Why Do Some Want To Believe So Much?

[Guest]

I think anyone who claims to have seen Bigfoot is a liar or an idiot.

Wow. Insulting the intelligence of witnesses or believers seems pretty extreme to me. You are certainly entitled to your personal opinion and what you choose to believe for yourself, but relegating everyone else to the status of a liar or idiot is overtly condescending IMO.

No wonder so many folks are hesitant to relate their encounters when this type mentality exists.

You're lucky your thoughts were posted on the new forum and not the old. Whatever ones opinion of it may have been, this type of frontal attack on the mentality of others would have never been allowed.

And that, in this scenario, would have been good thing IMHO.

Kind of wondering where the Mods/Admins are on this one.

[Guest]

And people question why I never talked about it for 25 years? It's not the people like myself who have been hearing "liar" or "crazy" for 3 years we need to worry about. It's amazing what we can get used to. I remember what happened to me on this very forum in 2006. If there are any potential witnesses reading this PLEASE DO NOT talk about your encounters on this forum. Please contact a organization local to you and ask to be kept confidential. If you are not happy with the person you talk to, contact me and I will put you in touch with someone trust worthy in your area. You can contact me or Billy Willard on the Sasquatch Watch of Virginia web site.

[indiefoot]

I'm waiting to see what happens after a moderating team get put in place and a set of posting guidelines gets written and enforced before I decide what this forum is going to be like in the future. If they can make a level playing field and enforce respect then there is still a chance this might turn into something good. It's a bit of a subdued, free for all now, with a few folks circling like sumo wrestlers.

[Guest gershake]

 

If there are any potential witnesses reading this PLEASE DO NOT talk about your encounters on this forum.

Can't they decide that for themselves? Since I've joined here I was hoping people who had said they had seen bigfoot would share their encounters. I'm sure as soon as there are mods, valid discussion about them will be possible?

[Guest]

 Can't they decide that for themselves? Since I've joined here I was hoping people who had said they had seen bigfoot would share their encounters. I'm sure as soon as there are mods, valid discussion about them will be possible?

Sure they can decide for themselves, it's just a friendly warning. I understand your curiosity to hear about Bigfoot encounters. But we who research look at the bigger picture. We do not want to see someone coming forward with needed information get abused and chased away. I can recommend plenty of great web sites to read about Bigfoot sightings such as Bobbie Short's Bigfoot encounters site.

http://www.bigfootencounters.com/

[BobbyO]

You may not think Bigfoot exist's and you may not think there is justification for believing in Bigfoot but outright calling someone a liar and an idiot just because you don't believe is not neccessary. Llawgoch is intitled to his opinion but he doesn't have call people name's just because he doesn't believe them.

I agree with redratsnake, i have asked john about his sighting and i believe he absolutley believe's he saw a Bigfoot but i wasn't there with him so i don't know what it was, i certainly do not think he is lying!

I haven't decided if i believe in Bigfoot myself yet and my decision is up to me and no-one else, it's my decision to make. If that make's me an idiot then so be it

Hang on a minute, why are you quoting me then going all on the offensive ??

1 ) Did you overlook the part where is said " The " Liar " & " Idiot " part are a bit strong granted " They were only the first 10 words of my Post afterall..

2 ) Did you also overlook the part where i said " & as he/she said, most people on the Planet think we're lying & that's part of the reason i've never come clean publically about why i'm so interested/obsessed in teh subject " ??

3 ) It doesn't & i never said it did !!

4 ) The day i get worked up on an Internet Forum about someone calling me an Idiot or a Liar is the day that i don't participate any longer in Internet Forums full stop, who really cares what someone you probably don't even know says, especially when they're wrong ??

I certainly don't..

I'm big enough & ugly enough not to worry abotu them & stopped worrying about things like that in the School Playground long ago.

[BobbyO]

Wow. Insulting the intelligence of witnesses or believers seems pretty extreme to me. You are certainly entitled to your personal opinion and what you choose to believe for yourself, but relegating everyone else to the status of a liar or idiot is overtly condescending IMO.

No wonder so many folks are hesitant to relate their encounters when this type mentality exists.

You're lucky your thoughts were posted on the new forum and not the old. Whatever ones opinion of it may have been, this type of frontal attack on the mentality of others would have never been allowed.

And that, in this scenario, would have been good thing IMHO.

Kind of wondering where the Mods/Admins are on this one.

& this is the key isn't, what you wrote is your opinion like you said, & what he/she wrote is their opinion HRP, you & others just dont' seem to like the choice of words, which were a bit strong i agree, but it's just their opinion....

We're all Adults here aren't we ??

I can't believe that someone's opinions & choice of words has caused such a stink, has made others come out & say that witnesses shouldn't relay their Encounters here & have got others calling for Mods etc..

