posted
I have always been kind of fasinated by urban myths. They are an interesting aspect of our culture. Many of them hold very little truth or fact but become an almost acepted aspect of life. Every one just "knows" there are alligators in the New York Sewer system, or that you can cook youself if you use a tanning bed too often.
A new show I really enjoy is Mythbusters on Discovery. I like seeing some of the history behind the myths and watching these two guys test them out.
I have also often wondered if it is possible to create an urban myth and have it stick. THink about the myth of the kid from the life cereal commercial who ate a bunch of pop rocks and drank alot of coke. The myth is that the violent combination caused his stomach to explode and killed him. Now somewhere along the line someone came up with this story and started telling it to other people and now years later people still talk about it as if it could be true.
I just wonder with the resources available to us today (internet, computers) could we create a myth that would be accepted as a truth or fact similar to those that have been around for years?
I know this is kind of a goofey idea but just something that has teased the back of my mind for a long while. In fact I'm not even sure if I would be morally or ethically able to purposely spread a story I know to be inaccurate, but it is an interesting topic to think about.
Posts: 1294 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
I'm talking a Folklore class right now. What you're talking about is technically called an urban legend, not an urban myth, since a myth usually deals with the big questions about life and the little day-to-day questions (like, why does it rain?). A legend is still largely believed by both teller and hearer, but it's not on such a grand scale.
I don't know why I just felt compelled to share all of that. I don't even really like this class. Hm.
Anyway, I think that the best sources for urban legends are in thoughts that many people have simultaneously had:
What if something lived in the sewers of New York? They're pretty big. What if something as big as an alligator could survive down there? Would anyone know?
What if someone put an animal in a microwave? Would it explode like an egg does?
What if my babysitter got high while watching my kids? How much damage could she really do?
As far as making up an urban legend, though, urban legends usually reflect the insecurities and even fears of a culture. If you want to make one up that will stick, I'd put my money on something like Bill Gates or terrorists or something like that. Build from something you've already thought about a lot.
posted
This is the Information Age. Those who master information shall rule.
The power you seek, to create reality from the unreal, to create a belief and make it believed is a very strong and possibly dangerous power.
If you master it, you must use it for good, and not evil.
(Though evil is easier, and more amusing)
It is done easily enough. Start a rumor and send it to all of your e-friends. At the bottom of the rumor put a note requesting they send it to ten of their friends.
When it returns to you, take all the E-Mail addresses that it has passed through, and add them to your address book. Send it your next evil creation to all of them.
This is how some spam-masters get your email address. When you pass on the chain letter, or the cute story of some sort, or the Urban Legend that the e-mail swears is true, some Spam-master is collecting your email address.
The question is what rumor should you turn into legend or myth?
Dark Chocolate prevents aging? Britney Spears stalked your neighbor after a concert to get back a photo taken of her smoking what may not have been a cigarette backstage? Osama Bin Laden is really an Isreali spy?
Posts: 11895 | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
Well, I don't know about whether I could make up one that would stick -- although I think I'll take it as a challenge and see what I can come up with. OTOH, whoever came up with the whole "SOS" thing did a good job.
On another board the I frequent occasionally, someone pulled out that old chestnut. When I linked to snopes and quoted the relevant paragraphs, she said
quote: . . . while it may all be urban legend, people still "use" SOS that way all the time or talk of it, so it has promulgated itself, as I said before, just that way, which is why I stand by what I wrote.
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...There's this guy Bob.. he lives away over in the States somewhere.. Texas I think..anyways he's got this mystical book 'bob's big of dreams'...it just appeared one day and uh you know, if you ask him to tell you what your dream means he goes to the book and looks it up and no matter what your dream is, there is an explanation! No seriously! you just have to ask and it's all there in black and white! freaky eh? He's even like better than that guy Nostradamus, anyway he's like youknow, dead.. but this guy bob he's like youknow the real deal. Posts: 141 | Registered: Sep 2002
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posted
Read the Darwin Awards and you'll see urban legends being created all the time.
The JATO powered chevy, the man who died from his own gas (I debunked that one), the woman who jumped out of the car when she saw helium filled blow up dolls being "raptured" etc. People are making these things up all the time, and other people buy it.
Fortunately, Darwin has a confirmation process now, and we've got Snopes to help out. The information highway is a two way street.
Posts: 3735 | Registered: Mar 2002
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quote: THink about the myth of the kid from the life cereal commercial who ate a bunch of pop rocks and drank alot of coke. The myth is that the violent combination caused his stomach to explode and killed him. Now somewhere along the line someone came up with this story and started telling it to other people and now years later people still talk about it as if it could be true.
He's now an advertising-account manager. And I've had poprocks and coke before...it usually doesn't do anything, but on one occasion, it gave me a stomach ache. That might have just been due to the large amount of sugar, but who knows?
Oh, and if you don't already know about it, http://www.snopes.com is a good site. The webmaster rsearches Urban Legends, tests them out, and tells you whether they're true, fake, or undetermined.
And to start an Urban Legend, you have to get a group of people to agree to tell a story, and spread it (to gullible people) at the same time.
Hey, I got an idea! Why doesn't the entire Hatrack community come up with an Urban Legend to spread?
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![[Wink]](wink.gif)
OTOH, whoever came up with the whole "SOS" thing did a good job. ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
