40 Myths People Think Are True, Yet They Are in Reality Very, Very False, As Shared In This Online Thread
Comedian Ron White once famously called his show You Can't Fix Stupid. The statement is debatable, because in theory, education is supposed to do that, but it's a completely different story when it boils down to practice. And so there is always work to be done when pushing away the tide of ignorance.
But until then, Redditors embrace the reality by asking questions and sharing experiences. Specifically, this time around, someone on Reddit asked people to share the dumbest myths people today still believe, and the r/AskReddit community was quick to deliver.
Scroll down, enjoy the list, and why not upvote and comment some of your stories in the comment section below!
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Vaccines cause autism…..
I wish I could upvote this more than once! AUTISM IS A NEUROLOGICAL CONDITION DETERMINED BEFORE BIRTH, TYPICALLY CAUSED BY GENETIC FACTORS
Trickle down economics.
Trickle down is just a lie to justify big tax cuts for the rich to "pay back" big coproration donors. GOP loves that excuse and their brain dead voters believe each c**p they get told.
That there are dozens of hot singles in my area just dying to meet me.
There are dozens of hot singles (true) in my area (not as true) just dying (possibly) to meet me (flat out lie)
When I had cancer a few years back and was doing chemotherapy I had people who constantly questioned that I actually "had cancer" due to the fact that my hair didn't fall out until I was actually in remission (Had been off chemo for about 2-3 weeks when my hair started gradually thinning and falling out).
It's a complete myth that every single person's hair will have the same reaction to chemo. Some people lose hair right away, some don't. Everybody is different.
There was a letter on ask a manager of a woman who threw their padding at a colleague after a mastectomy when those nasty potstirrers claimed she couldn't have cancer because she didn't look sick enough. It's ridiculous how cruel some people can be if you don't fit in their expectations.
I still believe that if any of my limbs hang off the bed while sleeping that a monster will grab them. I also believe that the moment I remember this and pull them back on the bed is just in the nick of time before a monster grabs them.
You can't prove there isn't a monster under my bed.
This... is the only one that isn't a myth. C'mon, we all know deep down it's true.
It’s not true with me, Winkey and Blinkey don’t like to hurt me, they just like water
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If you have a night time playful cat - the terror is quite real 🙃 Right, Bouchie?
I am in charge of killing the monsters. If they are Shyla, who would feed me? Since under the bed monsters only come out at night, that's when I kill them.
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The monster is probably that spider that didn't crawl into your mouth.
If my bedside laying in when I go to get in bed I have to run and quickly jump up so nothing grabs my ankle. I'm 47 years old, lol!😂🤣
i saw a vid where at 3am a girl sits up in bed and the. gets stolen bye a monster from under the bed
And this feeling never goes away. It all started when I watched a horror film, "The Haunting of Hill House" from 1959. In the movie two women are sleeping in the same room, in separate twin beds. The one wakes up hearing noises & reaches over to the over bed to hold hands with her friend. It wasn't the friend's hand she was holding. Sixty years later & I still can't lay in a bed with my hand hanging over the edge.
FYI, the movie is The Haunting from 1963. Not trying to be a jerk… It’s just one of my favorite movies :)
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This is why men don't usually like to have a bed frame. Can be no monster under the bed if there is no under the bed.
I would know if there were a monster under my bed because I would hear him sneezing from all the dust.
My friendlies Grunge, The Light One, and Mona protect me from Charlotte, my sleep paralysis demon.
No, no! I have THREE bed monsters— my two cats and doggo who will scratch my feet if I dangle them over the edge of the bed!
Similar experience here, with just one doggo or some similar creature
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Stephen King is also in the "there's-a-monster-under-my-bed" team. So you see, you are not alone.
You can spend few hundreds or thousands of dollars to get help with that. Or pay ~20 bucks for a saw and cut away bed legs...
Guess what I deserve all the prizes that have ever existed because I find it comfy to sleep WITHOUT the covers and my body parts hanging OVER the bed ✨✨✨
when I was a kid I was afraid to get my hair cut for fear of the barbers being able to read minds.
There's a four legged monster under my bed that can't wait for a limb to drop so he can attack.
As a cat owner, I can tell you that monsters will absolutely attack your feet, even if they do not hang off the edge of the bed
In my house the "monster under the bed" is the cat. Loves to chomp and go!
The monsters under my bed are friendly, they're very sweet, and they know when I'm upset, they try to cheer me up.
That's why it's a good idea to have your bed up against two walls in a corner. Those sides are safe. Also, if you realize you're hanging over, verrry slowwwly pull the limb back to safety.
IDK why, but I feel like I have bonded with the monster under my bed. I might seem unrealistic and childish rn, but here goes nothing. When I need comforting, I stick ky hand out over the edge of the bed, and there is this strange warmth enveloping it. Then u randomly feel like I'm petting a dog for no reason. I still have no clue why..
