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If you look into the cultural milieu of the most non-religious province in Canada known as British Columbia, we find a large number of SBNRs or “spiritual but not religious” citizens. Those SBNRs may also adhere to disjunct religious propositions and beliefs.
They may partake of yoga and meditation. They may also harbor beliefs apart from practices. Some beliefs, on the other hand, can include the community activities. Sometimes, these amount to entertainment for the kids. A sense of amusement akin to Santa and the cookies and milk left out at Christmas, and the letter sent with wishes for a bigger Nerf gun this year.
What about when this becomes less about entertainment and more about true unjustified belief? That which, in this context, gets held as true but without evidence and so unjustified as a proposition. This relates to ongoing practices within British Columbia, Canada.
I use this as a case study in the places where beliefs in ghosts influence behaviors and actions. Actions becoming the attendance at events including the haunted house and ghost tours. If these forms of events, of which serious scientists do not entertain too often or consider out of bounds in terms of evidence, these do not amount to crazy beliefs.
In a sense, these amount to a-evidential or non-evidentiary beliefs about the world. Akin to the ones about hobgoblins, angels, demons, and zombies, we see them in movies. We see them in spoofs. We watch poorly trained individuals masquerading as scientists in bad television and movies in a desperate search for the apparently unfindable.
That seems okay. People have a right to freedom of belief. However, if this becomes a norm, we find examples of small provincial income emergent in these activities, of which we may not or even probably should not take part. Imagine an adult who believes in and acts on the belief in Santa Claus, as per the earlier example, what becomes of this individual?
They become a person of mockery and ridicule, but in quiet fashion, unfortunately. It becomes a social faux pas to be the last kid to believe in Santa Claus and the elves. We become the fake Santa sitting in the mall with the kid on the lap and Will Ferrell the oversized elf whispering angrily, “You sit on a throne of lies!”
Let’s take the cases of British Columbia, Canada with Vancouver, Victoria, Vernon, and Fort Langley.
Vancouver has the Ghostly Gastown Tour and the Granville Tour. These are part of the Ghostly Vancouver Tours. The main city also has The Lost Souls of Gastown and Prohibition City as part of the Forbidden Vancouver ‘experience.’
There is the Haunted Vancouver Trolley Tour too. In Victoria, we have the Discover the Past with the Ghostly Walks, and Ghost Bus-Tours, and the Haunted Victoria Ghost Bus Tour in Victoria, BC. In Vernon, there are the Ghost Tours of Vernon. In Fort Langley National Historic Site, there are the Grave Tales. It is not ubiquitous, but prevalent within the province, whether population centres or historic sites.
Important to bear in mind, a significant portion of the Canadian population adheres to these a-evidential or non-evidentiary beliefs, like the Devil and the efficacy of exorcisms for the apparent non-problem but then are asserted as such, as truths. They act on them. They pay money for them. Sometimes, people bring kids for a one-off fun, which is a gentle and fun event. Or a couple goes on a date, which makes sense for young people. It probably feels fun to feel like a kid again or have a dark place to flirt. I get it.
Harmless stuff for the most part. The question arises about values inculcated, in this rather minor and semi-trivial example exemplifying a larger problematic trend, in the young through parental and adult figures engaged in beliefs without evidence or asserted evidence based on a misunderstanding about the ways in which the mind habitually forms false beliefs about the world or the way in which the world works on the most superficial of levels.
Should we stop attending these and, maybe, pick a better hobby or time out with the kids or with a partner on a date?
May I recommend Science World or a concert?
The province may be better off in terms of cultural maturity and socio-cultural sophistication without these haunted tours and ghost tours in British Columbia, Canada. If so, why not vote with your feet and your pocketbooks – attend them less and so the less they show up?
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Image Credits: Pixabay