Looking in from the outside

The following post is courtesy of Ashley Ruff:

During the three and a half years that I have been dating Tony I have had the joy of watching him explore the world of forteana, hopping around from theory to theory. While observing Tony research, I have learned that the majority of people involved in this field are extremely immature. Are they childish for believing that the moon may be a hollow satellite? No. Are they silly for thinking that a giant dinosaur might live in Loch Ness? Not at all. The majority of the people involved in this field show a lack of maturity by not working together AND for not picking up where the last generation of researchers left off by exploring new theories or evolving those theories further.

I don't know how many times Tony has come to me and showed me some website where one guy shared a new/evolved theory about God knows what and a million people tore that guy's theory apart, instead of bothering to entertain it or waisting time pointing out something silly like grammatical flaws-looking past the theory and dissecting the man. Tony has told me about countless arguments where people waist valuable time fighting over pointless details instead of using that time to work together. AND don't even get me started on the politics involved. Debating theories is one thing, but I couldn't believe how these grown men and women would argue a theory by typing stupid insults (some veiled and some not). I'll never forget when one of Tony's friends and mentors was verbally attacked via the listeners' comment section on a website due to his “rebellious” opinions. It wouldn't be so bad if these people were debating theories like adults, but they act like children with name-calling and completely unrelated insults. These people are too busy promoting their pet theories and defending them like their religion than to come together. Aren't they all suppose to be working towards the same goal? Uncovering answers or something?

I've learned that they choose not to work together: finding it more effective to bring each other down, laugh at the theories of others, and generally act like a group of preschoolers . Fine. It's easier for the alien guys to stay in their own group and for the cryptozoology guys to stay in their corner and then the paranormal ghost guys are off in some abandoned building looking for a ghost or something. Maybe all of these weird events have connections (or maybe they don't), but since these groups choose to do their own thing we probably won't know.

They can choose not to work together, fine, but for God's sake get some new material. It's sad that these people spend their lives researching theories only to come to the same conclusions that the generations before them came to. Pick up where they left off! Use their theories as a launching point! Obviously they didn't find the answers, right? So use what they know and keep going. Very few people that Tony has told me about (or that I have heard) have been able to move on. I don't know much about this stuff but I've learned that MacTonnies, for example, was able to move past the standard ETH (alien crap) and go on to the Cryptoterrestrial Theory. Even Tony has been able to move past the cafeteria tray of forteana and begin attempting to find the connections.

It's not that I'm trying to offend anyone, but maybe they need a little offending. I thought it was typical that people working towards a common goal would work together. I'm not even saying that people shouldn't disagree, but don't put a theory on a pedestal. It's a THEORY for a reason. And maybe they could argue their points of view like adults, and really would it hurt to entertain a new theory? As far as we know none of the other theories have proven to be true so why hold fast to any?

I'm a senior in college, one of those artsy-fartsy kids that always has paint on their jeans. Before I met Tony I had little interest (and still have little interest) in this paranormal stuff. I enjoy a WhoForted? article now and then, I've been known to listen to MysteriousUniverse, go on a supposedly haunted road, etc., but I think it's sad that it takes an outsider, someone with no real stock in this field, to point out these two, seemingly obvious, flaws. And yet so few people are rocking the boat by stepping outside of their comfort zones, including their pet theories, by collaborating. Perhaps if (and when) a Bigfoot guy could sit down with a UFO guy and compare notes, something NEW could happen for a change. But, hey, I'm just an outsider. - Ashley R