Newsgroups: alt.folklore.urban
Subject: What makes an urban legend work?
From: dgross@polyslo.csc.calpoly.edu (Dave Gross)
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 92 22:01:07 GMT
Reply-To: dgross@polyslo.CalPoly.EDU (Dave Gross)
Organization: Mousebat, Follicle, Goosecreature, Ampersand, Spong, Wapcaplet,                 Looseliver, Vendetta & Pang

I am interested in a view of urban legends that sees them as a sort of
communications virus.  They enter the communication system through normal
means, but have certain characteristics which allow them to be reproduced
and spread throughout the system.  Evolution of these viruses is especially
efficient, since the stories are changed from storyteller to storyteller,
and each of these people is prone to change the story slightly to make it
that much more appealing to its intended audience.  These changes, in turn,
make the audience more likely to repeat the story.

I am trying to identify characteristics of these viruses that make them
especially successful.  I would appreciate any insights from a.f.u. readers.

Some characteristics I have come up with:

1) A person believes that spreading the virus would be helpful to other
   people.

	In the "LSD Tattoo" virus, the people spreading the virus
	believe that they are protecting children from harm.

	In the various food-contamination rumors (spider eggs in
	Bubble Yum, et al.) people spreading the virus believe they
	are helping people avoid contamination.

2) A person believes that spreading the virus would be helpful to one
   specific person in need, especially a child.

	The Craig Shergold virus is the classic example.

3) Spreading the virus allows the person to express attitudes about some taboo
   subject that that person would be unable to express in a straightforward
   way due to this taboo.

	For instance, a number of urban legends have racist and
	sexist overtones.  The burglar in "The Choking Doberman"
	is almost always explicitly named as a black man.

	The Richard Gere & Hamster legend is often told with
	the addition of a sentence like "did you know what the
	homosexuals are doing these days?"

	A number of legends about wives getting revenge on their
	wayward husbands; or wayward husbands befalling some
	horrible tragedy because of their indiscretion.  These
	legends can be a way for women to disguise misandry or
	insecurity in the guise of just repeating a story.

4) Similarly, spreading the virus allows the person to express uneasiness or
   fear about something without explicitly doing so.

	The numerous babysitter tragedies can be seen as a way
	for people to "break the ice" about their fears of leaving
	children unattended, or their fears of crime, or
	insecurities about women's liberation.

5) Urban legends are used to give mythical explanations of new technology,
   science, or "eternal mysteries."  They can also be used to express fears
   of technology that is not understood, or to provide explanations for
   behavior that is not easily explained to the "common man"

	The strychnine in LSD rumors among LSD users are a response
	to the fact that most users do not know how LSD is manufactured
	or who is manufacturing it.  Also these users often report
	physiological changes as well as psychological ones.  Some
	seem to believe that the psychological changes are caused by
	LSD, while the physiological changes are caused by some
	adulterant such as strychnine.

	The various microwave legends are examples of this as well,
	as well as the hysteria following the lauching of Sputnik
	about the Soviets being able to peer into our living rooms
	with super telescopes or what have you.

6) Legends work best when they are both plausable and deal with familiar
   objects or people.

	The Richard Gere legend is played out in various forms in
	communities everywhere, and always seems to target local
	news anchormen.  In my community, I've heard about everything
	from lightbulbs to hamsters to condoms being removed
	surgically in the emergency room from the rectum of our
	local anchorman.  Always from someone whose friend's mother
	works as a nurse in the hospital where it happened.

	The LSD rumor combines a number of plausible and familiar
	images:  1) LSD being sold on squares of blotter paper
	containing cartoon images.  2) Evil drug lords trying to
	hook children.  3) Lick & stick tattoos, such as are
	found in Cracker Jack boxes.

-----

I'm also curious about incidents of "deliberate" communication viruses --
especially those created for political purposes.

For instance:  Nixon's Committee to Reelect the President started a rumor in
the north-east United States that one of the Democrat presidential contenders
used the word "canuck" to refer to French-Canadians.  This rumor spread like
wildfire.  The Bush team in 1988 spread rumors about there existing a photo
of Kitty Dukakis (wife of the Democrat presidential nominee) burning a U.S.
flag, and about Michael Dukakis having been in therapy.

Also, a Coors contamination rumor (mice, I think) started to spread in the
midst of union problems and other political problems at Coors.
-- 
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