The scientific community is constantly trying to expose its own mistakes — after all, what is a statement worth if it's never been the subject of scrutiny? However, no matter how hard it tries, some people just don't listen.
Recently, Redditor Jimbo_Jigs asked other platform users to share some myths and misconceptions that many still believe to be true, and they got what they asked for. Not just the classic "vaccines cause autism." Continue scrolling and check out the replies.
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That vaccines cause autism.
Personal carbon footprint or any green initiative which focuses on individual action. BP invented the entire concept during a marketing push to hide the fact that like ~72 companies produce 90% of pollution.
The earth being flat. We have literally done studies, taken pictures, boiled all of that down to the level that a kindergartener can understand it, and some idiots still don't get it.
The proof that earth is a globe is that if it were flat, cats would have pushed everything over the edge already.
To answer the question, vaccines being anything but safe and effective is a hoax that some people believe.
Vaccines are *by far* the medical intervention best-supported by evidence. Tens of billions of vaccines given to billions of people over the course of multiple centuries have proven them to be safe and effective. If you trust *any* part of medicine, you should trust vaccines.
I would hazard a guess that vaccines have saved more lives than every other medical intervention combined.
Vaccines are nothing but literally TRAINING for an individual's own immune system! Being anti-vaxx is like saying you don't believe in Training!
Detox.
B******t, b******t, b******t.
What do you think your liver and kidneys are doing all day? If they weren’t working you would be on a form of detox called dialysis.
edit: To clarify since it might not be obvious, I’m referring to pseudoscience detox teas and pills. Not medically justified detoxification like opioids, alcohol, acetaminophen, etc…
The case of the woman who sued mcdonalds because she spilled hot coffee on herself. The hoax was that it was a frivolous lawsuit, that she was driving while drinking and she spilled the coffee on herself and just didn't like it and sued mcdonalds and won a lot of money. But the reality was that she wasn't driving, the coffee was extremely hot, people had already complained it was too hot, I don't remember how she spilled the coffee, but anyway after spilling just a bit of it on her leg, she got severe burns on her leg and had to go to the hospital and go to the ER. If she had drunk that she could have suffered much more harm. All she wanted was for mcdonalds to pay for her hospital bill, they didn't, and she sued them and won. Then either mcdonalds or it was a corporation that represented a bunch of corporations spread the hoax that some clumsy woman sued and won a lot of money because she spilled her coffee.
The Big Lie. The United States election for president was not rigged. There was no fraud in the voting process.
1. There is only one election referenced when using the term "Big Lie", and that's discussing 45 and his allegations that he actually won. 2. Notice that 45 only says he was impacted and not anyone else who lost the election that year. 3. There have been more recent local and state elections since then.
"Catching a cold" from cold weather. It's a pathogen. You catch it from people.
Though disease does increase in the winter. It's commonly thought to be due to close quarters indoors and less Vitamin D from the sun, important for the immune system.
Crystals. They are just f*****g rocks. There is no scientific evidence proving that they have healing effect. Any possible effects are due to the placebo effect. People will actually go against medical advice because they think holding a crystal will fix all their problems.
However, for some people believing in something will make them feel better.
Scientology
Edit: Scientologists are programmed to reply to this with "dOn'T yOu MeAn ALL ReLiGiOnS?" and try to do the all lives matter thing when someone says black lives matter to dilute the message.
It's the internet age, cultists. We researched your tactics to put yourself on equal footing with actual religions. You are programmed by NLP, get help.
If your religion scams you out of your property and personal freedom, it's a cult.
My grandma gave her house to her local church as part of her will and the vicar drives a new Mercedes. Something isn't right there.
Load More Replies...What floors me is that L. Ron Hubbard openly said he was tired of being a poor science-fiction writer and was going to invent a religion in order to get rich. And that didn't put off anyone from believing in it.
Kind of like DJT saying, "I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue, and shoot someone, and not lose one voter." His cultists didn't know he was openly making fun of them.
