RE: JVP, SVP...too many 'VP's...

[Toby White <mwhite@houston.rr.com>]

Actually, the Socialists for Vertebrate Paleontology have now gone further 
than that.  If I understand Kevin Padian's recent letter to Science 
correctly, it is now considered unethical to study fossils that are not 
themselves politically correct.  Specifically, Dr. Padian sniffs at 
Bambiraptor and regards any science based on it as dubious -- because the 
fossil is privately owned.  Apparently, unless the means of scientific 
production are owned by the State, it isn't science.

SVP's political initiation tests are beginning to sound like the old Soviet 
system of requiring a Party card or equivalent proof of political orthodoxy 
before permitting a student to do serious scientific work.  Lysenko would 
be proud of SVP, and certainly the folks on the Kansas Board of Education 
would understand SVP's attitude, if not the particular sentiments 
expressed.

  --Toby White

Vertebrate Notes at
http://home.houston.rr.com/vnotes/index.html
and http://www.dinodata.net



-----Original Message-----
From:   ekaterina amalitzkaya [SMTP:eamalitz@hotmail.com]
Sent:   Friday, May 26, 2000 6:08 PM
To:     dinosaur@usc.edu
Subject:        Re: JVP, SVP...too many 'VP's...

>qualification for membership is sponsorship by an SVP member.
>Since there are ethics and other agreements involved, I would not >sponsor 
>someone whom I did not know personally.

One can only marvel at the kinds of hang-ups people have with the  mere act 
of subscription for a scholarly journal. With such an attitude it is
unlikely that the real science of paleontology reaches the public. All they 
will have is the "interest" and the pseudo-scientific press to whet their
tastes. It is time that paleotologists make their work more accessible to
the public with all the science un-diluted rather make statements about
others naivette. For example of the large section of 10-12 year old kids
getting excited about a new giant theropod there would be at least some
willing to pour over the bones and pursue science with great vigor. They
sure are as entitled to reading or writing a scientific a scientific paper
on a carcharodontosaur as an 18 year old with high ethical concerns
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