This McLean Stuff

[TomDeVrie@xxxxxxx]

The claims of Dewey McLean are extraordinary.  What is even more
extraordinary, however, is the deafening silence that this onslaught of K-T
accusation has wrought in the most populous and professional of electronic
paleontology forums.

Since I have nothing professionally to lose from commenting on this matter, I
offer my my multiple working hypotheses for the whole affair to date.

1.  McLean is making libelous (or slanderous, I don't remember the
difference) charges and ought to be sued by Alvarez et al.

2.  McLean accurately portrays the politics of the K-T controversy, which if
true, appears to be a scandal, and requires someone to take Alvarez et al. to
task.

3.  Something is missing in this story, but:

a. no one cares enough to comment,
b. everyone is scared to comment,
c. everyone hopes the issue will disappear before some enterprising science
journalist decides to cut his/her teeth on a topic that involves dinosaurs,
meteorites, ruined careers, entrenched science, and power.

I invite Paleonet people to respond **on-line."

Tom DeVries

PS:  There are great many topics for discussion tangential to this particular
controversy, among them the proper use of list-servs and mass electronic
communication to achieve redress, the use of the same medium to spread
innuendo and misinformation, and the role of electronic media to carry on
civilized discourse about scientific disagreements.