Quote Originally Posted by Lord Torath View Post
And now some un-elected council of hoity-toity old guys is going to take that away
Frankly I hadn't even heard an American had discovered Pluto, not even ever reflected much about who discovered the other planets really. Admittedly am not American. I don't think I've ever heard a layperson express the unsatisfactory situation where maybe the "planets" aren't rigorously defined and how that interacts with other potential orbiting bodies. Literally only astronomers gave a damn and apparently they decide to flick everyone else's nose with it too. Yeah that will cause people to care more about your field, see if it does.

I think it's just the general ivory tower thing of it. Even the way it was framed here just now, "hey you laypeople, yeah you, you are too dumb to understand more than 9 planets so we made it easier for you dullards! Aren't we magnificently benevolent to you troglodytes?". Pluto was hurting no one except butt-hurt astronomers.

People are being constantly bombarded by messages experts can't be trusted anyway. Eggheads and authority are already loosing ground in today's world. So what do you do? You go full ivory tower on them. Smart move geniuses.