Friday, July 27, 2007

Editorial: Are some researchers too emotionally invested in certain pieces of Bigfoot evidence?

Most individuals within this field of inquiry are generally respectful and knowledgeable and do not get upset if a certain piece of evidence is challenged. However, there are some who get emotionally bent out of shape if a skeptical individual challenges them on what they consider to be evidence. A shining example of this is from last night's XZone Radio Show in which Michael Rugg of the Bigfoot Discovery Project and Museum was Rob McConnell's guest. They were having a pleasant enough conversation about Mike's museum and his collection of items in said museum and also of his own personal sighting in 1950. However, when talk turned to the subject of the Patterson/Gimlin Movie, things got ugly. Rugg proceeded to launch into a tirade of why he thinks the P/G Movie is real and why he thinks Bob Heironimus is a liar. Rob told Rugg several times he did not buy the Film, and a respectful guest would have let it go at that. Unfortunately, Rugg kept at it and basically disrespected Rob and Heironimus and essentially embarrassed himself and the rest of us Bigfooters. Rugg was told several times by Rob that the film in his opinion was a hoax, but Rugg would not listen. Finally, Rob cut him off and kicked him off the show. In my personal opinion, Mike should have just told Rob he disagreed with him, but respects his opinion and moved on. But that is not how it turned out, and it seems that Rugg was getting emotionally invested in the P/G Movie, which is a mistake, because even if that film were to turn out to be a hoax, it does not disqualify the subject of Sasquatch from being real (and Rob pointed that out several times). The point is, some researchers get emotionally invested in certain bits of evidence and fly off the handle when skeptical individuals challenge them on it. This should never be our attitude as Bigfooters, because it makes us look bad when a radio host such as Rob challenges us on what we deem credible and we get upset and fly off the handle and start basically taking over the show just to make our point. We should not get emotionally invested in any piece of evidence, because it could prove later to be a hoax or misidentification. We must maintain our objectivity in the face of skepticism and not lose our cool. If we do this, then we can be more readily accepted in the eyes of our peers and skeptics alike.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Henry...

Perhaps you'd like to discuss this online? I'm not much of a typist, so I'd prefer to talk. I disagree about sitting back and letting people who are professional debunkers get away with ad hominem attacks against Patterson and Gimlin. Thanks to Wallace and Long, the skeptics are acting like sharks in a feeding frenzy, and that makes it difficult for serious dedicated researchers to get a semblance of respect and/or funding for US BIGFOOTERS.. I, for one, am determined to solve this mystery. I'm not angry with Rob McConnell--I think he's been sold a bill of goods--and I apologize for talking over him. My passion for the subject matter sometimes gets the best of me... But, I think these debunkers are behind the times and need to look at the work of Jeff Meldrum, Henner Fahrenbach, John Bindernagel, Rick Noll, Doug Hajicek and MK Davis, just to name a few. I also think this kind of knee-jerk skepticism is detrimental to the process of discovery, and is severely crippling the efforts to solve this mystery.