Convincing someone you’re right is all about confidence. If you fake it, you’ll make it, right? R-right? Having bucketloads of confidence is great (and certainly dramatic), however, it’s never enough in isolation… especially if you’re just plain wrong and everyone around you knows it.
Being direct. Looking assured. Feeling unwavering and braver than Braveheart—these are all wonderful qualities to have, but without other substantial things to back it up, it’s all just bravado without the bite. And darn it if it isn’t entertaining as heck to watch!
We’re not the only ones to think so. In fact, that’s why the ‘Confidently Incorrect’ subreddit, with over 404k members, exists. Their community is built around poking fun at people who are chock full of confidence but get deflated the moment someone with an ounce of logic and common sense chimes in. There’s plenty of facepalm moments waiting for you, so get scrolling and upvoting your fave pics. Remember to visit the r/confidentlyincorrect community if you like their stuff!
Bored Panda interviewed the creator of the subreddit, redditor ShadowAlchemy. Read on for what they told us about how the community started and got popular, as well as for their thoughts about to what extent confidence is important in real life and what we should do if we ever find ourselves to be confidently incorrect.
This post may include affiliate links.
Princes vs. Princess. Plurals Are Difficult For Some
Let’s See Those Snarky Atheists Answer That
Well Maybe That’s Her Favorite Kind Of Yogurt
The ‘Confidently Incorrect’ subreddit has been growing by leaps and bounds. Created just over a year ago, in January 2020, they’re continuing to provide awesome content that keeps us humble. (And it’s a gentle reminder to double and triple-check even facts that we’re completely sure about.)
ShadowAlchemy told Bored Panda that they founded the 'Confidently Incorrect' subreddit "on a whim" just over a year ago. "Someone posted a video of Conan interviewing Jennifer Garner to another subreddit called r/WatchPeopleDieInside. I scrolled through the comments and saw someone who thought stuff like that would make a great community of its own. It was super late at night when I saw that, so I made a subreddit really quick for no reason, posted a video or two, then went to bed."
But what ShadowAlchemy couldn't foresee was how quickly the subreddit went viral. They woke up to see a huge surprise. "I wake up with probably 1,000 or so notifications, apparently the sub had blown up overnight! Tons of people were talking about the ridiculously fast growth of the sub, I think we got around 30k members in our first day. It was super popular its first week, and its growth died down a bit after that. We've been on a steady increase ever since. We just hit 400k members, actually!" the founder shared their joy.
Factchecking
Confidently Corrected An Author
*your
In ShadowAlchemy's opinion, confidence is "an incredibly important" part of our personalities. "Without confidence, we're nothing. Confidence is what gets us out of bed, what gets us out the door to face life. People definitely listen to those who show confidence,"
The founder told Bored Panda that we don't have to look far to see the vital role confidence plays in our lives. "Just look at politics. Politicians are probably some of the most confident people on the planet, and a pretty large amount of people just listen to what they say. Our sub is probably 75-80% politics. It's people parroting what they've heard their favorite politicians say, and they parrot it because they believe those politicians. They believe that confidence."
They added, "No one's gonna listen to a shy person with all the facts."
Flag Code? In My America?!
''For The Last Time'', He Proclaimed
Smart Enough To Lead... Smart Enough To Breed?!?!
The founder of the sub also had some spot-on advice for anyone who's been confidently incorrect in their lives. And it all starts with openly admitting that you're wrong (both to others and to yourself). "If someone corrects you and they're right, you've just gotta accept it right then and there. Insisting that you're correct is what makes you look like a dumbass, and what makes you remember it for years and years. Nobody wants to be confidently incorrect, but if you are, you've gotta admit it. You've gotta admit that you're wrong."
ShadowAlchemy said that nothing would be possible without the incredibly supportive members and moderators that make up the r/confidentlyincorrect subreddit. "Thanks to all the people who've brought this subreddit up so much, it was quite the surprise for me. Thanks to my mod team for keeping this sub together."
