What Myths Are Still Widely Circulated as Truth? Here’s What People Had to Say.

Have you ever tried to have a debate (or even a polite conversation) with someone who just can’t be talked to because they won’t listen to reason about a certain topic?

That can be frustrating. And it can be REALLY frustrating when that belief isn’t true and has been disproven over and over again.

But that’s the kind of world we live in because people are stubborn and they don’t like to accept new ideas…or facts.

Here are some myths that AskReddit users think are still widely circulated as truth. Let’s take a look.

1. Be careful out there.

“If an HIV positive person has s*x with another HIV positive person, they don’t have to worry about protection.

They do, because there are 140 different strains of the HIV/AIDS virus, and getting infected with another strain, especially a potentially-deadlier one, could be dangerous.

Also, pregnancy is still a very big risk for HIV positive women. If you are considering a s*xual relationship, get tested, and talk to your doctor about birth control.”

2. History lesson.

“That people in general though the world was flat until Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

No, the Ancient World figured that out a long time before.

People just thought that it wasn’t possible to sail across the ocean to Asia because sailors would run out of food by then, while Columbus thought that wasn’t case because he thought Asia was bigger than contemporary estimates.”

3. What does that logo mean?

“The white on blue roundel in the BMW logo represents the white blades of a propeller against the blue sky, alluding to BMW’s history as a manufacturer of aircraft engines.

This myth was popularized in BMW’s advertising for aircraft engines. (And perpetuated by the movie Finding Forrester.)

In truth, the blue and white come from the Bavarian flag, presented as a circular coat of arms in reverse order to avoid a trademark law prohibiting the use of symbols of state sovereignty in a commercial trademark.

It was only in later marketing for aircraft engines they overlaid the logo over spinning propellers, as coincidentally it could be taken to look like a propeller against the sky. They made all sorts of engines for land vehicles as well.”

4. Fact or fiction?

“That one I’ve heard repeatedly is “shaving makes your hair grow back thicker.”

I have had lengthy arguments with more than one person about this.”

5. Space race.

“That the US spent over a million dollars and two years to develop a pen that could work in space…whereas the Soviets decided to just use a pencil.

In the early days, both used pencils, but since pencils are made out of graphite, and graphite is conductive, snapped graphite particles are dangerous in a pressurized space capsule….to put it lightly.

Fisher, the owner of the pen company, spent his own money to develop a pressurized ball point pen. And cost only about $3.00 per pen.”

6. Snake stuff.

“The Myth: You can tell if a snake is venomous or not by the shape of its pupil (slit for venomous, round for nonvenomous).

The Truth: Pupil shape has absolutely nothing to do with whether or not a snake has venom, and, if you’re close enough to get a good look at a snake’s pupils, you’re probably close enough to get bit.

The Advice: If you cannot, from a safe distance, immediately identify a snake beyond a reasonable doubt, assume it’s dangerous and behave accordingly; keep your distance, stay out of its direct path, and keep your eyes on it until one or the other of you leaves the area.”

7. Hmmmm…

“That urine neutralizes jelly fish stings.

Use vinegar instead.

That stuff will actually save you, at least long enough for an ambulance to arrive.”

8. That old story…

“That Marylin Manson removed 2 of his ribs to blow himself.

I will never understand how this one traveled around the world before widespread use of the Internet for stuff like this. Some of the other ones, sure, they were stuff that sounded medical or scientific were circulated by papers or magazines.

But this one somehow circulated in places that may have never even known who Marilyn Manson was.”

9. Those poor fish.

“That goldfish have a 6 second memory.

I mean it’s still not great, I think like a couple months. But still….

Get your fish a bigger d*mn tank”

10. They don’t?

“Undercover police have to tell you they are policemen when you ask them.”

11. Not true.

“Catherine the Great died after attempting to have s*x with a horse.

This myth was started by the French.

And then they ask why everyone believes Napoleon was a tiny, tiny man.”

12. Brainpower.

“That we only use 10% of our brain.

I legit read something that said “Normal people use only 8% of their brains; Einstein was able to achieve what he did because he used 11%. Imagine if we unlocked all of our brain.”

It’s scary how misinformation can be so prevalent.”

13. I remember this one.

“Something about touching baby birds and their parents abandoning them due to the smell of human touch.”

14. I wish it was true.

“That Mr. Rogers was a sniper and/or had tattoos covering his arms.

Both untrue.

Fred Rogers lived a pretty mundane live and dedicated considerable time to creating television programming that didn’t rot kids brains.”

