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30 Times Authority Figures Misled The Public By Telling Them The Most Destructive Lies In Human History
Interview With Author
We all lie. From little white lies to intricate manipulations, lies lurk around practically every corner of every single social interaction you have. TED estimates that we’re lied to between 10 to a whopping 200 times a day. We ourselves tell 1 or 2 lies every day, on average (even if we’d like to think of ourselves as humble and honest).
And while some lies are made with good intentions so as not to hurt someone’s feelings, others are done to actively harm and deceive others. For instance, some might cover up sensitive information that would harm a company’s profits because of how dangerous a product or material really is. Others use lies to further their political or corporate agendas by cherry-picking findings.
From people being told that smoking and lead in gasoline aren’t dangerous to sugar supposedly being ‘healthier’ than eating fats, the folks over on r/AskReddit called out all of the biggest, most destructive lies in human history.
The viral thread is a living testament to the fact that, though we should generally lean towards trusting scientists and experts, we should also learn how to distinguish between reliable and unreliable sources. Not to mention how important it is to double-check facts, think about the potential hidden motivations of any authority figure, and ask hard and uncomfortable questions. No authority figure should be taken at their word blindly. (The key word here is 'blindly.')
Bored Panda reached out to the author of the viral thread, Reddit user u/thoughtofeverything to have a chat about information reliability. What's more, we got in touch with Steven Wooding, a member of the Institute of Physics in the UK, a member of the Omni Calculator Project, and the creator of the Weird Units Converter. Read on for both interviews.
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Climate change is YOUR fault. YOU need to change the way YOU do things. Not the corporate conglomerate that's pumping a billion tons a year
Monday 3 years ago
I take full credit for climate change. It was all me. I'm the climate change super villain nobody talks about. From now on you shall address me as The Pope of Pollution. Kneel before my might!
iseefractals 3 years ago
It's EVERYONES F*cking fault. Here's how the GHG emmissions break down in the US. 27% comes from YOU driving your cars, EVERYWHERE, 25% comes from electricity production that YOU use to run your AC and power your lights and electronics, 24% comes from comes from Industry, the manufacture and maintenance of EVERYTHING that YOU buy, sell and use, 13% comes from commercial and residential, primarily the burning of fossil fuels to heat YOUR homes and businesses, and 11% is agricultural, the production of the food that YOU f*cking eat. The average american has a GHG output FOUR TIMES higher than the average of EVERYONE ELSE ON THE PLANET. The 70% of GHG emissions coming from 100 corporations claim includes ALL of China as a corp, and ignores the fact that all those corporations exist solely because YOU continue to consume the c**p they produce with no regard for the consequences. It's embarrassing how often this claim tops these kinds of lists. https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-gre
Jp@nda 3 years ago
Um i take public transportation because i live in a large city and it's more economically sound. As for electricity, I need to be able to stay warm, cook, bathe, and see what I am doing. Also, I need to eat. However, I don't use plastic bags, i reuse and recycle everything and am more conscientious about my usage than most. So chill back with the YOU stuff. Everyone has a choice, it's how you live your life every day and where you spend your money.
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Anne 3 years ago
Most humans want the stuff they are selling.. so.. it is our fault. Shop local, shop sustainable, durable and you help.
GoGoPDX 3 years ago (edited)
I totally agree with this, but the big issue is a lot of the local, sustainable, durable stuff is more expensive, and a lot of people just can't afford it. I love my farmers market, but it can be 2 to 3 times more expensive than the Wal-mart (I know, I know) up the street. It is the same with sustainable. Reusable zip lock bags are great, but cost a lot more upfront, an many people can't afford the up front cost. Same with buying in bulk . It is unfortunate but true.
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RedPepper 3 years ago
Before the "Climate change is your fault", there was the "Climate change is a myth" and the "Climate change is natural"
MimSorensson 3 years ago
None of those actually went away, I’m afraid. Anything, ANYTHING that gives us the delusion that we don’t have to change pretty much everything is clung to with absurd determination. Otherwise we’ll have to face horrible, horrible things, like the fact that capitalism doesn’t work, that oil is not renewable and that eternal expansion in a finite system is impossible by definition. Those things are just not acceptable. So… “myth”. “Natural”. “Your fault”. “‘The scientists will sort it out”. “Absolutely fúcking anything that makes it possible to ignore it all for as long as possible”. It’s human nature, I’m afraid, ever since we constructed a civilization that got too big for us to handle.
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Leo Domitrix 3 years ago
Allowing personal politics to block moves to *help ameliorate climate change* on all levels (including corporate) is indeed the problem of *individuals*.
Kathryn Baylis 3 years ago (edited)
We’re at fault? Not Exxon and other Big Oil executives, who knew about climate change for decades—-like, since at least the 1960s or earlier, definitely early enough to have done something about it before it reached the crisis point we’re at now—-but squelched all research proving it so they could continue to make it worse and not have to retool for cleaner technology?
iseefractals 3 years ago
Actually, the first experiment conducted showing that higher concentration of co2 caused air temperature to rise faster, get hotter and stay that way for longer periods was conducted in 1854. The findings were widely circulated in scientific circles for years. Exxon conducted their own in house study in 1977. But here's the thing. Remember that little "hole in the ozone" issue of the early 80's? Yeah, everyone knows that humanity is capable of having disastrous impact on the planet, and while the oil companies are certainly scummy for their misinformation campaigns, there have been countless credible sources throughout the past 40 years calling bull$hit, and they've been ignored, particularly in the US, where GHG emissions per person are 4 times higher than anywhere else in the world. The average person outpaces anyone else on the planet just by driving their personal car. Everywhere. As they suck down fast food, and meat, and fancy imported produce, with everything wrapped in plastic.
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RELATED:
#2
If we give tax breaks to the wealthy the wealth will trickle down!
Mark Fuller 3 years ago
Any of you lot from the U.K.?? We've just seen a car crash of an attempt to drive this agenda and it's shattered our economy in less than three weeks. How thick can our PM be when she thinks that millionaires are compassionate, altruistic individuals wholly committed to sharing and spreading wealth. Bloody idiot!
Leo Domitrix 3 years ago
This has been debunked since 1987's "Black Monday" market crash, but people still think if they make billionaires richer, the billionaires will.... no, the money doesn't trickle down. I can tell you what does. Starts with P, rhymes with hiss.
Kathryn Baylis 3 years ago
Trickle down is b******t, but trickle up is viable. Give the 99% extra money, and we put it back into the economy, instead of moving it offshore to avoid paying taxes on it—-taxes that would contribute to maintaining infrastructure and funding public services, which the 1% also take advantage of, often more advantage than the rest of us take.
Powerful Katrinka 3 years ago
Top of a particular (cough) party's agenda if they retake Congress this year? Cutting taxes for corporations and the very wealthy. They're very upfront about this, despite the fact that the last time they did, it added 2 TRILLION dollars to the federal deficit.
Got Myself 4 Pandas 3 years ago
Ah yes, the everyday person waiting for crumbs from the rich persons table....how condescending
Will Cable 3 years ago
This has to be the biggest amount of utter cow chips there has ever been. How long does it take then dear politicians,100 years, 1000 years............1 billion years
General Anaesthesia 3 years ago
A lot of voters all over the world keep falling for this one so it's guaranteed eternal life.
#3
Nestle — The Baby Killer Scandal. They deliberately lied to mothers in developing countries to sell their baby formula, telling them that their own milk was nutritionally insufficient and their babies would be unhealthy if they continued to breastfeed them. The result of this marketing campaign was approximately 66,000 infant mortalities.
