fact
Internet Memes are now used in ways formerly used in leaflet propaganda. Targeted Internet memes “hack” people’s attention and aid in sewing discord. Memes do this by utilizing classic psychological warfare tactics, such as those used in propaganda via analogue leaflets.
The post Internet Memes are now used in ways… appeared first on Crazy Facts.
People believe illogical and ridiculous things for a number of reasons.
I think a big one is how they were raised and what their parents insisted they believe in, especially when it comes to religion and politics.
Another reason is that propaganda and spread of false news and information is real AND it’s a real threat.
And some of it is just being young and oblivious.
Here are some very interesting stories from folks on AskReddit.
“When I first got my license they asked if I wanted to be an organ donor. I said no.
Years later a friend of mine asked me why I wasn’t a donor and I told them it was because I was afraid they would call me up one day and demand a kidney or part of my liver or something.
After laughing their ass off my friend explained that’s not how it works and now I’m an organ donor. Hopefully no one wants my brain because I’m a moron.”
“I thought Aeropostale and American Eagle were the fanciest clothes you could get.
Grew up in Appalachia so for the area I guess they were. Dated a girl in Houston who was extremely into fashion and was pretty mortified that I had no idea what Armani, Gucci and Chanel were.”
“That the world was black and white until color came in to it.
Looking at old photographs confused young me, apparently.”
“That EVERYBODY, except me, were aliens trying to manipulate me in some kind of experiment.
So while I was interacting with someone, s/he was wearing a “human costume”, but when I was far away they would return to their alien body.”
“When I was really young, one of my friends told me that raisin bread had rabbit poop in it. So I refused to eat raisin bread for years.
At some point the narrative of rabbit poop in bread must have got a little strange because then I convinced myself I just didn’t like it. And went with that for 25 years.
Until I dated someone who loved raisin bread and tried and it was amazing! No more rabbit poop bread.”
“I believed all dogs are male and all cats are female.
The cartoon CatDog really screwed with my youthful mind.
Both ends are male and I just couldn’t comprehend that.”
“When I was a young teen my dad told me that girls can get pregnant from breathing in the air that boys exhale, because particles.
I didn’t kiss a boy until junior year of high school and to this day (now in my 20s) I still can’t stand people breathing near my face, which precludes certain cuddling positions.”
“I thought Jesus invented the English language.
And then he proceeded to write the King James Version of the Bible.”
“My parents convinced me that the ice cream truck rang, when it was all out of ice cream. Found it they lied to me about 2 years ago…..
I’m sixteen.”
“That guerilla warfare meant people had enlisted gorillas to fight with them.
They were always reported in far away places…. Where I presumed gorillas lived.”
“That you can’t have sex before marriage.
I remember going to a show in the theatre and the 2 main characters kissed, and I was like “are they married to each other? Why aren’t they wearing wearing rings?””
“My bf believed that the black market was a real physical market where people would trade illegal things as a kid. Like a guy would be hawking guns in a stall next to another guy selling drugs and they’d compete over customers.
“Quality, pure drugs right here! No additives! Just the good stuff!”
“Buy my guns so you don’t have to pay for his drugs! I got the best guns!””
“That movies were real and the name of the character was the name of the actor, admittedly was almost 12 before I first saw an actor in a second movie, and after asking my dad why they were calling him a different name, I realized.
But at least professional wrestling was real, yup also admittedly found out much later than I should have, 19 yrs old. I just really can suspend that disbelief, I guess.”
“That people who die turn into mannequins. And that the mannequins move when the store closes.
The mannequins are ghosts of the dead.”
“Growing up and being an altar boy in the Catholic Church, I thought that Catholicism was the only one true religion.”
“I believed in Santa until I was about 7 or 8, which isn’t that unusual except that I’m Jewish and I thought he was an AntiSemite because I never got presents on Christmas.”
Now we want to hear from you.
Did you ever used to have totally illogical beliefs? What changed your mind?
Please tell us your stories in the comments.
The post People Admit Illogical Things They Believed for Years appeared first on UberFacts.
These days, a lot of people live in complete echo chambers and they never hear any dissenting opinions or information AT ALL.
And sometimes those echo chambers are filled with misinformation, lies, fake news, and absolute BULLSHIT.
But that’s how propaganda works.
And that’s just the world we live in right now.
Let’s hear from some AskReddit users who talk about how they used to buy into certain propaganda only to later learn that it was total BS.
“When I was a teenager I thought that everyone over 30 is old and doesn’t understand me.
I was a fucking idiot.
