User blog comment:BastionMonk/No feathers in JPIV/@comment-11047508-20130321135513/@comment-1791057-20130322233311

So leaving them purposefully in the dark? Not making the effort to approach them? That's not a scientist. That's not a paleontologist. That's a PaleoSnob. That's somebody who doesn't care about expanding knowledge, doesn't care if people get the right answers or not, but selfishly stay held up on niche websites that cater only to dinosaur fanatics. A scientist goes out in the world to spread knowledge, not sit around and wait for people to come to them like they're some kind of all-powerful guru atop a mountain. As a scientist you can never have the mentality of "if they don't read it themselves, fuck them". A scientist must always have an open mind, and know that not everybody out there is a scientist. They have careers of their own that they need to attend to. They cannot devote their entire attention to a area that doesn't help them pay their bills, help them save up for putting their kids through college, and to help them live their lives. A foreman on a construction site doesn't care about deacon traps or the phylogenic mess of Archaeopteryx. They care about making sure their subordinates stay on schedule as well as working with the engineers to make sure they're doing the project right. That is why it turns to the scientist's duty to take the initiative in the situation to make sure that people understand their science. To make sure that reashity TV stays off Discovery and NatGeo and that good programs that showcase real science is what gets broadcasted.