Why I don’t believe in ghosts or Bigfoot.

There’s a trend on cable networks as of late wherein for some reason there needs to be a hundred different shows dedicated to finding evidence of ghosts or Bigfoot. And they’re all full of crap. Let’s start with ghosts.

There is no such thing as a ghost, I’m sorry to burst your bubbles, folks. Here’s why. According to rough estimates, there have been 108 billion people on this planet during the course of human history. 108 BILLION. Subtract the current world population, and that equals a little over 100 billion dead people. With so many dead people, you’d think we’d be swimming in a literal sea of ghosts. But we aren’t. I’ve never seen a ghost. Nobody that I know has ever seen a ghost. With so many cell phones, traffic cams, etc in the world today not ONE single conclusive piece of evidence exists to verify the existence of ghosts.

“But, Ryan,” you’re saying to yourself right now, “everyone knows, as those TV shows are apt to point out, that ghosts only haunt places when their spirit energy is linked to it, like during a violent or untimely death.” To which I say, again, bullshit. First of all, there’s no such thing as an “untimely death.” You die when you die, it’s as simple as that. You got hit by a car? I guess it was your time to die. Secondly, doesn’t almost every single death have an emotional component to it? Everyone who’s ever died has been someone’s son, mother, brother, wife, lover, etc. And tons of people die accidentally or in a violent matter, so again, why aren’t there ghosts everywhere? But more to the point, their spirit energy is tied to the place? Give me a break. That’s the most ridiculous, asinine thing I’ve ever heard. So when you die, you lose all free will? You have no choice but to be glued to the place where you died? “Well,” you might say, “maybe they just haven’t moved on yet, you know, gotten over their death.” Horse shit. Free from any physical limitations, pesky things like time and space, you’re telling me souls or spirits would choose to haunt some abandoned house or building instead of exploring the vast cosmos? Ghosts aren’t real.

 

And neither is Bigfoot. Some of the same principles apply here. There literally isn’t a place on this planet that human beings haven’t been to now. So you’re going to tell me that nobody, anywhere, has ever been able to take a picture or video of Bigfoot? Nobody has ever stumbled upon a corpse? Totally ridiculous. I also find it hard to believe that Bigfoot, like other animals of the forest, hasn’t been spotted in a city yet. Urban growth keeps expanding, decreasing habitat available for animals and increasing the amount of tempting people food/refuse. Bears, mountain lions, deer, wolves–they all venture into the city to eat the delicious leftovers of people. So why not Bigfoot?

If there are any as of yet undiscovered creatures on this planet, they’re at the bottom of the ocean, where no human has explored yet. So enough with these stupid, bullshit, idiotic ghost and Bigfoot shows.

Really? Anyone can do it?!

I’ve recently seen a round of commercials that gives me pause. Typically they’re for some local program or institute, like a massage school. I imagine every state in the country has commercials like these. They start off with some average John or Jane Doe sitting in their house saying something like, “I used to work in a fast food place flipping burgers, making minimum wage. I had two kids and I knew I needed to go back to school in order to give them a better life. That’s why I enrolled at (insert name of institution here).”

This is followed with some announcers telling people about all the programs that said institute offers. Then the camera goes back to the man or woman saying, “Now I make good money and I’m my own boss. And it was so easy, all I did was pick up the phone and call!”        

Now the next part is what I don’t get. The announcer almost always says something like, “If she can do it, so can you!” That’s basically the same thing as saying, “Hey, this dumb loser did it. Aren’t you better than this idiot over here?” Why the hell would anyone want to appear in a commercial that was going to use them as the standard for “below average”? That’s beyond me.

Why do people believe religious mythology?

I understand, intellectually, why people believe in God. I get that it explains creation, the universe, makes people feel like they have a purpose, etc. I get why people believe in an afterlife and the psychological comfort that brings. I even understand why people would believe that God wants us all to be “good.”

What I don’t understand is how people can believe all the stories in religion. Jesus is a prime example. I don’t understand how anyone can believe in the virgin birth, and that Jesus disappeared for about 30 years, then all the sudden he came back into the picture, died for everyone’s sins, and came back to life 3 days later only to ascend to heaven, since he was the son of God all along (or maybe he was God, too, but not really, but yes. You know, the Holy Trinity and whatnot). I don’t understand why people believe that a burning bush spoke to Moses. I don’t understand why people believe that Noah managed to fit two of every living creature on the planet into a boat he built himself and that we’re not all retarded cousins thanks to Adam and Eve (don’t even get me started on the talking snake). If someone came to you today and told you a story similar to any of these, you’d laugh in their face and call them crazy.

How do perfectly sane, and often quite intelligent people believe such irrational stories? I know that a lot of religious people look at the stories in their texts and call them allegorical. Fine, I can buy that. But there are people who literally believe those things as well. Why? If you take away all of those stories, how is that threatening to the existence of God?