Load More Replies...All religions are cults just that some are good and some are Scientology
A friend of mine pointed out that the difference between a religion and a cult is that a religion will tell you what to believe for free.
Load More Replies...How many other religions were started on a bet between two people? Look up the history of L. Ron Hubbard.
I think all Scientologists know about Hubbard; he founded the church.
Load More Replies...According to her (wife Sarah Northrup) recollections, Hubbard had said to his wife: “The only way to make any real money was to have religion. That’s essentially what he was trying to do with 'Dianetics.' Get a religion where he could have an income and the government wouldn’t take it away from him in the form of taxes."
In California a few years back, we were trying to get a ballot initiative passed for mental health funding. The Scientologists opposed it. Curious to see what their rational was, I went to their website. Here was their argument : "Most psychiatrists are rapists." Huh??? That was literally the extent of their "argument." The dumb thing was that this money wasn't for the psychiatrists in the first place (who are paid by either medical insurance or Medicare/medicaid). It was for therapy and self help programs, specifically drop in mental health centers where you can get emotional support through therapy and support groups. Fortunately the ballot measure passed.
The UK government does not recognise it as one, that's true.
Load More Replies...But, when I was raised in Catholic Church, and they said, in so many odd and esoteric words: 'This saltine becomes, literally, the body of Christ after we say and do certain things to transubstantiate it, and we also literally cause this cheap wine to become Jesus' blood, now bottoms up and chow down and be a cannibal of your long dead savior from thousands of years ago - you're also eating God's body too, btw.' - That all made perfect sense of course.
One person's religion is another person's cult. As far as I can tell, it's all nonsense, and it's only a question of where the money goes.
ALL religions are cults and the believers are all brainwashed and they all scam you out of your money. Wake up people.
Is anyone gonna talk about why Tom Cruise is being used as the picture here
He is the face of Scientology and rumored to be the best cult leader. Just me perhaps, but I will not watch any of his movies.
Load More Replies...How about holding to soda cans and “confessing” and/or disclosing any information to be used against you. If it were really that easy, it would make homicide detectives lives a bit easier..
Did you just put religion and race in the same collumn? Really? Did you even stop to think about it for 1 sec? I'm guessing that you didn't, so I'll explain it to you: you choose religion, you don't choose race. But, hey, why degrade ypurself with facts and reality when you can talk nonsense?
If you follow a religion, you are being lied to and abused. It's all b******t and should be illegal.
The church of flying spaghetti monster is what scientologists think they paid for but really they just got scammed
ProTip: A cartoonist lampooned them as SMARTOLOGY to avoid lawsuits. Remember, these alien-worshippers possess capable attorneys. Beware.
I have known folks who really believe in Scientology. I don't and while I can see that it is a belief system, I can't really call it religion.
Actually I do mean all religions. Every religion on the planet is a lie and a scam and most are just a framework to entrench horrifying evil into society. If you are religious, sorry, but the truth is you have fallen for some truly ridiculous bul lshi t. Religion is proof that most people just aren't very smart. So take your religion and cram it sideways up your BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOLE! BUT THOL
I just read ALL religions, catholic church rapes kids, keeps the child rapists safe and sits on golden thrones, they probably have a dragon in the vatican protecting all their gold and treasures. Yea, they take their houses or whatever but christianity has invaded countries to spead the message lmao
We were discussing the problems of Scientology here. That was exactly the point in the end about trying to distract. People have gone bankrupt and homeless taking loans trying to give enough money to scientology. If you don't think that ruins lives, then I don't know what to say. We can discuss the problems of catholic church in a post dedicated to that.
Load More Replies...Homeopathy. It's water.
Hey, it’s not just water! It’s at least 0.0000000000001% something else!
That using a tampon can take away a females virginity. It’s crazy that people still believe that myth even though it’s been busted many years ago.
