The other day, during a fit of boredom, I bought three books (because they were ludicrously cheap) in a tacky little series called “The World’s Greatest” - Unsolved Mysteries, Psychics & Mediums, and UFO Mysteries.
Selling at just 8 dirhams a pop, when books here are more pricey than gold, it was hard to resist.
Anyway it is just amazing to me how every single one of the Amazing Mysteries! and Unexplained Phenomena! are all easily explained on Skepdic, Snopes, etc. The authors must have shut their eyes and stuck their fingers in their ears while writing this stuff (if it’s humanly possible to write that way).
But I was particularly sad about the myth of the African Dogons who allegedly discovered Sirius B without a telescope hundreds of years ago thanks to some reptilian aliens called Nommos. I found this particularly thrilling and was all set for a visit.
You know, istara, one could spend a lifetime researching the psychological makeup of people who promote or believe in these stories while turning a deaf ear to the obvious and available rational explanations. Certainly there is money in selling such stories, but that is far from the only reason, and doesn’t explain why the public has such lust for these tales.
But at any rate: kudos to you for recognizing and embracing the truth, despite a desire on your part to have such fantasies be reality.
Absolutely. I used to love reading unsolved mysteries and crop circles and stuff like that. I read every issue of the Fortean Times. I read a lot of Colin Wilson’s stuff.
But then I found Snopes and the SDMB, and found out that I’d been a wee bit gullible. I’ve learned to read the stuff I used to like with a very skeptical eye, and I find myself forever demanding cites. It’s kind of sad because I used to enjoy reading about synchronicity and ESP and mysterious archeological finds, and now I’m forever picking holes in the theories and methodology.
But I’d much rather be a skeptic and stick to the facts. One urban legend I was happy to have debunked was the story of abcesses in the chickens used by Macdonalds for their chicken burgers. I was told that as a child and was mighty pleased to later read a thorough debunking on Snopes. I had forgotten about that Dogon myth - I haven’t seen it debunked before but only because I hadn’t looked.
I’ve always been interested in the strange and unusual (pause for the obligatory smart-ass remarks from friends and family). I remember when I was in high school discovering and collecting Ralph Edwards’ books; exact titles escape me now but I seem to recall them as “Mysteries of the Unexplained”, “Strange People” etc. Stories about Hans the Counting Horse, the Elephant Man, Blind Tom (who if I recall was an idiot savant who could play note-perfect any piano music after only one hearing) etc fascinated me.
I don’t remember when I first found out that some of these stories weren’t necessarily verified fact. While I still collect unusual facts, I now tend to wonder about their authenticity until I can check them out with other sources (SD, Snopes etc). It’s taken some of the magic out of the world.
I had also heard of the Dogon story (I don’t remember where) and appreciated the link to skepdic, even if it did add to my list of resolved mysteries.
(Sorry, couldn’t resist.)