Friday, May 9, 2014

One of the Oldest Urban Legends (A David'Z RantZ Post from 2/27/08)


This morning, around sunrise, I was seated at the counter of a diner located one town away from my current residence. Good coffee, huge portions -- and if you finish all the food they give you, they'll give you more, no charge -- and you get to overhear just about the kinds of conversations you'd expect to overhear coming from the average working man.

I was a bit surprised, however, when one of these "average working men" asserted that all the heads of state across the world.... kings, presidents, prime ministers, whatever... are frozen when they die so they can be brought back later if and when the technology exists for someone to do so. That was a new one, at least to me. And he said that not only as if it were a fact, but also as if everyone who'd heard him say it knew it was a fact.

And without turning to face him or his buddies, I set my coffee cup on the counter and waited for the other shoe to drop. And I wasn't disappointed.

"Well," began one of them, "you know Walt Disney is still frozen..."

That again. That particular urban legend has been around as long as Uncle Walt's been dead, and that happened nearly fifty years ago! My God, people still believe that?

Why do people believe that?

And... umm... Do you believe that?

If so... why? Where's your proof?

Maybe you're sitting there smugly saying, "I don't need proof. Everybody knows it."

Oh, everybody does, huh?

On the subject of "everybody," try this one on: There was a rather well-known studio head during Hollywood's golden era. He had a lot of innovative ideas. He also had a few nay-sayers in the company who would tell him during creative meetings that these proposed innovations simply couldn't be done. When faced with this pessimism, the studio head would ask, "Who says it can't be done?" and the reply was generally to the effect of, "Well... everybody says it can't be done." And the studio head's retort to "everybody says" was, "Name two."

Funny thing. That studio head was Walt Disney.

Now, how many of you saw that coming?

Oh.

Everybody.

Terrific.

Thanks for your time.

24 comments:

  1. I just read the Snopes on it...sounds like he didn't have a funeral and his burial location hasn't been disclosed publicly? Hardly proof! Maybe the family loves keeping it all going because it adds to his legacy!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Btw, Walt died before the first recorded incident of cryonic suspension. Just sayin'.

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  2. lol I guess heads will roll. He was ahead of the game when he was alive. Now his head just isn't in the game.

    I think that is a load indeed, at the very most there may be some place where all the rich folks and smart folks have their dna stored in case cloning become available, doubtful but possible. As for heads, yeah one or two nuts but that is about it.

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  3. I like the idea of cloning, but not necessarily for myself. There's that old idea of having yourself cloned while you were still alive, just so "you" (both of you) can get more accomplished...

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  4. Well then. If everybody knows it, it must be true. lol

    I did hear about Walt . . . both, him being frozen (ha!) and the lack of support for his ideas . . . so it IS terrific that I knew this, right? Let's party!

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  5. what? there's a possibility walt is actually dead? say it ain't so!
    if anyone deserved to be woken up in the future it was him!

    fun post for a friday! have a great weekend =)

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  6. Sounds like the plot for a good sci-fi book. :) If Walt is frozen...........what about Elvis?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You should write that. I mean, you spend so much with nothing to do... Ha.

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  7. That kind of stupidity is too much to be excused. When Favorite Young Man was in high school, he told me The Wizard of Oz had a scene in which a Munchkin had hanged himself and he could be seen in the background. I disabused him of this notion immediately. When will it all end? Never.

    I like to use the "name three" or whatever number I feel like. My mother-in-law didn't like it.

    Love,
    Janie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, I've heard about the Munchkin, too. Crazy. Like nobody at MGM would have noticed, or even checked the dailies after they found the hanged Munchkin's body.

      And anything that ticks off the MIL has to be good, right?

      Delete
  8. I think all about freeze persons are really crazy!
    Anyway Esperanza always say Elvis isn't dead sigh!
    Other urban leyend:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think Elvis was abducted by aliens so he could teach them karate.

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    2. Gloria! So you think I'm crazy? Sometimes crazy means doing things the non-traditional way, dear. We could get frozen together and get a discount. What do you say?

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    3. Grumpy! I told you that in your blog.

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    4. I must be getting old... I don't.... remember, dear. ;)

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  9. I'm afraid I saw that coming. But just imagine if all royalty and über-politicians were frozen and woke up one day.... Would you like to live in such a world? (Didn't think so.)

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  10. oh he is still alive...its all a hoax...like landing on the moon...
    he and hoffa were having coffee last week at the diner
    seriously...smiles.

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  11. hahaha amazing post dear!!! Love it! It's a crazy urban legend...

    XOXO!

    ReplyDelete

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