bigfootmorf said:
so what you're saying,is that people all over the state,not just in the pines,for many years,have had these encounters,and they're all just legend or lore?
I’ve been thinking quite a bit about the Jersey Devil of late, and it’s all wrapped up in my head in these theoretical terms and Marxist bull, ending up something like a symbol for a class struggle, and a clash between agrarian and industrial economies, and a harbinger of war and suffering. It’s all mixed up with the mystique of the pines, and the fear of post-Industrial people who can survive “off-the-grid,” a fear of disappearing, and the lack of structure to a superimposed Georgian culture that does not adequately support the lowest socioeconomic classes. I end up with the Jersey Devil as cultural rebellion, a statement of expressed resistance to a national economy that never quite fit the ideology of the Pine Barrens. I end up with the Jersey Devil as REAL.
By that, I do not mean that I think there is a literal beast running around the pines torturing livestock. My scientific, rational mind understands this. But what I mean to say is, the Jersey Devil exists as a cultural heartbeat, and a lasting impression of something uniquely Piney that will not, not ever, die.
I was going to quote INXS now, but thought better of it.
That being said, there are fabulous mythical beasts all over the world, in many cultures, but the singular thread that seems to intact is that they are universally cultures on the cusp of development, on the ledge, so to speak, of massive socioeconomic changes. (I am referring only to CURRENT mythical beasts, not ancient ones, which are much more easily explained). So, to answer your question, the Big Foot may be real. He may be real in this philosophical, theoretical sense, because he means something to you. He may be an identifying feature, a cultural banner for you.
He may actually, literally exist, although my skepticism does not agree. But hell, no one had ever seen a mountain gorilla until the last century. No one thought Native Americans could build the great earthworks of the Midwest. No one thought the world was round. There’s endless possibilities in the universe, but remember the scientific method is not anecdotal.
