The only way to really bury a myth is to expose it to everyone. You have to prove that it is only a myth to everyone. As long as one person believes it, it is still alive. Dalton talks about the four messages that Alger sends in his writings. Two of the four are relating to race. Alger says that even if you are black, you can just push passed that, and that there are no racial differences. He writes that there are no racial issues to really overcome, and that even if there were, you can just pull yourself up by the bootstraps and everything will be ok.
The way a myth is challenged is by people who know the reality and having them tell personal experiences to debunk the rumor. The only way to get rid of the idea is to prove it wrong. Its like the TV show Myth Busters. They find random myths and then they test them to either prove or disprove them. The way that you test a myth like Alger’s is to try to live like he says you can, and see where that gets you. Obviously its not going to get you anywhere, and when more and more people prove it wrong, the credibility of the myth declines. It is robbed of its mythical power once people start to realize that it is only a dream and a rumor. It can’t really happen, and they can’t live like that and expect great things to happen. They end the myth by living according to reality, and not the myth.
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3 comments:
Wow! Twice we have agreed on something. The best way for myths to be deleted or erased is by exposing its falseness. Once people start to see how unreal the myth is then they will hopefully change opinions. However, some people will not change their ways of thinking and continue to believe the myth. That is why myths from long ago, that may have been disproved, are still floating around today. I like the use of the show, Mythbusters, in your post. I did the exact same thing. They way they make sure everything according to the myth in exactly identical shows that their results are acceptable. This is true that hopefully the more a myth is proved false or busted people will realize that it is not true. Reality must sink in for this to occur. Some people just choose to live in the dream world.
Jordana-
I completely agree with you, and Nick above. I too think that myths can only be buried if they are exposed as being false and the word is spread around. I had not thought about what you said about one person believing the myth, and it still being alive. I think this is an interesting point, and probably true. If one person still believes, and happened to miss the memo about it not being true, then it is possible for the myth to start up again. It can only take one person for something to spread. And there are always going to be those stubborn people who don't want to accept reality.
so like the others that have commented on this post , i agree with you also . it`s pretty much with anything , anything that is a myth can not be "buried" until it is proven to be wrong . kind of like what you said, people need to have some time of experience , like living another`s life to believe what they believe . also , you`re right about not only one person affecting a myth . a myth can not be disapproved or "buried" by just one person , it takes a lot more than just one person to get a myth buried .
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