Buy a divan bed, then there's no room under it unless the monster is really thin.
That is why you throw something really heavy like a bowlingball under the bed first to show the monster you're not playing around
Well, I could offer to stay under your bed for a night to see if any monsters materialize... but then you'd have a monster under your bed.
I have a witch in my closet. I think she ate the monster under my bed.
There is nothing there in the dark that isn't there in the light, You can't prove there IS a monster there unless I am beside you. :D
Had that nightmare so many times as a kid, I decided as an adult that it was a kind of racial memory - something like animals creeping into caves and grabbing kids before the days when we even had beds.
But it is perfectly okay to have one foot uncovered when you are too hot. BUT only one foot. Monsters know the rules. They will not grab the one foot, only when both are uncovered.
My bed has drawers under it. Monsters can't get out because they latch from the outside.
My 50yr old brother reckons the Hamburgler bit his hand when he was little after he dangled it beside the bed lol
Haha, my husband thinks I'm weird that I'll stick my feet out the bed onto the floor
I'm not afraid of the monster under the bed and usually have limbs hanging out, BUT since childhood (I'm 51) I HAVE to have the blanket around my neck to protect from vampires. I know, right? Doesn't matter.
I can prove it. My son frequently sends me photos of the black and white horror under my bed. Her name is Pushka.
Sure I can.... I can lay on floor and look for it while you hang your feet off the bed.
No doubt about it..there are gollywoggles under beds just waiting to snag a dangling arm or leg. I’m 66 years old and STILL have that fear.
It only leaves the closet and gets under the bed when mom leaves and the lights are out.
The only monsters under my bed are my cats. And they will viciously attack your feets. and handses. and any other limbs they decide to sink their little vampire fangs into.
I always tell myself that if a monster grabs my feet I'm gonna make them regret it. If bed monsters can be real, why can't I be a monster fighting bada** in this scenario? Go for the eyes! 🥷😅
Our family's winter clothes are kept in three suitcases below my bed. So I can confirm that there are no monsters under my bed.
A monster grabbed me, beat me, molested and whipped me. But we’re not getting married, we’re just good friends.
If you've never seen the monster, you cannot be 100% sure it doesn't exist.
I used to hang my junk out over the edge of the bed until we got a puppy
Easy solution. Get a platform bed with drawers underneath. If there's no space under your bed, there's nowhere for monsters to hide. Besides, everyone knows that monsters live in your closet. You should be worrying about that.
Fish only have a 5 second memory. My fish are fed automatically on a timer and they know dinner time better than my goddamn cat
Religion imo
Amen. Lots of hate, wars and discrimination because you aren't with the right group. Such BS. Treat everyone with kindness. If they can't reciprocate, move on.
Tear here to open.
The whole “Alpha/Beta male” thing
When that first started, some guy tried it on my wife at a pub and she told him I was an Omega male. He stood there having no idea what Omega meant so she said "He'll be the f*****g end of you". (Nobody clapped or bought us free drinks all night but he did walk away looking like a wet, beaten dog)
“Lightning never strikes the same place twice.”
Yes it does, that’s the entire reason for lightning rods on buildings.
The late Roy Sullivan, a Canadian farmer, held and still holds the world record for the most lightning strikes experienced during one’s lifetime: he got hit by lightning seven times over the course of his life.
That humans only use 10% of their brain. This is false, regardless of how those who proclaim this myth seemingly demonstrate that it is in fact true.
That you eat spiders in your sleep.
Spider will not knowingly walk into a preditors mouth.
They can sense both the heartbeat, heat and noise from humans. All things that would alert them not to go into our mouth.
The sound of my snoring ensures there are no spiders within 25 yards of our house.
Life is fair, and bad things only happen to people who deserve it.
“Do what you love and never work a day in your life.”
No one is paying me to play video games and eat pizza.
I used to be a games tester. Sounds a lot better than it was - my job was to check new updates still let old games work, so I just tested each game for an hour, week in week out. When you consider some of the nonsense that gets released (Barbie and Bratz are two games that stick with me), it stops looking quite as fun. Wasn't a bad job by any means, but it wasn't non-stop decent gaming. Christmas parties were awesome, though; cheers Sony!
That there are magic pills that make you lose weight and gain muscle without ever going to a gym. Or that there are snake oils that will take years off of your face and make you look young. There's a sucker born every minute.
There are dumber ones out there, but the one I, as an estate lawyer, deal with constantly is the idea that there needs to be a "reading" of the will, where the family all gather and the lawyer reads it aloud to them for the first time. We don't do that, we just mail everyone their own copy if they want it.
It's a really stubbornly persistent one because people continue to see scenes of it in movies and TV shows, where it's used for some big dramatic reveal. I've even had irate beneficiaries insist that the administration of the estate can't be "official" until there's a reading.
