August 17, 2007

The Sasquatch Scheme Part 2

This is part two of Daryl Colyer’s theory concerning government cover-ups of Bigfoot.

Part one is posted here at Cryptomundo.

Let me write it again, but with more emphasis: MONEY.

In the cases where US servicemen disclosed sensitive data, the underlying, most prominent, motive always dealt with finances. They were given money in exchange for what they knew.

I’ve said that I don’t believe that a concerted wide-scale sasquatch cover-up is plausible and I stand by that. However, I do think it’s possible that people are motivated to keep their mouths shut about what they have seen or know about because it may impede their progress up the ladder of promotion, thereby adversely impacting their livelihood.

While I don’t see as plausible a US Forest Service decree that all information pertaining to the existence of a large bipedal primate be locked away in a vault somewhere, I do think it’s plausible that a bureaucrat at any given national forest ranger station might be inclined to stick his/her head in the sand when it comes to investigating reports of such an animal. At the risk of contributing to stereotypes, it stands to reason that many bureaucrats do not particularly care about gaining more knowledge; they are more interested in security and putting in their time with as little resistance, controversy or effort as possible. Having to manage a higher-order primate on national forest lands could lead many bureaucrats to early graves.

To that extent, I find this scenario plausible: Joe Bureaucrat tells his subordinates that unless they want to deal with droves of “tree huggers” or to be forced to manage one more “thing,” and maybe even lose their jobs, they better keep quiet about anything unusual. The subordinates in turn realize that Joe Bureaucrat is their boss and, not wanting to jeopardize their livelihood, they elect to zip their mouths. This sort of scenario may or may not be happening, but it doesn’t necessarily strike me as being too far-fetched. It’s also far less romantic than the notion of some concerted governmental conspiracy to hide the existence of the sasquatch.

Conversely, one might think that the National Park Service, with its stated mission of conservation and preservation, would welcome any discovery that would lead to more funding and dedicated resources. In light of this, would its employees willingly take part in a cover-up pertaining to the sasquatch? To me, it doesn’t seem likely, but I also believe that the National Park Service may have its share of obstructionist bureaucracy as well.

It’s been suggested that there are a number of non-governmental groups who might have an interest in covering up, resisting or even downplaying the existence of a North American ape based on the premise that, were such a creature to be discovered, their bottom line or their livelihood would be negatively impacted. One only has to be reminded that millions of acres of forest were shut down to logging in the Pacific Northwest due to the Northern Spotted Owl and the Endangered Species Act.

The Endangered Species Act was designed to restrict development of lands that provide habitat for endangered plants and wildlife; for the timber industry and numerous business groups, the Endangered Species Act is more about lost livelihoods and opportunities.

One can only imagine how the discovery of a large higher-order primate, one that would almost certainly be protected by the Endangered Species Act, might impact certain groups whose livelihoods are derived from the exploitation/utilization of natural resources. This could include industries with interests in timber, mining, outdoor recreational, land development, natural gas/petroleum, and others. While these groups, at least in their own collective minds, have plenty of motive to collaboratively deny the sasquatch’s existence, I believe they lack the requisite resources and organization to do so. And while it may often seem to some that an organized disinformation/misinformation campaign designed to obfuscate the truth about the existence of the sasquatch is indeed ongoing, I just can’t subscribe to such a school of thought.

However, what I do find more palatable, if still unlikely, is that the sasquatch’s official listing may be impeded by communal bureaucratic red-taped focused mindsets that are pervasive and deep, along with perhaps a small measure of good old-fashioned fear-of-the-unknown thrown in.

Filed under Bigfoot, Bigfoot Report, Conferences, Cryptomundo Exclusive, Cryptozoology, Evidence, Men in Cryptozoology, Sasquatch