Source: https://www.nber.org/papers/w24452
Rostit . 3 years ago
How many bored anda comments have told you it's impossible or that you cant? Just curious because when I mentioned I have also been nestle free for 20+ years I was laughed at.
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JustJackie 3 years ago
Nestlé is a disgusting company, truly the worst.I don't buy any of their products anymore.They don't care about their customers, they don't care about the harm they cause to people and the environment. What they do should be illegal. The way they also seem to not care at all about POC, is horrifying. There are plenty of stories online about what they do. And they seem to get away with it.
Biofish23 3 years ago (edited)
Keep in mind that these were families who 1) Would be unable to afford enough formula for their babies once the "free" samples ran out. And 2) Did not have reliable access to safe clean water to prepare the formula or wash the bottles. It was strait up, delibrate murder for profit!
Felisae Moon 3 years ago
Nestle also makes pet food along with other companies. The pet food industry and the demonization of natural diets for cats and dogs should be included in this post as well.
Key Lime 3 years ago
When I had my first child we were at a Family Reunion and one Uncle (who was always working overseas, so i didn't know him well) asked if I was breastfeeding. Yes. But I thought at the time it was creepy. Then I find out he works for UNICEF on the encouraging Mothers to breastfeed division. He even wrote a book.
Sanchez Vasile 3 years ago
apparently cargill, conagra, heinz, mondelez, general foods and others are much worse for environment, consumer and the world market, including the international development; nestle is blamed only for being european, here is the whole list - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Food_manufacturers_of_the_United_States
The author of the viral post, redditor u/thoughtofeverything shared a few thoughts about distinguishing between reliable and unreliable sources and experts. They said that there probably isn't a definite answer to this.
"In our post-truth world it’s harder than ever to find information that’s not only truthful, but isn’t skewed in a way to present a particular bias or pit people against each other," they told Bored Panda.
"The only advice I can give is to not blindly accept anything and not rely on just one source of info. It’s our responsibility to be critical, discerning, objective and not fall into the confirmation bias trap."
#4
You can achieve anything you want in your life if you work hard enough.
Minath 3 years ago
That guy's still working hard at 90, when does he get to unlock his achievement.
Mark Howell 3 years ago
As Delboy says, 'next year we'll be millionaires'
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Nadine Debard 3 years ago
Too bad you didn't live long enough to achieve your goals. If only you made it to 286 years
#5
There is a God and you should kill all those who don’t believe in your God.
Den Ver 3 years ago (edited)
It's not uncommon to hear religious people say that Hitler and Stalin killed millions because they didn't believe in God. My 1st response is to point out they are deflecting the conversation in order to deny the awful history of religion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . My 2nd is to point out that it wasn't Stalin's or Hitler's lack of faith in established religion (Hitler's views are complicated - he wasn't an atheist) that resulted in the death of millions, it was their mustaches. Both men had distinctive mustaches and both men caused millions to suffer. When they look befuddled, I tell them I don't really believe this, but it's no less absurd than saying they killed millions because they didn't believe in God. THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CORRELATION AND CAUSATION. Their lack of belief didn't cause millions to die anymore than their mustaches caused millions to die. There is, however, an undeniable direct link, between religious belief and the torture and killing of millions of people over thousands of years in the name of an unproven deities.
Lyone Fein 3 years ago (edited)
As someone with a PhD in Comparative Religion, I feel that it is crucial to point out that a belief in a Grand Unifying Theory (which is what the God concept boils down to for most people) does not require the obliteration of those who don't hold to your belief. As far as I am aware there are only 2 religions that have the doctrinal requirement of universal conversion: Christianity and Islam. There are currently dozens of other religious traditions being practiced by people (and there have been many more that are no longer practiced) that simply do not have the problematic histories that these 2 religions have. Belief in God has no inherent connection to violence. What makes *any* ideology violent is the notion that there can be only one right belief and everyone has to adopt it. It is intolerance and egotism that lead to violence.
Isaac Harvey 3 years ago (edited)
If only the threat of eternal punishment holds you back from being a bad person, you are still a bad person.
Mistiekim 3 years ago
I don’t know how spreading the word of God turned into killing in his name. Or why forcing someone to “believe” is something a person thinks God wants. Even Christians themselves can’t agree on a single interpretation of the religion. The Lutherans broke away from the Catholic Church. So did the Mormons, Baptists, Methodists, etc. Then there is the Jewish faith. If each sect thought their way was the right way to worship God and wanted to wipe out the other sects with violence, that would only be about power. Not faith like they claim to have.
Kathryn Baylis 3 years ago (edited)
“Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! Our chief weapon is surprise... surprise and fear... fear and surprise... Our two weapons are fear and surprise... and ruthless efficiency.... Our three weapons are fear, and surprise, and ruthless efficiency... and an almost fanatical devotion to the Pope... Our four... no... Amongst our weapons... Amongst our weaponry... are such elements as fear, surprise... I'll come in again.” (All joking aside, the long history of persecution in the name of religion—-basically people totally f*****g up a good basic set of rules for living around other people to gain power, make money, get back at people they don’t like, etc, etc, etc—-is what completely turned me off organized religion. My Catholic ancestors (including 3 of my grandparents) would be appalled, and probably have put me on the rack until I converted. My Protestant ancestors (from the one grandfather’s side—-the lone Methodist in the Catholic woodpile) would also be appalled but probably have foregone torture to just burn me as a witch.
Anne 3 years ago
Gods and religions were thought up to explain life questions and natural events. Religious books contain a lot of good social rules (don't kill, don't steal) - but have been amended too much to help the ideas and cunning ways of - mostly men - to suppress others and get rich. We have scientific explanations now. The gods and religions may leave the public now. (Y'all keep doing in private whatever you want to though)
gotham-panda 3 years ago (edited)
If your god tells you to kill/torture/violently convert the unbelievers, your god (and his representatives) is a selfish, sadistic, tyrant and not worthy of anyone's worship in the first place. The problem with the "Big Three" is that there are millions upon millions of modern humans that are more ethical than the entity in their ancient books. When other humans display more ethics than your church/mosque/synagogue and the deity you claim is "all good" and "all merciful", and you STILL can't see that - you are a brainwashed minion of the organization. Any religion that encourages you to inflict ANY harm (physical/emotional/mental) on those who don't believe as you do to "save their souls", doesn't love humanity. They love POWER.
The_Tired_Artist 3 years ago
last part, lie. first part. I believe its true that a god exists, but I respect you and treat you normal if you dont belive. (yes, i am religious)
#6
Plastic is easily recyclable so long as the public does their duty to sort it and bring it to its designated waste area.
GoGoPDX 3 years ago
If you can afford it. Cost is a real hurdle for a lot of the world. Those glass tupawear containers are more than the plastic ones, sometimes by 2 or 3 times. It sucks, but is an absolute reality.
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Will Cable 3 years ago
Then you find your local government collects it and dumps the plastic in landfill but still tell you that recycling saves YOU money in local government funding and good for the environment.
BoredPandaSucks 3 years ago (edited)
but what if you have curbside recycling as part of your weekly trash pickup but THEY don't sort and recycle it? It's a product to them. if they don;t find a buyer for it, it ends up in the landfill.
Erik Ivan 3 years ago
Sorting and recycle are clearly better then to just dump it all. But it will probably not save us.
