4 ms·

I just don't understand how people continue to believe that Bigfoot exists. The footage from the 1970s, once stabilized, looks embarrassingly like a man in a go

by steven2012 7y ago

I just don't understand how people continue to believe that Bigfoot exists. The footage from the 1970s, once stabilized, looks embarrassingly like a man in a gorilla suit. Plus they admitted their faking it. The fact people still believe this makes me understand exactly how conspiracy theorists and anti-vaxxers believe what they do. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q60mSMmhTZU https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q60mSMmhTZU

GuiA 7y ago
It’s a weird feature of humanity. Once an idea (or meme in the original Dawkins sense) starts spreading, it’s very hard to make it disappear, no matter how ridiculous it is. See flat earth theories, various nutty religious theories (“Jesus crossed the ocean and lived the rest of his days in the USA”), etc. I guess it’s a social thing? Humans have a fundamental need to bond and feel part of a bigger “us” and these things serve as a substrate for it.
- sdf6798 7y ago
  What about aliens? Are they an idea or reality? :-)
  - gus_massa 7y ago
    Alien bacteria-like in their original planet: Nobody know, but yes. Some steps are easy, some steps are unknow. It's a little optimist to say a clear "yes", but "yes". Intelligent Alien living happily in their original planet or nearby: Nobody know, but probably yes. There are more unknows unknows step here. I'm particularly worried abbot the prokaryote-eukaryote transition, but there are more steps and more unknow steps. So let's hope that the universe is big enough and say "probably yes". Intelligent Alien visiting us in flying saucer: Nobody know, but probably no. The distances are too big. There is no hard evidence like a crash from time to time. We don't receive any electromagnetic weird signals, and electromagnetic communication is so efficient it would be weird that they use other means to communicate between starships. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but let's say "probably no".
NikkiA 7y ago
It's the same with the loch ness monster, the famous 'surgeon's photo' has long since been admitted as a fake, yet people still believe it to be proof. Granted, as with bigfoot that's not the ONLY ever sighting, but it's the one that cements the story as believable to most people.
- giobox 7y ago
  I’ve never felt the same community of believers exists around “Nessie”, probably because the myth is so tightly linked to one specific location. Bigfoot’s big marketing advantage is that he could be living in any forest, anywhere, greatly increasing the total addressable market for believers.
bredren 7y ago
Unlike antivax, Bigfoot is fun to believe in. This isn’t science—it’s mirth.
mc32 7y ago
It’s weird, just ten years ago some hoaxters[1] tried to get greater publicity by trying to imply a Stanford professor would be involved in examining a “carcass” as well as having a congressional candidate involved in the excursion. Their plan for a news conference was foiled when the ice encasing their Bigfoot “carcass” melted too fast and exposed the frozen rubber suit. [1]http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/08/19/bigfoot.hoax/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/08/19/bigfoot.hoax/index.html
lo_fye 7y ago
Maybe you should do some research before calling bullsh*t. Here’s part 1 of 6 of a 12 hour analysis of that film - https://overcast.fm/+DkjFY8nxA https://overcast.fm/+DkjFY8nxA The hosts go into it open minded, and come out believing it is real. Along the way they speak to the surviving people who were actually there and involved, AND to a Hollywood film maker and creature FX person who was making high-end costumes in the 60s. He says the technology to make a costume that good at that time was not in existence. Furthermore, he says nobody has yet been able to produce a costume of similar quality. Also, when you look into the proportions the human body, they don’t match those of the being in the film. Also, there are many indications in the film itself that it was an impromptu shoot. AND the guy who claimed to have been the man in the monkey suit had a beef (motive) with the man who shot the film, AND the costume he described wearing doesn’t match what appears on the film, AND the lengths of his limbs don’t match those of the creature in the film. And the other guy who was present when the film was shot is known to be highly respected and full of integrity. A real straight shooter. Lastly, check out BFRO.org to see the thousands of sightings that continue to occur every year across the USA. Sure, some are probably bears... but some are up close and personal, and involve police, forest rangers, military, etc.
- smohare 7y ago
  Fascinating how we still have yet to find a single carcass of a massive land mammal that lives close enough to civilization for there to be regular sightings. Also strange that the video evidence is so spectacularly subpar that the most convincing of it requires significant anomaly hunting to persuade anyone.
  - rbosinger 7y ago
    The one argument I've heard to that is: how many dead bears or cougars are often stumbled upon? Turns out not a lot. Animals tend to find hidden placed to die and then nature can dispose and disperse of them pretty quickly. You will find dead deer but there are so many of them and they are heavily hunted. They're also kind of dumb and will die by running into a tree and things like that. The other thing that gives me pause to believe it's possible they're out there is that there have been times in recent history where we've apparently discovered entire large(ish) populations of gorillas when we had believed their numbers were lower. I don't know. Not arguing bigfoot exists but I like the idea that even in modern times there's still stuff we can miss even though it feels like it would be impossible.