"I'm Not Sure If I Agree But Ok"
Hmm... Yes. That Sounds Right. Zeus, Mr Horny Year Round, Has Only One Son
I love it that he was random things like animals and gold showers (gold thank you not golden lol), like who were these women like "damn, that goose is sexy!"
Third Hole?! Surely You Jest!
Some people should really be forced to take anatomy before being allowed to go near any hole.
Yes willlsgcreed there are in fact 3 holes. The a**s, vagina and urethra.
I find the amount of women who don't know they have a urethra very scary.
Load More Replies...The smallest bit of logic collapses this thought. We can't hold in period blood, which comes out of our vaginas. So why would we be able to hold in urine if it came out of our vaginas? (Also, the thought of peeing of of my vagina makes me laugh.)
That's actually what some men think, apparently; it occasionally comes up in the posts here. I blame abysmal sex ed in the US since I've never encountered this belief in my country.
Load More Replies...This is probrably due to the level of USA public education in sex and basic anatomy. He has two holes, therefore (in his mind) women must as well.
It never said he was an american. Although he probably was.
Load More Replies...Would probably find it very difficult - seeing he has this whole 'hole' confusion going on.
Load More Replies...For anybody confused by this, the external genitalia of the female of our species is the vulva. There are two holes in the vulva, one is the urethra and the other is the internal genitalia (aka the vagina). A lot of people think the vulva is the vagina and a lot of people don't know that the urethra and vagina are separate.
B.r.u.h please just shut up if you don't know what you are talking about
Some of us mother didn't sign his 'Sexual Education' form that one week it was taught in class evidently... and yes I'm laughing at the even one week part I wrote out. That's all we get here in the lovely Mormon state of Utah.
And the spelling of a**e suggests that this dipshit is British. We all have our own variety of dipshit, eh?
Now everyone, calm down, he's a man so OF COURSE he'd know more about our vaginas then we do.
Yes... Yes there is a third hole. Don't talk to women about their own anatomy, especially not on the internet, lest you render yourself publicly undesirable forever.
People still can't figure out that a vulva and a vagina are not the same thing... this doesn't surprise me.
A 35 yr old woman at my work (higher in the hierarchy than me) with two male children and a husband claimed that men don't have bladders. So yeah, the ignorrance goes both ways..
Yes it is stored in the penis right? ;) pee-nis
Load More Replies...Imagine how pee would come out if it came out of a massive (in comparison) hole. It comes out in a stream like men and they have a tiny hole. Seriously, men, take sex ed and pay attention.
Apparently some men only have one brain and it isn't in their cranium.
I know we are often referred to as 'birds', this is the big difference however ;)
Actually there are 3 holes for females: the urethral opening, the vagina and the a**s. Excuse me while I go bleach my eyes looking for diagrams to prove this person wrong
Om are you serious?????? This is literally the dumbest thing I have heard anyone say or at least the one I am most shocked about. That includes people thinking the earth is flat and Americans pointing to Africa or Greenland or take your pick. I am absolutely dumbfounded !! He is clearly older than well at least 4 years old to be able to type a message (in the best case scenario).
I thought the woman in the post was trying to be a bit silly, but apparently it was actually necessary. ..shocked...
Load More Replies...Breaking news...Doctors find third hole where urine is expelled by women. News at 11.
The urethra? and then period stuff comes out the vagina, and poop from the b******e??
Load More Replies...I have had to tell women about their own bodies (I am a Paramedic), many don't realise that they do not in fact pee from their vaginas. There is a small proportion that do however, because their urethra actually goes into their vaginas.
Hahahahahahahahhahahaha.....sadly some females think like willlsgcreed
Hahah, that is sooo hillarious. What a funny man, his inflated selfconfidence and ego is so bursting, it overrules any sane thought.
How can anyone with some grasp of language and the ability to use a computer not know anything about basic anatomy?
O M G ... We actually have 4. But no one teaches anyone about the Skenes gland.
According to willsgcreed's lack of logic he poops with his mouth, unless there's a 3rd hole he can crawl into
Yeah - that third hold, the really small one where catheters go when a woman is in the hospital and like in a coma is called themotherfucking urethra. Study some damned anatomy...
