COLLECTING declining, not just collections

[Ron at]

What has happened in Iraq will only make things worse on _collecting_ as
the "spin" now is that it was "professionally looted" to benefit "_private
collectors_."    Myself, I don't believe that at all.   I guess our press
and world have never heard of the "scorched earth"  strategy of retreating
armies and dictators.  It seems to have not come into anyone is the
presses' field of thought that the destruction of the NH museum there was
planned and carried out by the government of Iraq for the purpose of
blaming the Coalition.   Did Nero burn Rome and blame it* on the
Christians?   How about Hitler, fire and the** Jews?  Saddam is from that
same mold.   Looters burned the National Library there?  Looted hospitals?
We are being asked to believe the average Iraqi on the street is a
cultureless, bone head, thug - I don't believe that at all.   Why not the
obvious - the hospitals and libraries trashed were the work of the Saddam's
fanatics who took off their uniforms and dawned civilian clothes.   They
didn't "melt away", they torched everything to instigate riots and infurate
the locals against the US presence.

OR

It has also apparently not yet occurred to anyone that the pillaging was by
the staff itself.  The first story was that it was just general looters and
ignorant theives.  Now it is being reported that it was by professionals
who knew exactly what they were doing as they had keys and fork lifts.  You
bet they did.  I can't wait for the FBI to get there (replacing the press)
as the first suspects will be THE STAFF!!!!!.   If it looks like an inside
job - IT IS.  Ooops, I forgot, museum staffs are all angels though and have
never stolen, nor would steal, from their esteemed institutions.

* I am fully aware that our modern historians debunk this.
** Likewise, there are some today who say the holocaust never happened.

People believe what they want.  The biggest fools in the world are the
smart ones - blind intellectuals.  Blinded by their by prejudices and
agendas.

There has been as is an agenda to vilify collectors and collecting.
Collections are now banned in many Science Fairs; amateur bug and plant
collectors are called killers and equated to Ivory poachers.   Collecting
is declining for a reason, there has been a long politically correct
campaign against it.  Now that the chickens produced by this ignorance have
come home to roost in our museums, we don't like it.   Well, where did we
think this would all end up at?    If collecting is no longer needed (even
evil) then plant, animal, and insect collections aren't "good" (important
or needed) either.

My editorial venting for this year.
Ron Gatrelle