3191: Superstition - Revision history

FaviFake: given the proposal made at the community portal, i'm merging Blondie and Miss Lenhart, just like Cutie and Megan

2026-05-09T15:41:44Z

given the proposal made at the community portal, i'm merging Blondie and Miss Lenhart, just like Cutie and Megan

2603:8080:D0F0:150:C06B:6101:A1D3:1F82: Removed incomplete transcript notice.

2026-03-03T13:06:53Z

Removed incomplete transcript notice.

81.179.199.253: /* Explanation */ "takes fails to take" error corrected. (Confusion with prior version's attempt to say the same thing, but non-chronologically, I think.)

2026-02-09T21:38:28Z

‎Explanation: "takes fails to take" error corrected. (Confusion with prior version's attempt to say the same thing, but non-chronologically, I think.)

Tromag at 13:43, 9 February 2026

2026-02-09T13:43:21Z

2600:8801:E821:4500:80F1:42E7:39DA:F3A5: /* Explanation */

2026-01-21T19:11:18Z

‎Explanation

Utdtutyabthsc: /* Explanation */ It is long and detailed enough to be complete

2026-01-16T04:11:22Z

‎Explanation: It is long and detailed enough to be complete

Tromag at 17:44, 13 January 2026

2026-01-13T17:44:44Z

174.53.211.85: /* Explanation */

2026-01-12T19:30:18Z

‎Explanation

208.59.176.206: /* Transcript */

2026-01-10T06:42:58Z

‎Transcript

82.13.184.33: Undo revision 403225 by 2401:4900:1CB9:7EEC:C596:20DB:3652:4451 (talk) revert idiocy

2026-01-09T16:31:11Z

Undo revision 403225 by 2401:4900:1CB9:7EEC:C596:20DB:3652:4451 (talk) revert idiocy

@@ Line 21: / Line 21: @@
 ==Transcript==
-:[Blondie, Cueball and a child (Hairy) are walking from left to right. The child is turning towards Cueball.]
+:[Miss Lenhart, Cueball, and a child (Hairy) are walking from left to right. The child is turning towards Cueball.]
 :Cueball: Oops, I forgot to say "rabbit rabbit" on January first!
 :Hairy: Why do you do that?
@@ Line 37: / Line 37: @@
 [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
-[[Category:Comics featuring Blondie]]
+[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
 [[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
 [[Category:Language]]
 [[Category:Comics edited after their publication]] <!-- bitplane depth increased from 1 -->

← Older revision		Revision as of 13:06, 3 March 2026
Line 20:		Line 20:

	==Transcript==		==Transcript==
−	~~{{incomplete transcript\|Don't remove this notice too soon.}}~~

	:[Blondie, Cueball and a child (Hairy) are walking from left to right. The child is turning towards Cueball.]		:[Blondie, Cueball and a child (Hairy) are walking from left to right. The child is turning towards Cueball.]

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 When asked to explain what a superstition is, [[Cueball]] replies that they're "a way to train yourself to feel like any bad thing that happens is your fault". This suggests that, not only does [[Cueball]] not actually believe in the power of superstitions, but sees them as psychologically harmful. After all, believing that bad fortune can be prevented by taking certain actions implies that any bad outcome might have been prevented if you'd taken the right actions. Logically, of course, there's no connection between taking superstitious actions and bad things (or for that matter, good things) that subsequently happen, but superstitions condition us to believe that there is a connection. What's worse, there are so many different superstitions, across so many different cultures, that even keeping track of them, let alone following all of them, is wildly unrealistic, so there's always something you did, or failed to do, on which you can blame any bad outcome. The danger is that a person might personally blame themselves for things that they had no actual control over at all.
-The title text refers to the {{w|Spider-Man}} mythology, in which (in most versions) Peter Parker's "{{w|Uncle Ben}}" famously tells him that "with great power comes great responsibility". Peter initially takes fails to take this lesson to heart, as he receives his superpowers but fails to stop a criminal when he has the chance, and his Uncle Ben dies as a result. This experience leads to his determination to use his powers to help others, and Uncle Ben's advice becomes something of a mantra for him thereafter.
+The title text refers to the {{w|Spider-Man}} mythology, in which (in most versions) Peter Parker's "{{w|Uncle Ben}}" famously tells him that "with great power comes great responsibility". Peter initially fails to take this lesson to heart, as he receives his superpowers but fails to stop a criminal when he has the chance, and his Uncle Ben dies as a result. This experience then leads to his determination to use his powers to help others, and Uncle Ben's advice becomes something of a mantra for him thereafter.
 This text flips that message, claiming that Uncle Ben instead told him that "with responsibility comes great power". This inverts the actual lesson, and suggests that, by simply taking responsibility (even for things over which you have no control), you'll gain power over the outcomes. This is a pretty good summary of what superstitions teach, but can't really be justified rationally. Nonetheless, Cueball appears to believe this lesson, claiming that his uncle died after he failed to say "rabbit rabbit", and implied that [[552: Correlation|the death, therefore, could have been prevented if he'd followed the superstition.]] In this version of the story, it's not clear whether Peter actually had no opportunity to prevent his uncle's death, and is effectively looking for ways to blame himself, or whether he ''could'' have taken real action, but chooses to focus on superstition, rather than ways in which he could have made a real difference.

