by John Downes

The cryptozoological community, as well as attracting some of the finest people I have ever known, also – sadly – attracts some of the most inane, superficial and irritating.

Let me tell you the story of Jordan Warner…

A few months ago, I was contacted by an American lad called Jordan. He was, or so he said, making a webTV series on cryptozoology. I made polite noises, but was convinced that I would never hear from him again. However, I was proved wrong. A month or so later he posted a trailer for his new show, called Cryptid Hunt, and at Samhein, he posted the first instalment.Well, I have to say that I was really impressed. To produce an hour-long show is no mean achievement, but to post an hour-long show when you are 15 and presumably still at school is undeniably impressive. I was even more impressed that Jordan had produced a show on a low budget and with relatively primitive equipment but which still succeeded in achieving production values considerably better than films I was making well into my forties, let alone anything I could have conceived at the age of 15.

So why, I have to ask, has this talented young lad been treated so badly by certain members of the cryptozoological community? One very well-known cryptozoologist, who shall remain nameless but who should feel jolly well ashamed of himself, greeted Jordan’s requests for help with sarcasm and derision.
Then an article on Jordan’s series somebody had written for Wikipedia was deleted by someone else called ‘Thehelpfulone’ because ‘it didn’t assert the importance or significance of its subject’.

Well, ‘helpfulone’, whoever the hell you are, congratulations. You have just sent out the message to a young man of relatively tender years that to make a multi-part webTV show at the age of 15 is not as notable an achievement as running a specialist pornography website: look it up if you don’t believe me, but you’ll find a whole series of articles on this most morally dubious of subjects.

I am very proud of what we have achieved with the CFZ over the past two decades, because as well as continuing to push back the boundaries of human knowledge, we do something which I think is even more important: we enthuse a whole new generation of young people whose schools teach them how to pass exams and not a lot else, that knowledge for knowledge’s sake is a wonderful thing.

Zoology is the study of the animals which share this planet with us. For 100 years from the mid 19th century, Natural History was the most widespread hobby of people of all ages in the western world. Now it is almost forgotten in favour of television, video games and fast food. We aim to redress this.

Forteanism, although Fort himself hated the term, is a mindset which encourages people to test the intellectual boundaries which constrict us all: to dare to stand up and say ‘I don’t believe that’, and in an increasingly constricted and bureaucratic world that HAS to be a good thing.

In our own little way we are trying to change the world, and help forge a society where boys like Jordan are lauded and appreciated for their efforts, rather than bullied and ignored. Youngsters like Jordan are the future, and without them the future looks very bleak indeed.

Jordan’s Cryptid Hunt can be viewed at: www.cryptid.zoomshare.com

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