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30 Times Authority Figures Misled The Public By Telling Them The Most Destructive Lies In Human History
Article created by: Mantas Kačerauskas
We all lie. From little white lies to intricate manipulations, lies lurk around practically every corner of every single social interaction you have. TED estimates that we’re lied to between 10 to a whopping 200 times a day. We ourselves tell 1 or 2 lies every day, on average (even if we’d like to think of ourselves as humble and honest).
And while some lies are made with good intentions so as not to hurt someone’s feelings, others are done to actively harm and deceive others. For instance, some might cover up sensitive information that would harm a company’s profits because of how dangerous a product or material really is. Others use lies to further their political or corporate agendas by cherry-picking findings.
From people being told that smoking and lead in gasoline aren’t dangerous to sugar supposedly being ‘healthier’ than eating fats, the folks over on r/AskReddit called out all of the biggest, most destructive lies in human history.
The viral thread is a living testament to the fact that, though we should generally lean towards trusting scientists and experts, we should also learn how to distinguish between reliable and unreliable sources. Not to mention how important it is to double-check facts, think about the potential hidden motivations of any authority figure, and ask hard and uncomfortable questions. No authority figure should be taken at their word blindly. (The key word here is 'blindly.')
Bored Panda reached out to the author of the viral thread, Reddit user u/thoughtofeverything to have a chat about information reliability. What's more, we got in touch with Steven Wooding, a member of the Institute of Physics in the UK, a member of the Omni Calculator Project, and the creator of the Weird Units Converter. Read on for both interviews.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Climate change is YOUR fault. YOU need to change the way YOU do things. Not the corporate conglomerate that's pumping a billion tons a year
RELATED:
#3
Nestle — The Baby Killer Scandal. They deliberately lied to mothers in developing countries to sell their baby formula, telling them that their own milk was nutritionally insufficient and their babies would be unhealthy if they continued to breastfeed them. The result of this marketing campaign was approximately 66,000 infant mortalities.
Source: https://www.nber.org/papers/w24452
#6
Plastic is easily recyclable so long as the public does their duty to sort it and bring it to its designated waste area.
#7
Climate change isn't real
Vaccines cause Autism
Trickle down economics
Take your pick, the top is the end of the world as we know it, the second is keeping many diseases around and literally killing millions of people, and the last is what enables the wealthy to continue to exploit the rest of the world.
#8
Sugar isn’t the problem, it’s fats!
Let’s make everything “fat-free” & just triple the sugar content!
#15
“Everyone’s a winner” or “Everyone is special and gets a gold star” mentality. I understand the goal to build up kids, but it makes adult life and real loss so much tougher on them when they’ve always been told they should get everything they ever want and will always win. There’s barely any resilience built with this mentality. Might be explaining this poorly but it’s hard to word without sounding like I want to smash the happiness of children into the ground because I don’t think everyone is a winner and should get a gold star
#19
The 1964 Surgeon General’s report concluded that smoking cigarettes causes death and disease. However, in a 1971 television interview, the president of Philip Morris denied the health risks that pregnant women and their babies face, saying that “It’s true that babies born from women who smoke are smaller, but they are just as healthy as the babies born to women who do not smoke. Some women would prefer to have smaller babies.”
#20
“Radium paint isn’t poisonous.”
Thousands of watch-dial workers in the US used to apply radium brushes on their tongues to paint numbers on watch dials, and almost all of these workers were women. As these workers were dying due to radiation poising, the companies brought in fake doctors and convinced the victims and their families that they have venereal diseases like Syphilis. As this was mostly affecting women, most were scared to share it with their families for fear of retaliation and abandonment. The suffering endured by these women was extremely awful, their jaws fell off, their bones fractured, their hair was lost, and most lost eyesight until their eventual painful death.
These women were called “Radium Girls”. Eventually many fought back settled lawsuits and brought the entire Radium production industry down, unfortunately, many innocent women lost their lives before this evil industry was brought down.
Source: https://www.britannica.com/story/radium-girls-the-women-who-fought-for-their-lives-in-a-killer-workplace
#21
“Get a vape pen, it will stop you from wanting to smoke” ***does the complete opposite aggravating my addiction***
Meanwhile
***little kid sees it*** Little kid: “It smells like strawberries, I want a vape pen too”
Now you have little kids vaping so much their lung could be worse than mine…
#30
A specific historical example: In 1843, a man called Hong Xiuquan claimed to be the younger brother of Jesus. This led to him starting the Taiping Rebellion, which caused the deaths of between 20 million and 70 million people.
Then again, he probably believed it, so it might not count as a lie.
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