Mermadness

Merdog. (source)

We're thrilled when people who are looking to learn something land on our blog.

We have good reason to assume that many of the most recent "mermaid" googlers that lead people here to the Mermaid's Tale are people who have seen the new mermaid shows on television and are looking to find out more about what they learned in those programs.

Part of that assumption has to do with the search terms that  have directed people here lately:

"dr stephen pearson mermaid"

"anthropology explanation of mermaids"

"mermaid research"

"bbc mermaids not real"

"hominin mermaid"

"aquatic ape"

"dog eat mermaid"

If you're one of these seekers, this post is for you.

The Animal Planet / Discovery Channel documentary on mermaids is actually, literally, truly fiction. Like a mockumentary.

Like Spinal Tap.

But not nearly as awesome.

The mermaid show is entirely* dramatized. Made up. Fake.

Like Waiting for Guffman.

But not nearly as awesome.

Those scientists in the mermaid show are not. They're actors.

If those were real scientists, then when you google their names plus their institutions you will land on their professional websites. You didn't find a single professional website for any of those scientists in the mermaid show because they're fake characters made up for a fake documentary.

Like A Mighty Wind.

But not nearly as awesome.

When it says "dramatization" and shows actors acting on behalf of the scientists, you might be fooled into thinking that those parts are the only fake parts, but the whole thing's fake.

Like Best in Show.

But not nearly as awesome.

If mermaids were real, we would know about it already...with absolutely no need for a cable channel documentary to reveal it for the first time to us.

Animal Planet and Discovery Channel are purveyors of entertainment, not beacons of education, knowledge or truth.

Sad mermaid. (source)

But it's okay! There are lots of awesome things to learn about in the natural world that actually do exist. Piles of amazing wonderful things.

Like nuts, for example.

A lot of people confuse skepticism with intelligence. A lot of people confuse beliefs in government cover-ups about weird creatures like mermaids and aliens with intelligence. Don't be one of those.  It's common to feel this way upon entering college, for example, when you start to realize that a lot of the dogma that we learn in K-12 is biased, is complicated, is less solid than it seemed, or has since been overturned.

Truth and knowledge often change, but truth and knowledge are also devised by humans. So, yes, question everything, but mostly question sources that want your money.

Here's what you find when you google "mermaid mockumentary." And here's a twitter-famous recent treatment, "Mermaids: The New Evidence is a Fake Documentary"

If today's post didn't help, then hopefully all those links above will.

Or this just did. (source)

*"Entirely" is only referring to the mermaids. e.g. They do talk about real evidence for human activity in oceans that's harming real sea creatures.