I do not respect the huslte. More and more history disappears in front of our eyes every single day due to tourism and vandalism while scientists are constantly barred from preserving this history. It's really depressing to see

[–] thethirdgracchi@hexbear.net 10 points 5 days ago (1 children)

To be fair to Dr. Hawass, a lot of his work is actually around preventing archeological sites from degrading and getting vandalised. Dude is undoubtedly a media whore but he's done a lot of good for the state of antiquities in Egypt.

In interviews, several Egyptologists said that most of what Dr. Hawass was doing for their field was long overdue, things as simple as installing air conditioning at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. He has instituted zoning around major antiquity sites and built visitor centers to prevent further degradation. He also has plans to build regional museums in Egypt, including a sprawling new structure beside the pyramids.

In addition, Dr. Hawass has pushed through a law making antiquity theft a serious crime, and he has limited excavation of new sites in favor of conserving old sites and artifacts. "I made rules for people to follow, for the first time," he said. "People don't like this."

"People don't like dramatic changes," Dr. Hawass said. "But I am well trained, and I believe Egypt antiquities needs this passion. I know who my enemies are, and I don't care. They are the amateurs who want to drill in the pyramids, and the antiquities dealers we put in jail. The failures who do nothing in their lives. They don't like success in general."

Per https://archive.is/MbK19#selection-2215.0-2215.357

[–] blobjim@hexbear.net 3 points 4 days ago

extremely respectable hustle