I teach a mythology course at my university: ALL THE MYTHS in one semester. Rather, my students *hope* that I will let them talk about ALL THE MYTHS, especially the ones they think they already know (um, Greek). Despite frequent reminders that we don’t have time for ALL THE MYTHS, they try to sidetrack the course about 10X per class period so they can talk about their opinions of ALL THE MYTHS, especially the ones they think they already know.
They actually don’t know much about mythology. They don’t want to learn new myths. They don’t want to learn new things about familiar myths. They just want to retell the same old plot lines that everyone else knows, too. In other words, they babble a lot without saying much that’s interesting.
That’s why I showed them “The Burkean Parlor”:
We’re part of an unending conversation about mythology, I said. You need to listen (read) what’s been said already, and then pose a question or add a thoughtful comment of your own.
They just want to know why Zeus was such a ‘ho.
Academia Absurdia 