The apologism comes when you say that they aren't liars and are instead true believers. One is much more bad than the other.
I absolutely have described Bigfooters and Bigfootery as a admixture. I'm the guy who says it's mostly hoax with some genuine misidentification thrown in.
I've also called you out many times for misrepresenting that position where you say something like "skeptics think Bigfooters do nothing but tell lies".
Here we are again Jerry, with you misrepresenting what skeptics are thinking and saying. You do it over and over and over. I don't understand it.
Parcher, let me say I have much more respect for you than you seem to have for me.
As to the idea I say "skeptics think Bigfooters do nothing but tell lies," let me try this analogy. Suppose you're working with a guy and during the day he complains about this or that. He doesn't like his manager, for instance, or he doesn't like his work detail that day. He complains to you at lunch he doesn't like the sandwich his wife made him. Later he complains he thinks afternoon breaks should be longer. Finally, at the end of the day, just as he complains about something else, you say "Hey, all've you done all day long is complain. I'm tired of it."
Well if he takes his cue from some skeptics here, he would reply to you, "You're a liar! You're just trolling me. I don't understand you! I didn't complain all day! I worked most of the day in silence. I used the rest room twice. I ate twinkies at morning break. I DID NOT COMPLAIN ALL DAY LONG! You are a F****** LIAR!"
I was genuinely surprised, and dismayed, when I had such a vitriolic reaction to my posts concerning GE (gaming explanation). It seemed self-evident to me that it has become the overarching explanation for Bigfootville by some here, and yes, it IS virtually the sole explanation with someone like the bush pilot, who once challenged me to name one true believer in Bigfoot. But my phrasing it as "all" (which I later changed to "virtually all") should be taken in the context of the above analogy (using a Texan's way of phrasing it). Even though I think the overall tone here is GE, I know some folks have offered explanations other than the "they're lying" trope.
To be frank, I do have problems with folks unable to distinguish between obvious hucksters like Rick Dyer and Justin Smeja, and the doctors, lawyers, former military members, teachers, biologists, other professional types, etc. that make up NAWAC. I other words, the explanation for the claims of the first group likely fails as the explanation for the claims of the second group.
Your statement with my emphasis: " I absolutely have described Bigfooters and Bigfootery as a admixture. I'm the guy who says it's
mostly hoax with
some genuine misidentification thrown in." That you sometimes allow for misidentification but mostly rely on the hoax hypothesis is what I would disagree with. (Btw, I do realize and agree that there is quite a lot of hoaxing going on in Bigfootville).
You and I also disagree on what constitutes "misidentification." It seems to me that both true believers and some Bigfoot skeptics take Bigfoot reports stringently literal. For instance, if we have a report of a giant bi-pedal ape seen for a couple of seconds passing between two trees, the Bigfooter will say "See, there is evidence of Bigfoot, the giant bi-pedal ape," while the skeptic will say, "See, the guy is lying because there are no such things as giant bi-pedal apes." That the reporter may have seen something totally unlike a giant bi-pedal ape doesn't seem to occur to either true believer or this brand of skeptic.
If I'm wrong, let me know. It seems that you take a literal approach to sighting reports. For example, you once argued that the idea that bears should not be generally considered culprits in Bigfoot sightings. You think most sightings are hoaxes, with a few sightings of just other people as the culprits. Am I correct?
I see a larger category of culprits. Take the Fouke Monster, Ford homestead siege, for instance. It is portrayed nowadays as a Bigfoot event. It may surprise those who believe in Bigfoot, but there is good reason to believe the whole event was caused by a nosey horse, not a monster ape. People who lived in the area told of a neighbor's unusual horse that would wonder around at night visiting other homes and peeking in the windows. Probably scared the bejabbers out of whoever experienced it. The horse was owned by a neighbor of the Ford house. The horse was found dead, riddled with bullets, sometime after the Fords and friends open fired on something moving in the brush.