Balso Steele 3 years ago
No US companies actually recycle plastic. What little is actually recyclable gets shipped to India or China & dumped except for a small percentage that never actually entered into consumer circulation. The rest goes to landfills or gets burned as a supplimental fuel. When you pay for recycling, you're paying for two trash pickups.
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Sawyer is watching 3 years ago
This is not true, I recently ly learned that 10% of plastic given to recycle companies is all that is recycled
Anon Ymous 3 years ago
That's why Reduce and Reuse came before Recycle, but we were sold a lie to buy more and just recycle because of corporate greed.
James Doe 3 years ago
Its not a big lie. Denial of it is though. A very human lie though as we are evolutionarily trained to be lazy and find reasons to act that way. Yes, unfortunately big parts of it won't get recycled - partly because of the insane amout of contamination with stuff that doesn't belong there. BUT at least it can get put on the manufacturers bill and handled specifically. E.g. burning it for energy in a modern facility isn't the worst. EVEN MORE IMPORTANTLY it ensures that glass and paper are cleaner, both of which habe a very high ratio of recyclement
Susan Reid Smith 3 years ago
There is the problem of higher transportation exp. fuel costs to carry the bulk and weight of the glass. I'm not saying glass is bad, just that it isn't an easy solution.
Load More Replies...Redditor u/thoughtofeverything told Bored Panda that they tend to rely on the BBC for more unbiased news. "As far as mainstream news sources, I like BBC World News. It helps to have a source outside of the US with no political agenda," they said.
"I’m also fond of the podcast Abe Lincoln’s Top Hat, which I think does a pretty good job of covering US Politics from a more neutral perspective, despite the show’s hosts being pretty liberal themselves."
The OP noted that redditors, as a whole, tend to have "very strong opinions about things," which is probably why the thread went viral in the first place. They also added that they'd like to pass on their best wishes to the people of Iran and Ukraine.
#7
Climate change isn't real
Vaccines cause Autism
Trickle down economics
Take your pick, the top is the end of the world as we know it, the second is keeping many diseases around and literally killing millions of people, and the last is what enables the wealthy to continue to exploit the rest of the world.
Den Ver 3 years ago (edited)
There is a political party that should change its logo to either (A). An Ostrich with its head in the sand, or (B). Chicken Little screeching the sky is falling. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (copying the OP's format) --> Take your pick, ... in the top example (climate change), they have their head stuck in the sand and deny easily observable facts; ... in the second (vaccines cause autism/dangerous side effects) -- they are like chicken little spreading misinformation; ... and last (trickle down economics) they are in denial (head in sand) as to the actual effects/failure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Which Symbol Is Better? . . . . . . . . . .
Gabriel 3 years ago
That vaccines cause autism is a hoax spred by a "doctor" without any evidence supporting it, it has never been said by an authority
Bad Alchemy 3 years ago
The reality of climate change is just so inconvenient to those who live in the delusional land of Infinite Economic Growth, that they must deny it or risk shaking the foundations of their belief and continued existence.
Michael Largey 3 years ago
With any wide-spread misinformation, always ask yourself "Who profits from this?"
Wombat1985 3 years ago
Punctuation is a friend! Effing use it and maybe people will have a clue what you are trying to say...!
#8
Sugar isn’t the problem, it’s fats!
Let’s make everything “fat-free” & just triple the sugar content!
xolitaire 3 years ago
It's a trend thing, just like fashion. For a few years fats were the culprit, then it was sugar, nowadays it's gluten. Eliminating something completely from your diet overnight is never healthy.
cogadh 3 years ago
The reality is all in moderation is the only healthy way and listen to what your body is telling you. Sometimes things like cravings are simply your body telling you exactly what you need.
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Bailey Yasuda 3 years ago
The right amout of fat is WHAT HELPS YOUR BODY PROCESS THE FAT AND HELP YOU LOSE IT. SUGAR IS WHATS BAD FOR YOU.
Will Cable 3 years ago
Like government, they are full of sweetness come election time but fat cats as soon as elections are over.
Jessica J. 2 years ago
Or add so much salt that you have high cholesterol at 25 and die of a heart attack at 37.
LilliVB 3 years ago
Every nutritionist worth their degree says that you have to eat food from every group of macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, fats), as they are the source of energy that boasts your body, and they are all necessary in different ways to function. The trick to stay healthy is not to overeat them.
#9
Vaccine cause autism.
Minath 3 years ago
The same "doctor" Andrew Wakefield also said that Crohn's was caused by the MMR vaccine. It messed up research for a few years until it was discovered that he was talking out of his a**e.
Katie Lutesinger 3 years ago
And he only made that BS up because he planned to make money off it. And his supporters aren't much different - ever notice how anti vaxx rhetoric is so often followed by attempts to push "herbal remedies" and "essential oils" on you for horribly jacked up prices? Not a coincidence.
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xolitaire 3 years ago
Wakefield ruined this for all of us and his idiocy birthed a whole generation of "self-educated" Karens who endanger their children based on a lie
MimSorensson 3 years ago
I thought about that too - was revoking his licence really enough? I mean considering all the children already lying dead in the wake of his blatant lie? I don’t know, I really don’t.
Load More Replies... Cuppa tea? 3 years ago
I had already 3 COVID jabs, and I'm still not autistic. Should I keep going?
Monday 3 years ago
You need more variety, try mixing in a measles vax and maybe a rabies shot for good measure.
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Mistiekim 3 years ago
Or…hear me out….psychology caught up to Autism and was able to finally diagnose it properly. Kids can exhibit symptoms well before given any vaccine.
Jade Drew 3 years ago
Not that I in any way believe there is a correlation between vaccination and autism but first vaccination is given at 8 weeks old, you will not have signs of autism before 8 weeks
Load More Replies... featherytoad 3 years ago
Jenny Mcarthy is a big supporter of this. I believe she was even on some talk shows spewing this.
AffenpinscherMom 3 years ago
So sad for years major misunderstanding of causation versus correlation. The average age of initial ASD diagnosis correlates with the age when the kids get a slew of vaccines.
xolitaire 3 years ago
That's not a "misunderstanding". Wakefield deliberately spread this nonsense based on an experiment that held no medical value since it ignored set guidelines. Example: his "control group" was so small it was a joke. He even had his license revoked because of this mess and still held seminars screaming that vaccines cause autism
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Tamra 3 years ago
I don't necessarily believe that there has been a spike in autism, but rather medical and psychological science has more recently been able to identify it. I think it's been around quite a long time, we just have more ways to identify it now.
Load More Replies...Meanwhile, science-savvy Steven, from the Omni Calculator team, told Bored Panda that "if a claim comes from a single source (whether it is an authority figure or not), you have to be quite skeptical."
He said that we have to look for independent sources to back up the claim. However, even then, this might not mean that a specific claim is necessarily true. "Even if there are loads [of independent sources], they may have gotten locked into a 'groupthink' situation, and the claim is actually false. We should never have blind faith in authority figures. There is always a chance they could be wrong."
According to Steven, experimental bias or cherry-picking results are the most common ways that authority figures can mislead others. "Often you just need to look at who funded the research. It's not surprising that (in the past at least) research funded by a maker of cigarettes said that their product was safe," he told Bored Panda.
#10
Corporations should have the same rights as people
General Anaesthesia 3 years ago
I'll believe that when the courts sentence a corporation to death in Texas.
Katie Lutesinger 3 years ago
I watched a documentary called The Corporation once, which concluded that if a corporation were a person it would be easily diagnosed as a psychopath.
Kathryn Baylis 3 years ago
Citizens United should be at the top of the list of f*****g stupid legislation that needs to be reversed and buried forever.