It’s something in the brain chemistry but to the teenager, life experience is irrelevant because that life took place before I was born and therefore is now out of date and not in the slightest but applicable to me.”
“That most people achieve success in their lives during their 20’s. This is bullshit in the grander scheme of things. Lots of super talented people end up becoming successful in their late 30’s, 40’s, and even 50’s.
The same goes for the concept of “If you want to get good at something, you have to start super young..” Which does SOMETIMES work. But a lot of people can actually get good at a skill in older ages.
You can learn the Piano in your 30’s, and get really good at it. But you’re not going to be doing concerts or anything. But it doesn’t mean that you’re not good/great/exceptional at it.”
“That carrots give you exceptional night vision.
I later found out that that particular belief became widely accepted due to a British propaganda campaign from world war II designed to hide the invention of radar from the Germans. They claimed that the reason their air force pilots were so effective at night was due to them being fed carrots to increase their night vision. It was so effective that people still tout that particular benefit of carrots years after the war ended.
Edit, a couple corrections: While carrots are rich in vitamin a which helps prevent your eyesight from deteriorating, they still do not give superhuman vision like the propaganda claimed. The myth isn’t that they are good for your eyesight. It is an exaggeration of how effective they actually are.
Also I was incorrect when I said that the British were trying to cover up the invention of radar. They were in actuality trying to cover up an an advancement in radar technology that they didn’t want the Germans finding out about.”
“I was born into the cult of jehovahs witnesses. I left at 25 when I found out the leaders were covering up child abuse and then instead of changing their rules to protect victims they enforced their archaic rules and then told elders to burn and delete any evidence relating to past cases.
Sick bastards, but Ofc I get shunned and disowned and called a worker of Satan, an agent of the devil, a spiritual warrior committing acts of warfare against god sent to dissuade gods chosen people from the one true god….(who’s chosen peoples leaders cover up child abuse. ) when all I did was try to show my friends and family the multitude of court cases against them
Least I got a badass title.”
“Trivial but I bought into the lie that the more you cut hair, the more it grows. I’ve been shaving my beard for years hoping to get a nice thick bush to no avail.
I just have to accept that nature played me and deal with my patchy face hair.”
“Anti-vax. At one point I was completely sold on the whole “how can you inject infants with dangerous chemicals” thing.
Then I read up on the actual science and realised how uninformed I was.”
“GMOs are dangerous for your health.
Not only is the idea that they’re bad bullshit, the global food supply would be more expensive, less plentiful, and poor parts of the world would experience more frequent, prolonged shortages of crucial items if it weren’t for GMOs.”
“That the only way to achieve success in life is to study hard, get top grades, and go to university and study something like law or medicine.
Plenty of people I know have achieved success and happiness without top university education. I also believed the idea that the career you study for is for life.”
“I totally bought into that ridiculous Denver airport conspiracy for a few months after a friend showed me it in high school.”
“Mission trips are for helping others…. really it’s just a huge ego boost for many people who want to exploit people’s needs to feel better about themselves.
Plus the whole part where it might actually be more harmful than helpful…”
“I had always thought chiropractors were bullshit, but what confirmed it for me was when one day after hurting my back a friend recommended I try it and I thought “meh I guess it’s worth checking out at least.”
So I called but forgot it was a Sunday and they were closed, but I left my name and number saying I was interested in making an appointment. While I was at work the next day and couldn’t answer, the chiropractor left me about 7 or 8 voicemails, each one sounding like one of those gym sales people trying to get you to join.
After that I was like yeah no legit healthcare place would be trying to sell me this hard on making an appointment offering this discount or the other just to get me in the door.”
“The anti drug campaigns we all had to listen to as a kid.
The cop that came to my school to give our anti drug talks ended up drinking himself to death at 51.
Guess no one told him alcohol was more dangerous than what he was telling us not to take.”
“Iraq had WMDs.
I believed it well before Bush came into office. I would read in the paper how even during the Clinton era that Saddam would block actively block weapon inspectors. To me, that sounded like he was hiding something. I still believed it months after the invasion.
Then the truth started coming out, ‘Curveball’ was some taxi driver that made shit up, Cheney outed a CIA agent because she found out that Iraq wasn’t going for nuclear material and it went against their narrative. It would be one thing if they have bad intel, but this was intentionally falsified intel to justify their war.”
“I used to be big into conspiracy. Alex Jones was right, Clinton’s are actually alien lizard people, and all sorts of crazy stuff.
