fandomhigh | Canada Is Not That Strange And Other Biases | Wednesday

When the students arrived today, they'd find Fraser sitting behind the desk and several words written on the chalkboard. Those words were: BIGFOOT, THE LOCHNESS MONSTER, CHUPACABRA, HIPPOCAMP, and HOBGOBLIN.

Once everyone was seated, Fraser got to his feet and smiled at the class. "Good morning. Today, we're going to be talking about mythical creatures. Behind me, you'll see the names of just a few of the mythical creatures that are part of this world's folklore. In the most basic of terms, a mythical creature is something that doesn't exist, according to most people, but hasn't been completely ruled out as fake. The first two, especially, have been the subjects of many expeditions and attempts at capturing and proving that they are real. There's been some evidence but nothing to prove conclusively that these creatures do exist."

He paused and crossed his arms. "Now, here, obviously, the rules are a little different. Here, mythical things exist and no one really bats an eye. We're an exception to the rule. Mythical creatures to us are like horses and cows to people from the outside world. If they came to this island and saw the teal deer or the gremlins, they might not be able to immediately handle it. There's interest, though, in the strange and unknown and that is what drives people to try and prove that these things do exist. Why do you think they haven't been able to find proof? Is it because they truly don't exist? Or perhaps these creatures have evolved to the point of hiding and protecting themselves that well that no one finds them. Yet, people will continue to search. I think people would continue to search even if someone proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that these were completely mythical creatures. Someone is always going to have hope."

Fraser nodded and looked out at the class. "Assignment for today is brainstorming why people seek out mythical creatures. Do you have any other ideas as to what might drive people to spend money and time on something that might exist? Does that make them crazy or just dedicated? Let's hear what you think."

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Being all mythical!

It's not a huge lecture but you can take notes, talk to each other, sleep, daydream, or stare into space here!

"Why do people seek out mythical creatures? Do you have any other ideas as to what might drive people to spend money and time on something that might exist? Does that make them crazy or just dedicated?"

He's there and very much not mythical or a creature.

NESSIE IS REAL.

Hyuuga Hinata

Tara Maclay

Hinata... was frowning slightly as she listened to the lecture.

The problem, she thought, was that she really had no idea of what to say with this topic. Their 'mythical' creatures were... quite alive and generally vicious, at home.

"I think some people want to be unique," Tara finally offered. "Finding Bigfoot is an experience not many people would share with you. Like climbing Mount Everest or sailing around the world. I think it's kind of awesome."

"You don't think they're setting themselves up for an eventual letdown if these creatures aren't real?" Fraser wondered.

"It depends, I guess," Tara said. "I mean, they are, but they have to know they're choosing to take that chance, right? And journeys can be beautiful even if you don't end up where you wanted to go. Exactly."

"That's a very...panoramic way of looking at it," Fraser said, grinning. "A lot of people fail to think of the journey and the experience of searching. They just think of the end results."

Warren Worthington III

"I think a lot of the people who can find the time and funding for projects like this have a purely scientific interest at heart," Warren offered. "I mean, in the case of Bigfoot, it's entirely possible that somebody is out searching for that missing link between prehistoric man and us. And The Loch Ness Monster has been long speculated to be another remnant of prehistory, so Nessie would be of particular interest to archaeologists, right? Sometimes, it's just a case of people wanting to understand the world they're in."

And other times, they were likely doing it for the fame and fortune that uncovering one of those creatures might bring, but Warren was biting that answer down for the time being. He had to try to sound optimistic in this class at least sometimes, right?

Fraser nodded during different parts of Warren's answer. "And if they don't find Bigfoot or Nessie, do you think they would call their projects wastes? Or would they just try again?"

Tara smiled, pleased the teacher's perspective agreed with her own. "And if somebody really, truly feels that way," she replied, "probably they sh-shouldn't go looking for Bigfoot, because they might end up disappointed."

"Exactly," he said, nodding. "Most of the articles I've read that have been true searches and not people setting out to pull hoaxes, the teams have known they might come up empty but they wanted to look anyway. The only way to find something is to look and they couldn't do that from the safety of their sofas."

"Well, considering how long people have been trying..." Warren shrugged a little. "I think if they don't try, somebody else will, right? The Loch is insanely deep, and there's a lot of wilderness out there for Bigfoot to hide out in. A failed expedition doesn't necessarily mean failure, it just means they'll have to try harder the next time they go looking."

"Very true." He nodded. "And if they go to one place and don't find anything, the next time they set out, they know one place not to look. It's a slow process but it's progress of a type."

"I guess it all depends on the outlook of the people doing the searching," Warren decided. "I bet a lot of people do give up right off the bat. But really, that just serves to separate the curious from the people who really want to see results. I think that's kind of the same in everything, though, isn't it? People meet adversity, and they can choose to either give up, or keep trying."

"Very good," Fraser praised. "You're right, that kind of determination and tenacity doesn't just apply to so called mythical creatures, though it does take an unique type of determination to go searching for something that might not exist. It's a strong form of dedication."

Leda

"For the same reasons they look for aliens? Or maybe it's a kind of rebellion. Conventional wisdom says these things don't exist, so to go against that, they try to prove it does."

"Is that always rebellion though? Maybe it's just curiosity," he pointed out easily.

"Well rebelling is only one possibility." Leda shrugged. "Curiosity, and maybe a bit more imagination than the naysayers are probably big factors."

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