Tamra 3 years ago
Because corporations have been legally granted "personhood" so to speak, it's allowed them to have the dangerous amount of power and leverage they currently enjoy, and it's the same set of laws that allow them to f**k over their employees and price gouge with impunity. It's one of the things destroying the economy in the US for the majority of the population.
Bad Alchemy 3 years ago
Anyone familiar with the online game Nation States? In the 27 types of governments they have listed, the current governing principles in the U.S. would classify us as a Compulsory Consumerist State: e.g., the people only have a purpose as long as they consume enough product to keep the corporate state running.
Peter Ledoux 3 years ago
Corporations can buy, sell, own, Pretty much anything a human can do, except die.
#11
"I have read and agree to the terms of use."
Will Cable 3 years ago
By the time you've read the terms the device is obsolete, no longer supported and you've aged 3 years
Peter Ledoux 3 years ago
If I can't figure it out without the instructions I'm going to be annoyed by using it.
#12
The idea we need to keep purchasing new clothes to ‘stay in the trend’.
Lyone Fein 3 years ago
Also the notion that you need to get rid of clothing that you haven't worn in a while. I used to purge my closet once every few years, then I would end up just going out and replacing the exact same white shirt or heavy sweater, etc.
Lily Mae Kitty 3 years ago
you are only supposed to purge what you have not worn in 2 years, not purge your closet every 2 years. If you haven't worn something for 2 years, clearly you don't wear it so can let it go.
Load More Replies... Amanda Rose 3 years ago
I watch videos by Bernadette Banner and I love it when she goes on her rants about fast fashion. I wear my clothes until they fall apart and then I patch them up and continue to wear them. Once they really are done, I use them as cleaning rags. Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without.
Olive of the Meowls 3 years ago
Most people don’t really care about how you look, they’re all more worried about how they look.
Auntie Bear 3 years ago
If you keep your stuff long enough it comes back in style. We're 3 trends in from my childhood and my nieces are currently wearing things I still have from high school.
The expert believes that there seems to be a "reasonable balance" between outright skepticism and blind faith in the scientific community right now. "If the public were very skeptical, science would be hindered, and progress slowed. In areas such as healthcare and technology, science is delivering for people and making a difference in their everyday lives," Steven said.
"In the past few decades, [faith in the scientific community] has probably increased. Climate change is now more widely accepted than ever before now that its effects are clear to see. And science has got the world through the recent pandemic with innovative vaccines, anti-viral drugs, and data science." Steven added that the Omni Calculator team recently released a journalist's guide to numbers e-book that might be useful for anyone working with numbers, looking for trusted sources of information, and fact-checking claims.
#13
The government works for your best interest
Chich 3 years ago
Politicians work for the party's best interestes. They are only interested in you when its election time.
Monday 3 years ago
Even then they don't really care about you, just about manipulating you to get what they want.
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Panda Bear 3 years ago
More generally, the lie is that any elected official is there to serve you. No. They're there on a power trip. Whether it's a politician or the president of the golf club. The only time they're interested in you is on the run up to elections. Maybe someone can think of a counter-example - it would be nice to think that there were some.
Kendra Miller 3 years ago
It's currently my municipality's election. I watched the all candidates meeting and I voted for the ones I could tell cared. The ones who cared were passionate and one even used his time, when he was supposed to be advocating for himself, to advocate for our local library. It's interesting how lackluster all the council members were who were seeking reelection. The question is, will the people who actually care deeply about our community get in, or will it be the people who just want the power and easy paycheck.
#14
Getting good grades secures you an easy life.
Saico Hipe 3 years ago
Haha, nope! I got straight As and then dropped out as a teen due to extreme emotional issues. I know kids from my class back in Texas who made *awful* grades in school, but now successfully work as skilled tradespeople (or in one case, own his own landscaping business) and, until recently, made WAY more than myself... And I was always the 'smart kid'! Life is about so much more than grades, even if you're an academic.
Michael Largey 3 years ago (edited)
If schools still had shop classes and other vocational courses, those kids who got awful grades would have been getting good ones. "College for everyone" is bad for students and bad for society. If there's a power failure, a bulding full of computer geniuses can accomplish little while they're waiting for the electrician (or somebody like him).
Load More Replies... Leo Domitrix 3 years ago
If only. You end up around lots of other people who got great grades, and then you end up in a shark tank, and it;s worthless, frankly.
James Doe 3 years ago
It's a (purposeful, at least subconsciously) misunderstanding. Good grades in a good school ensure that you learn how to learn. That is one of the biggest factors of success that can be influenced! (Heritage, genetics, place if birth, ... cant be influenced) No one ever said that it guarantees success
Sanchez Vasile 3 years ago
on the contrary, if you aren't on the winners table, it makes you a target.
Yvette Desmarais 3 years ago
As long as you continue to work your a*s off after school and have good luck in life.
Niki A 3 years ago
Yeah, no. I had good grades, but secured no scholarships because I wasn't in any after school activities because we couldn't afford them. Most schools were like, "Your SATs, grades, and behavior are all great, but what activities did you do?" When I explained, most said that was a shame, I was such a good prospect, but I showed no concern for the community or interest, and that just wasn't what they were looking for. I was too "uninvolved." And before anyone says, "There are lots of free programs!!" I lived in a rural area where most people were financially well-off, had two adults in the home working, and could drive themselves at 16. The school provided no transportation outside of a school bus for regular hours, and all of our clubs had dues, unifom or shirt requirements, trip requirements, etc. There were not, and still are not, any outreach programs in my community that people know about readily.
#15
“Everyone’s a winner” or “Everyone is special and gets a gold star” mentality. I understand the goal to build up kids, but it makes adult life and real loss so much tougher on them when they’ve always been told they should get everything they ever want and will always win. There’s barely any resilience built with this mentality. Might be explaining this poorly but it’s hard to word without sounding like I want to smash the happiness of children into the ground because I don’t think everyone is a winner and should get a gold star
Monday 3 years ago (edited)
And don't forget we were blamed for those gold stars too. They gave us participation awards and then complained that we got participation rewards....In my experience kids always knew the participation awards were rubbish and nobody cared about them.
Robert B 3 years ago
You just described my upbringing. Now I’m a bitter old ne’er dowel at 38
Load More Replies... xolitaire 3 years ago
I'm probably gonna get downvoted for this, but this mentality is very wide spread amongst homeschooled kids. Many parents who home school their kids want to create a positive environment by any means necessary, which can include positivity that borders on toxic. It's never easy to critisize your own child - but if you can't do that, don't home school.
Auntriarch 3 years ago
My mother was cleverer than that, everyone got a prize, but each prize was for something different
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Kathryn Baylis 3 years ago (edited)
We shouldn’t be giving gold stars to everybody, but we should be promoting true good sportsmanship, and the old “if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again”. There’s no shame in losing. Keep trying again, and you might win one of the next times. There’s also no shame in realizing you’ve done as well as you’re going to in one endeavor, and switching to something else you’re probably better at anyway. Everybody is smart and talented. We’re all just smart and talented in different ways, so shouldn’t be made to feel bad trying to find our own niche. Making everyone a winner at everything doesn’t allow anyone the opportunity to find where their particular intelligence and talent actually fit.
Michael Largey 3 years ago
This fails in the end. Kids soon figure out that if everyone's a winner then no one really is. My students didn't need wins - they needed self-worth, just like all of us.
