In each of these cases, a mythological story about a famous man has overtaken the reality of the man's life, simplifying the achievements each of them made into easily accessible stories.
Newton worked in multiple fields of science, education and public service, yet the apple anecdote is all most people know about him. Washington was painted in hagiographic terms by his biographer, Parson Mason Weems, that allowed readers to accept that he could not tell a lie, even though he obviously could and did (though not to the degree later politicians do), and thus to give a moral example to young Americans. As for John Chapman/Johnny Appleseed, the denial of the fact that he practiced a controversial alternative to Christianity and that his apples were meant for alcoholic beverages and not food were things necessarily removed by Disney to keep things simple.
In all of them, we can see that the necessity of separating fact from fiction has been a longer and more arduous process than most people would think.
Burbank was like a real-life Johnny Appleseed, right? I mean, "real life" in the sense that he was also a real person, but also in the sense that he ultimately caused an awful lot of trees to grow.
His thing was crossbreeding or hybrids. He invented over 800 like the Santa Rosa plum is a combo of the Japanese plum and the American wild plum. It was my dad’s favorite but I never knew diddly about it until we moved into Luther’s home town. He did tubers and berrys and flowers, not just trees. Oh and Cactus too - he tried to make a cactus without spines so you could have herds of cattle in the desert. He also was big on splicing so you’ll see trees that have multiple varieties of apples for example. Frankenstein like, it’s odd. He also apparently jumped on board with Eugenics and hung out with Edison and Ford plotting evil
Yikes on the eugenics, and pretty par for the course, I'm afraid.
Still, those are really interesting stories about the way he innovated. He was thinking about edible and practical food and water supplies, something the world is steadily turning its attention to today. Fresh water is suddenly scarce again.
I think Eugenics is but a footnote to all the good he did, guess he figured if he could breed better plants why not people? My favorite story involves his death. He was buried under a massive Cedar tree he planted in his garden in an unmarked grave. Frida Kahlo was a friend and she painted this unsettling portrait of his corpse feeding the tree. Hybrid Luther https://www.fridakahlo.org/portrait-of-luther-burbank.jsp
It's a really useful strategy for teaching, provided there is a clear and up-front "this didn't really happen; this is a story so you can learn" kind of disclaimer. I think you tend to do a good job with this, for what it's worth!
So what you're saying is the story of "I cannot tell a lie" was, in fact, a lie?
But...how?! That defies all reason.
Also, "I hate this myth the most because it diminishes how actual innovation and invention happen."
Speak for yourself. Just the other day, a brick fell on my head, and now I'm convinced that I've invented all laws of physics. Doctors say this is temporary, but what do THEY know?!
In each of these cases, a mythological story about a famous man has overtaken the reality of the man's life, simplifying the achievements each of them made into easily accessible stories.
Newton worked in multiple fields of science, education and public service, yet the apple anecdote is all most people know about him. Washington was painted in hagiographic terms by his biographer, Parson Mason Weems, that allowed readers to accept that he could not tell a lie, even though he obviously could and did (though not to the degree later politicians do), and thus to give a moral example to young Americans. As for John Chapman/Johnny Appleseed, the denial of the fact that he practiced a controversial alternative to Christianity and that his apples were meant for alcoholic beverages and not food were things necessarily removed by Disney to keep things simple.
In all of them, we can see that the necessity of separating fact from fiction has been a longer and more arduous process than most people would think.
Layers upon layers!
Next you’ll tell me the cow didn’t jump over the moon or that Little Boy Blue didn’t stick his thumb in a pie and say something about it. Whatever.
Whew, I wasn't sure when you led in with "stuck his thumb in" right after talking about Moon Man. Yikes!
Ever heard of Luther Burbank? Another man of legend; we just planted a Santa Rosa plum tree in our backyard. We wont have enough to make grog though
Burbank was like a real-life Johnny Appleseed, right? I mean, "real life" in the sense that he was also a real person, but also in the sense that he ultimately caused an awful lot of trees to grow.
His thing was crossbreeding or hybrids. He invented over 800 like the Santa Rosa plum is a combo of the Japanese plum and the American wild plum. It was my dad’s favorite but I never knew diddly about it until we moved into Luther’s home town. He did tubers and berrys and flowers, not just trees. Oh and Cactus too - he tried to make a cactus without spines so you could have herds of cattle in the desert. He also was big on splicing so you’ll see trees that have multiple varieties of apples for example. Frankenstein like, it’s odd. He also apparently jumped on board with Eugenics and hung out with Edison and Ford plotting evil
Yikes on the eugenics, and pretty par for the course, I'm afraid.
Still, those are really interesting stories about the way he innovated. He was thinking about edible and practical food and water supplies, something the world is steadily turning its attention to today. Fresh water is suddenly scarce again.
I think Eugenics is but a footnote to all the good he did, guess he figured if he could breed better plants why not people? My favorite story involves his death. He was buried under a massive Cedar tree he planted in his garden in an unmarked grave. Frida Kahlo was a friend and she painted this unsettling portrait of his corpse feeding the tree. Hybrid Luther https://www.fridakahlo.org/portrait-of-luther-burbank.jsp
Damn, that's a really cool Kahlo painting. I don't think I've ever seen it, although maybe I should amend that to "I don't remember seeing it."
This is exactly how Jewish midrash works. The point of the tales is not that they really happened but that they have a lesson to teach.
It's a really useful strategy for teaching, provided there is a clear and up-front "this didn't really happen; this is a story so you can learn" kind of disclaimer. I think you tend to do a good job with this, for what it's worth!
So what you're saying is the story of "I cannot tell a lie" was, in fact, a lie?
But...how?! That defies all reason.
Also, "I hate this myth the most because it diminishes how actual innovation and invention happen."
Speak for yourself. Just the other day, a brick fell on my head, and now I'm convinced that I've invented all laws of physics. Doctors say this is temporary, but what do THEY know?!
I'm pretty sure a dude I was hanging out with discovered how the universe worked that one time he got super duper high.