Ok what he/she said, & we'll go over it until the Cows come home & are ALL in agreement, were out of line but so what, sticks & stones etc..

It's pathetic, in my opinion..

[Guest]

Oh well, I got chewed for calling someone a "gnat in the windmills of my mind" on the old board and yet this stranger identifies John as a liar.....doesn't look like anything has changed to me but I wasn't aware we didn't have moderators yet. But that said, I am not big on censorship, I think John has a right to know who he is dealing with, and whether this person is a troll or not, now John knows what he is dealing with and can choose to respond or not to any further posts by this person. Not everybody is gonna love you and I think we are all old enough to deal with those that don't.

Edited for clarification and punctuation, no guarantee that I got it right the second time around :-)

[Guest parnassus]

It seems as though there are a number of people who had a strong emotional reaction to either the PGF or The Legend of Boggy Creek when they were quite young. It is interesting to me because my relevant experiences at that age were as a small town kid where camping out was something kids did all the time and older kids would often try to scare us. That is one of the reasons I have such a negative response to Roger Patterson scaring little kids in his Tampico neighborhood. I can remember having a very emotional experience at a science fiction movie, but I didn't see those bigfoot films until I was older, and the effect was not at all emotional.

[Guest Ambermae]

Hang on a minute, why are you quoting me then going all on the offensive ??

1 ) Did you overlook the part where is said " The " Liar " & " Idiot " part are a bit strong granted " They were only the first 10 words of my Post afterall..

2 ) Did you also overlook the part where i said " & as he/she said, most people on the Planet think we're lying & that's part of the reason i've never come clean publically about why i'm so interested/obsessed in teh subject " ??

3 ) It doesn't & i never said it did !!

4 ) The day i get worked up on an Internet Forum about someone calling me an Idiot or a Liar is the day that i don't participate any longer in Internet Forums full stop, who really cares what someone you probably don't even know says, especially when they're wrong ??

I certainly don't..

I'm big enough & ugly enough not to worry abotu them & stopped worrying about things like that in the School Playground long ago.

Sorry BobbyO i didn't mean you personally, i am sorry i didn't make myself clear.

I meant "you" as in anyone who doesn't believe in Bigfoot.

My apologies, i meant no offense

[Guest]

4 ) The day i get worked up on an Internet Forum about someone calling me an Idiot or a Liar is the day that i don't participate any longer in Internet Forums full stop, who really cares what someone you probably don't even know says, especially when they're wrong ??

This. One thing that's always puzzled me is why alleged eyewitnesses should care that someone called them a liar. Unless you really haven't been paying attention to the news over the last 10 years or so, we have ample evidence that people are lying on the Internet all the time. Why should people relating stories of encounters with a creature for which we have zero verifiable physical evidence get a free pass? They shouldn't. While it is very difficult to single out an individual witness and conclude "you are lying," we can't approach the bigfoot phenomenon without being mature enough to recognize that some proportion of the people who share their accounts here have completely fabricated those accounts. By the same token, honest eyewitnesses (i.e., people who honestly believe that they did encounter a bigfoot) need to cowboy up and recognize that some people will conclude that they are lying, despite their assertions to the contrary.

[BobbyO]

Sorry BobbyO i didn't mean you personally, i am sorry i didn't make myself clear.

I meant "you" as in anyone who doesn't believe in Bigfoot.

My apologies, i meant no offense

No probs Amber, all cool..

Now if ever there was a time for that old " Flower Giving " emoticon..............

[BobbyO]

This. One thing that's always puzzled me is why alleged eyewitnesses should care that someone called them a liar. Unless you really haven't been paying attention to the news over the last 10 years or so, we have ample evidence that people are lying on the Internet all the time. Why should people relating stories of encounters with a creature for which we have zero verifiable physical evidence get a free pass? They shouldn't. While it is very difficult to single out an individual witness and conclude "you are lying," we can't approach the bigfoot phenomenon without being mature enough to recognize that some proportion of the people who share their accounts here have completely fabricated those accounts. By the same token, honest eyewitnesses (i.e., people who honestly believe that they did encounter a bigfoot) need to cowboy up and recognize that some people will conclude that they are lying, despite their assertions to the contrary.

I agree, like it or not it's part & parcel of seeing an Animal that is neither accepted by Science or accepted by 99.9% of the North American Population & because of that, i too can't understand why people who have, & wish to come clean, can't see the kind of reaction that was given today, worded however, happening more often because it will & so be it..

It's their loss for not knowing, not yours..

[Guest]

oops

[Guest]

One thing that's always puzzled me is why alleged eyewitnesses should care that someone called them a liar.

If you substitute "alleged eyewitnesses" with "honest people" then I think you have your answer Sask. Many peoples entire self worth rests on their honesty and integrity. Calling them a liar is tantamount to excusing their very existence. Claims of Bigfoot have nothing to do with it.