Ruth Kennedy 3 years ago
I liked the ethos at the school where I used to teach. There were prizes for top marks, but also one for 'most improved' which rewarded hard work and perseverance. My favourite was the 'Caring and Sharing' award for the pupil who had contributed most to the life of the school that year. It was named after the staff room tea lady who had been everyone's favourite agony aunt. Not so much 'everyone's a winner' as recognising that not all achievements have to be academic. (It was a very academic school.)
Penelope Orange 3 years ago
This should be higher. I feel like it's also contributed to the widespread sense of entitlement prevalent these days.
Dacă nu pierdeam, câștigam 3 years ago
The habit of adults that most children recognize and hate is one of the factors contributing to their behaviour ¶_¶
Load More Replies... Dacă nu pierdeam, câștigam 3 years ago
It needs to be done right. For example, a pre-announced candy or toy reward for competing in sports. The "everyone won" strategy should only be applied when there was no significant competition between the kids in the first place. Otherwise, it's cruel for those who worked hard to win. They did that in summer camp at the end of the week, and I hated the adults who always catered to the few whiny kids who can't take a loss
Dacă nu pierdeam, câștigam 3 years ago
*regarding the sports example, the winners should also get the participation award, plus a more interesting prize (that's not a boring book)
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Shawn Barry 3 years ago
the gold stars were really for the whiny parents who just can't accept that their child isn't the next Michael Jordan/rando sports star
Peter Ledoux 3 years ago
Wait, I don't know anything about gold stars. I was never there, nobody saw me and you can't prove a thing.
It’s absolutely horrifying to learn the effects of having added lead to gasoline. Research shows that exposure to leaded gasoline lowered the IQ of around half of the population in the United States. Gas that contains lead was banned in the US only in 1996.
Florida State University and Duke University researchers found that lead exposure during childhood cost Americans an average of 2.6 IQ points each. Those born in the 1960s and 1970s were affected far more than later generations: some Americans lost up to 6 IQ points while others lost more than 7.
In 2022 nearly everyone has access to the internet, so double-checking facts and verifying the reliability of a person or sources should be easy-peasy. Right? Unfortunately, the increased speed of the spread of information and the rise of social media means that it’s not just the truth that moves around lightning-quick—lies and fake news do, as well.
So while it’s easy to scoff at people in the past for ‘naively’ accepting the fact that gasoline had lead in it or that smoking wasn’t addictive or dangerous, the fact of the matter is that conspiracy theories, corporate lies, and hiding health hazards are all part and parcel of life in the current day, too.
#16
Nuclear is more dangerous than continued reliance on fossil fuels.
Anne 3 years ago
The new nuclear power plants create about a kilo of (highly) toxic waste per year. We could shoot that into space.. Just build them on solid land with no tsunamis and seismic activity
Yeah, okay. 3 years ago
That seems pretty irresponsible. "Just shoot it into space" sounds like yesteryear's solution of "just dump it into the ocean".
Load More Replies... Rachel Ainsworth 3 years ago
This statement makes it seem like there are only two choices possible when there are also lots of other possible choices.
Human #1,232,867 3 years ago
Just look the disaster ready to happen in Ukraine and think again.
Shorty Morty 3 years ago
If the world would realize how good of an option nuclear is we could cut CO² emissions in half and produce cheaper electricity. Nuclear is the future it's more reliable then wind and solar and we have pretty much protected the design.
Yeah, okay. 3 years ago
I think we need to move away from nuclear and use the abundant energy of the Earth - it's ocean currents, it's geysers and volcanoes, the wind and sun all create so much energy, we just haven't moved to use enough of it. Tides coming in and out of the ocean for heavens sake - all movement that could be used to create electricity.
Phil Boswell 3 years ago
Am I right in thinking that the waste from burning coal is also radioactive? I don't recall how it compares but people seem to think that "if it didn't come from a nuclear reactor it can't be radioactive" which is absolutely false.
cogadh 3 years ago
If you own a home with a basement, it's radioactive. If you have smoke detectors in your house, odds are they are radioactive. If you've ever had an X-ray, you've been irradiated. If you watch TV, it's beaming radiation at you. If you have wifi or a cell phone, those antennas are transmitting radiation all around you. If you've ever stood in sunlight, you've been exposed to massive amounts of radiation. Radiation and radioactive materials are everywhere to varying degrees. It's the type of radiation that matters. Most of the common types of radiation I listed are non-ionizing radiation, which mostly passes through solid objects and does little to no harm. Ionizing radiation, the kind in x-rays and nuclear waste, is a different story. Exposure to ionizing radiation can and will harm you at the molecular level, at the very least causing various cancers, at it's worst, virtually melting you. It all depends on the level and duration of the exposure.
Load More Replies... Kendra Miller 3 years ago
I'm not against nuclear, modern nuclear is a marvel. But the cost associated with building is always many X more than what was predicted. They take years and years to build, even for China, who is known for streamlineing building. Like only one nuclear reactor has been built in the US since the 50s because of the public, costs etc. On the other hand you could use all that money and build lots and lots of solar panels and wind turbines and have more power than you would have with nuclear.
#17
Yeah its just a wooden horse haha
Vix Spiderthrust 3 years ago
Perhaps if we were to build a giant wooden badger...
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#18
Historically speaking? That the Jews were at fault for how things were after WWI
Nathaniel 3 years ago
Also, the Jews purposely caused WW2 and profited from it. Yes I have heard that from a racist incel edgelord once.
Katie Lutesinger 3 years ago
Because THAT makes sense. Phase 1: Get Murdered By The Millions. Phase 2: ??? Phase 3: Profit!
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Donkey boi 3 years ago
Jews seem to have been persecuted since day one. History clearly records it. Even the bible acknowledges it! They we kicked out of their home land more than once by foreign invaders, had their country and identity torn to pieces for centuries! They have been slandered by every nation and religion and portrayed in the worse sense since theatre began. After they went through the worst that humanity can do, the UN decided to give them their homeland back (but not all of it) and then refused to help when the the decedents of the invading ottoman empire (which was still within living memory) wanted to protect what they believed to be their home. If you are struggling to put it into perspective, maybe it will help to think about the native Americans. Removed from their home, killed by the millions, told then can live in a reservation and STILL treated like they don't belong there!
Robert B 3 years ago
The Bible isn’t the best historical narrative. And by isn’t the best I mean it’s surprising that it takes place on this planet. The Old Testament stuff is just illiterate goat herders playing the victim card. Now after that, yeah they got the short end, but so did a lot of other peoples.
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Doc Thissen 3 years ago
Actually, anti-Semitism goes back to at least the dark ages when Jews were responsible for spreading the bubonic plague. Which is absolutely untrue.
Kathryn Baylis 3 years ago
B******t like that has been circulating since Biblical times. Look up the Jewish Diaspora and read the reasons for Jews being exiled—-then welcomed back several generations later then exiled several generations after that—-and you’ll see some of the wild, unbelievable, and utterly false c**p “Christians” spread about the Jews, as well as how these “good people” outright stole Jewish property and businesses that had to be abandoned when the Jews were pushed out (yeah, the quotation marks are very well deserved, as that is not Christian behavior—-I’m not even religious, and I can spot religious hypocrites a mile away).
Lu 3 years ago
I find it so absurd when they lump “the Jews” or any other ethnic group, as though they have weekly meetings on how to take over the world.
sylvantic 3 years ago
Are you saying trying to be anti Zionist or Zionist I honestly can’t tell .