Now we want to hear from you.

In the comments, tell us what myths you think people out there still think are true.

Please and thank you!

The post What Myths Are Still Widely Circulated as Truth? Here’s What People Had to Say. appeared first on UberFacts.

People Share Myths That a Lot of Folks Still Believe Are True

This is gonna be interesting!

The world is flat. Climate change is a hoax.

These are all examples of myths that are not true that people believed (and some still believe) for years and years.

We live in a superstitious world where people cling to their beliefs and ideas, no matter what kind of evidence is presented to them.

Let’s see what myths folks on AskReddit still think a lot of people out there believe are true.

1. Eat up!

“Carrots being good for your eyes.

It was a myth created in WWII by the Allies to explain how their pilots got so good at shooting down enemy planes all of a sudden.

The real reason was radar technology.”

2. False!

“That Lucky Strike is named such because it used to be that one cigarette in every 20 packs is a joint.

And if you found that joint, you were the lucky one.

In reality, the name comes from striking it lucky as a gold prospector. This joint claim has been disproved.”

3. That’s a tough one.

“The myth that if you work your *ss off during your college days, its gonna be smooth sailing in your adult years.

Nope.”

4. These people…

“That masks are ineffective.

Masks are incredibly effective, for both the wearer and those around them. Mask fibers are woven close enough to block the droplets that carry the coronavirus.

People say it’s like using a chain link fence to stop a fly, but it’s more like using a chain link fence to stop a fly that’s hitching a ride on a baseball. It reduces transmission drastically. It is proven science. I mean, for god’s sake, no one questions surgeons and nurses who wears them.

They do not block your breathing. And yes, they trap your coronavirus particles, but if they’re trapping your coronavirus particles then you already have coronavirus. It won’t make you more sick.

Masks are simple, easy. Put it over you face, and you’re doing your part to bring an end to this pandemic. All you people out there who are refusing for “my freedumbz” are making this thing last longer than it should and kill more people than it should.

You want things to go back to normal? You want the economy to come back? You want business to stop shutting down? You want children to actually go to school in person? THEN WEAR A MASK.”

5. Trippy!

“That LSD, Psilocybin and Cannabis are drugs that are highly addictive and have no medicinal value.

The literal reason for them being schedule 1 drugs and considered extremely criminal.

Its all bullsh*t and not true at all, Nixon made this up to harass and arrest his political opposition in the antiwar left and pro-rights blacks. They even admitted doing this and knowing well that the war on drugs would neither work nor had any sound reasoning behind it, yet 5 decades later we still kill thousands worldwide every year because of Nixon.

Most of the myths in reddit pages like this are silly or benign, while this myth is among the most deadly misconceptions that is only recently being very slowly reversed in younger generations.”

6. Oh, boy…

“The Earth is flat.

I went on a date with a guy that believed this. I laughed because I thought he was joking. He was not.

It was our only date.”

7. The old days.

“That cars were built better back in the day.

No, they weren’t.

Those old cars barely made it to 100k miles before sh*tting out.

Cars these days can go on for 500k+ miles if you do preventive maintenance on them throughout the years.”

8. Don’t wait!

“That you have to wait 24 hours before you can report a missing person.

If someone is missing, go get help!”

9. The numbers.

“10% of people are gay. This is taken from the Kinsey reports, and out of thousands of statistics, 10% appears only once.

It’s actually much more accurate to say (according to Kinsey) 4% are gay, 50% are straight, and 46-48% are somewhere on the bis*xual spectrum.”

10. Nope.

“That tax cuts for the rich result in job creation and a wealthier middle class.”

11. Old George.

“The myth that George Washington’s false teeth were made of wood should be put to rest.

The teeth in the contraption that he wore at times were teeth of different animals like elk, for one. The teeth were held in with wooden pegs.

Hence the myth.”

12. Gross.

“Margarine is healthier than butter.

It’s not, not even close it causes heart disease faster and your body doesn’t even recognize it as food.

Flies won’t even touch it.”

13. All kinds of stuff!

“Lightning round:

That Galileo was the first person to come up with a heliocentric model.

That Copernicus was the first person to come up with a heliocentric model.

That everyone believed the world was flat until Columbus.

That Columbus’ ships were named Niña, Pinta and Santa María.

That Columbus was the first European to discover America.

That tetanus is caused by rusty metal.

That Napoleon was comically short.

That the Great Wall of China is ‘the only manmade structure visible from space’.

That there is a rule in English that you aren’t supposed to boldly split infinitives.