There is not enough evidence that it can take away an individuals virginity. It shouldn’t even matter if your child is a virgin or not. You should love your child no matter what.
Your child should be able to have the right to use tampons when they’re on their period. Not everyone wants to miss out from a chance of going swimming, and not everyone wants to wear a diaper everyday for 7 days straight.
That cows just produce milk naturally without being impregnated and giving birth first.
they are simply mammals, and produce milk for the sole purpose of feeding their young.
MLMs, Boss babes, "be your own boss" scams.
I'm not sure how many documentaries need to be put on YouTube before people will stop buying into these companies and wasting their money.
Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. They're all equally as important, Kellogg just convinced everyone of that to sell more cereal.
That MSG is bad for you.
I meet people regularly that think it's a super insta-cancer ingredient that will cause you to die or something based on 80s/90s false scares. Then I tell them "you do know it naturally occurs on tomatoes, yes?"
So I can keep my instant noodles. Was worried I'd have to toss the lot
That GMOs cause cancer. Literally no evidence to prove this. Everything that has gone through evolution or adaptation is GMO.
Now there are issues with monoculture, but that's a whole different discussion.
We'd be screwed if GMOs caused cancer because 99% of the veges we buy today have been genetically modified of the last 10,000 years...
People simply *giving away* drugs or edibles on Halloween. As if.
Now remember kids, if someone gives you drugs on Halloween, you say thank you. Because drugs are expensive.
That dogs can only see in black and white. This is false.
Wolf hierarchy with alpha on top and omega at the bottom.
Qanon
That NASA spent billions developing a pen to work in space and the Russians just used a pencil.
Actually pencils were a major problem on space stations - tiny bits break off and get into every system.
That Kitty Genovese was murdered as people heard her screams and did nothing. To this day people believe in the Bystander Effect.
In fact multiple neighbors called the police. One even went to her to comfort her believing police were on the way and was driven off by the murderer coming back to finish her off.
The New York Times asked the police about it in their reporting, and without checking, believed them that they didn’t get any calls. In fact the police were covering for them badly dropping the ball. If they’d actually responded when the first call came in, Genovese could probably have been saved.
The lazy reporter later became the editor of the New York Times, having eroded a large amount of humanity’s trust in itself.
Isn’t that whole Myers-Briggs personality test recognized as a complete fabrication.
Touching a baby bird will make its parents reject it.
Edited to add: Any baby animal. When in doubt, reach out to your local wildlife rehabilitation network/individual.
Blood in your veins is blue and red in your arteries. Literally every elementary school teacher I had kept this lie going.
Different parts of your tongue don't actually detect different types of taste. Your tongue is the same all over.
Using a cell phone a lot will give you cancer.
The radiation phones give off is harmless. They use radio waves to operate, which many of us here will have been exposed to our entire lives whether or not we use a phone. AM/FM radio causes radio waves to be going through us at all times.
SOURCE: Am currently studying the effects of different kinds of radiation on microorganisms in my microbiology class
Numerous studies on this topic have all come up showing zero evidence of this being a problem, even the ones not sponsored by cell phone companies. Physical models of the effect of this radiation on proteins and other organic chemicals show it's not even possible to have an effect.
A lot of cryptocurrency scams.
Majority of the suckers often either continue to hold their investments; that was worth less than dirt, or go on to invest in yet another scam.
Got a call a while ago. Scam: Do you want to invest in cryptocurrency? Me: sure Scam: go to Invest.com Me: how u spell it? Scam: I like in Italy ... (20 minutes later).. Me: no still page not found, I type "invest.comilikeinitalytlikeintomato" Scam: goodbye
That the Great Wall of China is visible from the moon. I swear I even had my history teacher in High School stating that it was true.
That people are “right” or “left” brain thinkers and that it has any bearing on her personality and level of logic or creativity.
The left and the right brain are definitely different. Watch this - https://youtu.be/wfYbgdo8e-8 - it might blow your mind but which one!
