Wednesday 20 February 2013

Focus on UK Metal Detecting: More Harassment, What IS the Matter with These People?

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Nigel Swift, update: 20 Feb 2013….
Despite the above assurances (“it is not, and never has been my intention to cause any harm”) Mr Stout has just allowed Mr Howland to publicise what is said to be my location yet again – and has even commended the article to his readers.
More harassment in response to heritage concerns being raised. What IS the matter with these people?  If British metal detectorists have a problem with what Heritage Action - or anyone else - is saying about the deleterious effects of current heritage policies, about artefact hunting and collecting or anything else, then let them just set out in black and white their arguments (well-founded, I am sure) in a public forum.  They already have the PAS on their side, backing them up 100% - so proving Heritage Action (or anyone else ) wrong should be a doddle. IF they are wrong of course.

Simply harassing people like this in the hope that this will in some way prevent them from speaking out is a well-tried technique of metal detectorists. They have, as we all saw on Britarch shouted down many a faint-hearted British archaeologist, most of whom would not now say 'boo' to a metal detectorist. That does not mean we all have to stay silent about what concerns us.  

Meanwhile, Heritage Action is right to publicise the ongoing harassment. The fact that there is so much of it from British artefact hunters (and the disgraceful name-calling but nothing else from their "partners" the PAS) highlights more than anything else the complete and utter lack of any properly-presented case against what Heritage Action (and others) are saying. They present a case which in any normal situation would get an answer. In this situation there are no answers. Draw your own conclusions.

TAKE A GOOD LOOK at this, for these are precisely the sort of people the PAS wants to grab more and more millions of public quid to make into the "partners" of the British Museum, archaeological heritage professionals and to whom they want us all to entrust the exploitation of the archaeological record. Take a good look and decide what you think about that as a "policy". 

2 comments:

kyri said...

i dont understand why the police are not involved.at the very least the threats should be reported and loged.these particular detectorist sound like thugs but i have seen a few of their home videos on utube and im sure their bark is louder than their bite,they look like big kids playing at soldiers,real men dont make threats,only bullies do.
kyri.

Paul Barford said...

The police are informed and the incidents are logged.

Big kids or not, nobody wants thugs hanging around outside their house.

 
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