Re: paleonet Burgess Shale Fossil Theft

[Ben Waggoner <benw@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Pristis@aol.com wrote:

<snip>
 
> You still don't get it.  This is about scale, proportion, perspective.
>  The
> loss of one worm impression is not a "tragedy".  The comparison to the
> war on
> drugs was intended to give you and other self-important
> paleontologists a
> scale by which to measure the impact of the loss of a worm impression.
> 
> I would not argue that loss of hubcaps is a tragedy . . . unless I
> caught you
> at it.  Then there would be a human tragedy. 

The point of my sarcasm seems to have bypassed you 
completely, so let's try it another way, shall we?

First: The loss of one fossil is not necessarily 
a "tragedy", or at all important in the Greater
Scheme. I mean, _Ottoia_ is one of the most common 
taxa in the Burgess Shale, the genus has been quite
thoroughly described and figured, and the odds that the
one stolen specimen contains any really new information
are pretty low. Hell's bells, Cambrian fossil worms 
are as common as a head cold at certain localities
in Utah, including both recreational and commercial 
collecting sites. If the thieves had just wanted a
Cambrian fossil priapulid worm, they could have 
collected one legally at no greater cost than driving
some bumpy roads and splitting shale for a few hours. 
Heck, if that was too much, they could have asked me; 
I've still got duplicates.

But it violates the laws passed by the democratically
elected government whose job it is to oversee the
land. It may not be a tragedy, but it's a CRIME. Maybe
you don't think it should be, but unless you're paying 
taxes and voting in the province of Alberta, your opinion 
isn't worth the electrons it took to e-mail it. 

Second: It may not be a tragedy that I steal your
easily replaceable hubcaps (unless you caught me in
the act, in which case you would indeed feel the tragic 
nature of the event ever so deeply and personally). But 
if society and personal integrity and honor and respect 
for the law have broken down to such an extent that I 
can steal your hubcaps in broad daylight if I damned 
well feel like it. . . that's a social tragedy. My
theft, petty in itself, is a symptom of something worse.

And if the market for fossils -- not just any fossils,
not even particularly rare or informative fossils, but 
fossils with that certain cachet, like the Burgess Shale 
fossils -- has grown to the extent that certain people will 
knowingly break laws, commit crimes, and damage property 
to get them, as has happened many times already -- that's 
a tragedy.

Have a nice day.

<snip gratuitous insult to most of the list subscribers>

-- 
Ben