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Ask people any of these questions: whether mice really love cheese, sugar makes kids hyperactive, or if Ancient Greek architecture was made of pure white marble, and there is a big chance they will nod their heads in agreement.
But many of these common beliefs that live years and years rooted in our conventional wisdom have little to do with facts. So today we looked at this illuminating Reddit thread where people named all the annoying myths many of us still cling to, and it may help us to recalibrate our truth and fiction radar if it’s out of sync.
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#1
That carnivorous pets can live healthily on a vegan diet.
Stop it. It's animal abuse.
Blackheart 1 year ago
Thank you! Scientifically speaking, look at the teeth. Carnivorous pets are specially designed to eat meat.
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#2
Vaccines cause autism.
Kaitlyn Najvar 1 year ago (edited)
Ok vaccines do NOT cause autism, yes it may have side affects mentally or physically but autism is something you are born with! And I know that some of our beloved bored panda community has autism and can back me up on this. (edit: im sorry to everyone that got ofended by this statement! im not a medical professional!)
#3
That having hobbies as an adult is only worth it if it brings in money. No, I love my meaningless and expensive hobbies, even if they don't bring in any income.
Bored Panda reached out to Lauren McMenemy, a professional writer, journalist, and marketer with a desire to tell stories, shine a light on society and advocate for better mental health and self-care, who was happy to share some insights into how folklore-based myths and beliefs form and why people believe them.
Lauren, who is a writing mentor and coach who runs workshops and training to help people get their words down right, said that first, it’s worth defining the terms “myths” and “beliefs”.
“Many people, when you say ‘myth’ or ‘mythology’, will immediately think of the old gods or collections of tales based in folklore - such as the Greek tales of Medusa, or Nordic tales of Thor and Odin,” she said.
#4
That cats are cold or unfriendly. They’re not going to run up to every person like a puppy, but most are very affectionate with their humans.
Potterhead934 1 year ago
Once when I got home from work my cat came walking down the hallway meowing happily. It was so cute
#5
Trickle down economics
Cyber Returns 1 year ago
Best described as the top dog drinks champagne while the masses below have to drink their p*ss. Trickle-down economics only works if the rich do not control the tap
Moreover, “There is another usage which is more akin to religion: belief in faeries in Celtic nations, for example, has led to many common practices that still happen to this day.”“
Then there is the folklore-based myths and beliefs,” Lauren continued, “which are often based in practices designed to keep humans safe and healthy. Conventional wisdom can come from the latter, I think - don't walk under a ladder, for example, lest something falls on you from above!”
#7
That you need to wait 24 hours to file a missing person’s report
Stormifyed 1 year ago
What would the point of this if it was true? In a missing persons case the first 24 hours are the most crucial for investigators and the missing person
#8
Billionaires are smart and we should be “grateful” for the jobs they provide.
#9
The 'just world fallacy'[people get what they deserve].
It's responsible for a lot victim-blaming, which re-traumatizes people who have already been traumatized. It's the worst.
Sometimes bad things happen to people who don't deserve it. It shouldn't be that difficult to grasp.
Jill Rhodry 1 year ago
Conversely, really good things happen to people who really don't deserve it!
When asked why some myths disappear while others remain something people believe throughout generations, Lauren said that it depends on the origin of the myth. “If it's a story based in keeping people safe from harm, that will get more embedded over generations.”
Moreover, “The fairy tales about the dangers of the woods remain because it was dangerous to go into the forest - there lurked robbers, wild animals, entities that would do you harm. Those that disappear are more likely to be ones that have lost their relevance to modern society,” Lauren explained.
#10
The alpha theory for wolves, people still believe it even though the person who made the theory took it back. The ‘alpha’ of wolves is actually just the pack’s parents, and the pack is usually made up of their offspring.
