Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

I'm not convinced about dinosaurs

144 replies

OxfordCommoner · 20/09/2015 14:33

Recently I've been reading some websites about how the whole dinosaur industry is an elaborate scam. I'm almost believing that dinosaurs are just conjecture and fakery and that the whole thing is a huge money making exercise.

I'm not sure what to think because it sounds a bit bonkers to say you don't believe in dinosaurs, but actually when you read up on it it seems very likely it's true and they never existed.

AIBU? And if so could you convince me they are real?

OP posts:
millionsofpeaches · 20/09/2015 15:29

Hi Oxford my DH is currently suffering a paranoid delusion. He has sufered a couple over the past 2 years. His don't involve dinosaurs Smile but do involve conspiracy theories. He is very persuaded by the internet. And looks for meaning in things making connections where there simply aren't any. It sounds like you are experiencing something similar? Or at the very least are not in a rational state of mind. Contact your cmht asap in the morning. Flowers

Grazia1984 · 20/09/2015 15:30

The bones are large for some of them so it would hard to explain them elsewhere and too many different scientists have shown the dating of various matter on the planet through radio carbon dating. Have you looked down into soil and by analogy considered the rings of a tree. Those things help us see how long things have been around.

YellowJerseyPan · 20/09/2015 15:31

As an interlude....

DixieNormas · 20/09/2015 15:31

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

goblinhat · 20/09/2015 15:31

PacificDogwod

I get your point, but she is employed to teach "science". She is a science graduate, and teaches atomic theory, pH, photosynthesis, the periodic table, and creationism.

Deeply scary.

PacificDogwod · 20/09/2015 15:32

Yes, it is quite worrying, how does she marry all this up in her own mind? I know I couldn't.

SlightlyAshamed1 · 20/09/2015 15:32

Hugs - most people on here believe that dinosaurs are real. There is masses of evidence that would be hard to fake, including evidence going back to the beginning of the nineteenth century. The ding dong arguments between academics about different types of dinosaur and what a particular bit means would be impossible to fake - there is nothing so real as academic venom. Also academics make their names by debunking theories. Any academic who could prove dinosaurs didn't exist would have it made.

People are referring to another thread where it was really a joke thread about dinosaurs not existing. There was a lot of mockery of that point of view on it. If you want to have a look then let us know and someone can find the link. The only thing is, people really did mock the idea that there were no dinosaurs and it may upset you to see how this idea that is creeping up on you is treated. I don't want to upset you.

btw a dinosaur is defined by a particular type of hip and ankle structure. If the hip and ankle are not constructed that way then it isn't a dinosaur but an old dead animal.

Hope things work out for you. Hugs

goblinhat · 20/09/2015 15:34

Yes, it is quite worrying, how does she marry all this up in her own mind? I know I couldn't.

No idea- but she is a christian- so anything is possible.

Original poster
OxfordCommoner · 20/09/2015 15:34

Thank you Thanks

OP posts:
BettyTurpinsHotpot · 20/09/2015 15:36

Oh maybe I overinterpreted my boss and it was indeed Satan who had set the test of faith.

It is impossible to argue with faith. I do think there is a case now to ban the teaching of creationism as it is damaging some people's ability to engage realistically with what is happening with our planet.:we need to look at the past to interpret the present and all that. My boss's kids went to a religious school and so the cycle will continue.

BalloonSlayer · 20/09/2015 15:36

OP, when dinosaur bones were first discovered, scientists didn't know how they went together and guessed basically. IIRC some dinosaurs were presumed to have a horn on their nose when actually the horn was another bone altogether but they didn't know where it went to they stuck in on the nose! So I can see how people could find a load of bones and think they were a whole new animal.

The Victorian dinosaur models in Crystal Palace park, for example, here look very different to, say, the Dinosaurs which are depicted today, say, in Jurassic Park.

So we might say in another hundred years that paelantologists of today have got it all wrong too.

But I still think they existed.

Fatmomma99 · 20/09/2015 15:36

Oh my gosh, i'm so sorry. I stopped reading at about 28 messages and I've been trawling the internet for a review I read years ago. I'm so sorry, Oxford, I didn't read that stuff about your MH.

My apology! Flowers

I hope you get the support you need.

BettyTurpinsHotpot · 20/09/2015 15:38

My son's teacher keeps telling them to get info from the interNET AND I feel like Cassandra warning about all the misinformation out there - it shouldn't be used as the starting point!

BettyTurpinsHotpot · 20/09/2015 15:43

OxfordCommoner all the best to you, I didn't read the full thread either.

cardibach · 20/09/2015 15:45

Betty the Internet can be used as a starting point if you remember to ask who wrote the article you are reading and what their agenda is, same as with any research.

TiredOfPeople · 20/09/2015 15:46

AHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!

Oh. You're being serious.

BettyTurpinsHotpot · 20/09/2015 15:47

Nine year old do not have the nous, therefore clearly the teacher is expecting the parents to. Looking in some textbooks would be a far better place to start.

PacificDogwod · 20/09/2015 15:48

With the internet being such a totally unfiltered resource, learning critical reading skills at a really young age is vital IMO.
Who wrote it? Why did they write it? Who paid for it? Whose interest is it in? etc etc.

Not easy. And really hard when the perception of reality may be skeyed by MH not being great.

mummytime · 20/09/2015 15:59

Usually teachers suggest certain (pre-vetted) websites as a starting place.

OP do talk to your health care professionals - and maybe stay away from the internet for a bit, or at least random google searches.

Believing in Dinosaurs or not probably won't put you in any harm; but some other info out there could do. Take care.

HarveySchlumpfenburger · 20/09/2015 16:04

Definitely a good idea to mention it to your CPN, I think. Flowers

IsItMeOr · 20/09/2015 16:21

Oxford sorry this wasn't the news you were hoping for. It sucks that you're unwell at the moment.

Have you come across Elefriends? It's an online forum run by MIND for people with mental health problems to chat in a safe place.

May be worth a try as a distraction until you can speak with your CPN. Otherwise, try reading a book, watching a well-loved film, or similar activity to distract you. Hope you feel much better soon Flowers.

BettyTurpinsHotpot · 20/09/2015 16:24

Noyt in this case mummy, homework was to list the answers and websites found. Answer from a book was deemed not doing the homework!

BertieBotts · 20/09/2015 16:24

The thing with conspiracy theories is that they do tend to be frighteningly easy to believe and latch onto. That's how they tend to spread and gain followers.

Swipe left for the next trending thread