this post was submitted on 04 Apr 2026
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:
- Both “200” and “160” are 2 minutes in microwave math
- When you’re a kid, you don’t realize you’re also watching your mom and dad grow up.
- More dreams have been destroyed by alarm clocks than anything else
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- A good place for politics is c/politicaldiscussion
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People always think stuff is just fairy tales and sing along songs until they're hit with it.
There are exceptions though. But for most it's true.
The current anti-vax movement would not have flourished in a generation that lived through widespread polio and measles.
Yup, I’ve said this for years. To antivaxxers, those old diseases are boogeymen. They legitimately don’t believe the diseases are bad, because “well people survived for thousands of years before” (survivorship bias) and the fact that they’ve never been personally affected by it.
They never lost a childhood friend to measles. They never saw entire hospital wings full of kids in iron lungs because of polio. They never watched a friend or family member go deaf because of a childhood case of mumps. They never had a brother, uncle, etc have to come to terms with being unable to have kids, because a childhood case of mumps left them sterile.
But you know what is real to the antivaxxers? Autism. Everyone knows (or has seen) someone who was severely autistic. It doesn’t matter if the link between autism and vaccines is fake; the imagined threat of autism is a bigger threat in their minds than the very real threat of these diseases.
Oh yeah I could tell so much about autism now (ever since I know). I've had so much suffering which is related to people, even now. Being excluded and blamed for being myself.
Being autistic itself never was an issue and even comes with some nice perks. Oh yeah and it's a development thing. Either you are or not, of course.
Lucky though that I am not in the us, I might be scared there. But since I'm an atypical most people would never notice.
Apologies, went off the rails there. Anyhow lots of these things from the beginning of the thread can be fixed by knowledge, but I'm afraid we've peaked and are on the steep decline.
I dunno, there were pretty big anti mask movements back in the 1918 “Spanish” Influenza pandemic. I think it’s completely possible that ignorance can persist, even in the face of obvious oblivion.
by "people", you mean "Americans"…
No, not only. Humans in general. I think it's likely basic psychology that everything outside your/their bubble is far away and unrelatable.
If it weren't a globalized world not it might not be that much of an issue.
Looks at present day Germany...
Uh folks, nothing to see here!
Well it's not the Afd's fault the big parties are doing everything to help them out!
(for those not in the know reading this: a lot being done especially by chancellor Merz is literally pushing voters to them. Not really voluntarily, but he's a champ at doing that)
what war is Germany waging?
The one in Iran. US drones are controlled from Ramstein Air Base, and bombers take off from there and freely fly through German air space to bomb Iran.
German soldiers are doing that? or Murican soldiers stationed in Germany?
I get your point but there is nuance there
War on middle and lower class
It's true for people literally everywhere
Look up russian population's opinions on the war in Ukraine, you'd be surprised how much would gleefully support it until their own lives are disrupted by it. Of course, a lot are against it, but that is now illegal to say out loud over there.