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 When asked to explain what a superstition is, [[Cueball]] replies that they're "a way to train yourself to feel like any bad thing that happens is your fault". This suggests that, not only does [[Cueball]] not actually believe in the power of superstitions, but sees them as psychologically harmful. After all, believing that bad fortune can be prevented by taking certain actions implies that any bad outcome might have been prevented if you'd taken the right actions. Logically, of course, there's no connection between taking superstitious actions and bad things (or for that matter, good things) that subsequently happen, but superstitions condition us to believe that there is a connection. What's worse, there are so many different superstitions, across so many different cultures, that even keeping track of them, let alone following all of them, is wildly unrealistic, so there's always something you did, or failed to do, on which you can blame any bad outcome. The danger is that a person might personally blame themselves for things that they had no actual control over at all.
-The title text refers to the {{w|Spider-Man}} mythology, in which (in most versions) Peter Parker's "{{w|Uncle Ben}}" famously tells him that "with great power comes great responsibility". Peter initially takes this lesson to heart, as he receives his superpowers but fails to stop a criminal when he has the chance, and his Uncle Ben dies as a result.
+The title text refers to the {{w|Spider-Man}} mythology, in which (in most versions) Peter Parker's "{{w|Uncle Ben}}" famously tells him that "with great power comes great responsibility". Peter initially takes fails to take this lesson to heart, as he receives his superpowers but fails to stop a criminal when he has the chance, and his Uncle Ben dies as a result. This experience leads to his determination to use his powers to help others, and Uncle Ben's advice becomes something of a mantra for him thereafter.
 This text flips that message, claiming that Uncle Ben instead told him that "with responsibility comes great power". This inverts the actual lesson, and suggests that, by simply taking responsibility (even for things over which you have no control), you'll gain power over the outcomes. This is a pretty good summary of what superstitions teach, but can't really be justified rationally. Nonetheless, Cueball appears to believe this lesson, claiming that his uncle died after he failed to say "rabbit rabbit", and implied that [[552: Correlation|the death, therefore, could have been prevented if he'd followed the superstition.]] In this version of the story, it's not clear whether Peter actually had no opportunity to prevent his uncle's death, and is effectively looking for ways to blame himself, or whether he ''could'' have taken real action, but chooses to focus on superstition, rather than ways in which he could have made a real difference.

@@ Line 17: / Line 17: @@
 The title text refers to the {{w|Spider-Man}} mythology, in which (in most versions) Peter Parker's "{{w|Uncle Ben}}" famously tells him that "with great power comes great responsibility". Peter initially takes this lesson to heart, as he receives his superpowers but fails to stop a criminal when he has the chance, and his Uncle Ben dies as a result.
-This text flips that message, claiming that Uncle Ben instead told him that "with responsibility comes great power". This inverts the actual lesson, and suggests that, by simply taking responsibility (even for things over which you have no control), you'll gain power over the outcomes. This is a pretty good summary of what superstitions teach, but can't really be justified rationally. Nonetheless, Cueball appears to believe this lesson, claiming that his uncle died after he failed to say "rabbit rabbit", and implied that {{w|Post hoc ergo propter hoc|the death, therefore, could have been prevented if he'd followed the superstition.}} In this version of the story, it's not clear whether Peter actually had no opportunity to prevent his uncle's death, and is effectively looking for ways to blame himself, or whether he ''could'' have taken real action, but chooses to focus on superstition, rather than ways in which he could have made a real difference.
+This text flips that message, claiming that Uncle Ben instead told him that "with responsibility comes great power". This inverts the actual lesson, and suggests that, by simply taking responsibility (even for things over which you have no control), you'll gain power over the outcomes. This is a pretty good summary of what superstitions teach, but can't really be justified rationally. Nonetheless, Cueball appears to believe this lesson, claiming that his uncle died after he failed to say "rabbit rabbit", and implied that [[552: Correlation|the death, therefore, could have been prevented if he'd followed the superstition.]] In this version of the story, it's not clear whether Peter actually had no opportunity to prevent his uncle's death, and is effectively looking for ways to blame himself, or whether he ''could'' have taken real action, but chooses to focus on superstition, rather than ways in which he could have made a real difference.
 ==Transcript==

