30 Times People Tried To Share Their Knowledge Of History Online But Embarrassed Themselves Instead
We humans spend lots of time studying and analyzing the most essential moments of our history. After all, many of us strive to better understand our past and the world we live in. But knowledge also includes failure. While some people keep their factual mishaps low-key, others loudly declare their silly (and usually false!) opinions, making people smack their foreheads in disbelief.
Whether it's thinking that the Berlin Wall worked or that learning about WWII is bad for your mental health, some people clearly had a hard time with history, and it shows. Enter the subreddit r/FacePalm, self-described as "a gallery of inexplicable stupidity". The moderators ask the members to share screenshots of human idiocy, all for your amusement.
Bored Panda has selected the best examples of people making a complete fool of themselves and rightfully getting shamed for it online. Continue scrolling and upvote the ones you enjoyed most! And if you’re in the mood for some more stupidity of individuals both online and in real life, check out our previous posts here and here.
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Burnnnnnnnnnnnn
Dear Athiests:
Won't Somebody Please Think Of The
Since its creation in 2009, the Facepalm subreddit has been steadily growing and becoming a true powerhouse of more than 6.1 million members ready to document people’s stupidity from forums, social media sites, or just real life. It comes as a great source of entertainment, and a dedicated moderator team stands right at the center of it.
One person who looks after this online group told Bored Panda in a previous interview that they moderate it "according to Reddit's content policy and that means that most of the comment moderation we do is to remove bigotry and racism," they said. "The subreddit's community is fine, for the most part. A lot of people come here to have a laugh at whatever silly thing is being posted and that's ok."
Uhh Moment.
The Deadly Argument For Going Natural
“If Masks Were Necessary We Would Have Evolved One By Now” Lmao
When it comes to the topics that are well-liked by the community, the moderator said they can change quite fast. "[What's popular] really depends on what is on people's minds at the time. Currently, a popular topic is the insane lengths people go through to deny the facts about Covid."
You see, there’s truly no end to human stupidity. Some people will always be ignorant and believe they can become experts in politics, science, and whatnot overnight and blare their ideas online. Well, thanks to the members of this community who hunt down ridiculous posts, they do everyone a public service by shaming them online.
Yeah I Think Native Americans Know More About The Land If They Lived Longer In It(Forgot To Add A Flair)
Antivax Logic
Ironic Idiots
And the country that defeated it started by european colonization
There’s a myriad of scientific evidence that proves humans are poor judges of their quality of performance and abilities. Well, people believe they are smarter and more capable than they really are and often claim to know a lot when, in fact, they have very little knowledge about the subject.
A 1999 study in which David Dunning and Justin Kruger, psychology professors from Cornell University, showed how people tend to hold overly favorable views of their abilities. The researchers asked participants to do four tests to assess their humor, grammar, logic, and then evaluate how well or poorly they thought they did.
The results revealed that most participants overestimated their performance, but the ones that scored in the bottom quarter were much more likely to overvalue themselves. "Not only do these people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it," the researchers wrote.
Wait Hold Up A Sec
Ouch. It must sting when someone who you think is on your side tells you that you're an idiot.
Failed The History Class
Know Your Place Trash
"The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club," David Dunning told Vox. "People miss that." Our brains tend to hide our blind spots from us. That’s why we often feel more confident about our skills, knowledge, and abilities than we should. And often, we’re completely unaware of our overconfidence.
Facebook Making Memes Unintentionally
Maybe Rethink That Again...peter
“A Bioweapon Against God”
"The work is about [how] when people don’t get it, they don’t realize they don’t get it," the professor explained that this is a phenomenon that visits all of us sooner or later. "Some of us are a little more flamboyant about it. Some of us aren’t. But not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition. The problem with it is we see it in other people, and we don’t see it in ourselves," he said.
Modern Problems Require Modern Solutions.
On Dinosaurs
Redefining History
To become a bit more skeptical, modest, and aware of our cognitive blind spots, David Dunning recommends you to ask yourself where you could be wrong if the decision is an important one. "Think that through — it matters. Think about what you don’t know. That is, check your assumptions."
"On a more general level, a lot of the issues or problems we get into, we get into because we’re doing it all by ourselves. We’re relying on ourselves. We’re making decisions as our own island, if you will. And if we consult, chat, schmooze with other people, often we learn things or get different perspectives that can be quite helpful," he explained.
Hmmmm
Happy Birthday
You're Standing Right In Front Of The Best Example In The Whole World That Proves That Walls Don't Work.
Not only did it eventually come down and has been considered a cruel historical mistake since they built it, it was only part of what they called the "Todesstreifen", path of death. People were shot at and killed long before they could've climbed the wall. At least 140 have been killed in Berlin alone. It's a symbol of shame not an accomplishment.
Numbrs... I Don't Know What I Say...
She Forgot A Very Important Bit Of Information
Big Brain Time
Picasso Was Alive When Snoop Dogg Was Born.