Load More Replies...Just look at the events of the past few years if you need any evidence that some people are ready to believe practically anything and anyone, so long as it conforms to their worldview. The sad reality is that even with easy access to different sources and in-depth analyses and fact-checking, quite a few people don’t do their due diligence and accept whatever they read online. And that keeps false narratives and half-truths spreading.
Media expert Mike Sington previously explained to Bored Panda that media literacy is vital in this day and age. He said that there are various red flags that indicate a claim might be fake. If a claim is outlandish, sounds too good to be true, you haven’t heard it before, and you’ve never even heard of the source sharing the ‘fact,’ then odds are that it’s a lie.
You should do your best to find a couple of other reputable sources that back up any particular claim. Even doing a simple Google search before resharing anything you come across on social media can help slow down the spread of misinformation. And until you find additional evidence or sourcing that validates any ‘fact,’ you should remain skeptical.
"Do this and think before reposting or you may be contributing to the problem. Amplification doesn’t make a claim true or accurate," the media expert told Bored Panda that constant repetition does not turn a lie into the truth. He noted that some trustworthy sources include the Associated Press, Reuters, and The New York Times because they employ fact-checkers.
#19
The 1964 Surgeon General’s report concluded that smoking cigarettes causes death and disease. However, in a 1971 television interview, the president of Philip Morris denied the health risks that pregnant women and their babies face, saying that “It’s true that babies born from women who smoke are smaller, but they are just as healthy as the babies born to women who do not smoke. Some women would prefer to have smaller babies.”
Amanda Rose 3 years ago
Not my mother. Smoking exacerbated her undiagnosed Graves disease and I had to be delivered by emergency C-section five weeks early. Both of us almost died from that whole fiasco.
AffenpinscherMom 3 years ago
Fact: atleast 5 of the Marlboro Men died of smoking related illnesses and one in particular died of lung cancer.
Mistiekim 3 years ago
Philip Morris certainly wasn’t the first or last big businessman to lie about his product or company to the detriment of the public’s health. After it was proven that Theranos was giving patients wrong blood test results, Holmes was still on TV saying her Edison’s were just fine and people could trust them. The Sackler family had videos made telling doctors that OxyContin wasn’t addictive when they knew it was. Neither faced real punishment. That needs to change.
Marnie 3 years ago
What's crazy is that people knew smoking was hard on the lungs at least as far back as the early 1800s. Maybe they didn't have "proof", but I mean, it's pretty obvious. The thing was that eventually there was propaganda saying it was NOT bad for your lungs. So, then we needed to actively remind people that it really was.
Peter Ledoux 3 years ago
Smoking, no sense to it. To me it stinks, tastes like drek. I got a little buzz, then got sick. Once was enough.
Vix Spiderthrust 3 years ago
Yeah, it's a sh!t drug. Doesn't even alter your perceptions.
Load More Replies... #20
“Radium paint isn’t poisonous.”
Thousands of watch-dial workers in the US used to apply radium brushes on their tongues to paint numbers on watch dials, and almost all of these workers were women. As these workers were dying due to radiation poising, the companies brought in fake doctors and convinced the victims and their families that they have venereal diseases like Syphilis. As this was mostly affecting women, most were scared to share it with their families for fear of retaliation and abandonment. The suffering endured by these women was extremely awful, their jaws fell off, their bones fractured, their hair was lost, and most lost eyesight until their eventual painful death.
These women were called “Radium Girls”. Eventually many fought back settled lawsuits and brought the entire Radium production industry down, unfortunately, many innocent women lost their lives before this evil industry was brought down.
Source: https://www.britannica.com/story/radium-girls-the-women-who-fought-for-their-lives-in-a-killer-workplace
Mark Howell 3 years ago
Same with match workers in UK (19c). Their bodies absorbed white phosphorus from the production process, which dissolved the jaw bones. If the employer saw any signs of this they were sacked. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phossy_jaw
Eat Dirt Crow 3 years ago
It's actually worse. The radium companies dragged their feet through the lawsuits hoping all the defendants would die before they had to pay out. This almost worked as only one girl was left by the time they lost their case.
Kendra Miller 3 years ago
Another layer of awfulness to this story, the men were given proper protective equipment. They knew the danger, the women were just expendable. They taught the women to lick the paint brushes in order to get a nice neat point. All those young women murdered over glow in the dark watch faces.
Paul Donahue 3 years ago
There is a town in the US that is still radioactive. They knocked down the radium company and used the rubble as filler around town. "Radium girls" were buried in lead coffins. I am a watchmaker and still see it from time to time.
KittyMommy 3 years ago
Jersey or Illinois? I grew up in the Illinois town that had a Radium Dial factory
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#21
“Get a vape pen, it will stop you from wanting to smoke” ***does the complete opposite aggravating my addiction***
Meanwhile
***little kid sees it*** Little kid: “It smells like strawberries, I want a vape pen too”
Now you have little kids vaping so much their lung could be worse than mine…
Joroches 3 years ago
I successfully gave up cigarettes using a vape pen. Haven't smoked or vaped in 7 years. Not everything works for everyone but don't dismiss something just because it didn't work for you.
GirlFriday 3 years ago
Same! A vape pen helped me kick a 25 year smoking addiction. I haven't smoked in 9 years and haven't vaped in 7.5 years. I would probably still be smoking without it.
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El Dee 3 years ago
About 90% less harmful than smoking. It's eventually getting the backing from governments now as a cessation aid. Makers of other NRTs didn't like it because theirs' were only marginally cheaper than smoking and not subject to the same tax - massive profits. Vaping is MUCH cheaper than smoking and contains only the same ingredient as NRT (nicotine) With the high prices of cigarettes is great that people have moved across to this, It's a massive step in the right direction (ie harm reduction) It's not without harm to health though, it's as bad for you as having a serious coffee addiction..
Marnie 3 years ago
If you are vaping, you have quit smoking. It seemed obvious to me that vaping could not possibly be as harmful as smoking. But it isn't harmless. Even when I was down to close to 0% nicotine, it was making my heart pound (pound, not race). That was with propylene glycol. I switched to the vegetable oil, but it was soo inconvenient and messy. I went back to smoking. Then I finally quit altogether earlier this year. It was easier than I thought.
#22
That humans have dominion over everything on the planet.
Katie Lutesinger 3 years ago
It's easy to think that until you find yourself alone in the middle of the forest at night with a bear staring at you and licking its chops.
Bad Alchemy 3 years ago
Plenty of "Christian" religious leaders, politicians, and corporate leeches use the bible to justify the r a p e and commercialization of natural resources. Some also use it to deflect concerns over climate change.
Laura Carney 3 years ago
Maybe on land, but not the ocean. We know almost nothing about the depths of the ocean...
S. B. 3 years ago
I mean we kinda do though. It's up to us to stop ourselves from hurting the world? So we KINDA do. No one else is going to fix all this if we don't. So the options are that we all die and the earth heals naturally or that we become better caretakers and help the Earth heal herself.
#23
Oxycontin isn't addictive
Nathaniel 3 years ago
The biggest drug addiction problem in the USA today is caused by doctors prescribing legal drugs.
Ozacoter 3 years ago
While at the same time people that really need painkillers are denied them
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I'm.Just.A.Girl 3 years ago (edited)
I am 4 years and 3 months sober from opiates and oxycontin was the drug that completely took over. And then spiralled out of control with other substances. The addiction and withdrawals are extremely powerful and painful (edit - typo)
Powerful Katrinka 3 years ago
Congratulations! That's a huge accomplishment!
