Re: Kirkaldy and SVP Ethics Statement

["Brent Jones" <bjones@mail.cosi.org>]

>>> "Michael Schmidt" <dmschmidt@sprint.ca> 11/28/00 09:04AM >>>
>Simply put, this list is biased.  Commercial collectors are ALWAYS
>unscrupulous, and academics are ALWAYS the pinnacle of ethical
>behavior......
>
>I am so glad that I live in a world that is so black and white........
>
>(This message has been thoroughly spell checked so as not to offend a
>certain "proper spelling kinda guy" on the list......)

While others have responded to your message about reporting said actions to the 
authorities, I thought I would respond to this part.

Thinking over some of the responses from members of this list (myself 
included), I cannot remember anyone ever saying that ALL commercial collectors 
are inherently evil, or that ALL academics are inherently good - even reading 
between the lines is not going to reveal that level of bias here. Also, as one 
of the people who has written back about how wonderful it would be to get 
commercial, amateur and academic paleontologists to find some common ground in 
order to work out their differences, I found your comment ("Simply put, this 
list is biased") offensive.

A common comment in my Chemistry classes in college was, "If you're not a part 
of the solution, you're a part of the precipitate": essentially, if you don't 
participate to help solve the problem, your contribution could be left out of 
the final solution.

Brent : )