Just wait until he learns about the clitoris ... his mind (but nothing else) will be blown!
That's obviously a man who thinks women pee from their vagina. OMG, the stupidity of some people!
I imagine if this were true, you wouldn’t be able to pee while pregnant, and uh, pretty sure you can’t hold pee for 9 months straight.
Load More Replies...Oh my. You wonder how some men find women who are willing to procreate with them when they know so little about "parts."
At least he correctly employs logic to predict the existence of a third hole.
You know, when I was little I thought I peed out of the Vagina. Then I took health lessons, and learned about my body. You should try it sometime.
I know grown women, married, with children who didn't know this. I think about it sometimes, and I'm just amazed. How can you be a woman and not know?
With the internet today...this really should not be a question that needs addressing.
yeah dude, third hole is right next to the vagina. people are so dumb. " tHeRe'S nO tHiRd hOlE"
We pee out of our urethra which is a separate hole from the vagina.
Load More Replies...No, most of us are just... special...
Load More Replies...Hahaha! Just goes to show you, that some men and women, need a serious course on the female body! I also think, they are likely not good at sex, or being diligent about pleasing a woman! Just themselves! Women have a vagina and, and an urethra! It is just not on the end of a penis!
Sadly, #3 would be a fistula. See: fistulafoundation.org (yeah, that’s a thing) 😞
What? Women naturally have 3 holes. Vagina, a**s and urethra. A 4th hole would be concerning.
Load More Replies...Don't you guys know that the "not peeing out of vaginas" is an entire joke?? It was a trend and some people want to continue it-
What? How is the first offensive to women. She is stating facts and educating people.
Load More Replies...Sorry that is incorrect. The urethra is part of the vulva NOT the vagina. The vagina is a completely seperate hole from the urethra and is for intercourse and child birth. Vulva is the entire area including vagina, urethra and labia etc.
Load More Replies...What? The woman does know, it is willlsgcreed that is clueless.
Load More Replies...There’s a deep sense of shame that we feel when we’ve been outed being wrong even though we thought we were in the right. It’s an embarrassment so powerful, it can still make us flush beet-red and cringe years after it happened.
However, there is a possible upside to this. Research has shown that, counter-intuitively, it’s far easier to correct the errors made by people who are extremely confident that they’re right, compared to correcting the mistakes made by those who have ‘low confidence’ that they’re correct.
This is called the ‘hypercorrection effect’ which essentially means that we’re more likely to remember the correct answer to a question if we’re proven wrong when we’re extremely confident that we actually know the ‘right’ answer. Or, in other words, we remember being shocked at how at odds the truth was with our confidence that we were right.
Of course, there are some nuances like how some high confidence errors can ‘reemerge’ if we’re not tested on our newfound knowledge quickly enough. But on the bright side, being confidently incorrect might just be the best way to retain facts and figures after we make complete buffoons of ourselves online. So go out there and don’t be afraid to fail, dear Readers—your newfound knowledge will stick in your mind like a panda in a bamboo grove.
"Thank God I'm A Math Major"
Do The Basic Math, People!
Oscar The Grouch
But he is not homeless. That is where he chooses to live and loves it. Omg I am defending a puppet. Never saw that coming lol.
Ah, Us Politics... A Neverending Source
1) Star Is A Shape And 2) Oranges And Blackberries
Blackcurrants, redcurrants . The colour orange was named after the fruit.
Covid Has Brought Out The Best In Everyone!
Communism Is When You Are Only Allowed To Buy One Share Of A Stock
Abigail Must See This Reply As An Instant Win
America Didn’t Import Slaves
He Wasn’t Even Italian, He Was Austrian And Born In Modern Day Croatia. Not To Mention He Was Also An American Citizen At One Point
So many wrongs. Nikola Tesla is a Croatian Serb (minority group). He lived well into the 20th century (not the 1700s). He is not Nikolai or Nicolas, but Nikola. Ford parts mostly come from the EU + Japan, Venezuela, Canada...