I even believed Obama was a secret agent Muslim going to install martial law and kill all non muslims. It got to the point I was even considering grabbing guns, I even thought about if I attacked a mosque that I could help stop the Muslim takeover.
It took so long to get my mind straight. It’s a slippery slope, and it’s not something I want anyone to go down on.”
“I bought into the abstinence-until-marriage crap in middle school, when they made you sign all the fancy pamphlets about why it’s the right thing to do. Really felt it would stop my fellow classmates from having sex until marriage.
My belief in that fell apart in high school. A teammate on my football team would tell stories in the pregame time for JV games about how he had banged some girl the other week. I can still remember 3 specific stories, one of which was how he had sex while wearing a ziplock baggie instead of a condom.”
“Everyone on my political spectrum are all good and everyone on the other side are terrible people who have absolutely nothing to offer in a discussion and no valid opinions”
In middle school, they made us take political party quizzes to see what we would vote. It became this whole us vs them atmosphere. This only became worse when my parents would be talking about the other side like they were all idiots.
I firmly believed growing up that anyone opposite to me on the political spectrum are evil, dumb people and any points that may align with them are bad. I believed you had to be all or nothing. I was very closed minded.”
Very interesting perspectives in there, that’s for sure.
How about you?
Did you previously believe wholeheartedly in things that you later realized were not true or even total BS?
If so, please share your stories with us in the comments.
We look forward to hearing from you!
The post People Admit Propaganda They Used to Buy Into, but Later Realized Was BS appeared first on UberFacts.
The BBC created a Radio Soap Opera during WWII specifically for the American market. It was propaganda designed to get the USA to end its neutrality. One of the aims of the show was to appeal to those with a ‘limited mentality’. It ended up being a popular radio show in the US.
The post The BBC created a Radio Soap… appeared first on Crazy Facts.
Soviet Russia had an anti-handshake campaign in the 1920s to fight infectious diseases. “Down with handshakes!” antique pins released by a Russian anti-handshake society can still be found. 10
The post “Down with handshakes!” appeared first on Crazy Facts.
This question was asked on Reddit: Which propaganda effort was so successful, people still believe it today?
Over 22,000 comments later, we’ve got 13 gems to share.
Enjoy!
That the old woman who sued McDonald’s over burning herself with her coffee was just money hungry
For clarity: an elderly woman was a passenger in a car, pulled over in the lot to add sugar after getting a coffee and it spilled all over her lap. It burned her really bad and she just set out to get McDonald’s to pay her hospital bills bc they served the coffee way too hot.
They ended up launching this whole PR campaign where they smeared this poor lady, even taking out spots in local papers over how silly and money hungry she was.
Comedians, musicians, and radio hosts made fun of her and made her out to be money hungry instead of a victim.
I recently discovered that these pretty yellow flowers were re-classified as weeds because of lawn culture and some successful marketing by herbicide companies.
Dandelions have been used in food and medicine for centuries.
They’re junk science at best.
People, when the inventor of the device and procedures used is on record saying it’s crap, we should probably listen.
Looking at you, Florida, for allowing LD test results as evidence in court.
I am from Germany and some of my grandparents still believe the stuff they were told about Jews by the Nazis.
Like when a jewish person dies on a christian holiday they get hung behind the door and everyone who comes in has to spit on him.
It’s some vile stuff. I can’t believe how they were spoon fed with this in their early years.
Another one I remember is that they were told that at a jewish funeral, the dead person gets a stone put in their pocket, so if they cross Jesus in the afterlife they can throw it at him.
Cleoptra was a slut who became powerful only by sex appeal.
Contemporary and unbiased sources actually suggest she was rather plain, but it was her intellect and charming conversation that got her power. Also, as far as sexual relations go, her affairs with Julius Caesar and Antony, as well as her traditional marriages to her brothers, aren’t bad compared to the well-known affairs of some other figures, especially Antony.
Defaming Cleopatra made her easier to demonize and portray as a seductress ruling over Antony, making war easier for Octavian.
The bottled beverage industry commissioned and publicized a series of studies in the early 1990s when they decided to get into the bottled water business. The problem was that their largest competitor was free and available in schools, parks, and public buildings everywhere.
Anyone who took even a semester of biology knows that if you walk around and swab and culture anything, you’ll find that it’s covered in bacteria. That’s ecology on planet Earth.
Many Korean people believe that fans can cause death.
Even my mother, who moved to America in her mid teens, still prohibits me from leaving a fan on overnight for fear of death. There is a conspiracy theory that the South Korean government spread this myth as propaganda to prevent energy overusage, but it’s origins are unknown.
