Reading Loren Coleman's blog, Cryptomundo, is a chore I willingly do to try and keep up with the status of special pleading and positive confirmation bias being presented as evidence and reason within the cryptozoological community. Usually, this is an exercise in reading posts which appear to be meant to generate website traffic and/or blur the line between legitimate Zoological/Biological discoveries and the “field” of cryptozoology. Anyone who reads this blog is aware of my opinion of the quality of Cryptomundo's material. It's hard to get much lower into stupidity without being an antivaxxer, Holocaust denier, or homeopath cancer-quack. Occasionally though, I do get a gem or two that makes me laugh out loud when I read them. One of today's offerings is just such a case.
In his post, How Kids Films Destroyed Sasquatch Research, Coleman tries to make the claim that movies made for children are responsible for the increase in what he calls “silly skepticism”. To support his argument, he presents a movie called “Little Bigfoot” which was released in 1997. Ever hear of it? I certainly hadn't before I read Coleman's post but it appears to be making the rounds today. Regardless, blaming bad movies (in his opinion anyway) on what I interpret to be his apparent observation of the decrease of true-believers in cryptozoology is a prime example of special pleading and I thought I'd point it out and provide a rebuttal.
While Coleman asks for debate on his blog, I know he is not willing to really open up that can of worms on his site. Myself and others have posted criticisms and the like on Cryptomundo only to have them disappear or never get posted at all. Obviously, Coleman and the site's owner are not interested in real ...
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...nd their fundamental lack of evidence and are making more rational and educated decisions based more upon the evidence rather than belief alone.
Whether Coleman addresses any of these points remains to be seen. However, I think the recent rise of Skepticism which Coleman clearly abhors is being seen in other venues as well. Dr. Novella, Orac and others have already written about the positive effect of Skepticism on what appears to be the downfall of Homeopathy and the recent turn of events which have shown the absolute failures of the antivax movement. While the internet does make it easier for the wack-a-loons to get in touch with each other, it is also making it easier for the Skeptics to criticize and get our message out. As a result, the public is becoming better informed and educated and that, unfortunately for Mr. Coleman, damages belief in cryptozoology.
The experience happens in the middle of the night in Orick, California when the encounter of Bigfoot took place, in the house of two men and their children. The house was surrounded by the forest, woods, and there were not many people around.
One of the most well-known urban legends told is the story of Bigfoot. Much of the research has shown that there are several names assigned to the mammoth ape. According to Napier (1973), Bigfoot would be the creature found mostly in Northwest America, Sasquatch would be a creature named in British Colombia, the 49th parallel in the north-west states of America and Northern California, and the Abominable Snowman, or the Yeti would be the creature named in the Himalayas. Of course, “Wild Man” and “Savage” have also been names used to identify the creature. There’s been thousands of sightings across the world, but there have also been many misidentifications where those who think they have seen Bigfoot have really just seen an ordinary animal or person. Arment (2006) states an individual’s perception may color the eyewitness account. Such misidentifications include: hermits, fugitives, refugees, bears, gorillas, and simply people making up stories or rumors. In addition to sightings, there have been photos, videos, movies, and TV shows that strongly indicates the possibility of the existence of this creature. Though there is much evidence from sightings, myths, and recordings that Bigfoot exists, there is also much proof that it could all be a hoax. Incorrect sightings have led skeptics to argue over the existence of this being stating Bigfoot is really just a fable. So one has to ask oneself, does Bigfoot really exist or is it just another urban legend?
"Hunter's Photos Ignite New Debate Over Bigfoot's Existence." Fox News. FOX News Network, 1 Nov. 2007. Web. 28 Apr. 2014. .
The new discoveries raise many questions about the origin of modern man. Tim D. White, the project’s director claims that the Herto fossils prove that...
To escape the reality of this undeniably complicated world, would be something so distant to even consider, yet it would not be impossible to. The film “Where the Wild Things Are” unconsciously portrays an attempt at this escape through the leading role, Max and his fellow Wild Things. Max’s Journey could be considered a quest for sanity and morality in the sense that his everyday life initiated him to escape this reality and experience a much preferable life in which would be considered his safe space, where he was unknowingly faced with his own deepest aspects of himself through the personalities and conflicts of others leading him to further learn his place in the world.
Though there are many mysteries in North America to tell at campfires or when outside to insight fear, Bigfoot has always been one of the most well known. This mysterious beast is a representation of our culture and displays how the things we believe to be real, could just be a figment of our imagination. Ultimately, there have been thousands of “witness report encounters” with the mystery creature known as Bigfoot. This Yeti-like creature has aroused many questions that date back to the early seventeenth century. Over all these years, people have been searching for Bigfoot and camping out to be one of the first to have very hard evidence of him. Because it is very difficult to tell if Bigfoot is real, people have questioned his existence over these years, as well.