We also wondered if some people are more prone to believing popular myths and things like old wives' tales than others. “Since the emergence of science and the Enlightenment, there has been a cohort of people who will claim logic above all else - if it's not provable beyond a shadow of a doubt, then it's ridiculous to believe in,” Lauren explained and added that these people are never going to believe in popular myths.
#13
That antibiotics are needed for colds.
Ches Yamada 1 year ago (edited)
Too many antibiotics can lead to C-Diff and TRUST ME YOU DO NOT WANT THAT. It happened to me, I get a lot of staph infections that require antibiotics and I ended up with C-Diff. Would not wish on my worst enemy, lost 20 pounds and was having a very hard time keeping any nutrients in - my body was deficient in a lot by the time they figured out what was wrong. Also it's something you have forever that can flare up again - the flora and fauna in your gut are never the same, ugh
#14
Zodiac signs and their effect on our everyday lives
_scarlett_ 1 year ago
I personally don't really believe in zodiac signs, horoscopes, angel numbers etc. But if it's making you happy, and not making you anxious or creating negative feelings then what's the harm? Let people believe what they want, as long as it's not harmful or dangerous
#15
The Shirley exception.
When looking at an issue, they assume that anyone who REALLY needs it will “Surely get taken care of…”
I.E. “All abortion should legally be banned, but surely one’s where the mother and child die will be taken care of.”
“It doesn’t matter how we treat prisoners because surely the ones there on accident are going to be protected.”
“This job won’t fire you for missing too much work because you’re REALLY sick, surely they realize that?”
“We don’t need to make strict laws about disability access because surely the legitimate cases will be taken care of.”
There is no Shirley making sure everyone is legitimate and those who need it with get some kind of justice in a magical fairy bending the rules just for them.
Having said that, Lauren believes that those cultures which are more rooted in traditional beliefs and practices are more likely to maintain some belief in myth and folklore. “Asian cultures, for example, have a strong thread of old stories running through them. And we see it, too, in the rise of modern witchcraft; so much practice in that realm is from ‘the old ways.’"
#16
That when you meet "the one" you just know. And that there is a "one" for every one of us.
#17
There are a ton of ridiculous myths around pregnancy. The worst one I was told was not to ever raise my arms over my head so the baby didn't get tangled in the umbilical cord.
When it comes to conspiracy theories, especially modern-day ones, Lauren sees them as very different from common beliefs and widespread myths. “Can those modern-day conspiracy theories be harmful? Absolutely yes: look at what happened during the pandemic. Look at the rise of extreme right-wing views and of QAnon. These are very, very different to popular myths and old wives' tales, which developed for mainly instructive reasons,” she concluded.
#19
Not so much a myth but a misconception… I still hear people laugh at the fact that solar powered flashlights exist, thinking they must be useless because flashlights are only needed in darkness, where solar panels won’t generate anything.
They charge their batteries with sunlight. The batteries supply power on demand. Was that such a difficult concept?
Ray Ceeya (RayCeeYa) 1 year ago
Got one on my desk right now. It also has USB ports to charge my phone and other devices.
#20
You will catch a cold from being cold.
Chris Hooley 1 year ago
Complicated. TL;DR version: Viruses last longer on cold surfaces than warm. Natural immune processes in our noses don't work as well as normal in low temperatures. . . Forgetting a coat won't give you a cold, but more people get sick more often in winter.
#21
An undercover cop has to tell you they're a cop if you ask them.
Gerry Higgins 1 year ago
It's illegal to lie to the cops. but the cops can lie to you all they want.
#22
Videogames cause violence. There is literally no correlation.
#23
That people in the Middle Ages thought the earth was flat?????
It has been widely accepted since Ancient Greece that the earth is round and I have no idea why people still call it the Dark Ages either
Tharizin 🇺🇦 1 year ago
It was called the dark ages because the sun hadn’t been invented yet /j
Blackheart 1 year ago
It's the Early Middle Ages that are the Dark Ages. They were called that because there was a lot of chaos, struggle for power, and few technological or scientific advancements occurred. The last 200 years of the Medieval period overlaps the Renaissance.
