Dinosaur feathers, or, ResetEra and science denial

[Version 3.0]

ResetEra is quite a left-leaning community (by American standards at least, please no derails on this point). That being the case, climate change deniers, anti-vaxxers, flat earthers, etc get no sympathy here, to put it mildly. They are routinely mocked, or referred to with open hostility. And, quite frankly, I have little problem with that.

What I do have a problem with is this: in the occasional dinosaur thread, the fact that many dinosaurs had feathers is a strong point of contention, with many posters blindly denying it. Even assuming that many of those are just joking, I still find it hypocritical. Now obviously, this is not a particularly important issue, compared to the others. But the evidence for it is even clearer: we have feathered remains.

So, what's up with that, Era? How can you mock one of these dummies, if you are doing the exact same thing, and denying facts you don't like?

 

[TronLight]

 

[samoyed]

The issue of feathers vs no-feathers has more to do with aesthetics and culture than actual lives (like climate change/anti-vax), which is probably why people feel comfortable being "feather-denialists". It's half serious, half tongue-in-cheek. Also the vast majority of users here are "90s kids" who grew up around Jurassic Park so it is a very personal thing to them that's harmless in the big picture.

Wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

[rjinaz]

I've never actually seen this. Those people should be tarred and feathered.

Spoiler

Like a dinosaur, in a tar pit

 

[Deleted member 18944]

I'm gonna end this entire user's thread career right here.

ResetEra is a diverse place with many differing opinions and voices. Who knew?

 

[DJ_Lae]

I'll admit that dinosaurs have feathers, but I hate to admit it.

It's of little consequence in the grand scheme of things, and it makes dinosaurs look silly. All these cool depictions of dinosaurs from my youth and now they look like scruffy turkeys.

 

[Landy828]

I don't know that I have ever seen anyone here say anything about not actually believing it.

 

[WascallyWabbit]

Just cause this is a left leaning community doesn't mean it's not susceptible to the same pitfalls and fallacies that non-leftists succumb to. There's plenty of people on here who believe in wild conspiracy theories that don't stand up to facts.

 

[BarringGaffner]

Lets all agree that the science proves they had feathers... and then take all the data and shoot it into orbit and not think about it again.

 

[Rassilon]

You ever seen a dinosaur?

No?

Checkmate.

 

[Ryan.]

Classic Dinos are just cooler.

 

[Ferrio]

I think you're taking people's lighthearted comments in those threads too seriously.

I swear so many people wanna suck the fun outta harmless stuff. The world is shitty enough, stop debbie downering every little trivial thing and making it worse.

 

[iareharSon]

 

[HStallion]

I think Dinos had fur! Take that science!

 

[Gigglepoo]

"Denying" a scientific theory that has no impact on our world is hardly an egregious sin.

 

[Pluto]

You ever seen a dinosaur?

No?

Checkmate.

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You've never seen a bird?

 

[Deleted member 18944]

Click to shrink...

Pepe Silvia.

 

[HStallion]

You've never seen a bird?

Click to shrink...

Those are fake

 

[Nepenthe]

I know dinosaurs have feathers. They just look like food now.

 

[Parch]

I think it's great that dinosaurs tasted like chicken. Imagine chewing on a 100 lb drumstick. Yum.

 

[Kidgalactus]

People who get upset about dinosaur feathers are weird.
It seems to correlates with people's own ideas about masculinity in a weird way.

 

[Fantastical]

Not a good look, Resetera. Yikes!

 

[Paz]

Dinosaurs that look like Jurassic Park are just more fun.

Also, the majority of responses in threads about the ipcc report on climate change were people rejecting or ignoring the scientific consensus of individual actions to combat the change, so I'm not too sure about the premise of this thread. Even leftists value their own enjoyment above science if the two go head to head.

 

[HStallion]

I believe Dinos also had big anime eyes. Ugusaurus!

 

[IDreamOfHime]

Mr Resetera shares an apartment with Florida man.

 

[Deleted member 16516]

Speaking of Dinosaurs, just finished reading the following book by paleontologist Steve Brusatte, and it's superb.

 

[Doctor_Thomas]

I don't think anyone is really serious because, ultimately, it's not really that important.

Dinosaurs had feathers, but the image of the scaled beasts is so strong in every aspect of our media of them, especially growing up, that it's hard to let go. Remember, it took a long time for people to accept they were warm blooded and the image of the lumbering dinosaur slowly moving along was very, very hard to shake too.

