We humans are a weird bunch. Some of us are shooting a spacecraft at an asteroid to demonstrate that it's a viable technique to protect the planet but others still insist that swallowed gum will stay in our stomachs for 7 years.
Interested in hearing the most prevalent misconceptions, Reddit user FM596 made a post on the platform, asking everyone to share myths that are passed from generation to generation, and that people still believe in. Turns out, there's no shortage of those! Continue scrolling and check out some of the most-upvoted entries.
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That certain animal 'parts' have healing/magical properties. Like tiger whiskers protect the wearer or rhino horn cures impotence and hangovers.
We managed to get in touch with FM596 and they agreed to tell us more about what inspired their post. "One of the reasons I decided to ask this question was to see how many people will mention the thousand-years-old-myth of supposedly living in a democracy (in any country)," they told Bored Panda.
"Democracy was real and has existed only once. After it was violently destroyed, leaders used the word democracy to mislead us into thinking that what we have is the best we can get."
"Out of the 12,000 comments, only 12 people mentioned that myth, just 1 out of 12,000, or 0.008%. That says a lot about the level of political edification we get from the state."
Boys playing with dolls (or other traditional feminine toys) will turn them gay. Or that anything will turn people gay or lesbian.
Trickle down economics.
If rich people were putting their money back into the economy, there wouldn't be any billionaires.
However, after going through the replies, FM596 thinks not all of them are valid. "First, not everything posted as a myth is, indeed, a myth. Many [of the entries] are half-truths, others are imprecisely expressed or misunderstood, and others are definitely non-myths."
The Redditor believes that, "we are ignorant on many critical subjects, because: "a) we get a really bad education from the state, and b) we are being bombarded daily with misleading information that aims to serve the best interests of the powerful few -not the people, and that's a fact, not a myth, that's the world we live in."
That being out in cold weather will make you catch a Cold. The cold is a virus you catch from others and nothing to do with the outside temperature.
There is basis of truth in this one. People stay inside more during cold weather. Spending more time with other people in an enclosed space makes you more likely to be exposed to any viruses that might be around. Also, studies have found that airborne viruses are carried farther by the more denser cold air. Therefore, there is a greater chance of airborne viruses touching a person rather than ending up on the ground.
That you have to wait 24 hours before filing a missing person report.
Ironically, as much as we like to think that we value truth, we have also designed the world in a way that makes it really hard for it to travel between us.
There's a well-known MIT study from 2018 that analyzed the spread of news stories on Twitter. Using data drawn from 3 million platform users from 2006 to 2017, the researchers, led by Soroush Vosoughi, a computer scientist who is now at Dartmouth, found that fact-checked news stories moved differently through social networks depending on whether they were true or false.
"Falsehood diffused significantly farther, faster, deeper, and more broadly than the truth," they wrote in their paper.
That the hymen is a freshness seal like a snapple cap, has any bearing on virginity, and your first time should hurt and cause bleeding
Religion, easily.
I get that people believe in religion but they have zero proof that any of it is true.
That GMOs are bad. Without GMOs, we wouldn't have a lot of the food we have today.
We've been eating GMOs for 1000s of years. That's what selective breeding does. Some of the foods we eat would be poisonous in their original forms
GMO and selective breeding are two different things entirely. I can cross two types of wheat in nature in my field/green house (selective breeding) but I can not splice in different properties I want from animal or plant speices by genome using biotechnology (GMO). To say GMO was been around for more than 1000 years is ludicrous.
Load More Replies...I believe, that GMOs are mostly an US thing and the rest of the world still lives very good without them. And there is a huge difference between artifical manipulation and breeding.In Germany, we're afraid of GMOs and we don't want them.
The difference between artificial manipulation and breeding is that with artificial manipulation you know exactly what you're getting. Besides, the alternative to GMO isn't "breeding", it's other, long-accepted forms of genetic tampering like mutation breeding. That's where they use chemicals or radiation to cause lots of random, *unknown* changes in the DNA, and then select the ones that appear to have desirable traits. That's not marketed as "GMO", and it's been happening on a wide scale since the 1930s. You probably eat food resulting from that process in Europe every day. I don't understand why that sloppy genetic tampering doesn't scare you but the precise introduction of known traits does.