Way, *way* back, like 150 years ago or so, I believe we used to do something like that at times because you couldn't exactly presume literacy on the part of the beneficiaries, but now we feel it's a pretty safe bet that you can either read it or find someone who can.
I'd rather my inheritances be given out discreetly. I know too many people on my mom's side who are vindictive, scheming, entitled and will try to rob my beneficiaries of their rightfully given estates.
Corporations care or even exist for any reason other than to make money.
"Lie detectors" as a literal thing.
There's a reason they aren't admissible as evidence in court in most places.
Still blows my mind that people think the Earth is flat.
That Einstein failed his grade school math class. It was the subject of a Ripley’s Believe It or Not column in 1935 and Einstein himself refuted the article. In primary school he had been at the top of class and by 15 he had mastered differential and integral calculus.
In Germany at the time they used a 5-1 GPA system where 5 was the lowest and 1.0 was the highest, Einstein had a 1.05, putting him in the top 1/1000th percentile in Germany at the time. Journalists used to the British 0-4 or 0-5 where 4 or 5 is the highest (like what we use in the US, Canada, etc) saw a 1.05 and not realizing it was a different system, just assumed he failed, when he was near perfection
You have to wait 48 hours to report someone missing
This one is DANGEROUS- the odds of someone who’s been kidnapped surviving decrease exponentially after the first 16-24 hours, I believe
Anything about MSG. I battle with my health conscious wife about this often.
EDIT: Too much of anything is bad for you. I still don’t understand the demonization of MSG.
MSG= Make S**t Good (let's not forget there are naturally occurring glutamates in SO MANY FOODS)
At some point, a viral video allegedly proved that the “beg buttons” at crosswalks are just placebos.
Some of them are, but most of them really do add a cycle for pedestrians to get a walk signal. You should use them regardless
That magnetic jewelry / healing will cure just about anything. A dude named Mesmer the 1780 came up with the idea, and it have been debunked many times - yet it’s still a billion dollar industry. Fun fact - the word “mesmerized” is related to him.
Great for checking out the bodywork of the second-hand car you’re about to buy, though.
Halloween candy is commonly laced with [illegal substances] or razor blades.
It’s one of those things where it’s very rare, but HAS happened, so it’s worth checking to be sure. Although, I did get a rice krispy treat with “choose god” on it once.
Had a cab driver insisting that the reactor meltdown at Fukushima was a failed Chinese attack on the US. The plan was to superheat the rods so they'd burn into the ground, through the center of the Earth, and come out in America and irradiate it.
Amazing.
I could think of a million reasons why it would not work, but it sounds like the plot of a movie I would watch.
It is believed in Indian culture that keeping your unibrow means “good luck” I kept my unibrow for 20 years thinking it is my “good luck” until I got stage 5th of kidney failure and I did my eyebrows after that because who gives a f**k about luck anymore. Now my eyebrows look cute af.
I remember the myth that gum takes 7 YEARS to fully pass through your digestive system
Okay this is partially true. If the gum stayed in your system, it would take 7 years for it to be digested into the body. However, it just stays in it's gummy form and follows the rest of the waste out the back door.
That you can target fat loss in specific areas of the body by doing certain exercises (like doing sit-ups to lose belly fat)
It’d be nice, though. Or, if you gained weight, to choose where that weight goes.
"Oh, I dont want a raise/make more money, because then I'll lose more money to taxes and take home less!"
You only get taxed on the money thats made above your current bracket. Its literally impossible to make more money and take home less.
Unless you are on some form of benefits and the raise makes you cross the threshold of income. Making £100 per week, plus top up of £20 from government, pay £5 tax. Income £115. Then a raise of £10. Earn £110 but now wages too high for top up, pay £6 tax. Income £104 But that's just bad government.
My dad had this guy helping him out (think Big Box store DIY curb ready helper) who told him "If you sleep with your hair wet, you will bleed out of your mouth"... and he was 110% sure that was fact.
We were both just confused and bewildered at this statement.
What the hell had this guy witnessed?!
Had to explain to a grown a*s adult that blood isn’t blue inside the body and red once it hits oxygen because… blood already carries oxygen.
ETA: I didn’t expect this to take off, I first commented when the post was brand new and only had 30 comments. I understand that I came off as a snarky a*****e about it, but the dude and I were cool after 10 minutes of convincing him that what he was taught was a myth. No hurt feelings, buds.
Well, some of us DO have blue blood...if we are octopuses. (https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/octopuses-keep-surprising-us-here-are-eight-examples-how.html)
So many people think Narwhals are mythical.
A more serious one, that people who have been hurt or oppressed are morally better. My Mom thought that because she had been hurt by her Dad, whatever she did to the family was somehow justified. The Hutus were legitimately oppressed by the Tutsis (but to be fair, that comes back to Leopold, the patron satan of Africa). All people are fundamentally similar.