Load More Replies... GoGoPDX 3 years ago
This whole epidemic is caused by a lot of irresponsiblility by the Big Pharma and the medical community. Big Pharma told the lies, and the Dr's believed them and over prescribed. And then when they realize that this shite IS extremely addictive, they freak out and just start cutting people who are allready fully addicted off, without help, or titration, responsibility or sympathy. This cold turkey cuttoff then causes people to turn to Heroin because withdrawls are so bad, and the majority of people cannot get through them without help. Then those people lose everything they may have left. And who is left to take responsibility and clean up this mess, the general public. Big pharma and the medical community released a plague and need to do more to fix it, including the medical community helping the addicts they made instead of trying to save their own a*s.
iseefractals 3 years ago
This is one of the dumbest things in recent history (and that's saying something) Nearly a century of touting the dangers of heroin, morphine and every other opiate, everyone just collectively decided that "well these 5mg Oxycodone are very dangerous....but if we quadruple the dosage and slow the release to make drug levels in your blood constant (ya know, like how you get addicted from prolonged and steady use) it's magically all good!"
featherytoad 3 years ago (edited)
The whole Sackler family needs to be in jail for life. Watch Dope Sick on Hulu.
#24
"NFTs are the next big thing"
General Anaesthesia 3 years ago
Yeah right, I have an NFT of a slightly used bridge in Brooklyn to sell you. Nope, tulips will be making a come back. :)
Bad Alchemy 3 years ago
NFTs are the most pointless thing I have ever heard of in my long life, and I know pointless: I've worked for government.
Radek Suski 3 years ago
I’m a software developer. I took additional courses in web security and blockchains. I can’t wait until this whole BS is eventually over
#25
The first few days of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
Hawkmoon 3 years ago
I remember the, sarcastic comment: "Don't worry, the radioactive cloud stops at the borders", about news medias which reported nonsense.
Mr. Curtis 3 years ago
There was a joke in France about Customs officer being so effective they stop the radioactive cloud at the border. Strangely, we did find traces of the cloud anyway, even if we thinked to be far enough.
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Fraxinus excelsior 3 years ago
Looks like a horror film prop, poor thing , hope it didn't suffer too long. 💔
AffenpinscherMom 3 years ago
Reminds me of something from the movie The Thing (surprises me I don't hear this movie mentioned often when discussing horror/psychological thriller movies. It is one of my favorites)
Katie Lutesinger 3 years ago
That poor mutated piglet. (I thought it was a puppy at first, but I checked the source and no, it's a piglet. Sort of).
Katie Lutesinger 3 years ago
And... they changed the picture. At least it's way less disturbing now.
Load More Replies... Peter Ledoux 3 years ago
Please, no one would believe that. If someone does I don't care to meet them.
#26
Asbestos Is good!
Nathaniel 3 years ago
The snow in Citizen Kane was powdered asbestos. Asbestos blankets were sold as safe for those who wanted to smoke in bed.
xolitaire 3 years ago (edited)
Wasn't the snow in Wizard of Oz asbestos too?
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Hugo Farr 3 years ago
The statement is actually correct. Asbestos has practical uses and when used properly is not a danger to humans. Contrary to popular belief, asbestos is not toxic. You could actually eat asbestos - although I don’t recommend doing that because it might clog the plumbing. Actually, the tiniest fibers of asbestos can be a lung irritant, which after years of exposure can possibly lead to lung cancer. The lie should be stated as “Asbestos is a poison.”
Leo Domitrix 3 years ago
Asbestos has many benefits. Just don't get any in your lungs... Which, since it breaks up fine like talc (and co-exists with talc) is not as easy as it sounds.
CP 3 years ago
Asbestos is good! Unfortunately it is bad for humans. The material itself has some pretty amazing qualities.
Mark Howell 3 years ago
Still used in speciality electrical equipment, nicely sealed from those litigeous humans
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Cuppa tea? 3 years ago
Technically yes, problem is when it's starts breaking up. Then the fibres are released into environment and when inhaled got stuck in lungs and can cause cancer.
AffenpinscherMom 3 years ago
My FIL recently passed away from lung cancer stemming from working around asbestos when he was a teenager.
#27
"They" are not "us"
Shayda 3 years ago
This exactly! And what's sad is that, I had never heard that word before college American Literature class. Never once heard it in elementary- high school. And never heard it in a history class, it was a literature class. My point is, sense then I've seen that word everywhere and it's meaning has really sunk in outside of a classroom. Another example of the U.S. school system failing us.
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Kathryn Baylis 3 years ago (edited)
Social Identity Theory, aka “In-group vs Out-group” or the reductionist “Us vs Them”. There is no distinction in reality, it’s all manufactured—-and by those in society with a selfish agenda for doing so. We are ALL simply “us”, and the sooner we come to that realization, the better for everyone and everything.
Vix Spiderthrust 3 years ago
They are us. And we are they. The line between good and evil cuts through every human heart.
Load More Replies... #28
The idea that we are separate and disconnected from each other and our environment.
Kathryn Baylis 3 years ago (edited)
But in most ways we are not. We are more alike, and share more of the exact same life experiences, than we think. Or that most people who think too much of themselves would like to admit.
Load More Replies... Bad Alchemy 3 years ago
No man is an island entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as any manner of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. -- John Donne
madamjoiedumort 3 years ago
We are very separate and disconnected because we happily and willingly allow politics and race to separate us. A democrat is the same as a republican and a black person is the same as a white, Chinese or Mexican. We all want to be happy, safe and not to have to worry about bills. We all love someone and/or our kids and want them to be safe and loved. There are good people and bad people in every race but the rest of us could come together if we dropped the divisive political labels and stopped with the slurs and violence and killing black people because you have a shiny badge.
#29
The lead in this gasoline is perfectly safe!
CP 3 years ago
The really sad part is that lead was known to be bad for you for ever since Roman times.
Kathryn Baylis 3 years ago (edited)
The other sad thing is that those of us who were alive and breathing when leaded gasoline was being sold now carry traces of lead in our lungs. We couldn’t help or prevent it, as it was in the air we breathed every day, even if we were miles away from cities with heavy traffic. They’re traces of lead that the lungs of children born after leaded gasoline was pulled from the market and catalytic converters cleaned up auto exhaust will never have. As someone who was in her twenties when leaded gasoline was phased out and catalytic converters became standard equipment in new cars, it f*****g pisses me off that I was never informed until that time that those traces of that carcinogenic heavy metal were put in my lungs totally against my knowledge, will, and consent, by Big Oil to make billions hawking filthy dirty toxic gasoline.
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Eat Dirt Crow 3 years ago
The worse part is that at the time they knew that ethanol would have also solved the knocking problem that leaded gas solved but lead in the gas was more cost effective.
#30
A specific historical example: In 1843, a man called Hong Xiuquan claimed to be the younger brother of Jesus. This led to him starting the Taiping Rebellion, which caused the deaths of between 20 million and 70 million people.
Then again, he probably believed it, so it might not count as a lie.
Lyone Fein 3 years ago
Maybe it would be good to research what all those people were rebelling against and why they were so dissatisfied?
harpling 3 years ago
Ethnic tensions between the Qing rulers (all Manchu) and the rest of China (primarily Han, though Hong Xiuquan was Hakka), religious tensions between Confucian rulers, various sects of Christian missionaries (exacerbated by the Jesuit/ Dominican split in Rome at the time), trade tensions between isolationist Imperial powers and western governments, opium imports, and the rapidly changing technology of weapons, agriculture, wealth consolidation, communication, and transportation. There was a lot going on at the time.
