[NHCOLL-L:1973] Re: Fwd: Re: Fwd: Re: Ironic Quotes from Bios cience

[David Richman]

Dear All:

I'm glad that somebody from the NSCA has pointed out what they are trying
to accomplish.   I agree that starting another society, where we preach to
the choir, is not the best way to go!  Keep in mind that the NSCA dues are
for institutional membership and we do have to impress our institutions
with the need for our collections. If identification services are valuable
than collections are valuable!  We are not just a bunch of squirrels
hoarding pretty objects, but curating valuable original data sets which
can
be mined for new data.  WE KNOW THIS!  However the public often does not,
even if they go to museums regularly!  Cooperative Extension 
has often found that other people got credit for information they
presented originally and then they would then be criticized for being
useless. No matter how much you do in important services, if the
public and politicians do not recognize that you did it, you are
invisible!  We want (and often receive) support from the public and
therefore we need a public face.  If the NSCA does the job it should it
can give us this face.

My earlier point about our problems with public perception of what
systematists
and museum people do is not that we should dilute the science at all, but
that we be aware of the fact that we are not universily loved for
everything we do. People who talk about global warming, biodiversity,
endangered species, evolution, extinction and other politically hot topics
have to have some sensitivity that we are not always appreciated for it.
We also have to avoid putting down people who disagree with us, especially
if we are going to ask them for money! 

I had an interesting e-mail series with a state legislator from Nebraska
over the Nebraska Museum closing.  She started out by attacking me for
being a tenured ivory tower type who never really worked a day in my life
and thus did not appreciate the lives of farmers and ranchers or other
hard-working people who had to supply their tax monies for such
institutions. I replied that I did not, and never have had, 
tenure and that if she counted digging fence post holes and stringing
barbwire 14 hours a day as work, I have known what it was like to
actually work- field research is not for the weak(although I doubt that
any self-respecting rancher would ever hire me-the fences often sagged
and one sagged so much that we had a calf get inside.) She replied that
perhaps I was different and maybe I might like to help them with their
fencing for a vacation. This exchange pointed out two difficulties- first
our reputation among the people that financially support us needs quite a
bit of work and secondly it is up to us to do that work (as much as I
would like to spend more time studying my particular organisms.)   

These opinions are my own and are not necessarily those of my institution.
They may also be half-baked!

David B. Richman
Arthropod Museum
Dept. of Entomology, Plant Pathology and Weed Science
New Mexico State University
Las Cruces, NM 88003