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Learning history can be a transformative experience. It can challenge your long-held beliefs and assumptions about societies, their culture, and humanity in general.

Discovering that what you've been taught is not the (whole) truth, and that events you thought were isolated incidents are actually part of a broader pattern is jarring. But as uncomfortable as it may be, this process can liberate you, providing you with a new level of clarity and understanding.

So let's take a look at a Reddit post, created by user u/FlickTheSwitch167 that asked everyone "What historical fact have you learnt that ruined everything you ever thought you knew about this life?" And it has received a fair share of insightful replies!

#1

50 Historical Facts That Have Completely Ruined The Way These People See The World The more we find out about Native Americans, the more I realize the entire history of the United States is complete white-washed b******t.

Dredly , Andrew James Report

#2

50 Historical Facts That Have Completely Ruined The Way These People See The World I mean, I was pretty young when I learned about the Holocaust. I'm german, and we take this topic really seriously of course. It dawned on me then that the world wasn't as innocent as I thought it was back then. But I'm glad I learned about it at that young age. I was able to gain interest in that topic, and that's pretty important considering the latest events in the East of Europe. And it's important for my generation to really understand and grasp the horrors of the 3rd Reich to ensure that this won't happen again. Sadly it seems not all countries get educated that well in this topic. Not listing any names, there are many countries that now start to go into a rather fascist direction, which is more than concerning.

Robo--FED , Pixabay Report

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Maggz Bennett
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It worries me, as a Brit, that after defeating the Nazis in WWII (along with the rest of the allied forces, of course), we are now effectively being led by politicians with a very similar ideology, especially when it comes to immigration etc. The conservatives do not represent the whole of the British people.

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#3

50 Historical Facts That Have Completely Ruined The Way These People See The World Ghandi was a hypocritical pieces of s**t.

Mother Teresa stole loads of money and left people to die.

Siori777 , NPR Report

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Alecto76
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I propose creating a church built around the teachings of St. Mr. Rogers.

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#4

50 Historical Facts That Have Completely Ruined The Way These People See The World I'm from Texas, born and raised.

I found out within the past few years that the Texas Revolution was mainly due to Mexico outlawing slavery and Texas... not wanting to do that.

So everyone at the Alamo essentially died to preserve slavery. Yay.

1337bobbarker , Britannica Report

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freakingbee (they/them)
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

i have lived in texas my whole life and i didn't know this even though i took texas history last year-

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#5

50 Historical Facts That Have Completely Ruined The Way These People See The World The church began the vow of celibacy for priests, not for any Biblical reasons, but so the priest didn’t have a spouse or any offspring who could inherit his wealth. This way the Church inherited all of it.

KilgorePTrout , RODNAE Productions Report

#6

50 Historical Facts That Have Completely Ruined The Way These People See The World That we domesticated pigeons thousands of years ago and then decided we didn’t want them anymore. People treat them like vermin after we relied on them for so much (food, messengers etc)

The pigeons you see in your cities are not wild, they’re abandoned.

pizzkat , Quang Nguyen Vinh Report

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Jane Cortez
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The ending of the last sentence, ‘ abandoned.’ Pigeons are actually highly intelligent!

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#7

50 Historical Facts That Have Completely Ruined The Way These People See The World Old norse runes were found carved up like 20 feet in a cave- when they were translated, they just said "this is very high"

God I love people aksjsj

FireEnchiladaDragon , Kalle Gustafsson Report

#8

50 Historical Facts That Have Completely Ruined The Way These People See The World African kings were the ones who advertised their people as work force/labor to the world.

They died regretting those decisions.

Amasero , Damian Patkowski Report

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#9

50 Historical Facts That Have Completely Ruined The Way These People See The World “It says here in this history book that luckily, the good guys have won every single time. What are the odds?”


- Norm MacDonald

bookon , Prateek Katyal Report

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king raven
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

History books are written by the winners, I'd love to see history through the loser's pov.

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#10

50 Historical Facts That Have Completely Ruined The Way These People See The World When I got older and realized the countless atrocities the United States has committed. Genocide, collusion, bombing our own cities. I used to feel a sense of safety knowing that I lived with the good guys and we stood for justice. That feeling is fleeting

FireFromThaumaturgy , Brett Sayles Report

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Austin Sauce
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not to mention overthrowing other democracies around the world. Read up on Iran.

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#11

50 Historical Facts That Have Completely Ruined The Way These People See The World Ancient Antarctica was actually a rainforest, a lush and verdant paradise, filled with flora and fauna.

Despite the interesting fact that there was a whole continent of animals who lived on this planet that we’ll never know about - as their remains are locked beneath miles of ice - it blew my mind that Antarctica only fully froze over about 35 million years ago, despite breaking from its supercontinent ~ 180 million years ago.