Astrology. It's just a fun nerdy thing but now it's almost religious beliefs
That you can write a comment 36 minutes after the post has been made and believe that it will gain any sort of traction
Being cold is what makes you sick
This again is a half truth. Being cold does not directly make you sick but it heightens the risk of getting sick. That's why cold countries have flu and cold mini-pandemics every year. Cold air makes our nasal tissue more vulnerable to diseases and the natural defenses against viruses and bacteria go down.
There are still people who believe that having [making love] in certain positions or eating certain foods can influence the sex of your unborn child or impact whether you have twins/multiples.
It does, if you don't have sex you can guarantee that you will not have a boy, girl, twin or triplets. i can speak from experience.
People think bats are blind. They aren’t
Note: this post originally had 43 images. It’s been shortened to the top 40 images based on user votes.
that gas prices have to do with the president. no, the president has no control over gas prices.
That's not entirely true. In the US we have massive government owned oil reserves specifically to help lessen spikes in gas prices. Obviously it can only do so much, but if it weren't for that we probably would have seen $10 gas last year. Also, control of the reserves are done by the executive branch if not the president specifically.
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Women’s bare breasts are bad. I checked and no one died from women’s bare breasts last year but many died from guns.
Mine is "The customer is always right." No Karen, you cannot butcher a saying to allow you to talk to the manager. It's "The customer is always right in matters of taste."
Mine is "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger". Many thousands of survivors of concentration camps and gulags are proof that this ain't necessarily so.
A girl I worked with years ago insisted that a birth control pill has 700 calories. Where she got this idea (way before the internet), I don't know. Probably small-town Iowa, where she grew up. Anyway, I was about 35yo at the time and had been on bcp since I was 20. I said, a pound of fat = 3500 calories more consumed than burned by the body. What do you think I'd look like now if I'd consumed an extra 3500 calories EVERY 5 DAYS for the last 15 years???? (I weighed about 130 at the time.) She still wasn't convinced her street knowledge wasn't true.
I know heaps and heaps of myths, commonly believed and not true. For example "infinity=infinity+1" is a myth. Etc. Etc.
since it misses the satanist marks, like "we owe nothing to you" or "it's all your fault", i would say this is a pretty honest article; except the "taxi driver" that tried to cover a lie with an opposite one, which is one of the most disgusting means of the new age propaganda.
Like some of the examples in the list, it's not as straightforward as being "true" or "false". It is true that (aside from any fluid retention issues) we gain weight by consuming more energy/ calories than we use, and lose weight by using more calories than we consume. It is also true that some medications can affect metabolism and/or appetite, so in combination with other factors can lead to an increase in some patients' body fat.
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That it's human nature to be s****y, yeah well maybe if we didn't justify it we wouldn't be as s****y
that gas prices have to do with the president. no, the president has no control over gas prices.
That's not entirely true. In the US we have massive government owned oil reserves specifically to help lessen spikes in gas prices. Obviously it can only do so much, but if it weren't for that we probably would have seen $10 gas last year. Also, control of the reserves are done by the executive branch if not the president specifically.
Load More Replies... Women’s bare breasts are bad. I checked and no one died from women’s bare breasts last year but many died from guns.
Mine is "The customer is always right." No Karen, you cannot butcher a saying to allow you to talk to the manager. It's "The customer is always right in matters of taste."
Mine is "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger". Many thousands of survivors of concentration camps and gulags are proof that this ain't necessarily so.
A girl I worked with years ago insisted that a birth control pill has 700 calories. Where she got this idea (way before the internet), I don't know. Probably small-town Iowa, where she grew up. Anyway, I was about 35yo at the time and had been on bcp since I was 20. I said, a pound of fat = 3500 calories more consumed than burned by the body. What do you think I'd look like now if I'd consumed an extra 3500 calories EVERY 5 DAYS for the last 15 years???? (I weighed about 130 at the time.) She still wasn't convinced her street knowledge wasn't true.
I know heaps and heaps of myths, commonly believed and not true. For example "infinity=infinity+1" is a myth. Etc. Etc.
since it misses the satanist marks, like "we owe nothing to you" or "it's all your fault", i would say this is a pretty honest article; except the "taxi driver" that tried to cover a lie with an opposite one, which is one of the most disgusting means of the new age propaganda.
Like some of the examples in the list, it's not as straightforward as being "true" or "false". It is true that (aside from any fluid retention issues) we gain weight by consuming more energy/ calories than we use, and lose weight by using more calories than we consume. It is also true that some medications can affect metabolism and/or appetite, so in combination with other factors can lead to an increase in some patients' body fat.
Load More Replies... That it's human nature to be s****y, yeah well maybe if we didn't justify it we wouldn't be as s****y