If you pull out a grey hair three more grow in its place, my sister still believes this one.
It's true, though not because you've pulled one out, it's because you're going grey! I know, lol.
That carrots improve your eyesight. I think it was used in the Great British blackout because there was a food shortage and carrots was the easiest thing to get. Don't quote me on that tho.
That Kennedy called himself a jelly doughnut in a speech to Berliners and they all laughed at him. Not true, he was fine using "ich bin ein berliner" there.
Essential oils.
Well, they don't treat or cure stuff, but can alleviate some symptoms. Some smell great. I usually put some mint oil on my pillow when i have a cold so I don't wake up every hour to inhale the minty stick or whatever it's called. Oils have benefits, but they don't magically heal, just like a massage doesn't cure my bad bones and muscles, but it sure helps with pain. I feel like people with too much time on their hands and money to buy the oils just have nothing better to do than spew s**t like this instead of listening to medical experts, but who knows what that disorder is called anyway? It's just certain that it cannot be "cured" by the oils.
It’s illegal to keep the light on in the car while driving.
Note: this post originally had 58 images. It’s been shortened to the top 45 images based on user votes.
Stop believing anyone's uterus is your business. You are killing women. That's all.
Cheetos make good presidents. The amount of people that still believe this is astonishing.
A few of these are just personal opinions of the author I think, however Myths and conspiracy theories sell well :D
I was hoping GMOs would be on the list. People think they are dangerous when they are not.
The thing with these post is that they just say a word or two but don't let us know why and/or why not. For ex. Essential Oils. Okay, what about them? The other thing is that nothing is supported with reports/facts, etc. either.
Well for one many are poisonous and any oil can cause pneumonia and death if ingested and accidentally inhaled into the lungs (like people do with beverages) because it disrupts surfactant. They can poison children and small animals when used in a diffuser. Just don't buy them.
Load More Replies...Why is/are god(s) not on this list? Just as much nonsense as anything else on the list.
One thing I have learned... and it's not universal and so it does not apply to everyone. Some people just have weak immune systems. Most of the people who always have sniffles, a cold, stomach flu and get the flu annually... don't wash their hands after using the toilet.
My immune system was just fine until I went through pregnancy and childbirth. After that, I catch everything that's going around. I haven't changed my hand washing policy.
Load More Replies...Humans are not the only intelligent species in the whole entire universe. There are other mutch higher intelligent species roaming around outer space. They just don't want to mingle with us because they look at us like the way we look at pond scum.
Not een the only intelligent species on this planet. :-)
Load More Replies...Stop believing anyone's uterus is your business. You are killing women. That's all.
Cheetos make good presidents. The amount of people that still believe this is astonishing.
A few of these are just personal opinions of the author I think, however Myths and conspiracy theories sell well :D
I was hoping GMOs would be on the list. People think they are dangerous when they are not.
The thing with these post is that they just say a word or two but don't let us know why and/or why not. For ex. Essential Oils. Okay, what about them? The other thing is that nothing is supported with reports/facts, etc. either.
Well for one many are poisonous and any oil can cause pneumonia and death if ingested and accidentally inhaled into the lungs (like people do with beverages) because it disrupts surfactant. They can poison children and small animals when used in a diffuser. Just don't buy them.
Load More Replies...Why is/are god(s) not on this list? Just as much nonsense as anything else on the list.
One thing I have learned... and it's not universal and so it does not apply to everyone. Some people just have weak immune systems. Most of the people who always have sniffles, a cold, stomach flu and get the flu annually... don't wash their hands after using the toilet.
My immune system was just fine until I went through pregnancy and childbirth. After that, I catch everything that's going around. I haven't changed my hand washing policy.
Load More Replies...Humans are not the only intelligent species in the whole entire universe. There are other mutch higher intelligent species roaming around outer space. They just don't want to mingle with us because they look at us like the way we look at pond scum.
Not een the only intelligent species on this planet. :-)
Load More Replies...