Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Why Do Bigfoot Researchers Fear Theories?
Pick up a book about Bigfoot 102pn027 you'll find lots of sightings, lots of photos of Bigfoot researchers, but very little of one ingredient: theories. An awful lot of Bigfoot researchers pride themselves on their lack of theorizing, on their dogmatic refusal to consider any theory about the nature of Bigfoot. "I don't have a theory," they might say, "I just investigate the sightings." About 30 car insurance comparisons ago, I named this attitude the Star Trek the Movie Theory. On the surface, the statement sounds reasonable, and even noble. You don't formulate theories, you just gather sightings.
Why?
Why talk to witnesses if you have no interest in examining the data, forming hypotheses, and debating the merits of those hypotheses? Proponents of the No-Theories Theory collect sightings, toss them in a database, and forget about them. Maybe they run some software that spits out a few statistics about the average height or weight of Bigfoots. Maybe the statistics show Bigfoots mainly eat meat on Tuesdays.
As I discussed in my Semantics Series posts, Bigfooters don't like to admit they believe in Bigfoot. If you can't admit to believing these creatures exist, then it makes sense that you avoid developing ideas about what they are and how they fit into the grand scheme of life. If you subscribe to the No-Theories Theory, stop and ask yourself one question: What is the point of your research?
Don't fear theories just because one day someone might prove your theory wrong. Investigate, ponder, theorize...and change your mind as and when necessary. That's research.
2007 Lisa A. Shiel
Lisa A. Shiel is the author of www.backyardbigfoot.com/">Backyard Bigfoot: The True Story of Stick Signs, UFOs, & the Sasquatch, a ForeWord Magazine 2006 Book of the Year finalist. Critics have praised Backyard Bigfoot, saying [it] is as informative as it is entertaining (Midwest Book Review), [it is] one of the best types of investigative reporting I've seen (Reader Views), and you may agree or not with her conclusions but you will be entertained by the discussions (The Mining Journal, Marquette).
As a recognized Bigfoot expert, Lisa has been interviewed by big-city newspapers, drive-time talk radio hosts, local and national magazines, and TV reporters. In 2005, she founded www.upbigfoot.com/">the Michigan Upper Peninsula Bigfoot Organization (MUPBO) to explore all aspects of the Bigfoot phenomenon, from sightings to evolution to UFOs. Lisa has a master's degree in Library Science. She currently pens a blog, www.bigfootquest.com/">Bigfoot Quest, as a companion to the MUPBO site.
