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Urban legends have an attractive quality about them, the stories that a friend of a friend heard at some point and chose to share with a community.

Much like the tales told around a campfire, a strong urban myth will pique your interest, send shivers down your spine or shock you.

Most importantly, it will make you want to tell the next human.

Republican politicians in America caught wind of an interesting rumour that spread on social media. It purported that schools all over the United States were installing litter boxes for students who identify as cats – yes, furry felines:

The rumour gained so much momentum that it made its way into a legislative hearing.

During proceedings, a pair of Republican state lawmakers felt that the lack of litter boxes for those who identified as cats would lead to some sort of catastrophe.

Many conservatives and their counterparts have also raised the issue and felt the same way about this sensitive situation. Yet, there has been no concrete proof that litter boxes were deployed to schools around the country.

Funnily enough, the potency of a good urban legend is the ability to travel far and wide until it reaches someone with cultural clout. In this instance, Joe Rogan had a conversation with a one-time presidential candidate Talsi Gabbard.

According to NBC News, a short clip of the conversation spread like wildfire on social media. Rogan did not name the school in the conversation nor did his publicist respond to a request for comment about the matter, though:

“This claim as well as many others are simply false and are causing unnecessary stress to students and staff,” Norbert Carpenter, the director of schools, said in the post.

What’s really fascinating is the fact that this urban myth transformed into an astounding game of broken telephone.

An ember of rumour managed to capture the attention of a nation, set the republican political arena alight and for a brief period, it shaped political discourse.

Suppose games take many different forms as we grow up, be it competitive board games, social ones or even political ones.

But who knew that Republicans would turn a game of broken telephone on its head quite like this?

[source:nbcnews]