JulyDiaz 2797 Posted October 14, 2013 David Wong aka Jason Pargin returns to discuss cultural bias with Jack O’Brien on this week’s episode of Cracked. They’ll get into why we overlook major plot points from real world origin stories of many cultural figures ranging from Bill Gates to Prince, why the mentor character always has to die in a story, and why Disney characters are usually orphans. Share this post Link to post
tvbite 2 Posted October 15, 2013 Found this extremely interesting. It always pisses me off when business leaders are treated as gurus, who have special powers. There's never an admittance of the crucial part that luck plays. Donald Trump, in particular, why should anyone listen to his opinions on The Apprentice? All he knows is how to inherit several millions and buy buildings. He's got the intellect of a bowl of porridge. Anyway, this also kind of feeds in to what I understand to be the Chinese view of history. They've never bought into this bias. My sketchy knowledge of it seems to be that individual success is not seen as heroic. Much better to be a faceless bureaucrat working for the good of all. 1 Share this post Link to post
wakefresh 689 Posted October 15, 2013 There is no conversation on the advantages that someone being born rich has over other people -- the access to better education, tools, and business connections that can really make or break an endeavor. Share this post Link to post
VinsanityV22 500 Posted October 17, 2013 This may not be loaded with laughs (which is disappointing considering it's Cracked & Earwolf), but it sure is interesting. It's cool to see how the train of thought goes that leads to the eventual articles that show up on Cracked.com at least. And it's neat to hear this kind of stuff in general. I'm surprised they never actual touched on actual super heroes though - why people don't like Superman and seem to prefer Batman en masse, for one. It's way easier, apparently, to ignore the fact that Bruce Wayne was rich when you compare him to the Man of Steel. But you can literally go down a checklist and see "Oh. This BS is why America thinks so-and-so is more popular". Is he/she an orphan, yay or nay? Oh, they HAVE parents? Well, America will hate them. *sigh* I'm a Superman fan too. And a Kanye West fan. And my favorite Disney movie is The Great Mouse Detective, and he was no orphan! This was frustrating to listen to, simply because it made so much sense ;P Lesson learned. America loves underdogs. They hate advantages, families, and talent. I GET it. You're all stupid. This is why American Idol and all other reality shows do those dumb packages about why the singers are there, and usually it's the person with the best, most manufactured (usually somewhat "tragic") story that gets voted to the next round. Way to be easily manipulated, mass audiences. I'm glad I don't fall into the group of people who mindlessly fall for this stuff though. Share this post Link to post
Quarky 9 Posted October 22, 2013 Reading this made me think that one of the few figures without the manufactured origin story is Wayne Gretsky. Everyone remembers him as the guy who grew up and was more or less destined to be one of the greatest hockey players of all-time. He wasn't held back. His coach never said he wasn't good enough. Every step of the way he was one of the greatest from day one. Although, I guess it can just be put under "Canadian" origin story and part of how other people came to view Canada. I'm not sure what I'm talking about, but I'm sure it's something. Share this post Link to post