Zia Barrett 1 year ago
Classical and Mediaeval scholarship doesn't reference "The Dark Ages" any more and refutes the concept now. It was named due to a lack of knowledge of the time, which we no longer have.
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Chris Hooley 1 year ago (edited)
"It is generally accepted that the term was invented by Petrarch in the 1330s. Writing of those who had come before him, he said that "amidst the errors there shone forth men of genius, no less keen were their eyes, although they were surrounded by darkness and dense gloom"." (McGill) "A 1602 text by Caesar Baronius used saeculum obscurum (the dark age/century) to refer to the 10th and 11th centuries as lacking in surviving historical sources. But dark really just meant that he didn't know a lot about the time." (Getty)
Mickysixxx 1 year ago (edited)
It's called the dark ages because things weren't being recorded as much or just b******t was recorded that doesnt help us know what life was like. Futhermore it was kinda a technological standstill where not many inovations came about. so that part of history is dark so to speak
Zia Barrett 1 year ago
We have a lot of records of the time period in Europe, along with knowledge of everyday life, and knowledge of technological and scientific development of the time. There is no darkness in the time period and Mediaeval scholarship refutes use of the term.
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Aamna Shah 1 year ago
It's called the dark ages because of Europe. It was the European dark ages and since white, European perspectives are disseminated as global and the norm, it's conveniently ignored that the Eastern world was inventing and discovering stuff at the time.
RafCo (he/him/ele) 1 year ago
Certainly, the Islamic world had a golden era of learning and scientific innovation. The development of advanced maths, algebra, trigonometry, cryptography, and the beginnings of calculus. Legal theory, art, geometry, philosophy, poetry, it is the period of time I studied in university. Particularly my interest was in the Umayyads, Nasrids and the kingdom of al-Ándalus (modern day Andalucía).
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Kimba 1 year ago
Don't you know that all of the planets in the solar system are round, except earth? That's just common sense, no? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
elcee 1 year ago
THERE ARE PEOPLE TODAY WHO THINK THE WORLD IS FLAT. look it up its horrifying!!! the perimeter is protected by a *mountain range of ice* that's like a whole 150' tall, protected by NASA!!! that's only the beginning. and the flat earthers is a group developed by the govt to thwart the real flat earth believers. I s**t u not. HULARIOUS.
A Bobcat From Philly 1 year ago
Well, In the 1400's, the lives of sea creatures were improved with the invention of the electric eel. Previously they could only read by candlefish. /s
thelazypanda 1 year ago
These are the same people using 10% of their brains and wearing red baseball caps
RavenTheCat 1 year ago
two things. one, the dark ages sounds dope as heck. second, im surprised nobody here is trying to defend the flat earth theory
That guy Nic B. 1 year ago
I call it the Middle Ages because it is a personal preference on if you think this time was dark or not
Mim“the Swede”Sorensson 1 year ago
Not a lot of written history period, actually. But otherwise; yes.
Load More Replies... Tacet 1 year ago
Called the dark ages because it's the period of time between the fall of the Roman Empire and the Renaissance. Where the advances of Rome were lost. Coined by a dude during the renaissance so not really an accurate term.
Horst 1 year ago
I found the topic interesting honestly. Like the Roman Empire was an amazing civilization that falls just like that. From the Visigoths starving them out. There are other reasons of course like spreading out too much that they lost control, but still.
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Bill Marsano 1 year ago
For some time now historians have realized that 'Dark Ages' was a misnomer, the knowledge had not come to an end with the fall of the Roman Empire. That period is now more often called the Middle Ages and is advances are much more widely recognized.
