We were all taught as children that honesty is the best policy. Sometimes the truth hurts, but lying is much more harmful. So we do our best to be upfront and honest with everyone we meet, occasionally bending the truth to spare someone’s feelings. Until one day we realize just how many lies have been surrounding us our entire lives…
From misleading statements companies tell to gain their customers' trust to propaganda governments spread to keep their citizens in line, Reddit users have recently been sharing some of the biggest lies that have been told in human history. So enjoy reading through this list, pandas, and be sure to upvote the lies you’ve heard far too many times!
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> …there's an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of ten things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these ten things, he has a special place, full of fire and smoke and burning and torture and anguish, where he will send you to live and suffer and burn and choke and scream and cry forever and ever 'til the end of time! But He loves you. He loves you, and He needs money! The late, the great George Carlin.
George Carlin was the reality check I needed at an impressionable age...
Vaccines cause autism. F**k those gullible idiots.
Anti-vax parents that refuse to immunise their children should be charged with murder if their child dies of a preventable disease - or if their child transmits a preventable disease to another who dies. No ifs and buts.
"I acknowledge that I have read and agree to the above Terms and Conditions."
Tax cuts for the rich will benefit everyone.
Trickle down would work if the rich weren't so super absorbent that they suck.
America stands for freedom and liberty.
I don't think there is a decade in US history where there wasn't someone somewhere being cruelly oppressed by the US or by someone heavily supported (i.e. controlled) by the US.
Just ask Florida, where schoolchildren are now fighting for the freedom to...wait for it...READ.
Your religion is the correct one. Lol the “main reason” why “most people” believe what they believe is because they were born into part of the world in which the religion is popular.
You can be whatever you want to be when you grow up.
I have been wondering about Mr Elon Musk. He could essentially be Batman, but he has decided emulate Joker instead.
"Your call is important to us."
"Your call is important to us, please hold for the next available representative. The current wait time is 1 hour". Call disconnects after 45 minutes. Immediately call back..."You call is....yadda yadda yadda...the current wait time is 3 hours."
If you're a good person, good things will happen to you.
There are hot singles in my area dying to meet me.
We are a family and care about our employees.
Your reward for hard work is more work and the second the company needs to save a buck you’ll be kicked to the curb.
Money won't make you happy.
Money won't make you happy but it makes it a hell of a lot easier to be happy
"Yes, I will remember to cancel the subscription just before the free trial ends."
That anyone can become rich in a society that is ruled by people who need poor laborers to keep the wheels of commerce grinding.
That's just capitalism, Baebee! 😎 Just keep telling yourself that you live in a meritocracy and get back to work!
Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq: The claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction was used as a justification for the 2003 invasion by the U.S. and allied forces. This turned out to be false and had a profound impact on global politics and led to significant loss of life.
Bush just wanted to finish what his daddy started. And we allowed it for two decades.
Not necessarily a lie, but people have the misconception that Europeans invented slavery in the 15th century.
Slavery is something that has existed across the world, for millenia.
And there were large scale slave trade networks established by other powers, such as the Trans Saharan slave trade established by the Islamic caliphate after their conquest of North Africa.
Whoever thinks that didn't have history classes? Everyone knows slavery was present in antiquity.
"The customer is always right." I want to know who came up with that. They are wrong.
the full saying is actually the customer is always right in matters of taste
Men are better than women.
Men and women are not equal in many places. But their rights should be equal and neither gender is inferior to the other in general. Both genders have what they are better at and what they are not as good at.
I feel like the most recent one is this idea of “the American dream”, that anybody from the lowliest street sweeper can be a successful billionaire if they just work hard enough.
The older I get the more transparent that becomes as a veiled attempt to propagate capitalism by keeping the fast food workers and trash collectors of the population scurrying about working as hard as they can to serve the higher classes…It’s so obvious when you think about it for more than a few minutes, but it took me an embarrassingly long time to realise that the lucky few to have actually achieved this are the exceptions, not the rule.
Don't tax millionaires more, because I could be a millionaire tomorrow.
The Banks are too Big to fail.
This makes me sick. LET THEM FAIL. No business should be free from the consequences of their bad decisions and unethical treatment of employees and customers.
Fat makes you fat.
Not a total lie, just the way it was over/misrepresented for many years when the main cause of obesity is simply eating too much. Just as these days the focus on sugar means that so many products are replacing it with artificial sweeteners (which I personally find disgusting) instead of people simply eating less of it.
"Capitalism isn't perfect, but it's the best system we've got." If that were true, how come we spend so much time worrying and paying people to [take out] and destabilize every democratically elected socialist government? The Military Industrial Complex is basically a money grab fueled by having to fight the right wing dictators we put into office, and making new weapons to compete with the ones that we sell to our enemies.
The problem is - people. Communism could be a brilliant system if it wasn't for people. Nasty, venal things.
That we are free. We live on a paradise of a planet that is essentially a prison. Very few are actually free.
Go be free in the woods with nothing, or be enslaved by the comforts of society.
Carrots make you see in the dark. i ate so much and turned orange for nothing.
this was world war 2 propaganda from the UK to cover for the fact we had Radar
No strings attached.
The biggest lie of all. "Russia is a threat to America". It's taken me a long time to realise that Russia was never a threat to America. Not militarily or through communism. During the cold war, Russia expected a US first strike with a 99% loss of the Russian military, hoping that the remaining 1% was enough for token retaliation. The US military frequently and flagrantly spin doctored the figures to grab more government funding.
The Russian premiere insisting, "We will bury you" had nothing to do with the US "paranoia." Or the fact that Russia was ready to roll troops across Europe based on the outcome of a US presidential election. I won't even mention which one, because people will think I cite it for partisan purposes; if you're curious it's easy to Google.
Load More Replies...The story about George Washington and the cherry tree is a lie. They just rold that story to try to make kids not lie using a former president so kids will follow a historical figures example
The biggest lie of all. "Russia is a threat to America". It's taken me a long time to realise that Russia was never a threat to America. Not militarily or through communism. During the cold war, Russia expected a US first strike with a 99% loss of the Russian military, hoping that the remaining 1% was enough for token retaliation. The US military frequently and flagrantly spin doctored the figures to grab more government funding.
The Russian premiere insisting, "We will bury you" had nothing to do with the US "paranoia." Or the fact that Russia was ready to roll troops across Europe based on the outcome of a US presidential election. I won't even mention which one, because people will think I cite it for partisan purposes; if you're curious it's easy to Google.
Load More Replies...The story about George Washington and the cherry tree is a lie. They just rold that story to try to make kids not lie using a former president so kids will follow a historical figures example