Has the internet killed the Loch Ness monster

[Still Waters]

Reported sightings of a big beast used to fill us with wonder.

Now, thanks to YouTube – where there is a new cryptozoological sensation every day, from mammoths filmed wandering in the Siberian tundra, to Sasquatch loping through the Canadian backwoods – we're attuned to duplicity. Our innocence is gone, along with an era that was trusting, gullible, even. It may be far-fetched to suggest that those 1930s monster-believers were contemporaneous with fellow Europeans who placed their faith in real-life monsters – the totalitarian leaders who offered darker and more dangerous fantasies – but it is undeniable that in the internet age, it is much more difficult to fool us. Or at least, that's what we think.

http://www.guardian....ch-ness-monster

[Gary Meadows]

I think the lack of existing hurt it the most.

[The Silver Thong]

I think the lack of existing hurt it the most.

Information is a bittch aint it lol

[Ashotep]

We need a body of this and other mythical creatures.

[Sakari]

The internet has killed many things, including but not limited to :

Fishing

Hiking

Imagination

Playing outside

Swimming

Family Picnics

[Hazzard]

Its kinda hard to kill something that never existed in the first place, dont you think.

[keninsc]

I think the opposite, the internet has increased the belief in such things. All you have to do is Google and you'll get a dozen sights with people all claiming to have had encounters with the critter......but no good pictures......and then the Doctor who took the infamous picture decided to come clean on his hoax that lasted for over fifty years. Pretty hard to say something is real when the only good picture is actually a rubber dinosaur head mounted on a toy submarine.

Sort of like boobs on a hot Hollywood starlet, they look great but they're just bags of silicon really. In short, they ain't real.

[ChrLzs]

I think the opposite, the Internet has increased the belief in such things...

I'd tend to agree, except with regard to a couple of examples... Certainly ghosts and UFO=alienz folks seem to be growing.. or maybe it's simply because they used to have little or no voice - may I rudely suggest that anonymity can make people with weird views very brave...

However, I can give a couple of examples where I think the Internet has dramatically reduced CT-belief..

First, Apollo denial is definitely on the wane, and I think that is largely because the evidence for it is not only incredibly comprehensive and relatively easy to find, it is all consistent and cross-checkable, and being verified with all sorts of new information from various sources.

Another example is 'chem'trails. Like Apollo it had a buildup of interest for a short while but it seems to be on the decline also - for differing reasons? I'm not entirely sure why - perhaps it is just that the whole idea is just too stupid..

It would be nice to think that the Internet helped people become more aware, and better educated, and wiser.. but perhaps I am too optimistic.

[Mr.United_Nations]

Video killed the radio star....video killed the radio star

[keninsc]

I'd tend to agree, except with regard to a couple of examples... Certainly ghosts and UFO=alienz folks seem to be growing.. or maybe it's simply because they used to have little or no voice - may I rudely suggest that anonymity can make people with weird views very brave...

However, I can give a couple of examples where I think the Internet has dramatically reduced CT-belief..

First, Apollo denial is definitely on the wane, and I think that is largely because the evidence for it is not only incredibly comprehensive and relatively easy to find, it is all consistent and cross-checkable, and being verified with all sorts of new information from various sources.

Another example is 'chem'trails. Like Apollo it had a buildup of interest for a short while but it seems to be on the decline also - for differing reasons? I'm not entirely sure why - perhaps it is just that the whole idea is just too stupid..

It would be nice to think that the Internet helped people become more aware, and better educated, and wiser.. but perhaps I am too optimistic.

.....and by contrast, the Flat Earth Society has grown exponentially.

[danbell06]

I think the internet has muddied all aspects of cryptozoology. The amount of hoaxes and lies have only increased. There are that many people hoaxing it has killed every "monster" there ever was.

[Hazzard]

There are that many people hoaxing it has killed every "monster" there ever was.

Yep,...and sometimes even killed the hoaxer himself. http://www.livescience.com/22742-bigfoot-hoaxer-killed-in-accident.html

[Fstop]

I'd tend to agree, except with regard to a couple of examples... Certainly ghosts and UFO=alienz folks seem to be growing.. or maybe it's simply because they used to have little or no voice - may I rudely suggest that anonymity can make people with weird views very brave...

However, I can give a couple of examples where I think the Internet has dramatically reduced CT-belief..

First, Apollo denial is definitely on the wane, and I think that is largely because the evidence for it is not only incredibly comprehensive and relatively easy to find, it is all consistent and cross-checkable, and being verified with all sorts of new information from various sources.

Another example is 'chem'trails. Like Apollo it had a buildup of interest for a short while but it seems to be on the decline also - for differing reasons? I'm not entirely sure why - perhaps it is just that the whole idea is just too stupid..

It would be nice to think that the Internet helped people become more aware, and better educated, and wiser.. but perhaps I am too optimistic.

For my part it was finally getting interested in Crypto and paranormal stuff on the internet that finally opened my eyes with regard to the fact that everything that I thought was "evidence" (which had previously been driving my positive beliefs) was in fact not evidence at all.

I think for many people who are more gullible, the opposite is true. As I've said many times it was finding this site to actually look up information on a creature I believed in at the time - Bigfoot - that ultimately awakened my nature as someone who needs hard proof that stuff like this exists...and helped me understand what proof really is.

So I think it goes both ways - it depends on the individual - and their individual standards for what passes as evidence for these kinds of phenomena.

That said - the abundance of information available online will ultimately be the downfall of many crypto animals - but thats not the internet's fault - thats because they probably don't exist and the truth always has a way of getting out. The internet will just ultimately bring that about more quickly.

[danbell06]

Yep,...and sometimes even killed the hoaxer himself. http://www.livescience.com/22742-bigfoot-hoaxer-killed-in-accident.html

What an idiot. I wonder if hoaxing was worth dying for?

[Wyverna]

The only thing that killed the Loch Ness Monster for me was weak/inconsistent facts and lack of evidence.

[Quaentum]

Yes the internet killed the Loch Ness Monster (Nessie) Nessie died laughing at all the purported evidence spawned on the net. In fact she found it so funny she shared it with Elvis.

[ali smack]

I think the internet has muddied all aspects of cryptozoology. The amount of hoaxes and lies have only increased. There are that many people hoaxing it has killed every "monster" there ever was.

Not every cryptid is unreal or a hoax. I agree with ones like loch ness monster,mothman etc are not real but there are many lesser known less fantascial cryptids that are likely to be real. I think the really famous and "Huge Monsters" Are fake though

[shrooma]

The internet has killed many things, including but not limited to :

Fishing

Hiking

Imagination

Playing outside

Swimming

Family Picnics

.

I was going to say that the internet killed the loch ness monster because no-one takes the time to walk around lakes anymore, they're all stuck indoors on their computers,

but you bet me to it sak!

[Labobio]

WOW..you are so correct Sakari..We are building a new generation that cannot communicate without texting..The art of holding a conversation is going extinct..How many of you have seen two kids stiing next to each other..not talking..but texting..and of course they are on xanax..and klonopin..and......

[Pod99966]

I think the opposite, the internet has increased the belief in such things.

I agree, look at all the stupid email you get saying don't do this, or don't do that. Like kininsc said, the internet is so full or crap that people don't know what to believe. So they believe even more of this stuff