Melanie Moorhouse 1 year ago
It is named the dark ages because of the lack of written sources to illuminate it. Essentially, after the Roman Empire fell, we have almost nothing written down that survived from that period. At the time the term was coined, Archaeology was far less advanced as a discipline than it is now so we also had very little evidence from that, although it is growing. It is still arguably one of the periods of history that we have the least concrete provable information for. The written texts that refer to it, are written based on oral traditions passed down over hundreds of years.
Riley Quinn 1 year ago
This is cute, getting upset because people way back in the Middle Ages thought the earth was flat, when we have people walking amongst us who think it is.
The voice of reason 1 year ago
So if the earth were to be flat, what would the length and width be?
Steve Robert 1 year ago
It was called the Dark Ages because the Catholic Church deemed anything scientific as blasphemy
Sarah Lowry 1 year ago
If I remember correctly, the concern people had with sailing around the world was that they didn't understand the way gravity works at the time, not that they believed the earth was flat.
Mary Lugo 1 year ago
It was initially called the Dark Ages, because the lack of education, not many forms of history, or education were found (so no info about this time "Dark") recently there have been digs were Business contracts, shipping and receiving, etc. were found and thus more information about that period of time . . . .Ta Da No more Dark.
Lyone Fein 1 year ago
It's called the Dark Ages because people weren't allowed to learn to read or write unless they were becoming members of the church clergy.
Mark Serbian, PK&RG,W 1 year ago
It was called The Dark Ages because The Church ran the world...
Šimon Špaček 1 year ago
Maybe Giordano Bruno would be able to explain it better, but basically, church was super powerful and what they said was true, no matter what the nature said, so if church found in the Bible that the Sun orbits Earth, it was true and eveyone saying something else was heretic and got burned alive.
Michael Largey 1 year ago
Remember that the term "Dark Ages" applies only to European civilization in that era. It had no or little effect on civilizations distant from there.
Horst 1 year ago
Late to the party but they’re called the Dark Ages because it was a grim and dark time in history. As in there was lots of war and starvation. After the collapse of Rome, and a mini ice age that had hit, people took down things in Rome like the aqueducts and the colosseum to build huts. They also put their entire focus on growing food as the mini ice age made it harder to. Therefore people didn’t bother to learn to read and write so there is also not a lot of knowledge on what happened in that time period. One major thing we know however is King Charlemagne and his importance in spreading Christianity.
Ches Yamada 1 year ago
I guess it makes sense that it was the dark ages, Flat Earthers have their heads someplace dim if they believe this
Icecream Sarang 1 year ago
People in the 21st century think the Earth is flat, so stands to say some in the 16th might’ve, as well.
ASC2901 Student 1 year ago (edited)
They called it the dark ages because that’s when little inventions were made and also that the time period when the Black Death spread around. The Black Death was a plague that cause 70-200 million people to die which was around 1/3 of Europe's population at the time. It was also called the dark ages because every piece of land that an lord/nobility owned was isolated into small self-efficient farming communities that in the end cause there to be less collective learning. (Learning in which you learn from others.) Less collective learning caused little to none new inventions to be made.
RedPepper 1 year ago
Little inventions were made such as plough, crop rotation, horse collar, horseshoes, mills, clocks, compass, pintle-and-gudgeon rudder, spectacles, printing press, metal rolling and blast furnace. Ah, and the first european universities were founded during the Middle Ages.
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Jared Robinson 1 year ago
Atlas also held up a cosmic orb representing Uranus the void/sky, not the earth.
#24
“Your blood is actually blue but only becomes red when it comes out of you”
#26
Road widening improves traffic flow. It doesn't, if anything it just causes induced demand and within Months the road is congested again.
#28
That carrots give you good eyesight
Gerry Higgins 1 year ago
This started in WWII. They didn't want to give away that Allies had radar so they said the Pilots had good night vision from a diet of carrots. Everyone believed it. The Axis started eating carrots.
#29
That introversion = shyness or social incompetence. Like, it‘s not that hard.
