Bigfoot is cooler than you

Let us pause for a moment and reflect upon the fact that bigfoot means a great number of different things to an even greater number of people.  The very fact that I could have inserted (wood ape, sasquatch, forest people… okay maybe not forest people) into the above sentence and had it retain the same effect speaks greatly to this.

Let us also pause and reflect upon the fact that even though it lacks Linnaean classification, this hasn’t stopped it from creating an indelible impression upon our culture and our lives. From movies to documentaries, fairs to symposiums, folk art to internet forums, the wily wood ape holds sway over our collective imaginations and attention spans in a way usually reserved for extremely cute, extremely DISCOVERED animals. It’s safe to argue that The Bigfoot Show itself would not exist were it not for this great draw that the sasquattle has upon the public at large.

To put it simply bigfoot and anything bigfoot related is an attention grabber, a strong draw, an easy foundation upon which to focus the public’s attention and capture their imagination. With that in mind is it any wonder that the subject attracts such a wide and varied audience? Anyone who has taken even a moment to peruse the online discussions available will quickly see that there is no one size fits all description for those partaking in the discussion. From ardent skeptic to the most credulous of wishful thinkers, bigfoot draws a crowd. A very large crowd. Each with their own opinion and their own outlook, but all willing and eager to express their opinions and thoughts upon the subject (with predictable and often humorous results).  The Bigfoot Show itself represents this varied pantheon of pro and con, with the cast filling the range from proponent to skeptic and areas in-between (with predictable and often humorous results).

When your tent is so big and so encompassing there are bound to be conflicts, bound to be strife. Yet it is important to remember what it is that brings us all here.  What is it that attracts the non-believer, the hopeful, the dyed-in-the-wool true believer, to congregate together and discuss a subject that hasn’t even been proven to exist? It is the very nature of the subject itself that accomplishes this. Sasquatch transcends the need to bequantitatively verified and classified.

The very concept alone is enough to draw a crowd. Put simply the idea of a giant, stealthy, mythical beast lurking in the forests and fringes of our world is cool.  What’s more, it’s okay that it is cool. It is okay that the concept alone (and not the actual animal) is enough to lure people in to discussion and in to focusing upon the subject. So don’t be surprised when you find yourself sitting across from someone, or interacting with someone online, who is equally as eager as you to discuss bigfoot while harboring a wildly differing opinion than yours, because they have simply fallen sway to the same attention grabbing force as you.

Bigfoot is cool and no one is to blame, be they romantic or skeptic, for falling under that sway.