GuiA 7y ago

It’s a weird feature of humanity. Once an idea (or meme in the original Dawkins sense) starts spreading, it’s very hard to make it disappear, no matter how ridiculous it is. See flat earth theories, various nutty religious theories (“Jesus crossed the ocean and lived the rest of his days in the USA”), etc. I guess it’s a social thing? Humans have a fundamental need to bond and feel part of a bigger “us” and these things serve as a substrate for it.

sdf6798 7y ago
What about aliens? Are they an idea or reality? :-)
- gus_massa 7y ago
  Alien bacteria-like in their original planet: Nobody know, but yes. Some steps are easy, some steps are unknow. It's a little optimist to say a clear "yes", but "yes". Intelligent Alien living happily in their original planet or nearby: Nobody know, but probably yes. There are more unknows unknows step here. I'm particularly worried abbot the prokaryote-eukaryote transition, but there are more steps and more unknow steps. So let's hope that the universe is big enough and say "probably yes". Intelligent Alien visiting us in flying saucer: Nobody know, but probably no. The distances are too big. There is no hard evidence like a crash from time to time. We don't receive any electromagnetic weird signals, and electromagnetic communication is so efficient it would be weird that they use other means to communicate between starships. Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but let's say "probably no".

NikkiA 7y ago

It's the same with the loch ness monster, the famous 'surgeon's photo' has long since been admitted as a fake, yet people still believe it to be proof. Granted, as with bigfoot that's not the ONLY ever sighting, but it's the one that cements the story as believable to most people.

giobox 7y ago
I’ve never felt the same community of believers exists around “Nessie”, probably because the myth is so tightly linked to one specific location. Bigfoot’s big marketing advantage is that he could be living in any forest, anywhere, greatly increasing the total addressable market for believers.

bredren 7y ago

Unlike antivax, Bigfoot is fun to believe in. This isn’t science—it’s mirth.

mc32 7y ago

It’s weird, just ten years ago some hoaxters[1] tried to get greater publicity by trying to imply a Stanford professor would be involved in examining a “carcass” as well as having a congressional candidate involved in the excursion. Their plan for a news conference was foiled when the ice encasing their Bigfoot “carcass” melted too fast and exposed the frozen rubber suit. [1]http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/08/19/bigfoot.hoax/index.html http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/08/19/bigfoot.hoax/index.html

lo_fye 7y ago

Maybe you should do some research before calling bullsh*t. Here’s part 1 of 6 of a 12 hour analysis of that film - https://overcast.fm/+DkjFY8nxA https://overcast.fm/+DkjFY8nxA The hosts go into it open minded, and come out believing it is real. Along the way they speak to the surviving people who were actually there and involved, AND to a Hollywood film maker and creature FX person who was making high-end costumes in the 60s. He says the technology to make a costume that good at that time was not in existence. Furthermore, he says nobody has yet been able to produce a costume of similar quality. Also, when you look into the proportions the human body, they don’t match those of the being in the film. Also, there are many indications in the film itself that it was an impromptu shoot. AND the guy who claimed to have been the man in the monkey suit had a beef (motive) with the man who shot the film, AND the costume he described wearing doesn’t match what appears on the film, AND the lengths of his limbs don’t match those of the creature in the film. And the other guy who was present when the film was shot is known to be highly respected and full of integrity. A real straight shooter. Lastly, check out BFRO.org to see the thousands of sightings that continue to occur every year across the USA. Sure, some are probably bears... but some are up close and personal, and involve police, forest rangers, military, etc.

smohare 7y ago
Fascinating how we still have yet to find a single carcass of a massive land mammal that lives close enough to civilization for there to be regular sightings. Also strange that the video evidence is so spectacularly subpar that the most convincing of it requires significant anomaly hunting to persuade anyone.
- rbosinger 7y ago
  The one argument I've heard to that is: how many dead bears or cougars are often stumbled upon? Turns out not a lot. Animals tend to find hidden placed to die and then nature can dispose and disperse of them pretty quickly. You will find dead deer but there are so many of them and they are heavily hunted. They're also kind of dumb and will die by running into a tree and things like that. The other thing that gives me pause to believe it's possible they're out there is that there have been times in recent history where we've apparently discovered entire large(ish) populations of gorillas when we had believed their numbers were lower. I don't know. Not arguing bigfoot exists but I like the idea that even in modern times there's still stuff we can miss even though it feels like it would be impossible.