@@ Line 10: / Line 10: @@
 ==Explanation==
-{{incomplete|This page was created by people who will edit this wiki or else it is their fault. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}
 This comic references the {{w|superstition}}, which is known to have existed as far back as 1909, of saying "{{w|rabbit rabbit rabbit|rabbit rabbit}}" on the first day of a month in order to have good luck. There are many superstitions about actions that either cause bad luck (e.g. "step on a crack, break your mother's back", walking under a {{w|Ladder#Society and culture|ladder}}, breaking a {{w|List of bad luck signs|mirror}}, letting a {{w|Black cat#Superstition, folklore, bringer of good or bad luck|black cat}} cross your path) or protect against bad luck (e.g. carrying a {{w|rabbit's foot}}, {{w|Spilling salt|throwing salt over your shoulder}} after spilling some, {{w|knocking on wood}} after saying something).

@@ Line 15: / Line 15: @@
 When asked to explain it, [[Cueball]] reveals that, rather than being subject to {{w|magical thinking}}, he is fully aware that the act has no real direct power, and thus in his case this isn't really a superstition, but merely a cultural artefact. However, he suggests that acts like these have a psychological effect by making people feel guilty over random unpleasant events over which they have no control by implying that there must have been some unrelated act which could have prevented them.
-"{{w|Uncle Ben}}" is a reference to the character of {{w|Spider-Man}}/Peter Parker, who is popularly told by his uncle (Ben Parker) that "{{w|With great power comes great responsibility}}". Ben was not actually aware of Peter Parker's eventually developed super-powered abilities, his aphorism was more an avuncular life-lesson in general, regarding the possibility of far more mundane abilities to improve people's lives, but this still ended up becoming the central guiding tenet for the superhero's philosophy after Uncle Ben died (in most versions of the tale, as a direct consequence of Peter having failed to act against a seemingly trivial threat).
+"{{w|Uncle Ben}}" is a reference to the character of {{w|Spider-Man}}/Peter Parker, who is told by his uncle, Ben Parker, that "{{w|With great power comes great responsibility}}". Ben was not actually aware of Peter Parker's eventually developed super-powered abilities; his aphorism was more an avuncular life-lesson in general, regarding the possibility of far more mundane abilities to improve people's lives. This still ended up becoming the central guiding tenet for the superhero's philosophy after Uncle Ben died (in most versions of the tale, as a direct consequence of Peter having failed to act against a seemingly trivial threat).
 The title text flips this and implies that, by taking on some great responsibility, one can ''gain'' power as a direct consequence. Any adherence to superstitions can be a responsibility (by how we act, or refrain to act, on the basis of such superstitions) which therefore 'leads' to the power to control fate. There is then a {{w|Post hoc ergo propter hoc|spurious conclusion}} that Uncle Ben's death only happened ''because'' the "rabbit" superstition was not obeyed.

@@ Line 23: / Line 23: @@
 :[Blondie, Cueball and a child (Hairy) are walking from left to right. The child is turning towards Cueball.]
 :Cueball: Oops, I forgot to say "rabbit rabbit" on January first!
 :Hairy: Why do you do that?
 :Cueball: Just a superstition.
 :Hairy: What's a superstition?
 :Cueball: It's a way to train yourself to feel like any bad thing that happens is your fault.

@@ Line 8: / Line 8: @@
 | titletext = It's important to teach yourself to feel responsible for random events, because with great responsibility comes great power. That's what my wise Uncle Ben told me right before he died; he might still be alive today if only I'd said rabbit rabbit that year!
 }}
-{{:Main Page}}
 ==Explanation==
 {{incomplete|This page was created by people who will edit this wiki or else it is their fault. Don't remove this notice too soon.}}