Bigfoot is one of the most well-known and controversial urban legends in the world (Pekinois). There are many different arguments to prove that Bigfoot does and does not exist. There are some unexplained phenomenons that may give hope to the possibility that Bigfoot is real but most evidence of Bigfoot can be proven to be something else and just because there is no explanation now that does not mean there never will be one.
Wandering through the wilderness of the Northern Pacific in the United States or western Canada many claim to have seen a large hair covered wild man in the woods. Descriptions of this beast range from 7 to 8 feet tall and in some cases there are reports up to 10 or 12 feet. Long shaggy hair covers their body and those who have encountered these animals they smell them long before they see them. Imagine the smell of old Uncle Rufus after a bender times ten.
... over the print is correct. All of these facts are bittersweet though, since sample specimens have nothing to be compared to since no actual creature specimen has been collected. It can be concluded, however, that these remains did not come from any animal currently known to modern science.
All around the world monsters are spotted contently everyday. Many of the monsters live in extraordinary circumstances. These monsters range from the chupacabra to the ancient megalodon. One of these monsters being bigfoot. Bigfoot is a very well know monster that has been in myths and stories for hundreds of years and sightings have started almost 200 years ago. One of the things many people wanted to know is how closely related bigfoot is to humans and how closely it is to apes.
Bigfoot also known as Sasquatch is a large, hairy, muscular, ape-like creature that somewhat looks like a human being.
With this knowledge, they have learned how to pass themselves off as trustworthy institutions worthy of being a cognitive authority. The most prominent examples of this behavior comes from the Christian right. Large Christian organizations have tried passing themselves off as legitimate sources of scholarly debate. They fund their own studies and their lackeys use these studies as definitive, authoritative sources to support their religious arguments. Some try not to hide their motives much such as the Center for Theology and Natural Sciences and Answers in Genesis. Other organizations are much more nefarious. Organizations such as the Family Research Institute and the American College of Pediatricians create a facade of intellectualism with their own studies that provide legitimacy. When one digs below the surface, it becomes clear that these organizations simply abuse the trust people have in American scientific institutions in order to prop up their own biased opinions. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, these organizations are simply just religious, anti-gay, pseudo-scientific hate groups (Schlatter 2010). Just looking at their names, the common person would generally hold their opinion as having some sort of authority to it, but no credible source really takes them
Evolution is a theory that is refuted by the majority of creationists; creationists argue that evolution is simply a “theory” and is not supported by scientific evidence. This argument is clearly false. In order for a scientific theory to become widely accepted by the majority of the scientific world, it must be supported with facts and evidence. In a recent Gallup Poll, 55% of scientists, a majority, believed in evolution with no divine intervention. An additional 40% of scientists believed in evolution with divine intervention; only 5% of scientists believe that the earth was created by a divine power in the last 10,000 years. However, the public opinion is nearly the direct opposite. 46% of those polled believed the earth was created by a divine power in the last 10,000 years; furthermore, 40% of those polled believe in evolution with divine intervention. Only 9% of those polled believed in evolution with no divine aid. The disparity between scientists and the public is too great to be ignored; despite the overwhelmingly scientific evidence, many people still do not fully support, or believe in the theory of evolution. There is also a clear correlation between belief in evolution and belief in God. While the polls attempting to record the religious beliefs of scientists are not always reliable, it is true that the percent of scientists that believe in the divine is much lower than that of the general public. According to the Eastern religions, such as Buddhism and Hinduism, these tensions between science and religion are only a Western issue, referring to the Abrahamic religions, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Many people, including scientists, believe that the relationship between science and religion should not...
Dinosaurs are often compared to and resemble modern day reptiles. Scientists will study how these modern day reptiles behave, look, act, and move to draw conclusions on how the dinosaurs would behave, look, act, and move. They also look at the intern make-up of the modern reptiles to predict how the dinosaurs internal make up would be. However, a recent discovery in South Dakota is stirring up some controversy (Hesman). While Mike Hammer was walking around a ranch in South Dakota he stumbled across a “big-eyed” dinosaur that he now refers to as Willo. The thing that caught his eye was the chest cavity of the dinosaur, upon further investigation he found a rock that was preserved in the curve of the dinosaur’s ribs, he was convinced that this rock was once a heart. Hammer then went on to take the dinosaur fossil in for a medical X-ray scan, this X-ray showed evidence that could change how we think about dinosaurs.
often a moral issue and the choice to believe can be an emotional or instinctual one rather then an