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jrex703 t1_irle2r8 wrote

Reply to comment by Kirkverbal in TIL that in 300 B.C. turkeys were viewed by the Maya as vessels of the gods and honored accordingly also were originally domesticated to play a part in religious rites. by cristianmonroy

It's not-- I'd call it more parody or satire, with some elements of farce.

If a PhD who studies Mayan bird worship has not heard that turkeys were culturally significant, it's analogous to a PhD who studies the role of animals in Hinduism not having heard that cows are significant.

Basically I trust an actual academic a lot more than the title ofa random TIL.

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BoxingSoup t1_irpdc45 wrote

Except you didn't hear it from a Ph.D. You heard it from some random guy who claims to have a wife who supposedly is a graduate student in the subject. Why people lie for Internet points, I couldn't tell you. But they do, and taking comments at face value is plain silly.

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BasedOnAir t1_irmmoxq wrote

Well the TILs and their titles isn’t everything. Each one comes with a link to a source. Examine the source not just a Reddit title.

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jrex703 t1_irn33zt wrote

Obviously, I was being disparaging of History.com. And really there isn't much more information included in the article than there is in the title.

The only source regarding turkeys doesn't work, then it just drivels off into a discussion of Mayan population levels. It's a word-count filler piece, not an educational resource.

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