Pluto, as photographed in space in 2015
You wouldn’t think it was possible for one hate crime to wipe out an entire planet, but that’s what the International Astronomical Union did to Pluto in 2006–stroke of the pen, and you ain’t a planet anymore.
Gee, it was a planet when I went to school, and if you said it wasn’t, you’d get an F. Now suddenly you get an F for saying that it is a planet.
Every single inhabitant of Pluto has been depersonalized by this! And without a word of protest. We protest everything else.
Settled science. Hot dog. If you don’t like what the settled science is today, wait till tomorrow. It’ll be different.
Just ask anyone on Pluto.
I’m still upset about the marginalization and erasure of Pluto as a planet. Maybe we should stage a Mostly Peaceful Protest about it. Plutonian Lives Matter!
I dig “mostly peaceful”! Will you bring the Molotov cocktails, or shall I?
Ha, I should have read your post before I commented.
Essentially, they changed the definition of what constitutes a planet, and Pluto had to be shown the door by the bouncer in the nightclub (pun intended) where all the planets hang out. The problem was caused by the fact that we now have the ability to detect bodies that would have gone unnoticed in the past. The dilemma was, that by the prior definition, the number of planets would have gone through the roof.
That’s the science part of it, but we are humans, and by definition, emotionally driven. I actually have a T Shirt that says: “Back in my day, we had 9 planets.” Those of us who grew up with Pluto guarding the perimeter of the Solar System don’t want to see it demoted. The worst thing is that Plutonians are no longer eligible for 2 day delivery under the terms of Amazon Prime. 🙂
There’s also a problem with leaving packages on the porch steps during inclement weather. They get a lot of that on Pluto.
And the fact that your package delivery is performed by Polar Bears. 🙂
Plutonian lives matter.
A great example of Cancel Culture. 🙂