Aqua teen force responible for a baby's death

[badlands]

A newspaper blames the cartoon series on Cartoon network for causing a mother to put her baby into a microwave. It claims that one of the characters puts pets and other character into the microwave and nuke them to death.

[Boomstick]

Why did the woman in question claim that's where she got the idea?

Aqua Teen Hunger Force is certainly not for everyone, but you'd have to be insane to not recognize the show for the absurdity that it is.

While I am a fan of the show, it's often in poor taste but, again, that's kind of the point. Anyway, trying to assign blame is old news. I can watch Master Shake nuke animals over and over again, but I've never once entertained the thought of doing such a thing.

[august]

Well, you'd have to blame the 80's film Gremlins then, since one of them got microwaved too. But I seem to recall urban myths going around schoolyards in the 70's about that....probably dating back to about a week after the first bratty kid ever got the idea on his own to put something into a microwave just to see what would happen. When did those things come out? Late '50's?

[EDSEL_PK]

For an adult to blame a cartoon for her own reckless behavior is ludicrous.
Was she tripping on illicit substances? Was she suffering from a mental disorder?

Schizophrenia or bipolar disorder might get her put into a psych ward, instead of prison.

But CARTOONS?

[Boomstick]

Well, you'd have to blame the 80's film Gremlins then, since one of them got microwaved too. But I seem to recall urban myths going around schoolyards in the 70's about that....probably dating back to about a week after the first bratty kid ever got the idea on his own to put something into a microwave just to see what would happen. When did those things come out? Late '50's?

We never got one until the mid 80s, but I think the technology was around for much longer than that. As soon as I was told that the thing would blow up if you put metal in it, I wondered what else it would do if you put other things in it. But I never once thought "gosh, I wonder what would happen if I stuffed my cat in here?"

Crazy people are crazy. No matter where they, or yellow journalism, try to pin blame, ultimately we're all responsible for the choices we make.

[Fantasy]

A newspaper blames the cartoon series on Cartoon network for causing a mother to put her baby into a microwave. It claims that one of the characters puts pets and other character into the microwave and nuke them to death.

Where's the news article? A quick google for news turned up nothing. This sounds like an urban myth. Updating the blame to "Aqua Teen Hunger Force".

[Boomstick]

I did hear something about 'microwave baby' case in court recently, but I never read about it.

[Fantasy]

I did hear something about 'microwave baby' case in court recently, but I never read about it.

Is this it?

No mention of "Aqua Teen". Just an argument between parents.

Turns my stomach.

[august]

I've heard of self-fulfilling prophesies, but I guess we've created a self-perpetuating urban legend! :poke: A Google search of the relevant terms does in fact turn up exactly one source for the cartoon being blamed: this very thread!! :bounce:

The same search also reveals what was suspected above: from something called The Straight Dope:

The microwaved baby legend was explored in detail in The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings by noted folklorist Jan Harold Brunvand. Brunvand reports that there are two main versions of the microwave story. In one, some airhead, typically an old lady or a little kid, washes or at least splashes the family pet (usually a dog or cat, but sometimes a turtle), and puts it into the microwave to dry.....

The story may have evolved from an older, low-tech version that cropped up in the 1960s, in which the pet crawls into a gas oven or a clothes dryer for a nap, only to get roasted next time the appliance is used.....

The second main version of the story, namely the baby-in-the-oven yarn, was first officially recorded in 1971. What happens usually is that a couple hires a hippie baby-sitter who proceeds to get stoned ...... Older versions of this story, in which the kid is entrusted to someone who cooks it but without the microwave-and-LSD trappings, have been noted in South American and African folklore.

But there are indeed real life versions: China Arnold in the story above, from 2006, Joshua Mauldin from 2007, Elizabeth Otte from 1999, and probably many more.... ad:

[Fantasy]

I've heard of self-fulfilling prophesies, but I guess we've created a self-perpetuating urban legend! :poke: A Google search of the relevant terms does in fact turn up exactly one source for the cartoon being blamed: this very thread!! :bounce:

That's what happened when I ran the search! :wave:

The same search also reveals what was suspected above: from something called The Straight Dope:

I started to read this, but I couldn't get through it. I just keep thinking about my 1 year-old. Still turns my stomach. ad:

[Boomstick]

I started to read this, but I couldn't get through it. I just keep thinking about my 1 year-old. Still turns my stomach. ad:

It's particularly disgusting, isn't it?

Anyway, unless Badlands provides some insight into where this all came from I guess we'll chalk it up to 'urban legend.'

And way to go us for propagating fake news, huh? :bg:

[Sciguy]

There are some scary insane people out there. If anything... didn't the cartoon show the consequence of putting live things in a microwave? I don't think it promoted an action to do so.