Bigfoot lived! at CFIC T.O. – Centre for Inquiry Canada

On Thursday, May 14th Jarret Ruminski gave his talk:

Bigfoot Lives!…Sort of: Why Sasquatch Persists in the Information Age

The event was free for CFI Canada members who presented their card, and $5 cash admission for non-members

Bigfoot. Sasquatch. Wildman. Whatever you want to call it, this legendary hirsute giant is North America’s favourite, frustratingly elusive, spectacularly camera-shy, forest-foraging bipedal hominid.

But Bigfoot isn’t just a mythical creature who lurks in the shadows of pop-culture. Despite the paucity of physical evidence for its existence, Bigfoot is alive and well in the world today. Of course, the beast isn’t literally alive, but the search for Sasquatch continues to flourish in the Information Age. Indeed, the idea of Bigfoot lives on because of the Information Age.

Rather than rehash old arguments about whether or not Bigfoot exists, Jarret explained why the digitally connected, twenty-first century world supports a thriving Sasquatch subculture, and he illuminated why Bigfoot believers…well…believe!

This presentation will introduced us to the mind-bending world of Bigfoot enthusiasts, where online technology, black-helicopter-laden conspiracy theories, crackpot pseudoscience, anti-elitism, salt-of-the-earth populism, and even some genuine curiosity combine to create a fascinating Sasquatch subculture.

BIOGRAPHY

Jarret Ruminski is a research consultant, writer, and recovering academic who does consulting work for several Canadian non-profit and governmental organizations. He also holds a PhD in American history from the University of Calgary, where he taught courses in American, Latin-American, and World history.

He specializes in analyzing human behaviour and political and historical trends, and has been fascinated with Bigfoot and pseudoscience since he was a monster-smitten youngster. In addition to his consulting work, he blogs regularly about the intersection of U.S. history, politics, and pop-culture at That Devil History. He has also written several pieces on U.S. politics and history for Salon.