"More like a 6ft turkey" was mocked in Jurassic Park, but it turned out that it was wholly accurate. (bar the fact Velociraptors weren't that big)

 

[OmegaX]

You've never seen a bird?

Click to shrink...

No, because birds aren't real.

 

[GearDraxon]

 

[Deleted member 29682]

I don't mind the "scaled dinosaurs are cooler" as much as I do the implication that feathers make something inherently uncool.

 

[ReAxion]

they literally told you they made up the dinosaurs in jurassic park while also presenting the theory they turned into birds. calm down.

 

[Nepenthe]

People who get upset about dinosaur fathers are weird.
It seems to correlates with people's ideas about their own masculinity in a weird way.

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I'm a woman.

Scaly T-Rex forever. Lift up your tiny arms for the cause.

Ugusaurus!

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I had to catch myself. 😂

 

[Einchy]

I don't mind the "scaled dinosaurs are cooler" as much as I do the implication that feathers make something inherently uncool.

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Only punk ass animals have feathers.

 

[Hey Please]

I did not even know this was a thing. I think it has been proven that the dino brehs had feathers (although I am unsure whether it has been proven that they were uniformly a feature for ALL dino species throughout their entire lineage spanning hundreds of millions of years).

As for folks sharing images of or vid content of dinos, it is based on aesthetics embedded in our psyche thanks to both pop culture that was informed by incomplete scientific knowledge of the time (and even preceding it in the books).

I don't think there is a "consensus" among Era members to disavow feathered dinos.

 

[Poppy]

i think dinosaurs had fur

 

[Aaronrules380]

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This made me laugh way too hard lol

 

[MadLaughter]

People are kidding.

 

[Deleted member 29682]

Only punk ass animals have feathers.

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Why I oughta...

 

[BigDes]

Any of ever looked at an owl? Like really looked at one? Weird bug eyed bastards.

 

[VorpalNonsense]

The difference between this topic and your other examples is that whether dinosaurs had feathers or not really doesn't matter at all. It's scientific and historical curiosity. Which is great, I love and support scientific curiosity. It can lead to many things. But the answer being one or the other would change our lives exactly 0.0%. Therefore people feel more comfortable displaying facetious stubbornness about the topic.
These people you reference aren't likely disputing science. They're just expressing dismay over reality because imagination was cooler. Therefore it's fun to push back. It's not serious science denial. It's jovial.

 

[Kidgalactus]

I'm a woman.

Scaly T-Rex forever. Lift up your tiny arms for the cause.


I had to catch myself. 😂

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That should easy "their own ideas about masculinity", now that I think about it

 

[Walter White Walker]

I think most people are just making a joke because they grew up with dinosaurs not having feathers and prefer it that way for aesthetic reasons.

 

[Mona]

were you there?

 

[jotun?]

I think you answered it yourself:

this is not a particularly important issue

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It's only slightly more relevant than whether or not Pluto deserves to be categorized as a planet

 

[DiipuSurotu]

 

[Nepenthe]

That should easy "their own ideas about masculinity", now that I think about it

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Regardless of how you say it I'm not sure what masculinity has to do with it. Scales aren't a masculine trait no more than feathers are a feminine one. The Anti-Feather brigade is just a self-aware expression of disappointment that dinosaurs do not look like their Jurassic Park counterparts.

 

[Einchy]

Click to shrink...

 

[Rendering...]

I know in my heart that when Satan was planting dinosaur bones in the ground to fool humanity, he imagined scaly creatures adapted to stalk the scalding plains of Hell. Not big dopey birdies waddling around with singed feathers.

 

[Kidgalactus]

Regardless of how you say it I'm not sure what masculinity has to do with it. Scales aren't a masculine trait no more than feathers are a feminine one. The Anti-Feather brigade is just a self-aware expression of disappointment that dinosaurs do not look like their Jurassic Park counterparts.

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I said it seemed to correlate, but that the correlation had substance.

I find pretty often that these folks are quite earnest in their frustration, and that usually they also hold some strong opinions about masculinity/toughness- hence the correlation I was suggesting.

If that's not accurate to you, then I guess you're not the sort of pertain I'm referring to.

 

[rusty chrome]

They grew up watching Jurassic Park and convinced themselves that Jurassic Park knew more about dinosaurs than scientists do. I'd go as far as to say they thought Jurassic Park was real. Yikes indeed.