Nicholas Knight
ENC 3310
Feb. 17, 2015
nknightwriting@gmail.com
Creation Myths and Cultural Mythmaking
In the essay, “The Creation Myths of Cooperstown”, Gould explains his views on the origins of
myths in American society. Myths such as the Cardiff Giant and the origins of Baseball compare well
with the overall idea behind Loewen’s early chapter on Heroification; which results in historical figures,
such as Woodrow Wilson, being represented as characters in a fairy-tale. I believe this is due to the way
American society thinks, and provides a possible reason behind the explosion of electronic
entertainment as seen in recent decades.
When Gould discusses the Cardiff Giant he explains how American’s were “inspired by a wave of
interest” in part due to their interest in “the subject of beginnings.” Many different stories spun off of
the Cardiff Giant hoax, including that it was made by ancient peoples, or even that it was a large
petrified person; these stories stood even in light of experts in geology and paleontology stating that “it
is of very recent origin and a decided humbug” (O. C. Marsh). It would seem that the only reason the
story stuck around (for several weeks albeit) and became a part of our cultural history is because so
many people enjoyed it.
American’s love a good story about how things came to be, and it is for this reason that we seek
a certain time and place for the beginning of, or first <insert the name of something cared about here>.
Gould used Baseball as an example. It is scientifically understood that a sport evolves over time, is
played differently in different areas, constantly changes, and cannot be pinned down to one moment in
time for its creation. However, Gould says that “we yearn to know about origins, and we readily
construct myths when we do not have data (or we suppress data in favor of legend when a truth strikes
us as too commonplace).” He points out that the committee in charge of placing a creator and date of
creation on Baseball was well aware that it had no specific origin, but it was also aware that there was a
Nicholas Knight
ENC 3310
Feb. 17, 2015
nknightwriting@gmail.com
place in society for it to have one. Gould continues by stating that “one reason must reside in our social
and psychic attraction to creation myths in preference to evolutionary stories …”
In my own opinion this relates heavily to American’s desire to heroify key historical figures, such
as Woodrow Wilson. Loewen shows that we gloss over many aspects, and especially character flaws, of
a person in history textbooks to the point that we dehumanize them by removing everything except the
ideological view of what is perfect about them. I believe this to be because as a culture we are so bored
of the mundane and often unimpressive or even the undesirable things in life that we are slowly shifting
to a fantastical view of the world when we can. For example, I would expect that not as many people
want to sit through a lecture of what the world is like (constant war, political struggles, lack of essentials
in underdeveloped countries) when we could attend another lecture about the advances in technology
and the future. This shift in views is evident in the seemingly exponential growth of TV entertainment
and video games over the last couple decades. On the surface we are finding ways to get more
enjoyment out of our free-time, but I think it runs deeper. I think a better explanation is that America is
getting bored with the world, and we are looking for whatever means we can to explore something new
and exciting.