That means Antarctica supported independent life for ~ 145 million years, which ruined any sense I have for time and perspective. We really are specks on this planet.

oohaaahz , Pixabay Report

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StrangeOne
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There's a large lake somewhere under the permafrost in the middle of the continent. Who knows if there's any aquatic life still living in there or if there's any frozen over that is unique to that lake.

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#12

50 Historical Facts That Have Completely Ruined The Way These People See The World If you look at the history of mankind, you quickly see that nobody ever learned from our history.

Plastik-Mann , Eugene Zhyvchik Report

#13

50 Historical Facts That Have Completely Ruined The Way These People See The World Can't remember the exact quote but it went something like, If the entirety of human (Homo) history was condensed into a 500 page book, modern anatomical humans wouldn't show up until page 450, and homosapiens wouldn't build empires until page 490, the atomic bomb and the foundation of Rome would be on the final page and only a paragraph apart. And yet in all of this the vast amount of technological advancements from the discovery of the atom to the modern day would fit in the last few sentences, of the last paragraph of the last page. And people wonder why we are reckless, we're still effectively great apes, but with shiny toys.

JitterySuperCoffee , Max Mishin Report

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#14

50 Historical Facts That Have Completely Ruined The Way These People See The World The inventions of Nikola Tesla and what little Edison actually invented himself

0odreadlordo0 , Renewable Energy Report

#15

50 Historical Facts That Have Completely Ruined The Way These People See The World The Irish famine was an opportunity the British took to commit genocide against the Irish. They were intentionally starved, while other crops were shipped off island to the British citizens.

Nintendorian , Tomasz Filipek Report

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Amanda Rose
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yes. I have a degree in Irish Studies and this was brought up early and often throughout the course of my degree. It was overwhelming at times to read the individual stories and statements.

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#16

50 Historical Facts That Have Completely Ruined The Way These People See The World Leopold of Belgium,treated congo as "his personal property"
And people who failed to collect enough Cocoa had thier hands/the hands of their kids cut

And france forced Haiti (one of the poorest countries ever) to take a loan from a french bank,to pay the french government "a compensation for kicking the french occupation and slave traders out"
They paid it for nearly 100 years,
I knew humans could be s**t but somehow i thought there was a limit

Technician-Efficient , Britannica Report

#17

50 Historical Facts That Have Completely Ruined The Way These People See The World 95% of native people before Columbus died of diseases brought by explorers. That's 19 of 20 people, for two continents.

HarryHacker42 , Andrew James Report

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JayhawkJoey
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Columbus was a pr!ck, and all he brought were disease and misery.

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#18

50 Historical Facts That Have Completely Ruined The Way These People See The World There was a Spanish explorer that first visited the Inca empire and saw lots of prosperous cities and a great civilisation, and told his peers about it when he returned home. But when other folks went to visit the siad cities they found nothing but jungle and thought the explorer lied about his story. The fact that blew my mind is that nowadays we discovered that his story was true and the people he encounterd died from diseases brought into the new world and the cities and civilization they build were consumed by jungle in the spam of a few years

Manu82134 , Pixabay Report

#19

50 Historical Facts That Have Completely Ruined The Way These People See The World I grew up in a conservative hometown. When I was in late college, I began to learn how the Bible is essentially a long game of telephone and one where the members playing telephone purposefully exagerrated and changed what they repeated to the next person.

The Bible was written by men who never met Jesus, who got their information about Jesus from other people, in a time period that relished mystics and it was normal to change facts, did not have any understanding of "facts" in general or reliability. The men also changed what they wrote about Jesus based on political changes at the time.

HighestTierMaslow , Aaron Burden Report

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Strings
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You forgot about simple mistranslation. There's a bunch of that too

Brenda Coe
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is some of the "discussion" I have had with bible-thumpers who say "It's the word of God"---no, it's the wordS of men (and NO women) who wrote what THEY wanted, who left out things they didn't want/like/believe and often mis-translated others.

StrangeOne
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I tried explaining this to my mom and she still thinks the bible is some source of truth and written by god. You can't reason with the unreasonable. Might as well try to convince the cat down the street.

Bec
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ok Mom. When Dad died, I will make sure you marry his brother, that is what the bible says to do. Also make sure to remove any imagery depicting Jesus, definitely a sin.

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CD King
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Don't forget various Popes over the years changed wording in the bible for their own benefit...

Raccoon Queen
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Response to Boston. They changed how they preached because people couldn’t read the Bible. The people who changed the wording in a literal Bible were the people who wrote the King James Bible, but Popes did Change some things

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Rick
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

At least 400 years passed between Jesus and the written bible. What possibly could have been misinterpreted?

