Re: DINOSAUR digest 852

[sj@io.com (Steve Jackson)]

Mike Woodburne says:

>. . . I would like to set the record straight.

The characteristic cry of the politician. I weep to hear it from a
palaeontologist.

> In that all of the above-named societies count avocational
>paleontologists among their members, the concerns of this community are
>recognized in these discussions.

When three wolves and a lamb vote on what's for dinner, that's democracy.

Yes, of course, there are some "avocational" paleontologists in those
groups, but to say that those who speak for and control those groups
"represent" the amateurs is simply laughable. Politician talk.

> Whether or not skeptics
>wish to believe it, the poll was conducted in such a way as to receive an
>unbiased response.

"Whether you agree or not, this is the way it is." In fact, the poll was
conducted by a market research firm headed by Dr. Steven Gittelman, who
also happens to be president of the Dinosaur Society, and whose remarks in
the new Dinosaur Report shows a strong anti-individual bias. There are two
kinds of polls: those designed to find the truth, and those designed to
give the result the client wants. When the client runs the polling company,
well . . .

I am a member of the Dinosaur Society; I think its goals are very
worthwhile. I was extremely disappointed in the latest edition of the
DINOSAUR REPORT. This does not incline me to withdraw my support from the
Society, but it does incline me to write a very stern letter.

> The SVP opposes
>commercial collecting of vertebrate fossils from federal public lands
>because it removes public property from education, museums, and research.
> . . . .
> Selling off America's fossils does not further those goals.

Was the language of the poll this loaded? If it was drafted by the people
who wrote the cover story in the new DINOSAUR REPORT, I expect it was. That
story was not just biased; it contained flat untruths. Such as "If public
lands are open to commercial collecting, new discoveries will never be seen
in public museums." ANY collectors? ALL new discoveries? NEVER? Politician
talk. Scare talk. Dishonest talk designed to obscure, close off, eliminate
any possibility of using commercial collectors as the resource that they
are.

>Responsible management of fossils does.

Letting fossils erode to nothing, because nobody can afford to collect
them, is responsible? I think not, sir!

Lumping all professional collectors together as subhuman, grunting enemies
of science is hardly responsible, either.

Creating a mechanism to encourage as much collection as possible . . . AND
to require preservation of the scientific data for anything collected on
public lands . . . THAT would be responsible. The data are what is
important, and scientific ACCESS to the material in the future. If a
collector wants to excavate and own the fossil, or is willing to buy it
under those conditions, the scientists should thank him graciously for
putting his money into the science!







Steve Jackson, sj@io.com - this will do till I fix my .sig file . . .