I'm not convinced about dinosaurs

[OxfordCommoner]

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?

Have you read the thread spectator? The op had said she is struggling with mh issues. Calling her "stark raving bonkers" is not at all helpful.

Op I'd either ask mnhq to pull the thread or hide it. You might get some not very nice responses from people who can't be bothered to read past your first post.

BettyTurpinsHotpot - are you sure the aim wasn't to show how unreliable some websites are? I do know a teacher who set a similar task to her students to show how ridiculous some sites are.
I think one was the boiling point of a mixture of milk and water, which was listed on Wikipaedia as 2000C.

Fuck sakes TheSpectator. RTFT.

I apologise. I have reported my post and have asked MNHQ to remove it. I am very sorry, I am guilty of not RTFT.

Oh don't worry! I'm not offended or upset, it's actually quite helpful in getting my head straight.

The dinosaurs are alive and well and living in Crystal Palace Park. HTH.

The thing about sciency-y stuff, such as dinosaurs, is that almost everyone has to trust the experts to be telling the truth. But that's sometimes difficult to do if anxiety levels are a bit high - who can I trust to be telling me the truth?

Sometimes it can feel easier to go along with the conspiracy theories, because it looks like the conspiracy theorists are experiencing the same kind of doubts about who to trust. I know someone via the internet who completely believes in one type of conspiracy theory (that her government is secretly up to no good), but that's because she has first-hand, real-life, experience of individuals within the justice system blatantly lying. And that was a very scary situation for her to be in. (And I do believe her on that score.)

I really hope I'm not making unwarranted assumptions, but I wonder whether you're transferring real doubts of the truthfulness of people that you've experienced in the past, into doubts about the truthfulness of people saying that dinosaurs existed.

You have insight and that is hugely important and helpful

None us here can 'diagnose' you with anything, maybe your MH issues are messing with you, and maybe you just got a bet drawn in by some crackpots; who knows?
Either way, you are prepared to be told your thinking is a bit off and accept what we are all saying as true. AND you are going to seek RL advice.
You will be fine

Sadly not mummy - that part of the learning process was entirely from me! The teacher is inexperienced but we are told by the school that the internet is the bees knees generally - they spend class tim egoogling stuff and I'm not impressed - can you tell?

slugs: I may have coined BigPaleo but BigGlobe I got from the internet!

Apologies, OP, I didn't realise you are suffering MH issues. Hope you get the support you need

We may not have every skeleton accurately put together, but they still existed and there has still been new data found on them in dig sites.

It'd be pretty hard to have the entire scientific community come together and create a global conspiracy. It would not stay quiet for too long.

andcake I've seen the terracotta warriors and it's niggled at me ever since.

I believe in dinosaurs though.

If it helps try thinking about poo. We have dinosaur poo. Who the hell would fake that?

Please do take care of yourself.

Oxford re your question about bones. It might help to think specifically about dinosaur skulls. These are often very large and don't look like any other animal we have today.

I remember visiting the Metropolitan museum in New York where they have a full size reconstructed T-Rex. I was quite unnerved at how really, really, really BIG it was. Some of the bones were huge. And when compared to something seriously big like a brachiosaurus it's hard to even contemplate an animal that size, even though we have the bones to prove it. That's what makes them fascinating though.

I hope you feel better soon.

When it comes to homework research, adding 'for kids' or 'for children' to any internet search will generally take you to age appropriate sites.

I like books myself. I would genuinely recommend children's non fiction books on dinosaurs (or anything else) as a starting point for understanding a topic. The Eyewitness series is fantastic.

I'm glad dinosaurs died out before humans evolved
Think of how people complain now about dog poo everywhere ....

Dinosaurs still exist in the shape of birds.

You understand that not just fossilised bones have been found? Grass fossils and sharks teeth wash up on beaches all the time. Do you consider those fake too?

I suggest watching this TED talk, it gives some information on how dinosaurs evolved in to birds using modified GENES (genes are also real). Get some reputable information, PLEASE.

Please do try and get to the NHM because they will help educate you more than crackpot articles on the internet.

That TED talk is really interesting whatwhat I feel a bit weird about chickens now though

Not wanting to confuse the issue, but there were some Victorians who faked dinosaur finds to get recognition and funds.

However, Wenlock edge isn't faked. Read up on it. Go and walk on it. The same with our lovely south coast. Lyme Regis... There are fosil finds on our west coast that match up with the ones found on the east coast of America, from millions of years ago, before the land masses drifted apart. (Apologies for my amateur descriptions/terminology).

Well, dinosaurs have been much hyped, but that's because they do fill up people's imagination for long lost monsters.

People also tend to amalgamate other creatures into "dinosaurs", such as Pterosaurs (flying reptiles) and aquatic reptiles such as Plesiosaurs, Mosasaurs, Ichthyosaurs.

Some skeletons are pretty complete and in some cases it's possible to see how the whole animal was organised. Significantly, in the case of feathered dinosaurs they are so well preserved that the bones are all in place (just squashed) and the contours of the body can be seen, as well as impressions of the feathers (in "traditional" dinosaurs with scales it's possible to see the surface of the skin).

It's easy to get sucked in by people presenting a biased case when you are not familiar with all the evidence, so I'd suggest you do read up, actually not so much on dinosaurs, but scientific hoaxes. You will see how they were uncovered and how different they are from what is known about dinosaurs.

Examples of paleontological hoaxes.
hoaxes.org/archive/display/category/paleontology

OP don't let it worry you too much. I could tell you the many weird and wonderful things I have earnestly believed whilst mentally ill (and seemingly fine from the outside) which are hilarious now but at the time I was adamant and couldn't be told otherwise.
It's scary how quickly your mind can latch onto an idea and run with it when your logic and reason has fucked off somewhere. I've learnt to stay away from the Internet, horror films and Arthur C Clarke books when I'm having a turn

Hope you get to speak to your CPN and feel a bit clearer soon