Best Behave
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not to mention the bits that were literally just made up

Karl Baxter
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

More proof that you shouldn’t take life lessons from a book of nonsense.

jode Cassen
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'll just state this..... The fact that Jesus is depicted as a white man with blue eyes is..... False... He probably had black curly hair dark skin and brown eyes.

Tetelestai
Community Member
1 year ago

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Based on where he was, yes. Humans are just fickle and we tend to draw what we’re used to seeing or comfortable with seeing. But there was something about his eyes that the Bible talks about

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Arturo De la Rosa
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

i mean there is no record of Jesus actually existing, so this might not even matter and even if he did, he is a minor character compared to God who we know for a fact that does not exist (we have known for centuries now ) and is the basis for the relevance of wether the stories are factual or not.

Suzy Creamcheese
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

@Uncommon Boston, dude, give it up. You're talking nonsense and nobody is buying it. Most of what you're claiming is just plain not true.

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Panda Boi
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

What boggles my mind is how people know this and still believe in a god.

WonderWoman
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Religion was invented as a way of controlling the masses, and the Bible is very much an instrument of that.

Nimitz
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Whaaaaa? No way! Magic is real and all that made up s**t is literally true! Praise be the flying spaghetti monster!

Impasta (she/they)
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'd rather live my life not believing in a god and dying to find out there is, than worshipping a god my entire life and dying to find out there isn't.

Mariele Scherzinger
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

My professor liked to say "The Bible is a marvelous piece of ancient travel literature"

v
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Hell, biblical canon was established in the 5th century by nothing more than groups of learned men deciding which parts they liked best but seemingly all christians today believe that what they read IS the actual voice and words of Jesus and the prophets.

KombatBunni
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Friend of mine once called the bible “the greatest novel ever written” and sarcasm aside he wasn’t wrong…not an ounce of truth to be found anywhere

Ryan jackson
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

David cross has a great lil bit about this..some dude who knew a guy translated from like 6 different dead languages

Androgyny Lunacy
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I hope that it fades out like Greek and Roman mythology did. It isn't real. Jesus may have existed, as a normal human who probably had schizophrenia

Mike Crow
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The telephone game continues as there are some that now claim Jesus was American.

David H
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well dont worry, the Catholic Church official theology says that none of the evangelists ever witnesses Jesus ministry and by their own claim only one book was written at the time Jesus was alive. The late Archbishop of Milan in the 1990s, in an official church document even said that many stories were altered over time to fit the location and population being preached to, and that some of the stories are later fabrications

Kristal
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I disagree. Religion itself is quite inspiring and comforting (for those that believe in it), the problem lies in the humans that abuse the concept.

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Ole Peder Amrud Hagen
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Americans who at the age of 25 open a book other than the Bible and suddenly realize there's a whole world out there... priceless.

Shawn Barry
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

'alternative facts' so my story makes me appear more important

Deborah Barron Brown
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As a senior in high school, I took a history of the Bible. It was eye opening. Alot of it wasn't written down until 300 yrs after Jesus died (new testament). It has also been translated then that was translated and then that translated and so on. So the meaning and message changed. You can't take the Bible as literal facts. These are oral stories people told through generations. I am not saying there isn't value in the Bible but I wouldn't call it nonfiction.

TheDragonPSA
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The King James version of the New Testament was finished in 1611 by 8 members of the Church of England. There were (and still are) no original texts to translate. The oldest manuscripts we have were written down hundreds of years after the last apostle died. There are over 8000 of these old manuscripts, with no two alike. The King James translation used none of these, anyway. Instead, they edited previous translations to create a version that their king and parliament would approve. So, 21st century Christians believe the "Word of God" is a book edited in the 17th century from 16th century translations of 8000 contradictory copies of 4th century scrolls that claim to be copies of lost letters written in the first century.

jennifer brinkman
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Fictional book of lies and magic to terrify the ignorant to follow them

Jason Marshall
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I often joke, what if the Bible was written by the Steven King of that era?

Andrewsarchus42
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The Torah (or Old Testament) was originally written in Hebrew, then translated into Greek, Arabic, Latin, and then finally English. There were mistranslations and purposeful changes throughout the process. Examples: rhino was changed to unicorn, and man shall not lay with young boy was changed to man shall not lay with man. Source: I’m Jewish, and read the original Hebrew regularly

PurpleUnicorn
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As I've said before, the Bible is the greatest novel ever written (if you go by sales and population reach)!

B. J. Moore
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

So sad! Now you may never know the One True Living GOD! 🥲🥲

Cydney Golden
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And let's remember it was written by men. Not a supreme being, just men.

ConservaDave
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Just because it is written on Bored Panda does not make it true. The Holy Bible is God inspired. It is all too easy for people to discard something they have not read and know nothing about. I once was one of these people that scoffed at the bible and what it says. When I started reading it I found that the word of God is powerful and healing and that God sent his Son, Jesus to save a hurting world. Our hearts are God-shaped boxes that can only be filled by God. EVERYONE is hurting. God longs for us to look to him for peace. Not the empty peace that the world gives but a peace that passes all understanding.