Load More Replies...As always in this kind of debate, the problem is not the technique in itself but the way it is used, and on top of it all, the final purpose of said use. Of course GMOs are the advanced, more efficient version of breeding techniques that have existed for ages. But you have to be very naive if you think that GMOs nowadays are just used to make better food for everyone. They are used to cope with the soil depletion that has been caused by agrochemical techniques promoted by the same industry which is now lobbying to impose its GMOs everywhere as the exclusive solution to food production issues it is largely responsible for. In other words, "Farmer, you want to produce some food on that soil your grandpa poisoned with my pesticide ? Here is my GMO, the only thing that can live on that soil now. You don't have any other choice, and don't you try to accomodate some free hardy seeds here or I'll sue you". Basically, this industry is intending to patent any single lifeform on this planet.
Corn. Corn as we eat it, and use it, today is vastly different than what it was 1000s of years ago. Call it selective breeding or GMO, but it was created by humans to become what it is. Mostly by Native Americans, in a very "natural" way.
Yes, that's entirely true. That is selective breeding though. I'm not entirely sure why people are so bothered by it being different to GMOs and argue against it. Both have their place, I expect. GMOs are when scientists go in and alter DNA in a manner that would be impossible via nature - using DNA from completely unrelated sources for instance (like bacteria). Selective breeding may alter the genetics of an organism but it is done in a way that is possible by using related organisms (grafting cuttings is one such example - manipulates nature but by pretty natural means) and, therefore, not actually what is meant by Genetically Modified. Maybe they'd prefer the term genetically engineered? Either way it's nonsensical to blur the different practices. You might end up with a genetically altered organism but by different means. GMO products are banned in some countries, not the selectively bred ones. So they clearly see a difference.
Load More Replies...This is a divisive topic, but which ever side you are on: Please remember that downvotes can get people banned. If the person is respectful in stating something you don't agree with, respond, but please don't downvote. Save downvotes for scammers and trolls, who are the ones we want banned.
This might stop some, but you can guarantee pointing it out will probably encourage others. Just be aware that some people are deliberately bloody-minded and there are those who just delight in downvoting.
Load More Replies...GMOs ARE genetically engineered - if that's the difference you mean to point out. The foods everyone seems to be pro are the selectively bred ones. They're NOT GMO. GMO are artificially, not naturally occurring, alterations to DNA. Be for or against but we should understand the two.
Load More Replies...Isn't it the case that GMOs increase crop yields and have saved millions of people from hunger and starvation globally? That's pretty good.
I have read that most crops that are GMO go into livestock feed and also processed food. bearing in mind that, and I quote from sources easily accessible "Livestock farming is a disaster for the environment. Worldwide it is responsible for half of the greenhouse gas emissions and it is the biggest cause of biodiversity loss, habitat destruction and water pollution. A transition to a plant-based diet would dramatically decrease these problems". PLUS, GMOs are banned in quite a few countries. Does that mean 'saved millions of people from hunger and starvation globally'? So far, probably not. Again, I read that it may in future, not that it currently has. If it happens, that would be good.
Load More Replies...You also think that vaccines cause autism so clearly you're not the sharpest knife in the drawer.
Load More Replies...I wouldn't go that far as, to be honest, I don't know. However, people are confusing their terminology. They are muddling selective breeding with GMO. GMO does mean artificially altering the genetic material and selective breeding does not.
Load More Replies...Yes, they are. They've been altered by scientists artificially. Survival of the fittest might well apply to the many foods that have been selectively bred to improve them over the centuries, but they're not the same thing. You can be pro or anti but we should understand the fundamental difference.
Load More Replies...This one is a personal Peeve of mine. every time a see a NON GMO project logo on a product, my face turns red.
That product is probably selectively bred which is what most people seem to think GMOs are. This idea that '1000s of years of selective breeding' is the same as GMO is wholly inaccurate. I'm not saying I'm for or against but people should be allowed to choose if they don't want to eat a genetically modified product if they don't wish to - remember it isn't the same as selective breeding which has improved food for centuries.
Load More Replies...That we use 10% of our brain. Power or capacity, this was actually proven to be b******t.
That shaving makes hair grow back thicker and longer.
When you shave, the hair is cut in two. The lower part of the hair is now the top, where it used.tot be the middle of a hair. The original top of the hair had to move up to skin level and further on and was damaged doing so. And damaged means thinner. So the cut side is al the way up and as thick as possible. And this is what you experience when it grows further on. Massive and thick hair.
