…the flap over the recent film of a shadowy possibly-living-thing in Loch Ness is more interesting for what it says about people than the possible existence of the Loch Ness Monster.

Like Bigfoot and captured aliens from Roswell, the Loch Ness Monster may actually exist — after all, scientists didn’t think that rogue waves really existed until they were proven in 1995, despite dozens of documented encounters with them throughout history. But some people will hear a story and, with little or no further evidence, simply believe it. And not just the it’s-probably-true belief either — they’ll have an unshakable and completely irrational belief in it. They’ll believe it so thoroughly that even if you could prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that it doesn’t exist, they’ll assume that you or your methods are wrong, or that the thing could turn invisible or something, rather than admit that it might not.

Anyone who claims that people are rational needs to have his head examined.