Load More Replies... Niki A 3 years ago
To be fair, most historical rebellions/coups take place because the general population is unsatisfied and nothing is being done, or they perceive and unfairness/inequity. Someone with a good story or is highly persuasive gets the crowd going, people get enthusiastic, and BANG! Rebellion! Maybe you could add a pinch of crazy and gullible to the mix.
Nonna_SoF 3 years ago
But isn't Jesus God and thus all powerful and omnipresent. So he was there. Knew what was going on. How it would end. Could stop it and chose not to?
Load More Replies... Sanchez Vasile 3 years ago (edited)
he killed xiongnu, taking their ratio from 20% down to 12%, which their us slaves then jumped to protect. He's the good guy here. So, he might even have considered himself the brother of Jesus, trying to help China before the axis of evil intervened.
#31
Maybe not the most but the war on drugs, completely f****d over our medical understanding in almost every way.
#32
Thomas Midgley and General Motors lying that exposure to tetra-ethyl lead is harmless.
Tetra-ethyl lead was a gasoline additive present in all gasoline sold in the US until it was banned in the 70s. Almost every child growing up from 1920 to 1970 had lead poisoning to some degree.
Entire generations grew up with their minds being poisoned, unable to reach their potentials because of him. Not to mention the secondary effects, lead exposure is associated with criminal behaviors.
#33
"I won't invade Czechoslovakia"
A. H.
Csaba Hegedűs 3 years ago
Lavrov: We definitely won't invade Ukraine. He said that like 2 days before they, surprise, did.
Niki A 3 years ago
It's almost like history doesn't repeat, but it sure does rhyme.
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#34
Work will set you free.
Mark Howell 3 years ago (edited)
Seen something similar somewhere before Ich kann nicht meinen Finger darauf legen
Gabriel 3 years ago
Work "does" set you free since you will be able to lice alone and not be mantained
Vix Spiderthrust 3 years ago (edited)
Dude. Arbaeit macht Frei not ringing any bells?
Load More Replies... #36
“I ain’t invading Russia” Mr German moustache 1940’s
Minath 3 years ago
Similar to Putin saying his invasion of Ukraine was a special military operation at the beginning, until they lost so many troops he had to admit it was war in order to conscript civilian men.
KM 3 years ago
Still not called a war by Putin's government. In fact calling it a war is grounds for arrest
Load More Replies... #37
One of the worst, in my opinion, is that babies need to Cry It Out in order to develop "good sleep habits". The disconnection babies feel when they do that can lead to sociopathic behaviors. They cry for so long that they end up fainting. Their brains are rushed with cortisol over and over until they just learn that no one is coming to help them. Children can have broken sleep up into their toddler years and early childhood. Young babies NEED to be fed around the clock, and need to be changed.
There are lots of studies as to why it is harmful, yet people swear by ONE dude. F*****g Ferber.
Also edit: I am not here to judge people who made this choice. This is from my own informed decision about my children, and I am allowed to state what I chose and why I feel that way.
Lyone Fein 3 years ago
Um.......I just want to point out that there is no evidence linking infant sleep/crying with the development of sociopathologies. There are *NO* studies about this because it is impossible to travel back in time and observe the childhood of someone who becomes pathological.
Monday 3 years ago
Generally it's not something most psychologists/psychiatrists will put much thought into either. You either develop a normal range of empathy or you don't. Leaving that baby to cry *might* lead to some attachment issues since they might grow up feeling the world is an unsafe place, but it shouldn't affect the development of empathy at all considering we only really start displaying genuine empathy at around 2.
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Nathan Pogorzala 3 years ago
The disclaimer at the end pretty much makes the whole point untrustworthy.
BoredPandaSucks 3 years ago
there's a big difference ( a far cry) between letting a baby cry for hours and giving them a few minutes to quiet down if you know they have been fed and do not need a clear diaper.
AffenpinscherMom 3 years ago
This idea of "crying themselves to sleep" seems to be primarily a US thing. I admit I did attempt it with my first child but while she was crying, I was crying and I realized how ridiculous it was. So she slept in a crib that attached to the side of my bed and it was amazing. Did the same thing with my other two kids as well. But that may not work for some parents and that is ok.
Niki A 3 years ago
I feel like letting babies cry it out is cruel. My grandmother is of Asian descent, and back in the 60s when she had my mom and her sisters, she said she was SHOCKED that people left a helpless baby alone in a room to cry at night with a closed door. She said her doctors told her she should close the door and ignore the cries, don't sleep with your baby- you'll smother them etc. No one in my family ever actually followed that advice.
#38
When Thomas Midgley Jr. campaigned for lead to be put into fuel knowing it has adverse effects on people and the environment, easily. "had more adverse impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in Earth's history",[27] and Bill Bryson remarked that Midgley possessed "an instinct for the regrettable that was almost uncanny".[28] Fred Pearce, writing for New Scientist, described Midgley as a "one-man environmental disaster."[3] Did he know the total outcome of his decisions? No, but he is still responsible.
Vix Spiderthrust 3 years ago
He also invented CFC- based refrigeration. The man had a genius for environmental catastrophe.
Caroline Nagel 3 years ago
This is what Wikipedia tells us about his death: "In 1940, at the age of 51, Midgley contracted polio, which left him severely disabled. He devised an elaborate system of ropes and pulleys to lift himself out of bed. In 1944, he became entangled in the device and died of strangulation". He was 55.
What do you think ?
Lyone Fein 3 years ago
1. Manifest Destiny. 2. The White Man's Burden. 3. Male Superiority. 4. Might makes right. 5. If it's natural it's OK. 6. Ignorance is bliss. 7. There is no such thing as human evil.
Dodo 3 years ago
Ignorance *is* bliss - for the ignorant. It just makes the world that much harder for the rest of us.
Load More Replies... Nathaniel 3 years ago
There is a manic downvoter on this site again, downvoting for no good reason, I am giving upvotes where I can.
Denny Plowman 2 years ago
Re #29 The man who came up with putting lead in petrol went on to putting CFCs in fridges, destroying the ozone layer. Most destructive man in history?
James Doe 3 years ago
Unfortunately there are some lies on here as well (actual truths, some ranking very high). They are lazy lies as I call them. The last 50k years of evolution cant be undone in a couple of centuries, we are "programmed" to save energy and be lazy, even if it means lying to ourselves. Two examples: cooprations responsible for pollution, good grades & success, recycling,.. reasons why they are (at least partial) truths to be found in the comments below them
Lyone Fein 3 years ago
1. Manifest Destiny. 2. The White Man's Burden. 3. Male Superiority. 4. Might makes right. 5. If it's natural it's OK. 6. Ignorance is bliss. 7. There is no such thing as human evil.
Dodo 3 years ago
Ignorance *is* bliss - for the ignorant. It just makes the world that much harder for the rest of us.
Load More Replies... Nathaniel 3 years ago
There is a manic downvoter on this site again, downvoting for no good reason, I am giving upvotes where I can.
Denny Plowman 2 years ago
Re #29 The man who came up with putting lead in petrol went on to putting CFCs in fridges, destroying the ozone layer. Most destructive man in history?
James Doe 3 years ago
Unfortunately there are some lies on here as well (actual truths, some ranking very high). They are lazy lies as I call them. The last 50k years of evolution cant be undone in a couple of centuries, we are "programmed" to save energy and be lazy, even if it means lying to ourselves. Two examples: cooprations responsible for pollution, good grades & success, recycling,.. reasons why they are (at least partial) truths to be found in the comments below them
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