Hey List,
It was my understanding that a local news station was called to the
Lorton
doctor's office, and then that TV news crew actually drove the
meteorite
to the Smithsonian for verification. At that time, it became obvious
that
it
was a genuine meteorite and then efforts by the museum personnel were
started to acquire this specimen for the museum.
In any case, when I arrived at the fall site the next day after the
story
broke, with a Meteorite Men camera crew on my heels, Smithsonian
personnel
were there at the fall site, which I thought was great. You can't
blame
them for wanting to obtain the rock. In fact, there would be something
wrong
if they didn't want to acquire it.
I will say that our Meteorite Men producers made extensive attempts to
gain permission from the Smithsonian for me to come to the U.S.
National
Collection with a camera crew and shoot footage of Earth's newest alien
visitor
to appear in one of our upcoming February episodes. If the Lorton
story
would have played out big enough, it could have become its own episode,
most
likely running at the end of February or in March of this year.
We were willing to pay the $1,000 shooting fee that the Smithsonian
normally charges, but we were flatly denied ANY access to the Lorton
specimen for
our TV show. I am not sure of all of the reasons, and who made the
actual
decision to deny us and our audience the opportunity to see it first
hand,
but it seems that because the Smithsonian now has their own new cable
TV
network, and as such it is now their policy to not give any competing
TV
networks any access to shooting any of their stuff in their
collections.
We also wanted to film the actual Tucson Ring specimen, that is the
centerpiece in the National Collection's public display, for this next
Wednesday's episode of Meteorite Men, but we were flatly denied access
a
few months
ago to shoot that as well. The February 3rd episode of Meteorite Men
goes
into the historical story of the Tucson Ring and of course, as the
center
piece to our National Collection now on display in Washington D.C.,
it's
final resting place is an important part of the story of the greatest
legend in
all of meteorites.
However, I was told that the "powers that be" at the Smithsonian did
offer
to sell us a black and white still photo of the Ring for $400 to use on
the show. Nice of them, wasn't it? So, I don't think the problems we
had
this last week were related to the Lorton fall in particular, but seems
to
be
a bigger bureaucratic problem elsewhere.
Apparently, other networks have had severe access challenges lately in
wanting to get footage of other national treasures since the
Smithsonian
cable
network was formed. In our case it seems to be a real shame as it
would
have generated great PR for both our TV show and for the Smithsonian
and
for
meteorites in general.
Well, maybe one day, a few years down the road, we can look forward to
the
Smithsonian Cable TV Network running their own TV show about meteorites
in
general and maybe the Lorton specifically and we will all get to see it
again.
It is not my intention to paint the meteorite professionals at the
National Collection in a bad light. In fact, I would invite them to
respond here
to give their side of the story. I have traded with the Smithsonian in
the
past and I even sold the Smithsonian some West specimens this last
year.
While the process was complicated and took a very long time, the people
I
worked with were great, and I consider them friends and colleagues in
our
celestial quest. I get the feeling that the challenges we face are in
other
departments other than theirs.
I do know there is still some prejudice against the collecting
community
among some in governmental employed academia. There are those that
still
think all meteorites should be owned by governments and that there
should
be
no private hunting for, collecting and owning of meteorites. There
seems
to be a few dinosaurs holding onto the idea that if someone earns a
buck,
or God forbid -- a living, in the meteorite business, it is a bad
thing.
(Ironically, I am still looking for the list of scientists and curators
that
donate 100% of their paychecks each week back to the institutions that
employ them, because they really believe it is wrong for anyone to earn
any
money from working with meteorites.) And what is really ironic, is
that
people like Dr. Art Ehlmann at T.C.U., who really does all his
meteorite
work
gratis, is on the top of the list of people who do their meteorite work
for
no pay AND he is also on the top of the list of scientists that support
our
collecting communities efforts.
It is possible that there is an underlying fear that being associated
with
a TV show that features non-governmental collecting of meteorites could
somehow cast them in a negative light, especially among a handful of
archaic
thinking colleagues that might scorn them at the Meteoritical Society
meetings. Remember in junior high school, when a cool kid would talk
with
a
non-cool kid, and all the other cool kids would shun their ill-acting
member?
Yea, I kind of think that "we are better than they are" thinking might
still happen at some level amongst the "cool" scientists in the field.
I am not sure who all still feels that way in the research community
(maybe
someone can make a list of them online?) as I have noticed a much more
enlightened view from more and more scientists as the years pass.
Hopefully
that haughty bias will eventually dissolve away as people realize the
positive contributions the private collector community makes to the
science
and
that we are all in this great and healthy symbiotic relationship
together.
Steve Arnold
of Meteorite Men
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