If someone were to begin searching used Jeeps for sale, they’d probably expect a pretty straightforward process. It’s unlikely that they’d give any thought to the possibility that their search could potentially overlap with urban legends. After all, how much do we (as rational adults) actually worry about urban legends within our daily lives? Not much.
Think for a moment about the urban legends you’ve been exposed to. Now ask yourself if they’ve actually influenced the way that you’ve been living your life. Has your life been unlucky as a result of chain letters you didn’t forward? Were you compelled to stop making out in cars fearing that an escaped psychopath with a hook for hand would slaughter you? Do you drive around at night, petrified that the flash of someone’s high beams meant you were soon to be murdered as part of a gang initiation? Have you stopped ordering Chinese food because ‘a friend of a friend’ is now living with herpes of the mouth after some takeout tested positive for seven types of semen? Are you still blaming your habit of murdering unsuspecting children in the woods on SlenderMan?
Most of us outgrow our irrational fear of urban legends, but there are times when stories shared on social media (or even by the mainstream media) will reignite that frightened inner child inside of the populace (we’re looking at you, Momo). When it happens, there’s usually one of three things that could happen: the story could be exposed as a non-factual legend, it might be verified with public action taken, or it could inspire someone to make the fictional story into a reality.
Take the phenomenon known as ‘catfishing’, for example. What began as a cautionary tale designed to frighten young people out of talking to strangers on the internet, inspired the very thing it had attempted to draw attention to. Even the television series ‘Catfish’, which set out to expose those who falsified their identities within online relationships, could be criticized for creating more offenders than it exposed.
But what about private sales on the internet? Craig’s List has certainly inspired it’s fair share of urban legends, but there have also been actual documented cases of people attracting their victims through Craigs List ads. It’s why many local police stations dedicate an area of their parking for Craigs List transactions and monitor those areas with cameras.
Now, you’re probably thinking that the point of this article is to warn you about the dangers of buying a Jeep Wrangler on Craigs List. It’s not. You might be looking for some sort of joke based on the title, and that searching for “Used Wranglers” might score you some questionably soiled blue jeans, but I like to think we’re both better than that.
No, I’m here to suggest that you make an appointment with your primary care physician. Why? Because my six friends and I are starting to feel really guilty about getting hopped up on shrooms, then putting all that semen in the Chinese food you ate. Especially Jeff.
Jeff feels awful…