It’s strange that many Koreans believe this myth considering it is one of the most technologically advanced countries.
People should know that a healthy set of teeth doesn’t mean they’re perfectly white. Super white teeth are not even normal.
Our enamel will slowly become more translucent as we age, revealing the colour of the dentin (which is yellow) underneath it.
Thats why as we get older, our teeth will become yellower.
Doesn’t mean they’re not healthy or unclean.
This rumour was started in WW2 to hide the invention of RADAR.
The public was told that allied pilots found the German bombers during the blitz because they had good eyesight because they ate their carrots.
But in reality it was that the British had an early RADAR system in place that they did not want the Germans to find out about and bomb.
MSG will kill you and is horrible to ingest, “I’m allergic to MSG”
Really, it is delicious and your body produces it naturally while breaking down regular salt.
Some people do have sodium issues, and it may not be good for them. But that’s a tiny micro-percentage of people.
Andrew Wakefield, a former gastroenterologist and the man responsible for this anti-vax shit show, originally wanted to prove that vaccines were responsible for bowel disease as well as linking it to autism.
He was put through a tribunal by the GMC, it was found that not only had he lied about his research, but was found to have committed 12 acts of abuse against developmentally disabled children after he put them through unnecessary and invasive procedures.
To try and prove that vaccines were responsible for autism and bowel disease, he put young children through unnecessary colonoscopies and lumbar punctures (spinal taps).
He was struck off from the Medical Register and is no longer allowed to practice medicine. He continues to make a living promoting and speaking at anti-vaccine propaganda events. People should remember that. Anti-vaxers are looking to an abuser found to have put developmentally disabled children through unnecessary medical procedures for advice.
Let’s not understate how much of a piece of shit the man is.
That if you ask if someone is a cop, if they are a cop they legally are required to say yes they are.
Of course they aren’t required to, that defeats the entire purpose of working undercover!
It is worse than renewables, however instead of chucking huge quantities of dangerous waste into the air like a coal power plant, it can all be contained, and 95% can be reprocessed into new fuel. In the 60s and 70s, a lot of oil giants used advertising to link it’s reputation to the very real danger of nuclear weapons, and if this hadn’t have happened, global warming would have been much less of an issue. Very few people realise that coal power actually causes more deaths per MW than nuclear power due to nitrous oxide emissions, even when Chenoble is included in the statistics.
Edit: A lot of people are saying that nuclear is as good, or possibly better than renewables. I agree that at the moment, for baseline power, it is better, and we should be using it a lot more. In the long term though, I think that renewable are a better solution due to not needing refueling, and needing less oversight (once production of the power plants themselves becomes cleaner and better storage solutions are devised).
What are some myths you’ve believed in the past?
Have you ever tried to question your own beliefs?
Do tell!
The post 10+ Times Propaganda Was so Successful, People Still Believe It Today appeared first on UberFacts.
This question was asked on Reddit: Which propaganda effort was so successful, people still believe it today?
Over 22,000 comments later, we’ve got 13 gems to share.
Enjoy!
That the old woman who sued McDonald’s over burning herself with her coffee was just money hungry
For clarity: an elderly woman was a passenger in a car, pulled over in the lot to add sugar after getting a coffee and it spilled all over her lap. It burned her really bad and she just set out to get McDonald’s to pay her hospital bills bc they served the coffee way too hot.
They ended up launching this whole PR campaign where they smeared this poor lady, even taking out spots in local papers over how silly and money hungry she was.
Comedians, musicians, and radio hosts made fun of her and made her out to be money hungry instead of a victim.
I recently discovered that these pretty yellow flowers were re-classified as weeds because of lawn culture and some successful marketing by herbicide companies.
Dandelions have been used in food and medicine for centuries.
They’re junk science at best.
People, when the inventor of the device and procedures used is on record saying it’s crap, we should probably listen.
Looking at you, Florida, for allowing LD test results as evidence in court.
I am from Germany and some of my grandparents still believe the stuff they were told about Jews by the Nazis.
Like when a jewish person dies on a christian holiday they get hung behind the door and everyone who comes in has to spit on him.
It’s some vile stuff. I can’t believe how they were spoon fed with this in their early years.
Another one I remember is that they were told that at a jewish funeral, the dead person gets a stone put in their pocket, so if they cross Jesus in the afterlife they can throw it at him.
Cleoptra was a slut who became powerful only by sex appeal.