Salty Wild Hair
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

One needs to understand Greek and Hebrew, and that provides context. Without that, is where it seems "mistranslated".

Mandy Delaforce (PC Girl)
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Oh, and a king rewrote the whole thing to reflect his personal views. It's all fiction, people.

April Pickett
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've always treated the bible as a "history book", even though I knew a lot of it was made up.

JP Purves
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

God(s) have always been created by humans; there are no facts in the Christian bible.

C. S. M
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Kings and other rulers have also had transliterations done during their rules over various eons of history, favoring their own idealizations of what 'religion' should be, so it's safe to say that there has never been any 'literal' bible ever to have existed. Such is why there are such things as the 'King James' and other bible versions throughout history, and why so much debate continues about the differing versions to this day.

Alewa
Community Member
1 year ago

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Jon Friedman
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

A lot of self justification in these comments it’s sad really.

Pamcakes
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

And all the books that were left out of the bible & nearly destroyed that were written less than 100 years after Christ. Books of Judas & Mary Magdelin are a must-read

Emie N.
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Of course it was written by men. They made "Eve" be the one who "destroyed" humanity by an apple.

Fish Fingers
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"My parents were Seventh Day Hoppists. Due to a misprint in the family bible they very firmly believed in faith, hop and charity"

Fabian Bernard
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Same issues with Coran translation. If a you change one vowel in the arabic writting, the whole meaning of a sentence can be different

Completely Hatstand
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Let's not forget Nero. He is vilified by Christians for burning a bunch of them. Of course, the reason he burned them is never mentioned. They claimed to have set Rome on fire (Christianity was still a death-cult at the time). The punishment for arson under the Roman constitution was to be turned into a human torch.

Ray Horowitz
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

No. As Temporary Dork pointed out elsewhere, these are all factual claims. You can argue that they are inaccurate, but they are not matters of opinion.

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Nolgoth
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The first 4 books of the new testamemt (matthew mark luke and john) are all the same story just from different perspectives

María
Community Member
1 year ago

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Very true. In fact, unlike what Christians have believed for centuries, the Jews never demanded that Jesus be killed. It was all the Romans. The New Testament was written by anti-semites.

Tetelestai
Community Member
1 year ago

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Tell me if this changes any meaning in “loving your neighbor” or “do not murder.” If a mistranslation/misunderstanding makes the whole Bible wrong, who’s to say that “oh, but when it says that [insert unlikable thing here] is wrong, that’s still right.”

Eric Tapril
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Some people do indeed claim that "Thou shalt not kill" is not the same as "Do not murder".

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Uncommon Boston
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1 year ago

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Nona Wolf
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1 year ago (edited)

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Please check your facts. The gospels were written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John - The apostles. They knew Jesus very well. James and Peter (also apostles of Jesus) wrote several books of the New Testament. You don't have to believe if you don't want to... but there is no need to make false claims saying it was written by men who never knew Jesus.

Vix Spiderthrust
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Please check your facts. Although it is *claimed* that the Gospels were written by four of the apostles, many scholars believe this is not the case. Also, there are only four Gospels of the 66 (or 73, depending on which denomination you ask) Biblical books, and 39 (or 46) of those are in the Old Testament, which predates Jesus anyway.

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#20

50 Historical Facts That Have Completely Ruined The Way These People See The World I spent a lot of time at the library in my early 20's and learned that the Old Testament isn't very old and some of the oldest stories are just copies or much older Sumerian myths. The Exodus has no real world evidence whatsoever, and the Egyptians ruled over the holy land for thousands of years without ever mentioning the Hebrew people until the Bronze Age Collapse.

zhivago6 , Tim Wildsmith Report

#21

The Japanese murdered more Chinese than the Germans did Jews. We praise Japan for their society and technological advances and despise the Germans because of Hitler. Whats worse? The Japanese boiling babies or the germans corraling jews into gas chambers? Yet the Japanese don't get much mainstream attention for all their atrocities.

phatNdangeris Report

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SkyBlueandBlack
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

We don't despise the Germans any more than we despise the Japanese. Neither Nazi Germany nor Imperial Japan survived past 1945.

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#22

As an African, probably learning about all the empires and developments on the African continent. Things that fly in the face of the claim that Africans were backward savages.

We probably know more about the empires in the northern parts of the continent but other developments like the Kingdom of Zimbabwe and Mapungubwe, the latter whose discovery was kept hush-hush because it didn't fit in with the narrative that justified continued colonization of Africans.

