Nigel Swift refers to the comments of Britain's Culture Minister who in a moment of gold-fever ill-advisedly used the term "heritage heroes" to refer to so-called "responsible metal detectorists". As I have done on this blog a number of times, Mr Swift returns to the definition of the term "responsible metal detectorists" ('No, Mr Vaizey WASN’T taken out of context. He took the context out himself!', HJ 24/11/2013). He suggests Vaisey's comments need to be placed in the context of certain facts about Treasure awards and the financial rewards of being an artefact hunter with a metal detector in Britain:
That’s quite an omission if you’ re hailing them as heroes is it not? It’s not us who are failing to present things to the public in context, is it? If reality is to be spun so blatantly what’s next? [...] I can’t adjust to the idea that these days 9 out of ten finders screech uncouthly for a maximum reward and STILL get falsely called heroes by two Culture Secretaries. I’m afraid I find that crass and stupid and wrong and whatever the Government and a few others say it brings unique shame on Britain.Cue a whole load of sly tekkie nastiness and the usual sock-puppetry that Heritage Journal suffers from those that serve as the only voice of the community. Or will we instead hear from some of the truly decent metal detector users who too are disturbed by the all-too-vague notion of "responsibility" used in blanket form towards this exploitive and destructive hobby? Are there any out there?
Vignette: Tekkie sock-puppet hecklers, the only voice of metal detecting in the UK?
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