I was excited. Bigfoot: found. The famous performance artist, formerly known as Sasquatch, had been found dead in the woods (of course). Finally, his existence proven.
Instead it turns out Bigfoot, or the not Bigfoot, was just a pile of fur with some guts thrown on it for effect. Why would anyone do this? Perhaps that's a mystery greater than Bigfoot's presence itself.
Clearly there's a drive in our culture for people to believe in something beyond our control. One only needs to look at the plethora of reality shows on the paranormal--most of which, by the way, are terrible examples of the genre. Or the celebrity fascination with Kabbalah and Scientology. Or simply the pervasiveness of religiosity in our country: the rise of Mormonism with its magic underpants, the continued belief in the Revelation, all the hippie, new age, pseudo-spiritual bullshit. Bigfoot, like Nessie, the Yeti and others, falls into this realm of believing in something beyond our control and our understanding.
These beliefs themselves are understandable. It's likely even a piece of being human. Believing in something out of our control has existed for thousands and thousands of years. To this day it still exists, even in the supposed objective realm of science. Quantum theory for example, reflects this with its positing of the impossibility of objective empiricism. No doubt it is a piece of who we are.
The drive to feed those desires with fakir behavior is not easily understandable. Perhaps there is a drive among some to control the uncontrollable through the creation the myth of the uncontrollable. To them, Bigfoot is just a pile of guts and they're the only ones in on the secret. Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah.
I wonder what the real Bigfoot would say. He would probably just hit them with a log and knock some sense into them; knock them back to reality: bigfoot doesn't exist.
Or does he?
I have faith in you Bigfoot.
NY Times
Instead it turns out Bigfoot, or the not Bigfoot, was just a pile of fur with some guts thrown on it for effect. Why would anyone do this? Perhaps that's a mystery greater than Bigfoot's presence itself.
Clearly there's a drive in our culture for people to believe in something beyond our control. One only needs to look at the plethora of reality shows on the paranormal--most of which, by the way, are terrible examples of the genre. Or the celebrity fascination with Kabbalah and Scientology. Or simply the pervasiveness of religiosity in our country: the rise of Mormonism with its magic underpants, the continued belief in the Revelation, all the hippie, new age, pseudo-spiritual bullshit. Bigfoot, like Nessie, the Yeti and others, falls into this realm of believing in something beyond our control and our understanding.
These beliefs themselves are understandable. It's likely even a piece of being human. Believing in something out of our control has existed for thousands and thousands of years. To this day it still exists, even in the supposed objective realm of science. Quantum theory for example, reflects this with its positing of the impossibility of objective empiricism. No doubt it is a piece of who we are.
The drive to feed those desires with fakir behavior is not easily understandable. Perhaps there is a drive among some to control the uncontrollable through the creation the myth of the uncontrollable. To them, Bigfoot is just a pile of guts and they're the only ones in on the secret. Nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah, nyah.
I wonder what the real Bigfoot would say. He would probably just hit them with a log and knock some sense into them; knock them back to reality: bigfoot doesn't exist.
Or does he?
I have faith in you Bigfoot.
NY Times
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