There's another more newly discovered civilization, named the BoKoni, that's still subject to all sorts of rumours just because it couldn't have been Africans that did that.

That even the "huts" some Africans lived in were a proactive choice because of certain advantages they held such as their ability to deal with the local climate and not simply because that's all they knew.

A bunch of little things that make history seem a lot less "black and white".

Cuiter Report

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JessieJ&LilyLovebug
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Also, Timbuktu. I took a couple of courses from a woman who became an Urban Anthropologist, in Africa. This teeny, tiny Jewish woman from Connecticut (as she described herself) received quite a few raised eyebrows when she voiced her career intentions. She spent years in Africa studying urban cultures, and of the past cities, before most people even recognize that people in Africa were capable of great civilization. The knowledge was there, but most people didn't want to hear it.

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#23

50 Historical Facts That Have Completely Ruined The Way These People See The World Victorian era London was a terrible place to be alive as a member of the working class. If I recall correctly. You could pay a penny to sit indoors on a bench but no sleeping! Two Pennies and you could swing your arms over a rope and sleep standing up or if you made hella money that day you could pay 4 Pennies and sleep in a coffin. The water is undrinkable and children expected working hours were 12 to 18 a day starting at 4 yrs old. By those standards a lot of us would look like royalty to them.

UnicornBrainsRPointy , mikedashhistory Report

#24

I once heard a saying that goes *“if you trace someone’s ‘land’ back far enough in time, it was bought in blood.”*

pizzabox53 Report

#25

Prior to 1976 student loan debt could be discharged immediately after graduation by filing for bankruptcy. Then the "education amendments of 1976" stipulated that student loans could not be discharged in bankruptcy until five years of repayment, barring proof of "undue hardship." 1984 this was extended to cover private student loans as well. The "crime control act of 1990" extended the period before which bankruptcy proceedings could commence to 7 years after repayment began. And in 1991 the six year statute of limitations on collection was finally eliminated after it had been enacted in 1985. By 1998 there was a big push to eliminate any methods of discharging student loans via bankruptcy and seven years later, in the year 2005, all qualified student loans (including most private) were excepted from discharge with the passage of the "bankruptcy abuse prevention and consumer protection act."

Since then there have been a few attempts to give modern college educated people the same fighting chance that the old college educated folks had, but to little avail. Many of the same boomers that vote against helping college grads get out of exorbitant debt are the same ones who had their own college education funded by taxpayers. Still think those old folks in politics have the people's best interest in mind?

nobody_in_here Report

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David
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The problem here isn't stopping people from intentionally abusing the bankruptcy process to bail on student loans. The problem is the cost of a college education (in the US) in the first place.

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#26

50 Historical Facts That Have Completely Ruined The Way These People See The World There are graffiti that got preserved in Pompei and Herculanum. Because they didn't have paper, public announcement were directly painted on the walls.

Some of those graffiti are on par with what you can find on the toilet's wall of trucker's stop. "i f****d the barmaid", "Felix f***s like a god", "Take of your clothes and show us your hairy privates"

chinchenping , Andy Holmes Report

#27

50 Historical Facts That Have Completely Ruined The Way These People See The World That Oxford University is older than the Aztec empire.

Daohor , Jose Lorenzo Muñoz Report

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Awkward Momma Panda
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Okay bored panda, I don’t really like being ‘that guy’, but… This is a photo of a Mayan architecture (temple at Chichen Itza), not Aztec.

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#28

50 Historical Facts That Have Completely Ruined The Way These People See The World Learning about the depth and breadth of slavery in human history was a real eye-opener. We have really detailed documents from more modern history to show WHY that idea is so heinous, but it's always been a significant part of cultures all around the world serving as anything from a social construct to the very currency of war and with autonomy ranging from that of livestock to that of a low caste. Evidence of slavery predates written records and is even included in the code of Hammurabi where it was already an established institution and we still haven't stamped it out today, April 10th 2023, where slavery affects an estimated 46 million people (that's more than the total population of California, and approximately the population of Spain). It's crazy how awful humans have always been to one another and that we still can't seem to hold each other accountable for basic human rights, despite indelible proof.

FridayInc , British Library Report

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JayhawkJoey
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Humans and a few monkeys are the only species, I believe, who kill for reasons other than survival. Our big brains do us little favor.

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#29

No one outside of America thinks the Puritans were a bunch of sweet, oppressed, morally-pure goody-goodies.

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Lyone Fein
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Puritans were clearly religious fanatics. They were thrown out of 3 separate places.....England, Holland, Brazil.....before settling in New England at a time of year when it was too late to plant a crop.

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#30

50 Historical Facts That Have Completely Ruined The Way These People See The World When I learned that NASA had discovered over 100 billion GALAXIES and seeing the image to put into perspective that our entire solar system is only about the size of a coin compared to our galaxy which in relation would be the size of the United States.

