I consider myself a dreamer in that it would be a dream come true if we could all one day discover the The Loch Ness Monster, Bigfoot, ghosts, aliens etc were proven scientifically to exist ..
I interpreted "dreamer" as one who spends too much time on lost causes. I don't think that's the case here -- people are trying to be adventurous or funny or just role-playing to get through their otherwise dull life. But, you're right, I'm a pragmatist via nature and nurture.
I can definitely recognise those qualities can be a factor for some people going out to investigate the paranormal (as in actually get in car and going somewhere) .. I relate to the adventure part, I mainly do my invests for enjoyment.
I spun this line of discussion off into a separate thread because it touches on the very foundations of paranormal / Fortean interests and pursuits.
It strikes me that three key themes reflected in the quoted passages above merit highlighting and comment:
- Interest in those things that are "extraordinary" / "paranormal" (outside or beyond the "ordinary" / "normal",
- The unavoidable intersection between the paranormal and everyday life / experience, and
- The problems in studying or investigating phenomena mainstream science dismisses and ignores.
Essentially by definition, the Fortean / paranormal realm concerns those phenomena or experiences that don't fit the "normal" mold. They involve things distinct from, or even contrary to, whatever we take as "normal". In another sense of "normal", these things lie outside the purview, the grasp, the methods, and / or the agenda of "normal" science.
In contrast to cutting-edge issues and discoveries in the "normal" sciences, paranormal / Fortean evidence isn't limited to neat results from formally designed experiments. It presents itself from out of the blue - to anybody, anywhere, and at any time. The people who experience it and those who study it only rarely come from the ranks of "scientific" observers or researchers. It's essentially laypersons' phenomena described in laypersons' terms, and mainstream science leaves it to laypersons to explore.
Paranormal evidence is by definition anomalous, and it's most often transient (non-invocable / non-reproducible on demand), ill-defined, and / or subjective. It's almost never amenable to trial by experimentation. The most one can do is describe and suggestively interpret rather than explain or demonstrably prove. It strikes me that the role of a paranormal investigator is more akin to that of the natural historian or "gentleman naturalist" of yore than what we currently think of as a scientist.
It's therefore not surprising that the paranormal / Fortean realm is populated with a diverse mix of (e.g.) serious scholars, mad scientist wannabes, hobbyists, dabblers, and casual browsers.
By the same token, it shouldn't be a big surprise that any such field that attracts masses and offers little means for sorting wheat from chaff would also attract (e.g.) profiteers, snake-oil marketers, charlatans, and drive-by pranksters.