An excerpt from the upcoming interview with Dr.
Ronnie Ranes in the rigorous, widely respected Journal of Personality and
Social Psychology:
JPSP: I notice you have the same "I Want
to Believe" poster in your office as Fox Mulder from the X-Men.
RR: X-Files, actually. But who's
counting? (laughs)
JPSP: (laughs) Now you've got me laughing. Your
laugh is infectious.
RR: Not literally, I hope.
RR/JPSP: (combined laughter)
RR: I'm just going to come out and say it, I
love Bigfoot! I love the idea of Bigfoot, the movies, commercials, blogs,
books and board games -- I love it all!
JPSP: (laughs) What? You're kidding right?
RR: Not exactly. Bigfoot is a passion of
mine, albeit a dangerous one in my line of work.
JSPS: Because you're an anthropologist?
RR: Yes.
JPSP: Bigfoot must go over like gangbusters in
the lab.
RR: As you can imagine I get a tremendous
amount of teasing from my colleagues because, in the world of real science, Bigfoot has as much place as leprechauns. In the world of real science
there are no leprechauns and there is no Bigfoot.
JSPS: I would expect so.
RR: And even though I love Bigfoot, I am not a
believer. Even in my Bigfoot lovin' world Bigfoot is nonsense. Fun nonsense but
nonsense nonetheless.
JSPS: Thank goodness. I thought I was going to
have to call my editor.
RR/JPSP: (combined laughter)
RR: Like most people I learned at a very early
age that there is no evidence that Bigfoot exists. None. Not now, not ever. No
proof today and no evidence in the fossil record.
JSPS: No smoke, no fire.
RR: Exactly. It doesn't matter to me though, I still love
the big hairy guy.
JSPS: So I noticed. Is that a Bigfoot doll on
your bookcase?
RR: It's the Bionic Bigfoot action figure from
the Six Million Dollar Man. I never liked that they gave him a mustache.
JSPS: (laughs)
RR: Don't get me laughing again, please.
JSPS: Forgive me. You were talking
about your love of Bigfoot.
RR: I love Batman too, but I don't spend one
moment of my time trying to find the Batcave. Don't get me wrong I would love
to visit the Batcave to see the Dark Knight's refrigerator-sized computers,
stuffed Tyrannosaur and giant penny, but I know the Batcave isn't real because
I can separate fact from fiction, and I can separate what I want to be real
from what is real.
JSPS: Thank goodness for that.
RR: Now it seems like you're teasing me.
JSPS: I'm not. I just can't believe we're
sitting here talking about Bigfoot.
RR: I guess my point is you can be interested
in something without believing in it.
JSPS: Do you think your interest in Bigfoot
hurts your reputation with the scientific community?
RR: Not at all. My colleagues can tease me all they want but at the end of the day they know I'm a scientist, not a lunatic. What science measures is quantitative. There is no quantifiable
data to substantiate the existence of Bigfoot because Bigfoot is a legend. And
there isn't a single solitary scientist on planet Earth who believes in
Bigfoot. Not one.
JSPN: (gesturing to Bigfoot memorabilia) Not even you?
RR: (laughs) No, not even me.
Maybe if you would stop laughing so much you would know that bigfoot is real.
ReplyDeleteLMAO about all the laughing in your interview. I happen to love and believe in Bigfoot, but that's just me.
ReplyDeleteI saw you and your brother lecture at the Field Museum last summer and then I saw you both Saturday afternoon on that Science Channel commercial(!) Congrats on your success.
I'm enjoying your blog thus far.
are these the same guys from Food Detectives? I haven';t seen there commercials.
DeleteAnother scientist who think he knows more than people who have been studying Sasquatch for years. I've been in the wild with this thing. There are Bigfoots and there IS fossil record evidence, genius.
ReplyDeleteWhere and when can I read the rest of this interview?
ReplyDeleteI don't appreciate the snarky comment you left on my site. If you don't believe just keep it to yourself.
ReplyDelete@ Sue: just because someone lectures and they're on TV commercials doesn't make them necessarily interesting.
This guy seems like a douche.
I'm not going to debate the existence of a mythological beast. This is a blog about science. The interview was casual and lighthearted. If I've upset Bigfoot hunters I apologize.
ReplyDelete- Ronnie
If your all about science why do you leave so many comments on the bigfoot evidence blog? if you don't believe?
ReplyDeleteI thought the interview was interesting but without context I'm not even sure what I know about the subject. From some of the comments I gather you two are famous? Can you give a little more info and you and your brother in your profile?
ReplyDeleteI laughed when I read about batman's penny.
You sound like you believe in bigfoot but don't want to admit it.
ReplyDeleteSo will you sign over you house and car to me when I prove you wrong? And I mean wrong about there being no evidence and no "real scientists" who believe bigfoots exist. How 'bout it, dumbshit?
ReplyDeleteMM
Enough with this sophomoric name calling. We each have our opinions on Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster and whether or not Popeye was based on an actual sailor from the late 19th century (I believe he was. http://i117.photobucket.com/albums/o75/DragonsVision/peacoat2.jpg. Notice the large forearms and long skinny neck.), and those opinions should be respected.
ReplyDelete-Luther
The above link is wrong. my apologies. Here is the photo i wished to share. Middle sailor.
Delete-Luther
http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?35997-Questions-About-the-United-States-Navy-Peacoat/page51