“Where’d You Get That, From CNN?”
Someone Doesn’t Understand How The Food Supply Chain Works... Or Agriculture, For That Matter
Ben...
I saw the name Ben Shapiro and instantly knew that this was going to be interesting...
Wikipedia Is Wrong
Trying To Justify A Murder
Serious answer: If you can speak (and make a sound), it means you can exhale. It doesn't mean you can inhale.
So Confidently
Three Perfect Example. Except For, Not
Plus JKR actually got a grant so she could write HP. Guess where the money came from?
Hmmmm
“That’s Because We Are Not A Democracy!”
*5999
I Guess Aztecs Are Not Native To The Americas...
Defo A 'Strayan
You Are Not Circumcised
Micro$oft
Confidently Argued Blind People Couldn't Feel Their Own Fingers
Man, Those Pesky Hackers Evolve More And More Every Day
It Does
1 Kilometre Is Less Than A Mile
Apparently, Skin Color Is An STD Now
Redefining Middleman
“Counting Votes After Election Day Has Never Been Done Before”
Never Leave Home Without A Clean Tampon!
Andy: "Sir, I have three sisters and a fiance, and I'm sure they would agree with me that you've been using your tampons incorrectly the whole time."
Confidently Incorrect About North America
The President Of The United States, Totally Ignorant Of History That Took Place During His Own Lifetime
I saw the name Donald Trump and knew this was going to be good.
The Greeks Were Christians
Diamonds Are Heavier Than... Diamonds?
Ok first diamond isn't a metal (it's carbon) and 1g of diamond is still 1g of diamond ( the old question of which is heavier a tonne of feathers or a tonne of lead)
Good Job
An Interesting Way Of Adding Percentages....
The Facebook experts...they know everything, and it's true, because the friend of the daughther of a friend told so...
I did not think it was possible for me to lose any more faith in humanity.
That's just because you're not trying hard enough. 3 to 4 hours of reading comments on certain websites and you'll know that any faith in humanity is baseless and delusional.
Load More Replies...i am really upset with a lot of the comments under these. yes those people were absolute idiots but people kept generalizing us americans as stupid, not all of us are stupid and it really makes me pissed
Completely agree but don't get worked up, there's plenty of us less ignorant as well, who don't generalise. You come across people like that everywhere
Load More Replies...This whole thing, everyone laughing that Americans are stupid... It makes you smart calling out the idiots for their ignorance, right? But isn't generalizing that all "Americans" must be stupid, another form of ignorance? It's actually pretty unfair and offensive. I'm all for a bit of banter online, but if I was from the US, I would hate the stereotype. Stupid is Everywhere sadly 🤨...
I'd like to point out most of the Americans who don't know common facts probably didn't finish third grade and live in a trailer. Most Americans know basic geography, metric system, history and other stuff. Don't let this post fool you.
I agree with Sharona with the don't be elitist part. Do you know the story of the average person living in a trailer? I wonder how little debt they have versus how much you must have, unless your smugness is the result of a trust fund you didn't earn. I'm sure they're more content than you, as well lol. Sharona, don't make fun of Grandpa Joe like that. He might hear you.
Load More Replies...Not unique to your side of the pond. We breed morons over here too, sorry
Load More Replies...Some people make it their lives' mission to prove their stupidity to the world :(
i have facepalmed so much my face is now very red.....=-= how do people like this exist??
i really wish the immediate response to seeing an idiot on the internet wasn't to say something like, let me guess, they're an american. don't get me wrong, there are plenty of dumb people in this country but it just annoys the americans who are actually good people to hear stuff like that
Take the opportunity to read some of the positive lists this site. Let your bitterness go :)
Yes, this list is funny. But the comments are so rude!
Load More Replies...This is depressing. I'm still praying it's a bunch of trolls... i still don't want to believe this kind of proud idiocy... this... aggressive stupidity... this ... confident, self-righteous imbecilism (I know, not a word) ... is just a joke. A bad one? yes. A joke? Please say yes.
