Sunday, 2 August 2015 12:10 pm
(no subject)
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deckardcanineLately I've given thought to a possible phenomenon for which I know no name. I tentatively call it the lemming lore principle.
What's the first thing you think of when you hear "lemming"? If it's mere mass migration, then fine. For me, it's mass suicide, even tho I've known for years that that's an urban legend. The matter comes up online whenever someone makes a lemming joke or uses them in an allegory.
But perhaps these same people know it's not true -- or just don't care. After all, as the above indicates, the legend has its uses. If no one ever believed in lemming suicide, then we'd need some other metaphor. As for humor, well, the makers of "A Grand Day Out" had no intention of perpetuating the sincere belief that the moon is made of cheese; they just found it a handy construct.
Besides, we'd be talking about lemmings a lot less. There doesn't seem to be anything both true and distinctive about them. Without the myth, they'd occupy the same niche in our minds as, oh, maybe voles.
This phenomenon came to my mind recently because people have repeatedly said that Tim Treadwell thought bears were harmless. Yes, he was unorthodox and probably mentally disordered. I for one found him terribly disagreeable in Grizzly Man. But that documentary also showed that he had no illusions about the nature of bears, at least as far as his safety was concerned. He fully expected one of them to kill him any day, and he chose to live with that peril. It still appealed to him more than returning to civilization.
In each case, the false claim came up in the context of someone disregarding obvious dangers, animal or otherwise. Could it be that these speakers have actually seen Grizzly Man and remember the detail accurately but choose to ignore it for their own ends?
Maybe you know an already existing name for the phenomenon. A better one, most likely. Or maybe you think I'm on the wrong track and simple ignorance prevails. But the idea seems worth entertaining.
What's the first thing you think of when you hear "lemming"? If it's mere mass migration, then fine. For me, it's mass suicide, even tho I've known for years that that's an urban legend. The matter comes up online whenever someone makes a lemming joke or uses them in an allegory.
But perhaps these same people know it's not true -- or just don't care. After all, as the above indicates, the legend has its uses. If no one ever believed in lemming suicide, then we'd need some other metaphor. As for humor, well, the makers of "A Grand Day Out" had no intention of perpetuating the sincere belief that the moon is made of cheese; they just found it a handy construct.
Besides, we'd be talking about lemmings a lot less. There doesn't seem to be anything both true and distinctive about them. Without the myth, they'd occupy the same niche in our minds as, oh, maybe voles.
This phenomenon came to my mind recently because people have repeatedly said that Tim Treadwell thought bears were harmless. Yes, he was unorthodox and probably mentally disordered. I for one found him terribly disagreeable in Grizzly Man. But that documentary also showed that he had no illusions about the nature of bears, at least as far as his safety was concerned. He fully expected one of them to kill him any day, and he chose to live with that peril. It still appealed to him more than returning to civilization.
In each case, the false claim came up in the context of someone disregarding obvious dangers, animal or otherwise. Could it be that these speakers have actually seen Grizzly Man and remember the detail accurately but choose to ignore it for their own ends?
Maybe you know an already existing name for the phenomenon. A better one, most likely. Or maybe you think I'm on the wrong track and simple ignorance prevails. But the idea seems worth entertaining.