Lonely Tentacle 1 year ago (edited)
Agreed! I'm super introverted, I'm basically asocial, but one thing I am definitely not is shy! If anything, I'm the queen of oversharing, LOL! And other than having some trouble detecting sarcasm, my social competence can range from adequate to actually really good, depending on the setting.
#30
That msg is bad for you
Kitty 🥀 1 year ago (edited)
I was under the impression that it’s basically just really salty so it should be ingested in moderation, just like other things that are full of sodium like table salt and soy sauce. But that it’s really no worse for you than those. Someone feel free to corset me if I’m wrong. Edit: ooh, kinky. I clearly meant correct me. LOL
#31
Ancient Greek and Roman sculpture and architecture being pure white marble.
They are now. That's because art dealers long, *long* ago washed the paint off.
Mike Fitzpatrick 1 year ago
I would imagine that 2k years of elements would have a similar effect.
#33
Eating cheese before bed gives you nightmares.
Mickysixxx 1 year ago (edited)
I eat cheese during the night (3am) I'm fine. Secret night cheese tastes better
#34
Shaking or flipping integral Polaroid photographs while they're developing. This dates back to the 'peel-apart" instant Polaroids that came before the all-in-one "integral" instant films. You used to have to coat the finished print with a polymer coating fluid, and shaking the print would help it dry faster. But it's unnecessary now.
#35
Almost all the weird things people believe about charging batteries is completely wrong, they are based on Old NiCad cells and most of that advice does not apply to lithium ion / LiPO batteries
What do you think ?
Sean Sean 1 year ago
That homeless people are all just drug addicts or mentally ill, when most homeless people aren't.
Princezz Puffypants 11 months ago (edited)
*most* homeless people are one or both of those things. About 52% total suffer from one or both. 38% alcohol abuse, 26% drug abuse and about 30% serious mental health issues such as schizophrenia or bipolar (not including things like depression, which is probably hovering around 100%). You cannot fix a problem when you refuse to acknowledge that it exists: this problem exists and there are a variety of ways it could be overcome.
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Daniel Atkins 1 year ago
Daylight saving time was invented by farmers. It was always presented as a way to save energy during World War 1. Changing the time on the clock changes little how farmers operate. In fact farmers don’t really like it. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time#History
Memere 1 year ago (edited)
Farmers work when the work needs to be done, day or night. Farming is a 24/7/365 life. I grew up on a farm & the livestock doesn't care about day or night hours, or the season of the year. I remember my father going out in the middle of the night during a snowstorm to save a newborn calf that the cow had given birth to in a snow drift. And he would get home from his airline job at midnight, have some coffee & sandwiches & then go out on the tractor to work the fields. DST is a crock of poo. And it screws up our circadian rhythm for at least a week afterwards! I hate it.
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similarly 1 year ago (edited)
In the US, there's an assumption that if you're from the rural South, you're an idiot. I think people hear my southern accent and mentally subtract points. Part of this is because in popular media, people with southern accents are invariably portrayed as racist, misogynistic, fanatical christian, gun-loving, homophobic, ignorant bullies and idiots. And some of them are. But a lot aren't, and I wish the media would stop painting people that way.
Fantastic Mr Fox 1 year ago
You are right. However, using the expression “the media” doesn’t help if you want to reach over the aisle.
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Bunzilla 1 year ago
My I add: *That silica gel packets are poisonous* They're not. Check on any poison control website to see for yourself. They're labelled "Do Not Eat" because the packet itself is a choking hazard or could cause an intestinal blockage, and eating a bunch of silica gel is slightly worse than swallowing the equivalent amount of gravel (since they'll absorb moisture). HOWEVER: if your silica gel is coated in either cobalt chloride (which looks pink / blue), or methyl violet (which looks orange / green), then you've got a problem. Though I think the second two types are rare, and are known as indicator gel since their colour changes depending on how much moisture they've absorbed. I think those packs are generally marked as such and have some way of seeing the colour inside.