We are so incredibly small within the universe.

Edit to add: Here’s a [photo](https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2021/hubble-gazes-at-a-galactic-menagerie) of just a snippet of the various galaxies. Keeping in mind, we haven’t even ventured outside of our solar system which is within our Milky Way galaxy, just a grain of sand in context to the universe.

cheeseburghers , NASA Report

#31

50 Historical Facts That Have Completely Ruined The Way These People See The World That Napoleon wasn’t cartoonishly short. All those cartoons were a lie…

DudebroggieHouser , POLITICO Report

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#32

British rule of India caused at least 10 famines yet we almost hear nothing about it

PLutonium273 Report

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Rachel Ainsworth
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The issue is more complex than this. Famine occurred on the Indian subcontinent in the areas ruled by English interests AND in areas ruled by Indian princes. It was also the English who first studied how to prevent famine and came up with the Indian Famine Code guidelines that were modernised by the Indian government..

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#33

It broke me the first time I learned that the library of Alexandria burnt down, and the scholars at the time still were trying to decipher parchment from even older and more ancient civilizations. I heard that and instantly realized we don't deserve our own intelligence

JayBisky Report

#34

That, during WW2, all the other countries did not help the Jews escape from Nazi Germany, but on the contrary, closed their borders! For instance, the St. Louis was denied at a number of ports, until they finally had to return to Denmark, which was under Nazi occupation. They COULD have let those Jews on board in, say, Cuba or Florida or wherever!

P44 Report

#35

That when the pyramids were being built, mammoths were walking the earth. Woolly mammoths lived there until 1700 BC. The Great Pyramid was completed around 2560 BC.

two- Report

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XenoMurph
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

"Lived there" don't you mean "here"? Gotcha, you scaly skinned lizard alien people!

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#36

As someone who grew up going to an evangelical church at least 2 times per week, Alan Turing's story is the one that made me re-examine what I thought I knew about homosexuality being immoral/unnatural/sin. I was probably 19 or 20 at the time.

It's probably the most pivotal thing that led me to question more about my faith despite it being so vitally important to my parents.

vorin Report

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Ken Beattie
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think the two things that convinced me religion wasn't real was original sin (ie: a baby wouldn't automatically get into heaven) and that dogs wouldn't be there either. I was pretty young at the time but it was like "you're saying this place is perfect", "Yes", "But my dog won't be there.", "No he doesn't have a soul". "Well I'm out".

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#37

50 Historical Facts That Have Completely Ruined The Way These People See The World More of a fun one, but lighters predate strike matches by a couple centuries. They originated from repurposed flintlock pistols that ignited tinder shoved in the barrel that were set aflame by the trigger mechanism.

Kataphractoi , Kelly Report

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and_a_touch_of_the_’tism
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

That actually makes a lot of sense… kinda sad that we have more advancements from weapons than other useful items.

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#38

I always grew up thinking that something like 50-75% of all white Americans owned slaves during the 1700s/1800s, my mind was kind of blown when I learned that it was closer to 1-3% of Americans.

edit: for context since this comment has received some upvotes..

25% of white families in the south likely owned a slave. In a few southern states (Mississippi for example) that number is closer to 45-50%. However, I was speaking about all Americans and not just those in the south.

It's possible if not likely that the overall number of whites in America owning slaves were closer to 5-10% rather than 1-3%, however my point stands that I always assumed it was closer to 50-75%.

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Con O Cuinn
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Think about it. The majority of white immigrants arrived in the US during the 19th century. Most white Americans are only 3-5 generations away from being immigrants, whereas black Americans' families had been there at least double or triple that time.

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#39

I saw this in a WWI documentary. It's not so much a "historical fact" as much as "holy s**t I never thought about that"

We are taught that during the Great War, the allies were the good guys and the central powers were the bad guys. There were no good guys. Both sides used chemical warfare, both sides experimented with new tactics, both sides tortured and killed each other.

thunderball500110 Report

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Con O Cuinn
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

WW1 was basically a family squabble between European royal families. Except instead of throwing plates or slamming doors, they sent millions of poor people to their deaths

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#40

That I'd been living in the same society with all of those people who hatefully protested racial segregation in the 60s. They just went into hiding when it became socially unacceptable to wear your bigotry loud and proud. I no longer wonder what makes such a person as I get to watch the actual people announce their bigotry loud and proud today. Ignorance was bliss.

magicmom17 Report

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Riche White
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As a white male growing up in the south I always wondered why if the klan was so proud of what they represented why did they hide behind the hoods? Show your faces, you cowards!

