| Sue the Dinosaur, now located in Chicago Field Museum |
1. The entire film Dinosaur 13 was a tragedy. It was difficult to watch knowing that the story would not have a happy ending. I think the picture’s most relatable emotion was dissappointment as the paleontologists watched in horror and helplessness as their one big breakthrough, their lives work, was torn away from them by those who failed to see its true value. For anyone who has ever labored for weeks over a puzzle or any project, just to see it destroyed by a careless sibling, you might l understand in a small way what this is like. How much more must this have destroyed the paleontologists who devoted their whole lives to this oftentimes unrewarding science.
2.
What surprised me most about the film was the
landowner who originally sold the dinasour fossil to the paleontologists. He
originally sold the piece to them for a total of $5000, the largest sum to date
for the purchase of a fossil. However, once it became clear to him that he
could have much more for this incredible find, he reclaimed the fossil through
a series of legal loopholes and auctioned the complete t-rex skeleton for over
seven million dollars! This man’s integrity for flipping the script so cruelly
on those who had devoted so much time and effort to unearth and clean this
fossil was low.
3.
The documentary did a fantastic job answering what all the "common" man questions surrounding the story of what happened to Sue the Dinosaur and those involved in her case. However, what did remain unsolved was how this was going to be rectified so it did not happen again in the future. Unfortunately, this burden of correction has now fallen on the paleontologists who must carefully and rigorously follow obnoxious guidelines to prevent their work being taken in a similar way as what happened to those incredibly fortunate yet unfortunate workers who discovered the incredible T-Rex.
Besides this, there are many other questions in this story which should be addressed. The main one for me may actually be an unfixable problem. Should people have recourse to laws selectively? What do I mean? What I am asking is why would the government remain silent about the findings while the are small and worth little, but then be allowed to raise a huge stink about something like Sue. This shows that they are obviously just in it for the money. So if a judges were to witness something like this, where there is an invocation of a particular law strictly for someone's profit and not for the common good which the country is supposed to be protecting, shouldn't a judge be able to rule in favor of those who are being injusticed?
The problem with this is it leaves all law then to the subjective interpretation of each individual judge, and I think that that will cause more problems then it would have fixed. So in my honest opinion, I really don't think there is any major changes that can be made to fix this error without more devastating consequences. Therefore, I think its important for all of us to learn the lesson of Dinosaur 13. Remember to keep your tracks one-hundred percent clean because, if you ever become successful, people will try to tear you down.
Besides this, there are many other questions in this story which should be addressed. The main one for me may actually be an unfixable problem. Should people have recourse to laws selectively? What do I mean? What I am asking is why would the government remain silent about the findings while the are small and worth little, but then be allowed to raise a huge stink about something like Sue. This shows that they are obviously just in it for the money. So if a judges were to witness something like this, where there is an invocation of a particular law strictly for someone's profit and not for the common good which the country is supposed to be protecting, shouldn't a judge be able to rule in favor of those who are being injusticed?
The problem with this is it leaves all law then to the subjective interpretation of each individual judge, and I think that that will cause more problems then it would have fixed. So in my honest opinion, I really don't think there is any major changes that can be made to fix this error without more devastating consequences. Therefore, I think its important for all of us to learn the lesson of Dinosaur 13. Remember to keep your tracks one-hundred percent clean because, if you ever become successful, people will try to tear you down.
It is true that the government seems to only be into things that will make them money or that they can control in some way. The sad thing is we may never know the answer to your question, in terms of paleontology and archaeology. The reason for this is so many are now funded by the government through grants and there aren't that many going on to being with. Its a sad reality that we live in a world where most of the important finds have already happened and we aren't very likely to have anymore insanely large and cool finds like Sue was. I think you brought a really cool and interesting viewpoint to this and it really made me think.
ReplyDeleteWhatever happens with Sue in the future and to other fossils or historical artifacts like her I hope she is ultimately used for education and not lining peoples pockets. Dinosaurs may not be relevant to us for entertainment purposes but they need to be taken care of for educational purposes and I thought that was still something important to people. Worry about money but don't worry about getting the most money.
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