From Santa (sorry…) to Bigfoot, there are hoaxes, lies, and old stories that don’t seem to die off, despite most people not believing them. Maybe they are comforting, interesting or so ingrained that a small portion of the population still clings on to these beliefs.
Someone asked, “What is the biggest hoax that people still believe?” and people shared all the delusions they had encountered. So get ready to possibly have your worldview shattered, make sure you are comfortable as you read through and upvote your favorite examples. Comment your thoughts and arguments below.
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All that detox health science bs. Your body already has a detox system. It's called your liver.
The privatized American “healthcare” system.
It takes billions of American taxpayer money to “operate” while *also* charging Americans billions on insurance premiums and fees.
Americans should either pay taxes that cover universal healthcare *or* pay insurance premiums and/or fees, NOT BOTH.
Lol. How do you make 50% of Americans lose their minds? Prefix any word with 'social'.
The Wakefield Paper. A deliberate hoax commissioned by a crooked law firm seeing to profit from legal judgments based upon the entirely falsified “results” of the “study”. This single act of entirely knowing and intentional fraud precipitated the greatest public health catastrophe of the antibiotic era: the modern antivaxx movement.
Personally, I love anti-vaxxers because they remind me that no matter how bad my day gets I’ll never be that selfish, stupid, or misinformed.
I personally would too if anti-vaxxers didn't come with child abuse.
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those people are also the people to inject themselves with bleach cause of trump :/
So damn offensive to our autistic community too. (There's currently a group of lawyers on the grift trying to claim that paracetamol/acetaminophen/Tylenol use in pregnancy has caused children to be autistic.)
My brother is a research scientist and he's on the spectrum. He claims that many of his colleagues are too. Therefore, he says (jokingly) that rather than vaccines causing autism, autism causes vaccines.
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Just got my fifth COVID booster today. Gonna be sick as hell tomorrow. It happens every time but at least I'm safe from the real disease.
He interviewed a small selection of mothers of children (only boys?) who had been diagnosed with autism about 2 years old. The interviews were done a couple of years after the diagnoses, and he asked leading questions about how long after the MMR vaccination the first symptoms had been observed etc. The vast majority of the children had been vaccinated at 18 months, and child autism is normally not diagnosed until that age or later. The children were already autistic, bit not yet diagnosed. And at least one of the children were unvaccinated but still autistic
I used to (24 years ago) work for a family whose child was included in the study. Mum was a pharmacist and dad a surgeon. They were both completely convinced by Wakefield at the time. I'm not sure if their views have changed since all the real results came out.
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On a big pile of money just like all successful grifters.
Load More Replies... Wakefield is scum that frightened so many people in the UK (me included) for his own monetary gains, costing people their lives. Unfortunately so many politicians still work in this same exact way.
At least they a gave warning to stay away from them (both for not being vaccinated, and for being crazy).
Choice: millions of people have died from this new virus. I may be next. Versus, millions have taken this new vaccine with no deaths from the vaccine. He chooses to chance it and dance with death.
child of antivax parents here, less than 6 months until i can finally get my first flu shot! (and others, of course)
"Struck off " in the U.K.....thought we'd seen the end of it, but no.
I have told this 'story' before. I used to vaccinate ambulance staff (UK) There was a local measles outbreak, and as some older people had never been jabbed, they were offered MMR - free etc. One 'lady' who was an EMT, declined saying that she didn't want to get autism at her age (50's).... Unbelievable.
Law firm? Not heard that one. Wakefield had shares in a company selling separate measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines, so his paper targeted the combined MMR to drive sales to the separate jabs and line his pocket with moolah. At least, the last that I looked it up.
The original paper linking autism to vaccination was funded by a firm of lawyers who wanted to make a killing using that paper as evidence to sue the vaccine producers for damages
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The Wakefield Paper has been debunked at least half a dozen times but people still treat it as Gospel. I hope "Doctor" Wakefield thinks that $670,000 was worth his licence. As for the anti-vaxxers, I'd bet they'll change their tune when polio or diphtheria makes a comeback.
And let's not forget the blond bimbo who insisted her son's Autism was caused by vaccines. I mean, shouldn't we All get our medical research & scientific information from former Playboy Bunnies? (BTW - the syndrome her son suffers from is NOT Autism).
I had a friend who didn't get vaccinated. He got polio. It was the 1950's. Vaccines are tested and work.
My mom is now activax thankfully we are all grown and got ours. I don't get it I am vaccinated, my kids are vaccinated. She doesn't even know anyone who has had a problem with vaccinations. Like I said I myself and siblings are all good. I guess chalk it up to old age.
"Be loyal to your company and they'll reward you"
Bull f*****g s**t... Only thing they'll do is exploit you more.
That wealth trickles down
Yup. Let's try 'trickle-up' economics. Poor people spend their money. Wealthy people hoard it.
That cutting taxes for the rich is good for workers.
Pfffft.
Cutting taxes on the rich gives them cash to buy out their competition, merge the companies, and then lay workers off. We've only seen that happen a couple of thousand times.
“You can lose 25 pounds in three weeks and never feel hungry while eating all the delicious foods you want. Just call this 800 number…”
Homeopathy
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Germany, the birthplace of this movement, still allows people to study ‘MD Homeopathy’ despite the EU largely being opposed to it. In India one can get certified as a “Bachelor of Homeopathic Medicine and Surgery”. Most countries, while not recognising homeopathy doctors as legitimate, still allow sale of their “remedies” because they don’t see the harm in what are essentially sugar tablets and diluted alcohol.
I've met more than one person who turned down a raise because they thought they'd end up making less money because of taxes.