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#41

Willing to see Japanese folks to share what they learnt about the relationship between Korea. From what Japanese were taught in school, they “industrialized” Korea when they actually colonized and tortured millions of Koreans.

theberrymelon Report

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Zephyr343
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The Koreans were ruled by almost everyone multiple times over the centuries. The Korean War Museum has an entire timeline of who ruled them when you first step inside the building. It is sad but really educational.

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#42

That the Middle East was once then center of knowledge and learning, particularly Bagdad. As well as the amazing extent and advanced civilizations in South and Central America prior to the 1500s.

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#43

Ruined in an interesting, not bad way: ancient Greek and Roman polychromy.

The Parthenon temple looked a bit like Disneyland.

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#44

50 Historical Facts That Have Completely Ruined The Way These People See The World Being raised in all catholic schools it was really surprising to me to learn that a lot of sections in the bible and a lot of religious practices were instated by people who basically decided so and justified it with ideas that were hammered to fit whatever they said

Like it wasn't always that priests had to be celibate. Some pope decided that they should be and that was that but really all it would take to reverse that is a pope to say otherwise and a bunch of cardinals to support it. And it doesn't really matter what religious texts say, since the chuirch basically controls the "official interpretation", they can say whetever they want

edit: to the based redpilled people out there being all "oMg dId YOu ThINk rElIgionS aRe ReAL", yeah no, the surprising part was to learn how easily the church can change any aspect of their dogma when they actually manage to agree on it. And if their own texts refute said change, they can just say "oh we looked at it again and it actually means we are right now"

madkeepz , Ajayjoseph Fdo Report

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JessieJ&LilyLovebug
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Thus Martin Luther's rebellion, and the Protestant Movement...which really changed nothing, because most people still rely on other people to tell them what the Bible says and what it all means. But at least it is no longer illegal or heretical to translate it into any language, and to read it for one's self, if one is so inclined.

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#45

Not necessarily a historical fact but more of a fact of history; out of everything we know, there is so much more we don't know and simply never will know.


Even worse, the a lot of the things we believe we know are from commonly accepted theories that are held onto by elitist, ageing historians which only become refuted and debunked as they literally die off. The field of history as much as history itself is so ridiculously fascinating.

OriVerda Report

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Paul Pienkowski
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

This is why I think Heaven has a giant library. So we can learn what we missed, if we want to. Hear that, God? Books! I want books in Heaven.

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#46

The real reason chainsaws were invented. F**k that.

blaze1911 Report

#47

Not really ruined, but have you read Ben Franklin's diaries and s**t? Dude was a dirty horn dog.

Dark_Azazel Report

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Richard Graham
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Bed Franklin had an estimated 60 children out of wedlock. I think Franklin was the real Father of our Country.

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#48

That Cleopatra is closer in time to us than the construction of the pyramids.

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#49

That African Americans were "bred" once the slave trade was banned. I was so sad once I learned that. Those poor people. I cry sometimes when I think of that. No wonder there is so much hate.

no_onion_no_cry Report

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Strings
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There is a reputedly haunted plantation house where they still have the "breeding" records. Supposedly, one male slave had been used at stud for several hundred children

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#50

95 percent of our species' history is lost forever.

MoOsT1cK Report

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#51

I was raised as a Christian (C of E, UK) and was a fairly gullible child.

I *loved* so many of the Bible stories - especially Moses being delivered the 10 commandments direct from God. Now, I know this makes no sense but hear me out - I assumed that the Bible had arrived this way too. I believed the book was delivered by God as a miracle.

When I learned that humans had not only written the books but also chosen what books were to be included (excluding 20 or so Gospels) my world collapsed. I was about 13 at the time but that was it. The entire foundation collapsed in an instant and my belief followed.

SuperfluousPedagogue Report

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Best Behave
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

You weren’t gullible you were a child educated by adults who had n either never questioned, or suppressed their own doubts. Don’t be too hard on them, they were bent up in a similar way

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#52

The top spire of Empire State Building was designed for docking blimps

Gifford_Roberts Report

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Amanda Rose
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

During construction in October 1930; the USS Los Angeles, ZMC-2 and a J-class blimp seen overhead Zeppelin_b...a9a615.jpg Zeppelin_bij_Empire_State_Building_in_aanbouw_-_Zeppelin_near_the_Empire_State_Building_under_construction_6943970242-643b825a9a615.jpg

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#53

that the beach boys made up kokomo and that it is not a tropical caribbean island

epicgamer-724 Report

#54

People are stupid…historically

WTF_Bridgett Report

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Beruthiel45
Community Member
1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

It might interest you to know that after a period of increased average intelligence due to better life conditions, average intelligence in America has stopped increasing and has plateaued and lowered in the last 50 years. Researchers don't know why. Yet.

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#55

in ancient Rome, they once had a horse as a senator... **neighs**

DoraKennedy Report

#56

50 Historical Facts That Have Completely Ruined The Way These People See The World That up until the 1980s newborn babies used to get operated on without anaesthesia because it was believed they couldn't feel pain.