Back when I was in high-school this was the ultimate 'omg that blew my mind' moment for a lot of people. The only reason I knew about it before then was my mom's ex was into art and she adored Picasso and Dali. Dali died in '89 I think.
Someone Skipped 5th Grade History
1917
Absolute Genius
It is normal for students in Slovakia to visit Auschwitz around the age of 16 to see the brutal history of WWII with their own eyes. It's haunting. 17 years passed and I still remember the rings, shoes, hair, luggage, but most of all the eyes in the photos.
Guess what else is bad for your mental health? Actual war. We should never forget! Also, my cousin is also 22 and our grandparents fought in WWII. It was NOT that long ago!
Uh... my cousin is also around that age and our grandparents were *children* during WWII. For most young adults, it would be the great-grandparents who fought in the war. Which isn't that long ago, either, but long-enough to not have anyone in the living part of family who has any detailed memories of the war.
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Indeed. In spain we dont learn about ww1-2 and our civil war/dictature until we are 16yo. By then many are already convinced fascists that believe the idiocies of the extreme right wing. Kids need to learn about those things when they start middle school, in a age appropriate manner.
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It is bad for anyone's mental health to whitewash the history of what had happened and the death toll it wrought on the World.
Its bad to even acknowledge a damn kid on Instagram!
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I wonder what learning about climate change would do? Better just to ignore it and experience it I guess.
Had the daughter of a friend (mid 20's) ask if the Holocaust really happened.
Hope he isnt planning on visiting Ukraine. The mental health of those poor people...
People who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it.
It's bad for your mental health if you learn about it and then continue to live in a country that pretends it never happened. Being gaslighted by your whole country is a tad damaging.
In Germany they purposely kept the concentration camps and every major city has a Documentation Centre Museum specifically to teach everyone about WWII.
Going to guess this kid came from the suburbs. They're generally overly protected and therefore weaker than their rural and city counterparts who see far more life and death in their daily lives.
You on,y need read the first word in that headline before giving up ...
Yeah that is why several history textbooks only have a paragraph or 2 about the holocaust.
It’ll be bad for your long term existence if you don’t learn from the crimes and terror of the past.
We need to learn this stuff to avoid making the same mistakes again. Putin clearly skipped this term.
You don't like learning that history has dark moments, fine, don't like it. But you need to learn if, learn those mistakes so they aren't repeated. Those dark moments happened, not learning them doesn't make it invisible. Learn from mistakes, learn to take responsibility, make reparations. Don't let it break you.
Too sensitive these days. You need to look at the ugliness of history if you want to avoid seeing it in your lifetime.
I liked learning about WWII as a kid though and I came out fine. To be fair, I already had bad mental health so I'm not sure if that counts.
We went to the Holocaust museum when we visited DC in middle school. Definitely not the sort of thing you forget, but in a positive way. More sobering than frightening.
The Image They Don’t Want You To See
This Is Why The World Has Been Doomed…
Yeah the white blond-haired Mary of Israel. Very accurate portrait, though. *Facepalm*
Note: this post originally had 39 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
I love how currently under your post is one of those spam post. It's just proving your point.
Load More Replies... This stuff reminds me of a person who recently claimed that dinosaur fossils exist because Earth was created by God around 6000 years ago from *pieces of other earths that did have dinosaurs milions of years ago*. How they can function remains a medical mystery. That's too much "WTF" to be survived.
Look TBH jellyfish don't have brains and they survive.
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This is what happens when education becomes politicized, turned into some propaganda tool and used as a commodity for profit.
You know, while fun, the fake ones are just annoying, especially if people think some of these are real
Learning is really mentally straining. I know. Teachers are so abusive for making you think serious thoughts.
Ugh, more stirring up dumb people into fighting online and possibly carrying the behavior into real life with real life consequences. Can we not ?
The ignorance of people about history - not just of their own country, but of history *in general* - is pretty much the sole reason I can't watch TV quiz shows any more. I just wind up shouting abuse at my TV and throwing things at it.
I love how currently under your post is one of those spam post. It's just proving your point.
Load More Replies... This stuff reminds me of a person who recently claimed that dinosaur fossils exist because Earth was created by God around 6000 years ago from *pieces of other earths that did have dinosaurs milions of years ago*. How they can function remains a medical mystery. That's too much "WTF" to be survived.
Look TBH jellyfish don't have brains and they survive.
Load More Replies... This is what happens when education becomes politicized, turned into some propaganda tool and used as a commodity for profit.
You know, while fun, the fake ones are just annoying, especially if people think some of these are real
Learning is really mentally straining. I know. Teachers are so abusive for making you think serious thoughts.
Ugh, more stirring up dumb people into fighting online and possibly carrying the behavior into real life with real life consequences. Can we not ?
The ignorance of people about history - not just of their own country, but of history *in general* - is pretty much the sole reason I can't watch TV quiz shows any more. I just wind up shouting abuse at my TV and throwing things at it.
