This #archaeology thread gives a behind-the-scenes look at the new @discovery show “Hunting Atlantis” hosted by @stelpavlou & @jessphoenix2018 [unrolled here, ]I think it's a great piece of writing, and the points made seem pretty uncontroversial from where I am standing. I think all this pseudoarchaeologhy is very damaging and we should be calling it out. That's exactly what Flint Dibble did. But look what happens when you do (the woman playing "Mommy" in this unhinged rant is the wife of one of the presenters) [thread unroll]:
Michelle Pavlou Profile pictureMichelle Pavlou 17h, 18 tweets, 7 min read
There is this guy. We’ll call him @FlintDibble I understand his dad was a famous archeologist [sic]. And, instead of being happy that @Discovery is finally bringing science [sic] back to their channel…. …silly Flint just complains. But @FlintDibble is a scientist. He doesn’t work at a research university. But he takes pride in what he does. However, he is really mad. And he throws really loud and noisy tantrums online. I recognize this because when my daughter was a little toddler, she acted very similar [sic]. But I could always calm her down with a snack [sic], or put her down for a nap. But not Flint. He just keeps getting angrier and angrier like a bubbling caldron. But why? He thinks that my husband’s show #HuntingAtlantis is stealing something from him. But what? He *claims* his life’s work is being misrepresented (though we’ve never met him) and others are angry too. But no one REALLY is. It is just @FlintDibble causing lots of noise to call attention to himself. Flint wants to be noticed. Flint needs praise and attention, And the only way @FlintDibble can get any money to do any kind of research on his own, since he doesn’t work at a research university, is to get a lot of ATTENTION by riding the coattails of someone who is high profile on TELEVISION and on a major cable television channel, …so he can make a name for himself…just like his daddy. And he can get the funding he wants for the things he wants to do. But @FlintDibble has gone about it all wrong. That isn’t how you achieve things in life the right way, (at least not in my book.) This is how we teach our daughter… If you have a goal in mind, you look at the things you want and you see the things that need changing. And you do it constructively, with smarts, kindness, graciousness, and you keep the things that are good and wonderful, and you help and give of yourself in the process. If @FlintDibble doesn’t like the show, he shouldn’t watch it. I’m not sure how his specialty of “Food in Classical Greece” is being so destroyed by @stelpavlou researching Atlantis anyway? [sic] [emoticon]. If there are things he doesn’t like, then he could write [to] the producers and give constructive notes that may be helpful. If he has things he feels may add to the show, hoping he can get something out of it, suggest it privately. It is just too bad. He could have been an adult about it and handled it in a beautiful way where not only the entire science community, the show, the general public, and Flint himself could have won. But what @FlintDibble is completely forgetting in this process is that there are thousands upon thousands of uneducated people who are actual [sic!] learning a lot of really good science from the show. And they are being educated for the first time about things they knew nothing about. Why isn’t THAT exciting to Flint? I am a scientist. And it is exciting to ME. Because people are LEARNING. Why can’t we start that amazing narrative? I have so many friends who have not studied an ounce of science in their lives who are watching, and their heads are spinning with the amount of info being thrown at them. And they love it! Now, to people like @FlintDibblemay basic science may seem boring. But everyone else is soaking up information like sponges. We’ve heard of middle school kids who are watching the show with their parents and loving it. KIDS… girls and boys alike, who may be interested now in archeology [sic], geology, oceonography [sic], etc for the very first time in their lives because of #HuntingAtlantis. And that is EXCITING! If @FlintDibble really stopped yelling and complaining and stood back for a moment, he’d see things from a new perspective and understand that shows like #HuntingAtlantis inspire young minds to seek out the sciences. And they will want to be explorers and researchers and to be the people who are the next generations of discoverers on our planet. Universities in the next few years will have an increase in these academics because of a direct relation to #HuntingAtlantis! And that is an amazing thing! How will Flint feel one day when students come into his classroom and say what brought them there was because @stelpavlou inspired them? And now his show #HuntingAtlantis has escorted that kid and put them in a seat in front of him to teach. Because one day I can assure you it will happen So, @FlintDibble. I’m sending you to your room. Don’t come out until you have thought about what and WHY you are doing this. Don’t come back out until you can play nice [sic] with others. Oh. And stop hanging on to @stelpavlou’s coattails. It’s embarrassing actually, honey [sic]. And quite frankly, doesn’t look good on you. [emoticon] Momma out. • •
That post was followed by a whole series of reactions from members of the academic community calling her out for what she said and the way she said it (and not a few sockpuppets "defending" Michelle and Stel Pavlou over this tirade). The husband waded in too, striking out defensively and equally nastily and inelegantly. After the comments on this embarrassing ad hominem attack, the lady is claiming that in the subsequent comments, she is the victim of "Another misogynistic attack from a male because a woman has a strong opinion". No, it's because you are wrong (and the person that was addressed to is female).
Update 4th September 2021
Then came this:
Michelle Pavlou @smartnoggin 13hr
I am grateful for this day, for my life and my family and all those who love us. I hate Twitter and that’s why I’m never in here. I came to set the record straight and now I’m out. I said my peace [sic] and everyone can scream all they want.
As far as I can see the only person screaming calls herself "smartnoggin". You can judge for yourself whether her infantilising ad personam attack in any way actually does set the record straight why "Atlantis" existed and why a "hunt" for it is not a waste of time. I think Gabe Moshenska really nailed it here (better in the original):
Once again, the question arises, how do we communicate archaeological values to the general public?
Update 5th August 2021
Michelle Pavlou has now hidden or deleted her Twitter account in which she had attempted to "set the record straight" about her husband's amateur "research" on the "mistakes" scholars have allegedly made in ancient Egyptian chronology.
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