Ixelles Six: "Discouraging 'the Ignorant' from Forming an Opinion Opposite to Ours"

The VUB-by pro-collecting gang
assure "the ignorant" that only they
know what they are talking about,
and the rest of us should shut up
and only heed their soothing chant

The 'Ixelles six' (Pieterjan Deckers, Andres Dobat,  Natasha Ferguson, / Stijn Heeren, Michael Lewis, Suzie Thomas) got together to write an  article-with-an-overlong-title ('The Complexities of Metal Detecting Policy and Practice: A Response to Samuel Hardy, ‘Quantitative Analysis of Open-Source Data on Metal Detecting for Cultural Property’ Cogent Social Sciences 3, 2017). This is why one of them (M. Lewis in litt to PMB 25.06.2018) says they did it:

there will be people (ignorant in these issues), which we know to be complex, taking what is presented at face value. We thought we should highlight what we see to be incorrect.

But without actually addressing the fundamental issue Hardy highlights, but attempting  to dismiss it as unimportant (they hold p. 323 that it is 'fundamentally wrong' to say collection-driven exploitation in any way damages the archaeological record). The pro-collecting gang gathered around the corresponding editor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) merely dismiss those who consider that there is an issue  to be discussed (first brought into the public domain by the grassroots organization Heritage Action's Artefact Eroson Counter) as 'people ignorant in these issues'. That is the height of academic ivory tower arrogance.

It remains to hope that when Britain is ignominiously thrown out of the EU in a few months, the legacy of PAS in Europe will fade and it then will be easier to vincere tenebras  by real academic discussion, and be able to put behind us the posing and sniping of those who have dominated the discussion so long, shouting down the 'detractors' (sic) who apparently are dead set on defending their 'Treasured' status quo from being questioned and being held actually accountable for the damaging effects it has caused for so long.

Apologists for collection-driven exploitation of the
archaeological record abandoning stale old Brexiting Bloomsbury
 for VUB now? (Rectoraat van de Vrije Universiteit Brussel)