Edit: spelling fix

Edit 2: you experts can calm your tits now. I may not be a doctor, but that doesn't make the history of it any less disturbing...

studyinthai333 , Christian Bowen Report

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#57

Learning about the link between leaded gasoline and violent crime made me question free will.

Mogster2K Report

#58

1. At one point in time, multiple different species of Homo Sapiens existed and were all probably killed off by Homo Sapien Sapien, i.e. us.

2. Most mammal species went for a couple millions of years before their extinction, which means we're basically at the starting quarter of Human Species and not the finale.

3. Most current dictatorships and brutal regimes in the world were aided or created by the Americans in some way who just threw money and weapons at third world countries and watched them be burned down as they suck out the resources that country had.

4. Most post-WW2 Independance Struggles of colonies succeeded not because of their tenacity, but due to Europe being driven into a depression after back to back wars.

5. Most historical figures are a******s whose assholery was never documented.

mayonnaiser_13 Report

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Lyone Fein
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

On #1. If you do a DNA test, you will probably see that the other species were in fact not killed off. They lost their distinct identities via interbreeding. Many of us still have a small percentage of Neanderthal DNA in us, and other strains as well. These show up on these tests.

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#59

That Paul Revere did NOT do the midnight ride. He was captured. It was another dude altogether, but his name wasn’t as poetic, I guess.

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Robert Davis
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Sybil Ludington was a 16 year old girl who actually made a "midnight ride" to warn of the British arrival rode all night until collapsed from exhaustion.

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#60

Hitler isnt even in the top 3 of mass killers

Briffy03 Report

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Denise B.
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The main horror, besides the obviousness of the deaths, of Nazi Germany compared to, say, Ghengis Khan, is the cold, literally calculating, meticulous record-keeping, scientific approach to mass murder. They were the first to employ time-management efficiency studies to carrying out genocide. And perhaps the only allegedly cultured people from the nation of Bach and Goethe to save the hair, shoes, eyeglasses, and gold fillings ripped from victims' teeth. All this in the 1930s and 1940s, not the 1540s or 1340s, makes Hitler and company serious contenders for "worst."

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#61

Sporus

A young slave boy Nero had castrated and then married

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#62

Nanking.

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Jeroen Mulder
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The Nanjing Massacre (simplified Chinese: 南京大屠杀; traditional Chinese: 南京大屠殺; pinyin: Nánjīng Dàtúshā, Japanese: 南京大虐殺, romanized: Nankin Daigyakusatsu) or the Rape of Nanjing (formerly romanized as Nanking[note 2]) was the mass murder of Chinese civilians in Nanjing, the capital of the Republic of China, immediately after the Battle of Nanking in the Second Sino-Japanese War, by the Imperial Japanese Army.[2][3][4][5] Beginning on December 13, 1937, the massacre lasted six weeks. The perpetrators also committed other war crimes such as mass rape, looting, and arson.[note 1]

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#63

Drilling down in to the history of armed conflict, there are no good guys.

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sofacushionfort
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Option A: posters hasn’t done the deep drill as claimed, is just playing the worldly cynic. Option B: poster sees Zelensky and Putin as two sides to the same coin.

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#64

that guillotines weren't to sharp (and even less sharp after some use) . several attempts were needed to decapitate a person, in a horribly and painfully way.

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#65

Good men do not become rulers that history remembers.

whywasthatagoodidea Report

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Khall Khall
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There's that comment about 'push this button and win $1m. But someone else dies. And billionaires push that button every day' this is what kings and most rulers did too. They're almost all sociopaths. The greatest 'heros' of history were probably all monsters. Everyone of them.

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#66

The Caspian Sea has a second coastline deep underwater. It was a freshwater lake originally before it was flooded by the Mediterranean Sea. That appears to be the origin story for Noah’s flood. That was the beginning of the end of Christianity for me.

Edit: I’m told it’s the Black Sea, not the Caspian.

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Lyone Fein
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

There is a terrific book on this topic, written by a couple of geologists. Noah's Flood by Ryan and Pitman.

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#67

How Gravrilo Princeps just happened to run into the Archduke after his groups previous failed assassination attempt makes me think he was a time traveler.

https://www.thecollector.com/gavrilo-princip-ww1/

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Ken Beattie
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

More like he was the Mr Bean of assassins. Stumbling and bumbling into a world changing event.

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#68

That Akbar was a ruthless king.
He probably became wiser as he grew old. But in his early age he was neither liberal nor secular.

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#69

The Colonel died years before I was born, which means the guy in the suit at KFC I met when I was a kid wasn't the real Colonel.

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David
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Wait until you hear about how the honey packets have been changed to honey flavored corn syrup.

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