I have a feeling that this question will be very interesting to ask again in about five years.
With so much disinformation flowing out there online and from certain influential figures, some of these ridiculous myths and claims are bound to stick around, don’t you think?
But the fact is that myths that aren’t true have been around for centuries.
So what are some that people still believe?
Here’s what AskReddit users had to say.
1. Not unusual.
“That people in the Middle Ages only lived to 40 or something.
There was a lot of children dead, thus lowering the average age.
Living until 60 or 70 years old wasn’t strange.”
2. Alpha dogs.
“People believe in the whole alpha and beta wolves thing.
It’s not true.
The “leaders” of the pack are the parents.
In natural wolf packs, the alpha male or female are merely the breeding animals, the parents of the pack, and dominance contests with other wolves are rare, if they exist at all.”
3. Go for it!
“Knuckle cracking doesn’t lead to arthritis
It’s just an old wives tale people use in place of simply telling you it’s annoying them.
Crack away!”
4. Not accurate.
“That you can tell if someone is a “virgin” by looking at their hymen to see if it is “intact.”
I recently remembered that in middle school and high school, we believed that you could tell someone wasn’t a virgin if they had a thigh gap.”
5. MSG.
“That MSG is very bad for health and anything with it is seen as unhealthy.”
6. Buy less.
“That E-waste recycling is good for the environment.
Much of it gets shipped overseas to be burned or dissolved in chemicals to extract the precious metals.
The real way to help is to buy less.”
7. Doesn’t quite do it.
“That washing chicken gets it rid of bacteria.
No.
Cooking chicken gets rid of bacteria, given that you do it well.
Washing chicken, on the other hand, can contaminate your whole kitchen with salmonella.”
8. Thank goodness.
“That whole “you eat seven spiders a year” myth.
It was created by some lady in the late 1990s or early 2000s to prove that ridiculous things can be found on the Internet, spread like wildfire, and believed by many.”
9. Rare gems.
“That diamonds are rare and therefore should be expensive.
That is just a myth perpetrated by the De Beers diamond cartel.”
10. History’s mysteries.
“The Bermuda triangle: Turns out ships and planes disappear at the same rate all over the worlds oceans.
The mystery of how the pyramids were built: They know how they were built. Ramps, pulleys, ropes and labor.”
11. It’s not?
“That breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
Marketing can do wonders.”
12. Total BS.
“That violent video games are linked to violent behavior, mass shootings, etc.
Remember when Columbine was blamed on Marilyn Manson?”
13. Not unknown.
“The Holocaust was mostly unknown until after the war and mostly took place in hidden-away camps.
The writings we have, letters and diaries, lets us know it was actually quite the common knowledge as soon as it started.
We know another thing that is important, that is people who both have documented to be in the know would claim post-war they had no idea. Coping mechanism or whatever but its a thing.
Also a plurality of the victims of the Holocaust were in fact shot over open pits in the places they lived, not gassed. The industrialized murder in places like Auschwitz-Birkenau using Zyklon-B started late. Before that people were shot, asphyxiated with carbon monoxide at several sites or starved.
I think it boils down to people wanting to believe the crimes were unknown and industrialized because they don’t want to comprehend plenty of normal people are capable of accepting or carrying such terrible acts. But they are, we are.”
14. Arms race.
“That historical armour was useless, or just something you wore so you had a slight chance to turn a death blow into merely a serious injury.
Shows and movies still perpetuate this. Game of Thrones has “acclaimed” sword fights where guys casually shove swords through dudes in plate armour. Impossible. Metal is not cardboard.
Even the most basic iron or bronze chain mail armour will be barely scratched by a slash from the sharpest katana. Well-made plate armour is impervious to all damage short of a blow from a specialized armour-piercing weapon (lance, pole axe etc.). Even the earliest guns couldn’t penetrate plate armour.
Armour was incredibly expensive. Common people couldn’t afford it so made do without or, if lucky, with fabric armours (that were still very effective protection!). A suit of custom-made plate would have cost a knight the equivalent of a modern high-end luxury car. Why would people pay that much for something useless?
Armour was very useful. That’s why weapons continued to advanced over the centuries and why armour did as well. It was an arms race.”
What do you think?
Add to the conversation and tell us about some more myths that people still think are true.
Talk to us in the comments!
