Ms. Zimmerman cast about a number of outrageous and clearly false claims regarding the dispositions, physical attributes, and existence of dinosaurs in her column “Dinosaur State Park: Family Park or Bloodbath.” Most of her commentary is rooted in common, unfairly assigned stereotypes regarding dinosaurs—an issue which has received altogether too little attention at this supposedly “Liberal” institution. I presume that she has never even met a dinosaur. As an Anthropology 101 TA here at Wesleyan, it is not only my desire, but my duty to ensure the accurate portrayal of our distant cousin, the Dino.
Zimmerman seemed almost obsessively preoccupied with the notion of dinosaurs as being violent (“expecting to fight dinosaurs”), carnivorous, and selfish creatures. Any credible paleontologist, however, will tell you that dinosaurs are among the tamest, most gentle mammals ever to populate Connecticut. Dinosaur social structure is egalitarian in nature; they share everything from toys at a young age to even toothbrushes in adulthood. Another major discrepancy concerning these exploited creatures is in historiography. Grade school textbooks are flooded with images of dinosaurs as naked savages, raping and pillaging cavemen. My personal research has proven that, in actuality, quite the opposite was often the case.
Zimmerman is not totally to blame though, for popular literature and Hollywood perpetuate these myths of dinosaur behavior. For example, The Land Before Time portrays dinosaurs speaking English as primary mode of communication. In actuality, a complex system of stomping, twitching, and posturing proved dominant during the time period in which the film is set. My most recent study proves that Dino language as we know it today would not develop until AT LEAST one hundred years after the setting of this film.
Edith, I also find it absurd that in addition to hating dinosaurs, you made room to mock both handicapped people and children in your ignorant column.
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