So, what if you don’t believe in Bigfoot, ghosts, or aliens?

What do you do with friends and people who do believe in that stuff?

Well, you don’t have to fight everybody and be left without friends. You don’t have to argue about everything.

You overhear people talking about aliens or magical bracelets? Whatever floats their boat, man, good for them. Your friends are talking about Slender Man… well, sorry for them.

But what if someone asks you your thoughts about something? What if they show you a video or a picture or an article that they say is proof of something? Like, Bigfoot or an UFO or ghosts?

1.     Consider the source and motivation:

Consider the source, where this is posted: is it on an educational Website, a scientific Website, or just someone’s personal Website?

Who is telling you this thing? Is it a scientist, someone professional who has studied the thing they are showing you? Or is it some random guy who according to his own opinion, this thing must be what he says it is?

Think about why they posted this: it could be to simply entertain (because it’s funny, cool, or interesting), it could be a hoax, it could be advertising (you know, to get you to buy something), put there just to get Likes, Subscribers, or Followers.

2.     It is not your job to prove that’s not 

Bigfoot (or an alien, or a ghost, or whatever it is they are claiming). It is your friend’s job or whomever is showing it to you, or the YouTube channel -it is their responsibility to prove it to you, with scientific evidence.

They’re the ones making this big claim so they are the ones that have to prove it.

And just saying, “well don’t you see it’s blurry, don’t you see it looks like Bigfoot?” -that’s not proof.

“Well, the guy who took the video says it’s real” -that’s not proof (remember that people can lie, or it can be a hoax, or advertising, or just unknown).

“But how do you explain that sound, or that bottle falling by itself?” -you don’t have to explain it. You don’t know how it happened it, you weren’t there. But that doesn’t mean it’s a ghost that did it.

The point is, don’t immediately believe what you are looking at or listening to. Consider the source and motivation (like we explained above).

And, you don’t have to prove or explain that whatever it is is not what they say it is -it’s them that have to prove (with facts, scientific evidence) that it is what they say it is. They’re saying something incredible so they have to prove it.

At the end, you can agree to disagree and keep your friends.

To Read more:

•  VIDEO: How to evaluate a Website: GCSCL Library.
• Learn how to recognize a bad Website: Info Today.
• PRACTICE how to decide if a Website is good or bad: Media Smarts.

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Were or are unicorns real?

Many animals (like the dodo bird and dinosaurs) have been extinct for a long time but we do know they existed.

Is it possible that some horse-looking or large animal with a single horn ever roamed the earth?

YES! It’s possible.

Even today we have the rhinoceros and the narwhal, who are single-horn real animals.

        

The Indian Rhinoceros                                                              A Narwhal

But the possibility of a single-horn animal, does not automatically make the animal magical.

When people talk about unicorns, they usually refer to a supernatural being (a white horse with pointy horn) with magical powers.

That, most definitely DOES NOT EXIST.

It is not a creature of the gods, that lives in heaven, and comes to visit earth. Its horn does not purify or cure illnesses.

 

Why do some people believe that such a creature does exist?

Many of the early stories about unicorns come from Persia (modern Iran). As far back as 400 B.C. the Greek historian Ctesia wrote about unicorns being a “single-horned beast that came from India” ^₁. Around 700 B.C. Pliny the Elder also wrote about the “Monoceros”, an Indian beast with a stag’s head, elephant’s feet, boar’s tail, and the rest of the body like a horse. Neither Ctesia nor Pliny ever saw such a creature themselves, but they retold the stories and brought the myth to our Western world.

It is possible that the Indian rhinoceros or the narwhal were mistaken for unicorns. Tales were told and embellished more as people told others and the story got retold.

There has never been found remains or fossils or real evidence of unicorns.

Of course, if unicorns don’t exist, then their tears (and their supposed powers) don’t exist either.

To read more:

-          About the early stories about unicorns and where the myths come from: Today I Found Out.

-          Animals most likely mistaken for unicorns: BBC.com.

-          It’s a deer with deformity: National Geographic.

-          North Korea says unicorns are real (a case where you have to study the source and the reason for the claim, before you believe it): Time.com.

^₁ Hamilton, John. Unicorns and Other Magical Creatures. 2005. ABDO Publishing Company, Edina Minnesota.

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