[meteorite-list] Misrepresentation by the press

[Rob McCafferty]

Nomads don't know what they're selling?


--- Darren Garrison <cynapse at charter.net> wrote:

> 
> The problem with that argument is that from the
> stories that the people who go
> to Morocco tell, those nomads aren't nearly as
> clueless as the article writer
> claims that they are.  They may have been at first,
> but they learned to notice
> the difference between a common meteorite and a
> valuable one.  


Spot on

Who was it had to work extremely hard to convince some
guy in Morrocco that the rock they had was (only) a
Brachinite and not a Chassignite? 

That doesn't sound like a "clueless native" to me. It
sounds to me like someone who really recognised the
similarity between the two types and knew their market
values.

I'm sure we'd rather the press got on the backs of the
dweebs who think there's money to be made and sell
junk masquerading as the real thing. 

Apologies for the continual ranting. I just felt the
"naive local" thing needed a good slap-down.

Rob McC

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