Unpopular opinions 1 year ago
Because no one can prove Gods existence or nonexistent.
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Mim“the Swede”Sorensson 1 year ago
Because these kind of “dreams”, which are referred to while awake, tend to hurt others every now and again.
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Unnamed Hooman 1 year ago (edited)
The beginning includes: “ sugar makes kids hyperactive “ as a myth. As a kid who can have a bag of skittles and be bouncing off the walls, I can assure you it is no myth. One time I ate 37 Pixie Stix (sugar tubes) in one go. I ran SO FAST. Edit: I know this was downvoted, but the downvote isn’t a dislike button. It’s like a report button. Too many dislikes and you’re banned. Please don’t downvote me because I was wrong.
Sean Sean 1 year ago
That homeless people are all just drug addicts or mentally ill, when most homeless people aren't.
Princezz Puffypants 11 months ago (edited)
*most* homeless people are one or both of those things. About 52% total suffer from one or both. 38% alcohol abuse, 26% drug abuse and about 30% serious mental health issues such as schizophrenia or bipolar (not including things like depression, which is probably hovering around 100%). You cannot fix a problem when you refuse to acknowledge that it exists: this problem exists and there are a variety of ways it could be overcome.
Load More Replies... Daniel Atkins 1 year ago
Daylight saving time was invented by farmers. It was always presented as a way to save energy during World War 1. Changing the time on the clock changes little how farmers operate. In fact farmers don’t really like it. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daylight_saving_time#History
Memere 1 year ago (edited)
Farmers work when the work needs to be done, day or night. Farming is a 24/7/365 life. I grew up on a farm & the livestock doesn't care about day or night hours, or the season of the year. I remember my father going out in the middle of the night during a snowstorm to save a newborn calf that the cow had given birth to in a snow drift. And he would get home from his airline job at midnight, have some coffee & sandwiches & then go out on the tractor to work the fields. DST is a crock of poo. And it screws up our circadian rhythm for at least a week afterwards! I hate it.
Load More Replies... similarly 1 year ago (edited)
In the US, there's an assumption that if you're from the rural South, you're an idiot. I think people hear my southern accent and mentally subtract points. Part of this is because in popular media, people with southern accents are invariably portrayed as racist, misogynistic, fanatical christian, gun-loving, homophobic, ignorant bullies and idiots. And some of them are. But a lot aren't, and I wish the media would stop painting people that way.
Fantastic Mr Fox 1 year ago
You are right. However, using the expression “the media” doesn’t help if you want to reach over the aisle.
Load More Replies... Bunzilla 1 year ago
My I add: *That silica gel packets are poisonous* They're not. Check on any poison control website to see for yourself. They're labelled "Do Not Eat" because the packet itself is a choking hazard or could cause an intestinal blockage, and eating a bunch of silica gel is slightly worse than swallowing the equivalent amount of gravel (since they'll absorb moisture). HOWEVER: if your silica gel is coated in either cobalt chloride (which looks pink / blue), or methyl violet (which looks orange / green), then you've got a problem. Though I think the second two types are rare, and are known as indicator gel since their colour changes depending on how much moisture they've absorbed. I think those packs are generally marked as such and have some way of seeing the colour inside.
Unpopular opinions 1 year ago
Because no one can prove Gods existence or nonexistent.
Load More Replies... Mim“the Swede”Sorensson 1 year ago
Because these kind of “dreams”, which are referred to while awake, tend to hurt others every now and again.
Load More Replies... Unnamed Hooman 1 year ago (edited)
The beginning includes: “ sugar makes kids hyperactive “ as a myth. As a kid who can have a bag of skittles and be bouncing off the walls, I can assure you it is no myth. One time I ate 37 Pixie Stix (sugar tubes) in one go. I ran SO FAST. Edit: I know this was downvoted, but the downvote isn’t a dislike button. It’s like a report button. Too many dislikes and you’re banned. Please don’t downvote me because I was wrong.
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