QUOTE
Bigfoot hunt a step in the right direction for us all
Written by Alex Sirney, senior writer
It’s not exactly a dream job. Picture Jonathan Kent, BBC correspondent in Indonesia, setting off bright and early one morning, muttering something under his breath about local legends, jumpy farmers and malaria. Kent can’t have been exceptionally excited about his mission — find Bigfoot.
Hours later, however, after tramping through tropical jungle and meeting with the excited locals, Kent found himself staring at the unbelievable — actual footprints.
“All I can tell you is they were big, they were foot shaped and they were there,” he wrote for the BBC.
They were there. It’s really very hard to argue with that, as much as it flies in the face of common sense. They were foot-shaped, and they were there.
The Indonesian government has, understandably, reacted swiftly to the rash of recent sightings in the state of Johor. It is planning an expedition into the jungles to find the beast and is selling permits to citizens for the right to do the same.
Whether or not they find Bigfoot is ultimately unimportant. What is important is that, despite the joys of the Internet, plastic shopping bags and flying cars, a national government of no small consequence can still find it worth while to use money and time to stop and chase after legends.
It just proves how little we know for sure about the world around us.
Indonesia’s pursuit of this ape gives us all hope. It’s reminiscent of the birthday or holiday celebration when you were about 4 years old and blindly tore through those presents even though you knew, deep down, there was no way a pony or a bike was in those sock-sized boxes. You still tried, despite all odds, and were finally rewarded, that one time, because it was bike-shaped, and it was there.
It certainly seems like a fool’s errand — people with much more time on their hands have been hunting the Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Yeti or Skunk-Ape for years. Centuries, even, if local legends from around the world have any truth to them. Yet, there is still that one little sentence — “They were foot shaped, and they were there.”
That sentence is a wake-up call. Not about Bigfoot, although it may someday be a legendary moment in scientific discovery, but instead for world culture. There are many more serious issues that need the time and attention Bigfoot’s stealing right now, but when was the last time anyone really noticed? When did we last think about repressive regimes in strategically unimportant countries, looming environmental disaster or even fiscal irresponsibility and domestic poverty as being “big and there?” Do we even know for sure what problems are “big and there?”
More importantly, when was the last time we dropped everything and assembled a team to look into these problems once and for all?
It’s socially irresponsible for us to continue sweeping the evidence under the carpet, just like conspiracy theorists have suspected about Bigfoot, UFOs and Area 51 for years. We should take an example from Indonesia and tackle the issues that are irrefutably “big and there,” even though Indonesia undoubtedly has issues bigger and more omnipresent.
It’s not a governmental or political lesson alone, either. On a personal level, we could all use that kick-start to confront the things that haunt our personal legends. Whether it be something as serious as alcoholism, depression or an eating disorder, or something as benign as that cute guy or girl a row back in art history, the evidence is big and it is there.
It’s time we stopped ignoring it. It’s time we looked around our dorms, our university, our state, our world and opened our eyes to the evidence that is staring us in the face.
Kent is trying to tell us something — he is pleading with us to believe, against everything we’ve been taught is rational, that there is something weird and wonderful out there.
I’m inclined to believe him — after all, there are plenty of things in our lives that are weird, wonderful and defy rationality. And, mercifully, not all of them are epic social crises. Some are, but sometimes the footprints are just evidence that your roommate ate the last of the Easy-Mac. And that’s OK, too.
It’s just time we saw the evidence with open eyes and realized how much is there to be seen in all areas of our lives.
Alex Sirney is a junior anthropology/SMAD major who welcomes feedback and pictures of UFOs at sirneyac.
Written by Alex Sirney, senior writer
It’s not exactly a dream job. Picture Jonathan Kent, BBC correspondent in Indonesia, setting off bright and early one morning, muttering something under his breath about local legends, jumpy farmers and malaria. Kent can’t have been exceptionally excited about his mission — find Bigfoot.
Hours later, however, after tramping through tropical jungle and meeting with the excited locals, Kent found himself staring at the unbelievable — actual footprints.
“All I can tell you is they were big, they were foot shaped and they were there,” he wrote for the BBC.
They were there. It’s really very hard to argue with that, as much as it flies in the face of common sense. They were foot-shaped, and they were there.
The Indonesian government has, understandably, reacted swiftly to the rash of recent sightings in the state of Johor. It is planning an expedition into the jungles to find the beast and is selling permits to citizens for the right to do the same.
Whether or not they find Bigfoot is ultimately unimportant. What is important is that, despite the joys of the Internet, plastic shopping bags and flying cars, a national government of no small consequence can still find it worth while to use money and time to stop and chase after legends.
It just proves how little we know for sure about the world around us.
Indonesia’s pursuit of this ape gives us all hope. It’s reminiscent of the birthday or holiday celebration when you were about 4 years old and blindly tore through those presents even though you knew, deep down, there was no way a pony or a bike was in those sock-sized boxes. You still tried, despite all odds, and were finally rewarded, that one time, because it was bike-shaped, and it was there.
It certainly seems like a fool’s errand — people with much more time on their hands have been hunting the Bigfoot, Sasquatch, Yeti or Skunk-Ape for years. Centuries, even, if local legends from around the world have any truth to them. Yet, there is still that one little sentence — “They were foot shaped, and they were there.”
That sentence is a wake-up call. Not about Bigfoot, although it may someday be a legendary moment in scientific discovery, but instead for world culture. There are many more serious issues that need the time and attention Bigfoot’s stealing right now, but when was the last time anyone really noticed? When did we last think about repressive regimes in strategically unimportant countries, looming environmental disaster or even fiscal irresponsibility and domestic poverty as being “big and there?” Do we even know for sure what problems are “big and there?”
More importantly, when was the last time we dropped everything and assembled a team to look into these problems once and for all?
It’s socially irresponsible for us to continue sweeping the evidence under the carpet, just like conspiracy theorists have suspected about Bigfoot, UFOs and Area 51 for years. We should take an example from Indonesia and tackle the issues that are irrefutably “big and there,” even though Indonesia undoubtedly has issues bigger and more omnipresent.
It’s not a governmental or political lesson alone, either. On a personal level, we could all use that kick-start to confront the things that haunt our personal legends. Whether it be something as serious as alcoholism, depression or an eating disorder, or something as benign as that cute guy or girl a row back in art history, the evidence is big and it is there.
It’s time we stopped ignoring it. It’s time we looked around our dorms, our university, our state, our world and opened our eyes to the evidence that is staring us in the face.
Kent is trying to tell us something — he is pleading with us to believe, against everything we’ve been taught is rational, that there is something weird and wonderful out there.
I’m inclined to believe him — after all, there are plenty of things in our lives that are weird, wonderful and defy rationality. And, mercifully, not all of them are epic social crises. Some are, but sometimes the footprints are just evidence that your roommate ate the last of the Easy-Mac. And that’s OK, too.
It’s just time we saw the evidence with open eyes and realized how much is there to be seen in all areas of our lives.
Alex Sirney is a junior anthropology/SMAD major who welcomes feedback and pictures of UFOs at sirneyac.