No.465[View All]
<Contemporary/modern urban legends are widely circulated,narrative accounts of rare or bizarre events that convey warnings or cautionary advisements
>Urban Legends typically contain sensational/dramatic content intended to prompt strong emotional reactions within recipients (i.e., horror, shock, revulsion, and humor)<A commonly cited example is the apocryphal tale that mature alligators, flushed down the toilet as hatchlings, now inhabit sewers and pose a threat to urban dwellers
>At a social level, Urban Legends become resistant to abjuration and persist because of regular retelling.
>Declarations within Urban Legends, stating that there is a risk attached to recipients failing to pass their content on, serve also to facilitate cultural propagation.<Correspondingly, over time, Urban Legends become part of social record, occupy societal awareness and form part of public consciousness.
>Hence, Urban Legends are readily available and frequently encountered. Furthermore, despite refutation and counter-evidence, Urban Legends periodically re-surface. This is particularly true in contemporary society, where email and social media ensure that Urban Legends circulate indefinitely.<Within this self-perpetuating process, narratives evolve and adapt to accommodate contradictory evidence