Holy cow, do I disagree with that. That would be basically saying that I am a woo since I talk about Bigfoot stuff a lot but do not believe Bigfoot exists. I'm sure you didn't mean that as a personal dig.
Nobody likes a term that they see applies to them.
I certainly wouldn't call you a woo simply because you entertain the existence of Bigfoot. That would be unfair and dismissive. Tell me you believe in Bigfoot, aliens, and ghosts, and that will be a different story.
Does it really matter? All of these subjects are unproven, prone to hoaxes, and are mostly fan based vs. fact based.
William Parcher said:
I'm not so sure that Randi's definition of woo can be found in those dictionaries. It apparently began as "woo woo" which is a satirical stereotype of the vocal expression used by someone who believes paranormal or fantastic things. Knights' scoftic can't be found in the dictionary either.
So basically it's a word that was made up to serve as an insult to dissenting views and add security to a fantasy internet community.
I disagree about the "nobody is really standing" in the Bigfoot argument. Skeptics remain standing and have never sat down. Bigfooters sit and wait for a discovery or head out and try to create one.
You stand when you type on your computer?
William Parcher said:
The two sides are not entirely opposite mirror images of each other. Bigfoot skeptics cannot prove that Bigfoot does not exist. Nobody can. Proof of non-existence cannot even be on their agenda. The Bigfooters can prove that Bigfoot exists. Almost anyone could regardless of their belief in Bigfoot. It's something that a person could do and it does appear to be high on the Bigfooter agenda.
Kitakaze said:
If I spend a lot of my time discussing psychic mediums, dowsing, Bigfoot, or whatever, it doesn't in any way make me a woo. It makes me interested in those topics. There's no irrational belief system in play. I'm surprised you said that. Was it something I said?
Just like you have different people, you have different people who are skeptical of sasquatch and how they approach the subject. For example, my dad is skeptical of sasquatch, so much that he does scoff at the idea of it. He has the right to. He's spent the majority of his life in the mountains of Washington state as a forest firefighter, Search and Rescue, and forest recovery, as well as an avid hiker and hunter. He's seen bear, cougar, bobcat, elk, deer, fox, etc. but no sign of bigfoot. He did go to a logging camp and make sure everything was locked up for the night, when the next day two people claimed they found tracks in that same area the day my dad was there, when in reality there was nothing there. Events in some of my family's lives have given every indication that at least one major squatch event was a hoax.
My dad wouldn't waste one second of his time on this or any other forum. Why? Because it's a fantasy world, an incredible waste of time. No matter where you stand on any of these subjects, posting day after day about it over and over again is still engaging in the fantasy, no matter how you intend the definition of "Woo" as an immature insult, the fact of the matter is anybody wasting this much time in these subjects is "Wooing" fantasy, inviting it in, inviting responses about it, and engaging in a fantasy community where people do not have to talk face to face but instead write little messages to each other without facing any real consequence.
What else could we be doing right now? I know every time I have ever posted immediately after I realize I could have been doing something much more productive that would actually have some sort of material result. Money, food, clothing, shelter, warmth, a letter to a loved one, instead of endlessly debating a subject that is silly to begin with, yet here we are.