I enjoyed the ones I read, but I had to stop reading because it just became so distressing to realize how many uninformed people there are.
Just read the Bored Panda '50 most Wholesome Pics' page and was feeling good, then read this one and I'm back down again.
Dolphins are fish, crops come from the grocery store, Canada isn’t North America, tampons in the butt…. this level of stupid used to shock me in the past, but not anymore. There always has been, and always will be, a significant % of the population that’s just hopelessly ignorant and scary crazy. And way beyond reach. At least you can spot them today… they all wear red hats
Several of these are NOT wrong. The comments on them are frightening though. Stay in school, kids. The one about 6000 BC is especially frightening that zero people understand the tweet, or how negative numbers work. The post (and joke it contained) was correct in every way. In the year 6000BC they did not have axes, so the year BEFORE that, they didn't use axes. The kid is punching through the tree FFS. Stay in school ya'll.
The Facebook experts...they know everything, and it's true, because the friend of the daughther of a friend told so...
I did not think it was possible for me to lose any more faith in humanity.
That's just because you're not trying hard enough. 3 to 4 hours of reading comments on certain websites and you'll know that any faith in humanity is baseless and delusional.
Load More Replies...i am really upset with a lot of the comments under these. yes those people were absolute idiots but people kept generalizing us americans as stupid, not all of us are stupid and it really makes me pissed
Completely agree but don't get worked up, there's plenty of us less ignorant as well, who don't generalise. You come across people like that everywhere
Load More Replies...This whole thing, everyone laughing that Americans are stupid... It makes you smart calling out the idiots for their ignorance, right? But isn't generalizing that all "Americans" must be stupid, another form of ignorance? It's actually pretty unfair and offensive. I'm all for a bit of banter online, but if I was from the US, I would hate the stereotype. Stupid is Everywhere sadly 🤨...
I'd like to point out most of the Americans who don't know common facts probably didn't finish third grade and live in a trailer. Most Americans know basic geography, metric system, history and other stuff. Don't let this post fool you.
I agree with Sharona with the don't be elitist part. Do you know the story of the average person living in a trailer? I wonder how little debt they have versus how much you must have, unless your smugness is the result of a trust fund you didn't earn. I'm sure they're more content than you, as well lol. Sharona, don't make fun of Grandpa Joe like that. He might hear you.
Load More Replies...Not unique to your side of the pond. We breed morons over here too, sorry
Load More Replies...Some people make it their lives' mission to prove their stupidity to the world :(
i have facepalmed so much my face is now very red.....=-= how do people like this exist??
i really wish the immediate response to seeing an idiot on the internet wasn't to say something like, let me guess, they're an american. don't get me wrong, there are plenty of dumb people in this country but it just annoys the americans who are actually good people to hear stuff like that
Take the opportunity to read some of the positive lists this site. Let your bitterness go :)
Yes, this list is funny. But the comments are so rude!
Load More Replies...This is depressing. I'm still praying it's a bunch of trolls... i still don't want to believe this kind of proud idiocy... this... aggressive stupidity... this ... confident, self-righteous imbecilism (I know, not a word) ... is just a joke. A bad one? yes. A joke? Please say yes.
I enjoyed the ones I read, but I had to stop reading because it just became so distressing to realize how many uninformed people there are.
Just read the Bored Panda '50 most Wholesome Pics' page and was feeling good, then read this one and I'm back down again.
Dolphins are fish, crops come from the grocery store, Canada isn’t North America, tampons in the butt…. this level of stupid used to shock me in the past, but not anymore. There always has been, and always will be, a significant % of the population that’s just hopelessly ignorant and scary crazy. And way beyond reach. At least you can spot them today… they all wear red hats
Several of these are NOT wrong. The comments on them are frightening though. Stay in school, kids. The one about 6000 BC is especially frightening that zero people understand the tweet, or how negative numbers work. The post (and joke it contained) was correct in every way. In the year 6000BC they did not have axes, so the year BEFORE that, they didn't use axes. The kid is punching through the tree FFS. Stay in school ya'll.