That there is a rule in English that says ‘I before E except after C’.

That pot is a “gateway drug”.

That Einstein flunked math as a child.

That Mrs. O’Leary’s cow started the Great Chicago Fire.”

14. History lesson.

“The European “Dark Ages”

People seem to love the idea that, between the fall of Rome and, like, DaVinci or something, everyone in Europe was just blowing spit bubbles and looking at the funny pictures in the Bible.

Not only was there not a complete absence of classical learning in Europe during the dark ages, but throughout the dark ages and mediaeval period, there actually was a fair amount of progress in fields like architecture, engineering, metallurgy, philosophy, theology and yes, even science.

But then again, I suppose it all ties back to the notion that people in the past were somehow far stupider than we are.”

Now it’s your turn.

In the comments, share some more myths that are still widely believed to be true.

We can’t wait to hear from you!

The post People Share Myths That a Lot of Folks Still Believe Are True appeared first on UberFacts.

10+ People Discuss the Myths That People Really Need to Stop Believing

We’ve all grown up with some kind of old wives tales or family superstitions and these AskReddit users shared the ones they want to be exposed as LIES.

1. Still…don’t do it

“The fact that chocolate is insta-death for dogs.

I still wouldn’t recommend feeding your dog chocolate, but if your dog licks something chocolate it’s very unlikely to die. It’s more often than you’d probably expect that I’m hanging with someone and they freak out over their dog getting a small bit of chocolate. It’s obnoxious and unnecessary.”

2. Beware

“Using a phone while your car is being fueled doesn’t cause an explosion.”

3. Not a believer

“The the relative alignment of stars that are lightyears away from Earth have anything to do with someone’s personality.”

4. Might be true for a lot of people

“You only use 10% of your brain”
Then again if you believe in that myth, you actually might only be using 10%.”

5. Not true

“That when a snake stretches out its body near a human or animal it means it is “sizing up its prey”. This is a complete myth with no basis in reality, snakes are ambush predators and if they had to stretch out to size up prey they’d never get a meal and would risk being injured by its prey.”

6. My bad

“That wrong=stupid. I feel like a lot of the issues with the world today is that no one wants to be wrong, making them look stupid. Being wrong is how you learn, and no one will belittle you if you say “whoops, I was wrong. My bad.” “

7. Don’t do that

“Just saw this on here the other day and nearly stroked over it:

DO NOT PUT BUTTER ON SKIN BURNS.

If you do, you’re gonna have a bad time.”

8. Weed talk

“That weed has no negative consequences around it and can’t possibly cause any harm whatsoever.

BTW I’m all for legalization but weed worshippers tend to spout off nonsense about it.”

9. Charging

“To discharge electronics completely before recharging.

This is only true for the older nickel style batteries, but almost everything produced today has lithium-ion batteries. A lithium battery’s ability to hold a charge DECREASES the more times it’s charged and discharged.

The best case scenario to keep your phone’s battery in good shape is to charge that MF’er as much as humanly possible, not to let it die on you.”

10. Lie!

“SHAVING DOES’T MAKE HAIR GROW THICKER.”

11. I hope not

“Cracking knuckles is bad for you.”

12. Autism

“Being autistic, I have a few myths regarding autism I’d like to clear up:

Vaccines don’t cause autism. No-one knows for certain what autism is caused by, but vaccines aren’t one of them. The signs of autism simply occur at the same age when most kids get their vaccines.

You might as well say that autism is caused by potty-training.
Not every autistic person is like Rain Man or Sheldon from Big Bang Theory. Autism has a lot of common traits (stimming, lack of social awareness,hyper-fixations, hypersensitivity, etc), which manifest differently from person to person. Some exhibit a few very obvious traits, others have several minor traits. It’s like a big buffet where everyone takes different numbers and amounts of the same group of food.

Even if you give an autistic person your firstborn, they can’t spin straw into gold for you. Autistic people can only spin straw into copper. Not as valuable, but much more versatile in industrial applications.”

13. Cinco de Mayo

“Cinco de Mayo is NOT “Independence Day” for the country of Mexico.

It is actually the celebration of the victory of the Mexican Army over the French in the Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862.”

14. A lot of people believe this

“That you have to wait 24 hours before filing a missing person report. Do not do this! If somebody has gone missing, report it as soon as you realize so that action can be taken immediately and the person can be found before it is too late.”

15. Myth

“Nobody is putting drugs into Halloween candy.”

The post 10+ People Discuss the Myths That People Really Need to Stop Believing appeared first on UberFacts.