There's always something terribly intriguing about the possibility that "we are not alone", and that some form of alien life exists somewhere out there in the universe. It would just open up so many more avenues of explanation as to who we are, how we got here, what does it all mean, and naturally, that perhaps death might not be the end, after all. We wish!
As much as most of us did not necessarily concur with Fox Mulder that there is something out there, one could not help but empathize with his passion and belief that there was - he was a hunter looking for answers, and all of us at one time or another have wished that there was "something more" to life than the occasional bare bones of human existence.
Ironically, a similar pursuit that is much "closer to home" but proves equally elusive is the currently en vogue hunt for a variation on the missing link. It's a bit of a stretch to go hunting for alien life and the sophisticated flying machines that bring them to us, but surely it would be a much more realistic goal to prove the existence of a creature between us and the great apes on the evolutionary staircase?
This desire is of course at the very center of the clash between creationism and evolution, but if we are all so sure that evolution is how we got to today, then God knows there has to be some remnants of our ancestry remaining out there in the development void?! However, as we all also know, there is enough of a gap remaining that creationists are able to claim that there is nothing to find, and that's why people can't find it. Even in the face of extraordinary evolutionary evidence and the brilliance of the brightest minds alive, such as Stephen Hawking and his astounding "no boundary" proposal, there remains a justification for creationist conservativism.
Hence the emergence of a show on Animal Planet called "Finding Bigfoot", which started out as reasonably entertaining, but (inevitably?) went the way of "Paranormal State". It's a show about the search for proof of the continued presence of our hominid ancestry among us, somewhere out there. They resort to the same dramatics as the other show referred to above, i.e. build up some tension, raise the volume, just as the thing (whether demonic or beastly) appears, then cut to the break. Huge letdowns all round, then return from the break, and then they show that it was just a cat playing behind the shower curtain, or a deer in the woods. Aww, shucks!
To say that the team on the show is reminiscent of Fox Mulder would be a huge understatement - it's not so much "I want to believe" as it is "I godamn DO believe, because they exist!". It's often quite hilarious to hear one of them studying the ground and saying "Wow! That's a sure-fire squatch track!" or "Look at this deer skeleton, with the rib cage opened, so that the goodies can be sucked out. That's precisely what a squatch does!", as well as clearly believing that any knocking or crying out in the woods at night is proof positive that "we just ran into a squatch!".
And yet, after countless dark nights out in the woods in the middle of nowhere, we eternally get to daylight with nothing even remotely scary happening to any of them. I admire their dedication to the cause because sometimes one of them stays out all night in the woods on a solo mission, which can't exactly be a bundle of fun either. But what it proves more is that there in fact appears to be nothing out there - period.
No demons. No witches. No ghosts. No devils. No beasts. Apart from the zoologically classified beasts, anyway. Yet the four members of the BFRO (Bigfoot Field Researchers Organization) maintain their belief in and passion for the cause, and head off onto ever-new pastures in search of something to believe in. Of course, the cynical can add in that they are presumably all being paid big bucks to make a TV show, and yep, if you pay me a truckload to even pretend that I believe, well, maybe I could suddenly find a reason to believe!
The bottom line is that we have not yet seen one barely credible piece of actual evidence, never mind the remotest form of proof that the sasquatch, yeti or yowie do in fact exist. For all the "This is exactly where squatch like to hide" and "From what you have told me, you definitely saw a squatch so welcome to the club, man" comments, there is the undeniable underbelly - that the BFRO are simply delusional. One might even have some empathy for their cause, while simultaneously realizing that it is based on delusion. Such is life in the hunt for answers to life.
When the belief outweighs the (or any) evidence and facts? Well, you simply move back into Fox Mulder territory, which was based on pure fiction. It was a TV show, nothing more. "Finding Bigfoot" is similarly a TV show, but I will carefully avoid calling it another example of the dreaded "reality TV" genre, because it has little to do with our reality. It remains fantasy for now, which, just like the desire or need to believe that aliens, ghosts or demons exist can make for distracting entertainment, it is hardly based on anything we refer to as science.
Hard science needs hard evidence, and that is the one single thing that the BFRO and "Finding Bigfoot" are sadly lacking. In any case, our relationship with the great apes is unquestioned by most today, and the finding of a missing link would not change that too much now. Yes, it might make for a stronger argument against creationism, but I kind of like the fact that not everything in life is indisputable as yet, and it's fun to hear the arguments from both sides. They both want to believe, just in different ways, and well, DNA effectively sells the story and seals the deal in the end.
Quite where the missing link went or is hiding remains a mystery. But given mankind's capacity to go to war and fight with it's own species, I have no trouble at all believing that our hominid ancestors went out of their way to eradicate their closest relatives, who were thus their biggest competitors for food. If you think of how we have fought over, say, oil, then it's hardly a stretch to imagine early humans eliminating the biggest threat to their own food supply.
Sadly, I think that "Finding Bigfoot" has a most definitely finite lifespan, and at Season 3 today, well, it might already have run its evolutionary course. It will be cancelled before it ever discovers the missing link. But speaking of missing links, I have not yet had the mid-morning coffee that takes me from breakfast to lunch, so off I go on a hunt for that rare Guatemalan jungle dark paradise blend! Happy Easter ;) - Kevin Mc
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