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.
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.
Cycling can break your hymen...as can swimming and horse riding. It's such a stupid concept.
Which is why the concept of a virginity test is equally stupid.
Load More Replies...I have extremely heavy periods and for a really long time I suffered because there was no pad big enough to hold them. I went through a lot of embarrassment of leaks while at school. I didn't start using tampons until I was 17 because my mother believed this and scared me into thinking it would hurt, so I didn't try them. When I finally did it was a life-changing thing for me. I still had occasional leaks but it was nothing like before. The mess I was dealing with and the rashes I would get because walking around wet all the time causes some horrible things to happen and blistering.... I didn't smell my own blood all the time anymore. It really was life changing. I don't care what anyone says; you'd take tampons from me over my dead body. And guys who care about a hymen breaking are creepy and weird, and are clearly insecure with themselves which is why they only want virgins.
Virginity is a social construct, especially when women are considered to be the property of first, their father's, and then their husband's
Yeah virginity isn’t real. Maybe THATS the myth we need to put down
Load More Replies...You lose your “virginity” by having sex. Nobody is making love to their tampon.
A female feotus develops with a hymen to stop bacteria and dirt out of the vagina while inside its mother stomach. They come in all different varieties of shape and thickness, they are known to break during strenuous activity or trauma etc and therefore cannot be the mile stick to qualify virginity. To lose your virginity you have to have sex, not insert a tampon or even a sex toy.
This!!! Ten million likes!!! Also, when women lose their virginity, they don't always bleed. They actually are not supposed to, and it isn't supposed to hurt. That is why having knowledge, and a caring partner who understands that a women needs foreplay and lube is important. I was lucky to grow up in a sex positive house with an Ob/Gyn mom. I was very educated. When I was ready to lose my virginity, (at 17) I was comfortable enough to discuss everything with my partner, and it was a great experience. I wish that was the case for all young women and women, but we all know it is not.
Load More Replies...Virginity itself is a myth. It is not true that every woman has a hymen, nor does it automatically break at first intercourse. If anything, virginity is a cultural concept.
There needs to be a new term for never having had intercourse yet, because “virgin” is associated with the hymen. Although, guys don’t have hymens and we understand what they mean by their own virginity 🤔 Also, virginity is not synonymous with purity, just as skinny is not synonymous with healthy.
Load More Replies...Thank you. Who needs the concept that a man can seriously change your entire status sexualy
Virginity itself is just a stupid idea to control women, men don't get stigmatised for not being a virgin and I won't teach my kids that virginity is some magical gift you give to someone, b******t - my kids body belongs to them and only them, they aren't giving it to anyone, it doesn't become someone else's property just because they've had sex - it remains 100% theirs whether they decide to have sex or not
The concept of "virginity" should have gone away somewhere around the rise of medicine THE LATEST.
This obsession with virginity is patriarchal c**p founded on the belief that women are the property of men.
well, it's still the old bias: a girl should stay "pure" for as long as possible to be a good girl, a guy should lose his virginity as soon as possible to be a real man. How many stories have I read here about men protecting their daughter's virginity.. I find this very disturbing.
Our ancestors had the idea that God created women with hymens as a gauge to keep them pure until marriage. But horses have hymens too, so why do they have them?
But what do you classify as sexual intercourse?
Load More Replies...But could you be BORN without a hymen? My sister never had sex yet and when she was at the doctors, they found out there was nothing. We (my mom mostly) thought it might been the lady's cork.
My eardrums are still virginal. Whew. Meanwhile, I know of a Renaissance musical instrument called a virginal. I await your puns.
It was called a virginal because it was intended for use by young ladies.
Load More Replies...I'm not saying this is ok, just adding a separate perspective: There are still some cultures that use the whole blood on the sheets thing to prove the bride was a virgin when she got married. Of course these are often cultures with low science and are rooted in male dominance.
And depending on the culture, awful things can happen to the woman if there is no blood.
Load More Replies...Virginity is a construct. Like gender it doesn't follow any set guidelines but is more subjective and since it's personally defined it should be personally respected. Something one person does may entitle them to feel it keeps their virginity, whereas if another person did that they may feel uncomfortable calling themselves a virgin. Their choice. That should be honored and respected.
I'm fortunate that my period really only lasts about 3 days, and is fairly light. I can't imagine going through 7 days, never mind all the bloating and hormones for the two weeks before.
Virginity is for the most part a social construct. Only when both parties consent to sex do they lose said virginity.
Virginity is important only in cultures where women are considered property and are used to trade for favors by fathers. Pretty disgusting actually.
So here's something to ponder. How would period blood come out if the hymen was a sealed membrane?
The thing with young women using tampons is the cleanliness factor. I know it's more fun and controversial to talk about virginity and what not, but a 10-year-old that is now menstruating faces issues with cleanliness and possibilities of infections setting in than all of that cute homespun "virginity" claim. Women in prison have been caught with contraband, by using tampons as a sex device, so there is plausibility. Personally, I prefer my young daughter not start with inserting things into her body until she is a little older.
Not every woman has a hymen - and judging a female on the state of her genitals is repulsive.
Tampons definitely can break a hymen but I would consider someone a virgin until they have sex
I thought virginity implied that a female hadn't had sexual intercourse, meaning with another person.
“Virginity” is a social construct, anyway, not a scientific one, so it doesn’t need “evidence” to prove anything.
Not everyone even has a hymen, and sometimes it is just a partial membrane, or a membrane with holes in it.
Shouldn't To lose your "Virginity" actually require having sex of some kind?
No, they're talking ABOUT the conflation of virginity with an intact hymen. That's what the term "virgo intacta" means.
Load More Replies...Virginity is having penetrative sex for the first time. If a tampon broke the hymen...you are still a virgin.
We’re over here talking about physical health and how bodies work, and you gotta jump way over into religion. You do know that atheist people have misconceptions about the female body too, right? You know that atheists can be misogynists too, right? Please take your bigotry elsewhere.
Load More Replies... 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...