Same Difference.

Greetings. The UFO subculture has a healthy population of celebrities and personalities, the majority of which are not making any substantial contributions to the search for answers to the UFO problem. The "field" of cryptozoology is no different. 

Mr. Ken Gerhard, at left, and Mr. Lyle Blackburn are two of the most well-known personalities in the world of cryptozoology, with both gentlemen being very active, making appearances at a wide variety of events, on podcasts and radio shows, and having written several books on the topic at hand. Mr. Gerhard describes himself as a widely recognized cryptozoologist, author, lecturer, and TV personality. Mr. Blackburn describes himself as an author, musician, legend hunter, and TV personality. Not exactly highly credentialed, scientifically minded researchers. Despite that, Mr. Gerhard and Mr. Blackburn are not engaging in fraud, especially when labeling themselves for the public. They are being honest and straightforward in their self-descriptions, not attempting to mislead anyone by offering less than accurate descriptions of themselves. All credit goes to them. 

Moving past the credit, some questions should be asked, and as in the UFO subculture, questions usually go unasked, or are pushed back against. Has any evidence of alleged cryptids come to light? Not plaster casts that are declared footprints of Bigfoot. Not photographs that are fuzzy and out of focus to the extreme. Not stories completely void of physical evidence. Not unsubstantiated claims of physical evidence that never come to validation. Valid, scientifically verified evidence of unknown and unidentified creatures that reside on Earth. To my knowledge, no.

Moving back to Mr. Gerhard, Mr. Blackburn, and their peers, is it reasonable to entertain the possibility that celebrities or personalities are qualified to properly research and investigate unknowns? Are celebrities and personalities embraced as researchers in any of other "field" of study? Only one, the UFO subculture. Nowhere else are such people viewed as researchers and investigators, not the fields of geology, or chemistry, or astrophysics, or neuroscience. Only the UFO subculture. 

The questions that have remained unanswered will remain so if we keep looking at celebrities and personalities in an inaccurate way. We need to look at these people honestly, and take them as they are, celebrities and personalities. For they are nothing more. 

Thank you for your time and consideration.