Once I Met an Urban Myth
Back in the 90s when the internet was just a baby, there were some people who either by luck or design created websites that have become institutions of the interwebs: The International Movie Database aka IMDB is one (earliest incarnation was 1990) and is now the go-to website for anyone at a dinner party trying to remember the name of that movie, you know, the one about the woman, and she buys a hat... The other website that seems an obvious idea now is Snopes (established 1994). Talk about anticipating the needs of the internet - so much information, so little verification. It was one of the first websites I wasted time on visited regularly.
I hadn’t thought about Snopes in ages but recently clicked a link to it - the story was about whether the Queen was sending secret messages through her brooches when she met Donald Trump. Snopes concluded it couldn’t really say what the Queen’s thinking is in choosing jewellery but it was most likely coincidental that she wore a gift from the Obamas on the first day of Trump’s visit to the UK and a brooch given to her as a gift by the Canadian government on the second. Personally I don’t think the Queen’s jewellery is ever coincidental. I don’t care what Snopes says.
Anyway, my thoughts turned to urban myths and for that matter conspiracy theories and why they take such a strong hold in our collective imaginations. I think it is a) people like gossip and they are often a mixture of salacious / scandalous / lurid and b) people like to be in the know and get one up on others - they like to be the ones with the info. You could dig deeper and say the world is chaotic and dangerous and there are powers-that-be who deceive us punters often enough that suspicion-of-everything forms.
There is also one other explanation: sometimes these urban myths are true. And I can attest to this because I once met an urban myth.
The urban myth in question was the much repeated warning to kids when visiting water parks - careful on the water slide because people have had their legs slashed by razor blades embedded in the slide: one of those stories that takes on a life of its own, often repeated but where did it start? Has anyone ever been caught doing this? Why do people do this?* More to the point, how?** And who was the victim?
I was musing aloud one day at work to a colleague about the razor blade / waterslide story and asked the above questions. When I asked if anyone was the victim, the colleague said “Well yes“ and she turned and lifted her skirt to reveal two massive scars on the back of her thigh. “It was me who copped the razor blades on the waterslide“ she answered. It was at Grundys Surfers Paradise and she was just a kid. For the record, her name is Christine.
So yeah, sometimes urban myths are true, just often enough that it keeps us wondering. And keep checking Snopes (but the Queen did use jewellery to make a statement about what she really thinks of Trump).
* the reason some people do this is because some people are arseholes.
** really - think about it - how do you get up there, stop for long enough to place a razorblade...I think it must have been a staff member, who could do so under the guise of "maintenance".
I hadn’t thought about Snopes in ages but recently clicked a link to it - the story was about whether the Queen was sending secret messages through her brooches when she met Donald Trump. Snopes concluded it couldn’t really say what the Queen’s thinking is in choosing jewellery but it was most likely coincidental that she wore a gift from the Obamas on the first day of Trump’s visit to the UK and a brooch given to her as a gift by the Canadian government on the second. Personally I don’t think the Queen’s jewellery is ever coincidental. I don’t care what Snopes says.
Anyway, my thoughts turned to urban myths and for that matter conspiracy theories and why they take such a strong hold in our collective imaginations. I think it is a) people like gossip and they are often a mixture of salacious / scandalous / lurid and b) people like to be in the know and get one up on others - they like to be the ones with the info. You could dig deeper and say the world is chaotic and dangerous and there are powers-that-be who deceive us punters often enough that suspicion-of-everything forms.
There is also one other explanation: sometimes these urban myths are true. And I can attest to this because I once met an urban myth.
The urban myth in question was the much repeated warning to kids when visiting water parks - careful on the water slide because people have had their legs slashed by razor blades embedded in the slide: one of those stories that takes on a life of its own, often repeated but where did it start? Has anyone ever been caught doing this? Why do people do this?* More to the point, how?** And who was the victim?
I was musing aloud one day at work to a colleague about the razor blade / waterslide story and asked the above questions. When I asked if anyone was the victim, the colleague said “Well yes“ and she turned and lifted her skirt to reveal two massive scars on the back of her thigh. “It was me who copped the razor blades on the waterslide“ she answered. It was at Grundys Surfers Paradise and she was just a kid. For the record, her name is Christine.
So yeah, sometimes urban myths are true, just often enough that it keeps us wondering. And keep checking Snopes (but the Queen did use jewellery to make a statement about what she really thinks of Trump).
* the reason some people do this is because some people are arseholes.
** really - think about it - how do you get up there, stop for long enough to place a razorblade...I think it must have been a staff member, who could do so under the guise of "maintenance".
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