Unethical Archeologists and how to deal with them

Dave Welsh exposes the lies and weasel words of the archeology lobby in their fight against collecting (Ancient Coins: 'Archaeologists Unethically Pursue Their Anticollecting Vendetta' Friday, July 29, 2016

Collectors of antiquities and ancient coins, and we who seek to defend their interests, should seek appropriate ways of highlighting their ethics violation, and of pointing out that archaeologists, who so loudly and frequently complain about the "unethical" behavior of those who collect and trade in antiquities including ancient coins, are in a broader sense (as the general public understands ethics) presenting their irrational case against collecting in an unethical and deliberately deceptive manner.

It is difficult to see what would be an appropriate way to do this, but it is something all collectors should be concerned about and engaging with. I am pretty sure though that the appropriate means is not through the tactics with which some of the more hotblooded protagonists have attempted to deal with this issue to date. While mischievously attacking the character, knowledge and motives of individual critics is undoubtedly the easiest route, it may be counterproductive - making it look like the collecting community is dominated by mouthy blowhards. This does a disservice to those of us in the community with a more serious interest in the past. It seems to me that we need to address these people on their own grounds - through reasoned explanation that they are (a) wrong, and (b) misstating the case (and why) in an articulate manner and citing firm evidence which counters their misdirection. It seems to me that the trade associations are all failing us by not seeing that this is the case.