I got pregnant in 2002 and people legit told me I shouldn't raise my arms over my head because the cord would wrap around the baby's neck. Not just great grandmas telling me this either. People at my restaurant job fussed at me all the time for getting things off high shelves. Insane.
This was hilarious! Can those people please draw a pic on how they think your arms and the cord ia connected?
That your generation is always the last good generation.
Swallowed gum will stay in your stomach for 7 years. Never seen a single wad of gum in the hundreds of thousands of stomachs I’ve looked into.
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.
That your hair and fingernails still grow after you die. It's mainly an optical illusion. Your skin decays and shrinks, causing hair and fingernails to look like they've grown.
That birds will abandon their babies if they have a human scent on them.
That cats kill babies.
I’ve run into this so many times since having kids. And it’s not the older grandmas making these statements. I’ve had 20 year olds tell me that you can’t have cats if you plan to have babies because “they’ll steal their breath” or some other variation. No amount of reasoning or rationale will dissuade them of this belief
I've always hears that this come from cats that end up sleeping on a baby and the baby can't breath. I have no idea if this is true or not.
Circumcision is medically beneficial enough to be *routinely* done to every male infant born, rather than just like.. you know… waiting to see if it’s actually necessary.
Pit bulls can lock their jaws. If they bite you then you have to kill them because their jaws are locked.
No, I am not kidding. I’ve heard this BS from the elderly and from kids. They just keep repeating this nonsense.
Only if it is a hybrid created in a Chinese research lab and one of its parents was a snapping turtle.
90% of the myths surrounding pregnancy and childbirth.
If the baby’s heart rate is fast it’s a girl. If you crave sweet things it’s a girl, if you are carrying “high” it’s a girl.
They’re the only ones I can think of at the moment but there are so many other myths out there.
funnily enough I had a major sweet tooth in both my girl pregnancies and was craving savoury foods with my boy. Didn't know about that belief though...
Lightning never strikes the same place twice.
As Fleetwood Mac would say, “Lightning strikes maybe once, maybe twice.”
Someone can be tested to determine their virginity status. Hymens aren't barriers, they aren't supposed to be broken, and they heal when they do tear. No one, not even a doctor can look at someone and know they're a virgin or not.
Bulls become angry seeing the color red.
Bulls become angry when men in stupid Prince outfits taunt them while crowds cheer and then the poor bulls get speared. Absolutely disgusting.
That reading in dim lighting will cause you to lose your eyesight.
If you watch the TV too much or too close, you will go blind
One that's still not known well is the white people in the south and middle America that think they are part Cherokee. You're like 99.9% sure to be wrong. Your family is wrong. There wasn't a "Cherokee princess" or any of that. It's a folks tale basically. And your grandma was told the same as a kid, she told your mom, hour mom td you.
People get defensive about this because you have to accept that A) Your family accidentally mislead you on something your whole life, and B) you don't have some magic Cherokee princess Native American blood. You're just white.
This is what happened with Elizabeth Warren. She was told this tale and believed she was part Cherokee. I was also told this and believed it while growing up. Almost all of my friends were told the same about themselves too.
Just a folk tale passed down the generations
100% true. I heard the same c**p my whole life. Did the old 23&me test... ZERO native DNA. I'm literally more Neanderthal than Native American.
Carrots improve vision. Has to be on the list for top propaganda campaigns. Started in WWII to cover for the use of radar. Still to this day more people I meet believe it than don't.
Carrots contain beta-carotene which is converted to vitamin A in the body, which in turn binds to a protein in the eye to make rhodopsin. Rhodopsin is a light-absorbing molecule necessary for low-light and colorvision. In turn, the absence of vitamin A can cause nightblindbess. So in a way, carrots can improve your eyesight.
Note: this post originally had 54 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
That removing a gray hair from your head will cause ten more to grow back.
Right? LOL because if it were true balding people would gladly pluck the grays to get two more.
Load More Replies...How do you add more? That spinach has an amazing amount of iron. Like all dark leafy greens it has some, but not a lot. Someone mad an error with a decimal point many years ago and some textbooks picked it up and for years it was taught.
That removing a gray hair from your head will cause ten more to grow back.
Right? LOL because if it were true balding people would gladly pluck the grays to get two more.
Load More Replies...How do you add more? That spinach has an amazing amount of iron. Like all dark leafy greens it has some, but not a lot. Someone mad an error with a decimal point many years ago and some textbooks picked it up and for years it was taught.