Contemporary and unbiased sources actually suggest she was rather plain, but it was her intellect and charming conversation that got her power. Also, as far as sexual relations go, her affairs with Julius Caesar and Antony, as well as her traditional marriages to her brothers, aren’t bad compared to the well-known affairs of some other figures, especially Antony.
Defaming Cleopatra made her easier to demonize and portray as a seductress ruling over Antony, making war easier for Octavian.
The bottled beverage industry commissioned and publicized a series of studies in the early 1990s when they decided to get into the bottled water business. The problem was that their largest competitor was free and available in schools, parks, and public buildings everywhere.
Anyone who took even a semester of biology knows that if you walk around and swab and culture anything, you’ll find that it’s covered in bacteria. That’s ecology on planet Earth.
Many Korean people believe that fans can cause death.
Even my mother, who moved to America in her mid teens, still prohibits me from leaving a fan on overnight for fear of death. There is a conspiracy theory that the South Korean government spread this myth as propaganda to prevent energy overusage, but it’s origins are unknown.
It’s strange that many Koreans believe this myth considering it is one of the most technologically advanced countries.
People should know that a healthy set of teeth doesn’t mean they’re perfectly white. Super white teeth are not even normal.
Our enamel will slowly become more translucent as we age, revealing the colour of the dentin (which is yellow) underneath it.
Thats why as we get older, our teeth will become yellower.
Doesn’t mean they’re not healthy or unclean.
This rumour was started in WW2 to hide the invention of RADAR.
The public was told that allied pilots found the German bombers during the blitz because they had good eyesight because they ate their carrots.
But in reality it was that the British had an early RADAR system in place that they did not want the Germans to find out about and bomb.
MSG will kill you and is horrible to ingest, “I’m allergic to MSG”
Really, it is delicious and your body produces it naturally while breaking down regular salt.
Some people do have sodium issues, and it may not be good for them. But that’s a tiny micro-percentage of people.
Andrew Wakefield, a former gastroenterologist and the man responsible for this anti-vax shit show, originally wanted to prove that vaccines were responsible for bowel disease as well as linking it to autism.
He was put through a tribunal by the GMC, it was found that not only had he lied about his research, but was found to have committed 12 acts of abuse against developmentally disabled children after he put them through unnecessary and invasive procedures.
To try and prove that vaccines were responsible for autism and bowel disease, he put young children through unnecessary colonoscopies and lumbar punctures (spinal taps).
He was struck off from the Medical Register and is no longer allowed to practice medicine. He continues to make a living promoting and speaking at anti-vaccine propaganda events. People should remember that. Anti-vaxers are looking to an abuser found to have put developmentally disabled children through unnecessary medical procedures for advice.
Let’s not understate how much of a piece of shit the man is.
That if you ask if someone is a cop, if they are a cop they legally are required to say yes they are.
Of course they aren’t required to, that defeats the entire purpose of working undercover!
It is worse than renewables, however instead of chucking huge quantities of dangerous waste into the air like a coal power plant, it can all be contained, and 95% can be reprocessed into new fuel. In the 60s and 70s, a lot of oil giants used advertising to link it’s reputation to the very real danger of nuclear weapons, and if this hadn’t have happened, global warming would have been much less of an issue. Very few people realise that coal power actually causes more deaths per MW than nuclear power due to nitrous oxide emissions, even when Chenoble is included in the statistics.
Edit: A lot of people are saying that nuclear is as good, or possibly better than renewables. I agree that at the moment, for baseline power, it is better, and we should be using it a lot more. In the long term though, I think that renewable are a better solution due to not needing refueling, and needing less oversight (once production of the power plants themselves becomes cleaner and better storage solutions are devised).
What are some myths you’ve believed in the past?
Have you ever tried to question your own beliefs?
Do tell!
The post 10+ Times Propaganda Was so Successful, People Still Believe It Today appeared first on UberFacts.
George Orwell’s use of 2+2=5 as a catchphrase of the dystopian government in his book 1984 is based on Joseph Stalin’s use of that equation in propaganda. Soviet posters declared “2 + 2 plus the enthusiasm of the workers = 5” long before Orwell wrote his novel. The USSR reached the goals of that Five […]
It used to be improper for women to smoke, but a single PR stunt changed all that. In 1929, women were hired to light up while marching in a parade, calling the cigarettes “Torches of Freedom.” So smoking became a symbol of equal rights, and sales skyrocketed. The stunt was pulled by Edward Bernays (nephew […]
There is a fake village devoid of human life on the southern border of North Korea. It is known as a “Propaganda Village” and was used as a decoy to lure South Korean defectors.