As always, Yoon has some interesting thoughts and he is not shy about 
expressing them in strong and often hyperbolic words, nor is he shy about 
making sweeping generalizations and condemnations in words bordering on the 
abusive.  That's just Yoon and we enjoy his rant for what it is.

Although, perhaps a bit extreme, his opinions help balance the debate, and 
represent a valid and defensible position that needs to be expressed. That 
is not to say that I agree with him on all points, but am aware of that 
perspective and have some considerable respect for it and the underlying 
principles.

I am not sure, however that idealism is always a good basis for pragmatic 
thinking.  I try to be pragmatic.  I have to live in the real world and 
appreciate that others do too and I assume that all the other good people 
around us are doing their best with what they have in terms of materials and 
in terms of understanding.

> I have known Allen and Peter long enough to be able to say that they too 
> have modified and changed their stance over the years.  Read the archive. 
> They too were the champions of commercial beekeeping; they too were the 
> mouthpiece for the industrial and scientific beekeeping that allows 
> migratory beekeeping as Peter still does to some extent.  Yet they have 
> now
become pro-bee thinkers, having transformed themselves from their old 
clothes.

Thanks for noticing.  My circumstances and priorities have changed, and so 
have my practices.  They will change again, I am sure. As you point out, 
those of us who try to understand our world do change our stance.  We change 
it daily, as new information comes in, and as we digest and examine our 
ideas.

I don't know about Peter -- I am sure he may wish to speak for himself --  
but I still am still as much a champion of commercial beekeeping and 
beekeeping science as I ever was.  I am also a critic, where criticism seems 
due in my view.  Right Bob?

I practiced commercial beekeeping and make no apologies.  Commercial 
beekeepers are some of the finest people I have ever met and there is no 
group of people with whom I have more fun.  Add in some scientists and some 
hobbyists, and let's party!  I'm just not a fanatic, and I like to think I 
can have friends in all camps and learn from everyone.  A mouthpiece?  I 
hope not.

Also, importantly, I think the beekeeping environment has changed vastly in 
the last decade, unnoticed by many, and what may have been pretty risky back 
then may well be prudent and good practice today.  Think back ten years. 
Human scientific knowledge has more than doubled in that time.

Communication capability and information access have mushroomed, too.  Have 
a tough technical question that would have taken weeks to answer a decade 
back?  Get out your pocket device and ask your question.  Thousands of 
opinions, facts and references pop up in fractions of a second.  We now have 
the honeybee genome and some know how to read and employ it to better 
understand our attempts at breeding livestock.

As for the assault on commercial beekeepers and the sweeping accusations 
made against the lot, I have to say that commercial beekeepers I know run 
the gamut from those who have little respect for their bees to those love 
them dearly, so I think it is unfair to generalize.  Most are in the latter 
group.  One thing is for sure: commercial beekeepers provide and essential 
service in today's world and provide many more opportunities for many more 
bees that nature would.  We must recall that bees are an imported and 
invasive species in the Americas which has displaced, in some areas, 
important native pollinators.

The genie is out of the bottle, and barring some experiments at extinction 
on island parks they are here to stay.   They are escaped and feral 
livestock.  Humans brought them here.

The scientists, too, deserve our respect and not our abuse.  Regardless of 
what some think should be, human activity is making things difficult for all 
wild creatures.  Given the real world around us, and the challenges it 
presents to honeybees, our scientists help mitigate the problems.

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