This comment takes the cake for the weirdest anti-American comment I’ve read on Lemmy today. I get it, America is bad, but how in the sam’s hell did you come to the conclusion that it had anything to do with an American discovering it? (90% of the country probably doesn’t know that, btw)
Comment on Pluto is still a planet, just a dwarf one
gandalf_der_12te@feddit.org 3 weeks ago
fun fact: it’s also the only planet discovered by an american, which i suspect is why americans have such a big “pluto is a planet” movement - they’re proud of the only planet they discovered.
i’ve literally never heard anyone argue about whether pluto is a planet over here in europe. it’s just not an issue.
roker@thelemmy.club 2 weeks ago
captainlezbian@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Yeah as an American I had no idea. Our main source of pride with space is the whole walking on the moon thing.
RamenJunkie@midwest.social 3 weeks ago
Not just an American, one from Illinois. And Illinois passed a law so Pluto is legally still a planet.
https://columbiachronicle.com/metro/79ce17ec-ff01-5e3d-88f4-60f2480ce7fa/
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Wow, what a stupid fucking waste of time and money.
I’m struggling to put into words why this shit irks me so much… It’s like they’re trying to turn mainstream understanding of science into a team sport like they’ve done with politics.
In fact, now that I think about it that way it makes complete sense, and it’s been wildly successful.
- gandalf_der_12te@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
“People still love Pluto; they always have,” Sweitzer said. “Think of it this way. Let’s say you have a dozen cats at home, but one of them has always been kind of strange. It’s furry like a cat. It has four legs like a cat. But every so often it barks. But you just think, ‘Oh, that’s just strange Sparky. He’s a little off.’ Then one day you learn about dogs and all of a sudden you realize Sparky is actually not a cat at all-he’s a dog. That doesn’t change how much you love Sparky. And that is how it is with Pluto.”
whoa that’s charming :3
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Cats are alive and terrestrial though…
Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world 3 weeks ago
I don’t think most Americans are aware of Pluto being an American discovery. That would require scientific and historical knowledge, both things that are not our strong points.
I say this as an American astronomy nerd.
kevin2107@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
facts
melsaskca@lemmy.ca 3 weeks ago
What about in the old myths where Pluto, Neptune, Mars were used as god’s names? Weren’t they referring to the planets back then?
JcbAzPx@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Other way around.
melsaskca@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Well, that explains everything. Thanks.
captainlezbian@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
That said, some planets that are visible with the naked eye have been long associated with deities. Notably Venus (sometimes called the Morningstar) was associated with beauty/love goddesses including Venus/Aphrodite and Ishtar/Inanna.
JcbAzPx@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I mean, there was a group of Europeans that were pretty adamant about it not being a planet.