks Iike a non-censored version of Battie of the «Network Stars. C-Chan nei Is ,the sophisticated channel.« We are supposed. to become more cuitured and, prope by viewlng these operas, and theatricai extravaganzas, but 80o far the channel has been' a bust. eesnot enough people are interested, in. this sophisticated entertainment. . - . >e,. What lies ln the future? The answer probab.ly, is mirrored by the Pay TV scene ln the U nited State's. They can watch 24-hour *sports, musiîc, .news, movies, and everything else you can think 0f.The variety is tremendous and It- would' appear- that soon we will be given a iitfle more choice. Just think, soon we'il be able to build-up our video cassette libraries to capaciy. We'il become a completeIy teievision-oriented society. . Maybe Ray Bradbury wasn't far off ln- his assessment 0of society ln the classic novei "Fahrenheit -451". In that society books were strictly forbIdden. Maybe we're headed that way too. I arn so sick of doctrinaire politucs that the near absence of issues n the conservative leadership cam- paign is aimost comforting. i mean we really don't need any more of that jut-jawed conservatism whose most profound conviction is that making the rich richer will somehow make the poor richer too. We don't need that nonsense any more than the NDP iunch-bucket wing's ethereal assumption that labour is aiways right and pure, and that management is always wrong and evil. What we need, rather than a series of firm positions on issues, issomeone who will hanestly identify our major problems and who will avoid playing Jehovah by pronouncing confidentiy on how ta salve them. A man in Beamsville who writes me regulariy has just sent me an -article from THE GUARDIAN of January 30 on Hans Vogel, who made a determined run at Chancellor Kohl in the iast West German election. While Chancellor Kohl extolled the virtues of Margaret Tbatcher's aid- fashioned approach ta the economy and empioyMent, >Mr. Vogel eschewed bandaid solutions and prabed pain- fuily for deeper truths. Unemployment, Mr. Vogel pointed out is part of a "'deep, world-wide process that cannot be reversed by a return ta growth. Where would the growth corne from? On what markets wauld the products be sold, and at what cost ta the environ- ment?" Mr. Vogel is no pushaver when it cames ta the Soviets and the nuclear issue: "Make no mistake," he toid THE GUARDIAN, ""if the Americans mave in the missile talks and the Soviets don't - then we depioy Cruise and Pershing." Ha characterized the difference between his position and Chancellor Kah's this way: ""Kohl tald the Americans he wauld seek a mandate ta deploy the missiles. i want a mandate sa that I can contribute ta canditians that wilI make deplayment un- necessary," Mr. Vogel, clearly, is a man warth iistening ta and it's an indictment of Canadian television that we know so littie of him in this country. During the cam- paign, he accused Chancellor Kohl of having the men- tality of a travelling fortress, which says 'Jump aboard, we'll pratect yau. " "I don't believe," Mr. Vagel con- tinued, "that it's the business of paliticians ta throw up pratective mounds round people so they don't have ta see the new trends in saciety and the world." Neither do 1, Herr Vogel. Spare us the dogma and rigid idealagy, which tend ta constitute bullet-proof defenses against both changing realities and fresh thinking. And stop try- ing ta feed us simplistic, reflex solutions ta prablems that are hopelessly complex. What I'm looking for in a leadership candidate at this point is a littie thoughtful confusion. Dear Sir: I thlnk the contîn- uing care wIng at J.O. -Ruddy Hospital is marvellous and certaîniy don't m md piedging money to- wards 'its comple- tion but i wonder how much money Ajax residents are pledging or if they've even been approached. lt's my under- standing that 18 beds have already been pledged, to Ajax-Pickering Hos- pital to relleve over- crowding ln that facility. If this Is true, 'Whitby resi- dents would be get- tlng less than haif these bede. How many more have been promised to Oshawa General Hospital? Just curlous as to how much Whitby itself is actuaiiy going to benefit whiie footing- the bill. K. Belton. (A concerned citizen.)> LETTERS T THE EDITOR Do Ajax residents pledge to Ruddy