Twelve Weird Facts About Bigfoot You May Not Know

By Dorraine Fisher

Belief In Bigfoot: Why Debate Is Pointless

By Dorraine Fisher

I'm going to tell you something you may not want to hear. Will you change the way you think based on what I say? The odds are against it for lots of scientific reasons, but you know I'm going to say it all anyway.

I no longer debate the existence of bigfoot...or anything else for that matter. And people often ask me why. Citing that debate is healthy thing. But I strenuously disagree for reasons about which I've spent a lot of time thinking.

When I was still new to bigfoot research, I was easily pulled into debate after debate with skeptics. I knew what I knew and no one was going to try and tell me otherwise. But I've since learned that ANY debate about Bigfoot with ANYONE is pointless. And I'll tell you why. But this story can't be told without delving into basic human nature. Yes, here I go again

First of all, what is a debate? It's basically an argument, right? Perhaps it takes place in a controlled environment and both sides are given a chance to speak. But it's still an argument nonetheless. And an argument is a conflict of sorts, or a fight...without guns or fists. But still a fight at its core.

And in the event of a conflict, we, as humans, are hard-wired to try and accomplish one objective: winning. We can't help ourselves, really. Instinct is a powerful thing. And when instinct takes over, logic and reasoning inadvertently go right out the window. It's not about finding the truth. It's about winning the argument. And just like any competition, you'll basically do whatever you can get away with in order to achieve that goal.

But why is that? Don't the “facts” speak for themselves?

They do, but only if others are really listening to what's being said.

The facts can get lost in the midst of all the preconceived ideas of the debaters. But what preconceived ideas could these debaters possibly have, you ask? The same preconceived ideas that all humans (yes, everyone) are guilty of harboring. And that is the idea that the other side of the argument has some hidden agenda. The belief that everything coming out of their mouth is a blatant lie. You see this in social-political arenas all the time. Even the soundest reason won't change the view of the opposing side, because you are the enemy. You have to be wrong.

If we believe they're lying about everything, the facts won't matter. All the work and frustration it took to collect all those facts is moot...because they're hard-wired to NOT believe them anyway. The opposing side is the enemy. And the enemy is ALWAYS wrong. Right? That's what we all think.

And, of course, you may agree with a lot of what I've said here, but you'll feel sure it doesn't apply to you. Right?

Sorry. Everyone is guilty of all this. No one is exempt. We ALL have this entrenched, burning need to be right and will fight literally to the death to prove it. Why? Because being right is the most important thing in the world. The person who's right gets all the perks; sometimes even gets to be king or queen. Being right is everything. No one wants to hang out with the person who lost the fight. And fear of isolation in a social species like humans is a pretty powerful thing. We don't want to be alone. So in order to be elevated in stature, we need to be right. Or, at the very least, we need to make the other side look wrong. Very, very wrong.

You see, science has this thing called the argumentative theory of reasoning. And the idea behind it is that we humans didn't take up debate about a subject in order to discover some universal truth. We did it to try and exert authority over others. It theorizes that humans didn't evolve the ability to reason so they could find the truth or make better decisions. We evolved reasoning skills in order to convince others or to be cautious of what they try to convince us.

In a nutshell, we're suspicious by nature. It was a very important survival mechanism. And as much as we'd all like to think we've evolved as a species, we're still animals after all. Maybe it was designed to help us be wary of strangers and to preserve our own lives. So, it's at least easy to say it's not really our fault. We're flawed human beings.

But that, my friends, is why I don't debate Bigfoot or anything else any more. How often do you see someone's opinion being changed by a solid point that was raised? They don't really hear that point or comprehend because maybe their basic human instincts of suspicion have kicked in. It's mostly about winning. And they're in safety mode. Maybe that skill has outlived its usefulness in the modern world, but it's still there nonetheless. Not to mention again that humans are naturally competitive and have to win the argument at all costs.

So how much do you really think sound reasoning and truth really matter?

And you can tell yourself Dorraine is crazy and she can't possibly be talking about me. But you're guilty. We all are. We're hopelessly human. And it's a hard pill to swallow that we may have advanced ourselves, survived, and even thrived as a species by actually ignoring facts and truth in favor of winning an argument.

So the next time you feel this burning need to build your case and put all kinds of facts together to support your argument, remember I said to not waste your time and energy. It won't get you anywhere but the land of frustration. ******DF

(Interested in sponsoring a story? then send us an Email!)