Nahhhh, son. Nah.
that blood is blue when inside your body. I remember getting into it with a gym teacher he insisted “blood is blue inside your body but turns red when it’s exposed to the oxygen in the air like when you get a cut” but bloods whole purpose is to carry oxygen INSIDE the body, therefore it’s always red, and not turned red because the oxygen in the air.
apparently i’m still heated about that lmao
Healing Crystals.
"Oh, if I put this inert rock next to my wrist, it'll help with my arthritis?"
Alkaline water is pseudoscience, any chemist or doctor will confirm this
Humans only use 10% of their brain (well lately I guess some do)
Im a police officer, and Ive had people tell me that ALL police officers MUST by law say they are cops if/when they are asked, including cops that are undercover. I tried to explain this would defeat the purpose of being undercover because the criminals would just simply ask "Are you a cop?" to everyone they were committing crimes with and invest is over. There is no such law but i can never win the argument.
The hysteria over GMO food. It is demonstrably fine. We have been genetically modifying food in an uncontrolled way since before the written word. The idea that it's *more* haphazard and dangerous when done with precision by scientists with advanced technology is completely absurd.
Also, trees and plants can't run away from predators, they have to protect themselves with chemistry. Pesticides are naturally occuring and omnipresent. In fact, food we consider inedible is mostly that due to the presence of said pesticides, compounds in them which make them unpalatable or dangerous for us to eat.
People are mostly freaked out about TRANSGENIC food that has other genes from other species inserted. First the majority of GMO foods are simply bred that way. Gene insertion has also been rigorously tested by FDA and USDA. BTW, my degree is in FOOD SCIENCE. These modified foods allow us to grow hardier crops that need less pesticide and fungicide and keep people from STARVING TO DEATH.
One big lie that some people still believe is that cracking your knuckles causes arthritis. It's been debunked, but it's amazing how many still believe it!
its just air that has been built up is all,it dosnt harm you or anything
The food pyramid.
I think the amount of people that continue to fall for hustle culture and the snake oil salesmen push it. There is huge emphasis in modern society on not only being rich but being rich young by the simplest/fast means necessary. Its honestly depressing how many people continue to purchase master classes/work shops that all filled with surface level near useless information.
Chiropractic adjustments, getting your vertabrae popped and ground on a frequent basis is good for you.
Drinking 8 glasses of water a day. Gluten being bad for you if you don’t have celiacs.
The problem is the lack of education on food in general and not knowing about food safety in combination with companies cutting corners left and right with cheap mass production. Humans can't properly digest raw flour. If you try it, you'll get horrible stomach pains. From badly cooked yeast you'll get bloated and gassy. But companies nowaday bake cheap bread on roll through ovens. The flour and yeast doesn't cook completely through. So if you have problems after eating wheat bread, try toasting the bread before eating. If that helps, you have neither celiac disease nor gluten intolerance. Either change the brand of bread you buy or keep toasting it if you can't afford different bread. Now, I'm sure now some people will whine: BuT iF I EaT GlUtEn FrEe I dOn'T hAvE pRoBleMs... Yes, of course, that's because most gluten free alternatives either don't have wheat or the gluten is removed and you only eat the starch which means that the wheat was processed and often has no yeast.
Don’t go swimming after eating
Carrots improve your eyesight. This was English propaganda during WW2. They didn't want Germany to know that they had radar which spotted their bombers. It was those sharp eyes of Brit's pilots.
Cheerio mate, fancy a spot of carrots so we can spot them German jets? I’ll go right ahead and fetch them old chap.
That going to sleep with or going out with wet hair causes a cold.
I used to walk to school with wet hair in the winter. Which would freeze. I would be brushing ice out of my hair for a half hour. Never got sick.
Milk for strong bones.
Dairy industry advertising campaign that isn't supported by evidence and in fact we have a good amount of evidence to the contrary.
Recycling is saving the environment
I've never heard anyone say "recycling is saving the environment". Recycling makes sense, reduces some raw material requirements, and is beneficial to the environment, though "saving", nope.
Hey, BP: Can we stop with the 'popular hoaxes' threads until you hear of some new ones? Because 1. these are tired, and 2. it makes you look very lazy.
Fantastic list! I can't wait to read it again in a week and then again the week after that.
One that's not being said: you won't grow 3 inches in a month, and i'm not talking about height.
These are not all hoaxes - check facts people. And yes, I'm aware I'm gonna get downvoted
I upvoted you. Some of the comments were very confusing, people contradicting each other until you don't know what to believe. Back where I started on a lot of issues.
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With the entire internet at their disposal, BP reaches into the recycle bin once again.
I have one: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. That phrase is not necessarily true, since it was made to sell Grape-Nuts of all things!
College education. A person that learns a skilled trade can earn $100,000/year or more and not have a $200,000 debt to pay.
Ladies, Gentlemen and Gentlethem, we got a transphobe... Again.
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Hey, BP: Can we stop with the 'popular hoaxes' threads until you hear of some new ones? Because 1. these are tired, and 2. it makes you look very lazy.
Fantastic list! I can't wait to read it again in a week and then again the week after that.
One that's not being said: you won't grow 3 inches in a month, and i'm not talking about height.
These are not all hoaxes - check facts people. And yes, I'm aware I'm gonna get downvoted
I upvoted you. Some of the comments were very confusing, people contradicting each other until you don't know what to believe. Back where I started on a lot of issues.
Load More Replies... With the entire internet at their disposal, BP reaches into the recycle bin once again.
I have one: Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. That phrase is not necessarily true, since it was made to sell Grape-Nuts of all things!
College education. A person that learns a skilled trade can earn $100,000/year or more and not have a $200,000 debt to pay.
Ladies, Gentlemen and Gentlethem, we got a transphobe... Again.
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