Ok, am I the only one...?

Adam Khor

I hope not to start a fire here, but... am I the only one who has came to the painful conclusion that most (not all, but most) paleontologists are snobbish, arrogant, elitist, rude and perpetually unhappy folks?

I know that many paleontology aficionados worship paleontologists almost as much as they worship dinosaurs, but, seriously- I used to look up to them too, but after meeting a few of them- no names- well... Even worst, many paleo-buffs who aren´t even actual paleontologists seem to be every bit as pedantic. What the hell is their problem? Is it like, their revenge against the world after being bullied in highschool for being geeks? Or are they terminally bitter because they will never see a live T-Rex?

Then again, I may have had bad luck and only met the bad kind... I know one paleontologist who is a great guy, but all the rest are unsufferable snobs.

Similar experiences, anyone?

End rant...:o

Coriolanus

Palaeontologists are either sexy, lithesome bright beings or dour curmudgeons.

So sayeth the gospel according to Spielberg.

Any mention of palaeobotanists not counting places you automatically in the latter category.

Manach

Those that I knew back in College seemed down to earth, run of the mill academic types. A little too interested in minute differences in pollen counts but decent enough ne'er the less.

Mickeroo

Nevore wrote: »

Palaeontologists are either sexy, lithesome bright beings or dour curmudgeons.

So sayeth the gospel according to Spielberg.

Any mention of palaeobotanists not counting places you automatically in the latter category.

If you're talking about doctor Ian Malcom(Jeff Goldblum) I'm afraid he wasn't a palaeontologist :pac:

We're basically left with Dr Alan Grant or Ross from Friends.

Galvasean

At least tell me Paul Sereno is a nice guy! :eek:

Allosaur

Galvasean wrote: »

At least tell me Paul Sereno is a nice guy! :eek:

Yes. He is.

I don't actually know him, nor have I ever met or even spoken to him. But You seem to need the reassurance..:D

Allosaur

Adam Khor wrote: »

I hope not to start a fire here, but... am I the only one who has came to the painful conclusion that most (not all, but most) paleontologists are snobbish, arrogant, elitist, rude and perpetually unhappy folks?

I know that many paleontology aficionados worship paleontologists almost as much as they worship dinosaurs, but, seriously- I used to look up to them too, but after meeting a few of them- no names- well... Even worst, many paleo-buffs who aren´t even actual paleontologists seem to be every bit as pedantic. What the hell is their problem? Is it like, their revenge against the world after being bullied in highschool for being geeks? Or are they terminally bitter because they will never see a live T-Rex?

Then again, I may have had bad luck and only met the bad kind... I know one paleontologist who is a great guy, but all the rest are unsufferable snobs.

Similar experiences, anyone?

End rant...:o

In my experience there are Asshats everywhere. Best not to worry about it.

Adam Khor

Galvasean wrote: »

At least tell me Paul Sereno is a nice guy! :eek:

Actually I can tell you he is! XD He helped me identify a fossil I bought once. (He couldn´t identify it, though, but he was nice enough to find someone who could).

Galvasean

What was the fossil?

Adam Khor

Galvasean wrote: »

What was the fossil?

A long, blade-like tooth sold to me as a "giant lizard from Cretaceous Morocco". That's what the fossil guy called it, before mentioning rather teatrically that said "giant lizards" were often called "dinosaurs" XD
I couldn´t find any dinosaur tooth that matched it, though, so I asked Sereno to help me, and he told me it was definitely not dinosaur, but beyond that he couldn´t tell me anything else except that it probably belonged to some sort of fish.
He asked another guy who was a fish expert, and indeed, it turned out to belong to an Enchodus. I wasn´t dissapointed, really- its a very cool critter even if not a dinosaur.

Galvasean

That's cool about Enchodus.

So Adam, can you tell us what brought on this thread? Were you at a convention of some kind?

Adam Khor

No. I just had some unpleasant experiences and eventually felt the need to blurt it out so that my precious head wouldn´t explode. I'm ok now though

Allosaur

Adam Khor wrote: »

No. I just had some unpleasant experiences and eventually felt the need to blurt it out so that my precious head wouldn´t explode. I'm ok now though

I'm going to do the equivelant of "Godwining" the thread and loosly tie this thing to Horner.

The T-Rex thing?
What annoys me most about this one (see annoying, conceited, stubborn Paleontologist - but probably a very nice person.....don't sue) is; after it was roundly pointed out that there were more holes in the theory than a truck load of polo mints, (that's "life Savers" to yourself Adam) the reason he gave for proposing it was to teach people to question their preconceptions.

And here is the annoying part.
Anywhere else doing that is called "Trolling".

Adam Khor

Allosaur wrote: »

I'm going to do the equivelant of "Godwining" the thread and loosly tie this thing to Horner.

The T-Rex thing?
What annoys me most about this one (see annoying, conceited, stubborn Paleontologist - but probably a very nice person.....don't sue) is; after it was roundly pointed out that there were more holes in the theory than a truck load of polo mints, (that's "life Savers" to yourself Adam) the reason he gave for proposing it was to teach people to question their preconceptions.

And here is the annoying part.
Anywhere else doing that is called "Trolling".

That reminds me of my middle school teachers. Whenever I corrected a mistake they made, they would immediatly say "See, class? I made that mistake ON PURPOSE to see if some of you realized!"
Yeah, all right.

Galvasean

Adam Khor wrote: »

That reminds me of my middle school teachers. Whenever I corrected a mistake they made, they would immediatly say "See, class? I made that mistake ON PURPOSE to see if some of you realized!"
Yeah, all right.

It's funny how they never point it out themselves if unchallenged and leave impressionable young minds misinformed. Bit of a misuse of the power they've been trusted with.