this post was submitted on 04 Dec 2025
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You know that feeling when something gets said so many times that people just start treating it as fact, no matter how shaky it was in the first place?

Like, Santa didn’t make the cut, but God sure did.

What are other examples of things that basically became true through repetition alone?

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[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 4 points 14 hours ago

Feels like that is the major way of doing things by the current administration in my country.

[–] PumpkinDrama@reddthat.com 5 points 18 hours ago

The pyramids where built by slaves.

[–] mech@feddit.org 6 points 19 hours ago

That science can't explain how bumble-bees are able to fly, since their wings are too small for their weight.

[–] gwl@lemmy.blahaj.zone 17 points 1 day ago (2 children)

That you need a Credit Score

They've only existed since the 80s, but they're now seen as essential, and unlikely to go away

But they don't need to exist, and are actively harmful to people, and often just straight-up incorrect

[–] flamiera@kbin.melroy.org 9 points 20 hours ago

The credit score system is one of the most bullshit systems ever created.

The only way you can increase it, is paying off loans and very few bills. It's also easier to lose points than gain them. It took me 3 and a half years to pay off a $5k loan just to see my credit score get back to 714. Once it was paid off and of course I signed a new lease, about a good half of that score went down so I'm back to slowly building it again.

It's bullshit. And so many things rely on a good credit score. Whether you'll be approved for an apartment, whether you'll get good rates on a car deal or whatever.

[–] ChexMax@lemmy.world 3 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Well they are pretty correct when you think about them not as does this person pay their bills, but as will this person make the bank money.

That's why you're penalized for paying off something early and credit cards help your score but consistently paying rent doesn't.

Credit score just shows they can make interest off you, not that you're good with money, and in fact I feel like the people who are best with money (saves up and buys things cash) are just penalized with crappy credit scores.

[–] gwl@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

Ah you've fallen for the oldest trick in the book, may I interest you in this $6 bill?

Fun fact: credit score disproportionately harms minority groups

[–] rmuk@feddit.uk 18 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Kinda weird how you started by asking an interesting question but then spend the last two-thirds of your post going full-on tin foil hat.

[–] flamiera@kbin.melroy.org 1 points 20 hours ago

"GOT 'EM!" they thought.

[–] PumpkinDrama@reddthat.com 3 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

Right after 9/11, before they got the memo, how TV channels kept saying first responders had heard a bomb in the base of the building and later they all started saying it collapsed due to structural damage from the plane impact, and it just got accepted with no one bothering to question it. This was prior to the investigations so they couldn't possibly have known.

[–] frisbird@lemmy.ml 27 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Communism killed 100 million people.

Private property is required for freedom.

Markets are freedom.

Capitalism is free exchange.

Working the land gives you rights over it.

All of life is competition.

The weak die out and the strong survive.

Evolution is driven by the survival of the individual animals the are most fit for their environment.

The lymph system is not connected to the brain.

Black people have high pain tolerance.

Women have low pain tolerance.

Babies don't feel pain the way we do until they have sufficiently developed.

Human psychological development stops at 18 and after that it's all acquisition of skills and knowledge and the use of discipline and will power.

Fossilization destroys all soft tissue and no soft tissue can survive the process.

Race is genetic.

[–] ChexMax@lemmy.world 3 points 19 hours ago

Ooh I've never realized that women and black people are both denied access to pain meds for opposite reasons. I mean I knew it was baloney, but I never thought about the fact that it was exactly contradictory.

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 day ago

Fine, Bogart the whole /thread.

[–] PumpkinDrama@reddthat.com 2 points 18 hours ago

Cooked ham is healthy. I think people have truly believed the ads in that case.

[–] valgarf@discuss.tchncs.de 11 points 1 day ago

That would apply to a lot of entries of this list, which is a really interesting read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_common_misconceptions

About 9/11 or actually any other major event: you typically get a lot of contradictory witness statements with so many people. The real picture only emerges when you have analyzed a lot of statements and looked at evidence. Thus early reporting often relies on a few statements that are found to be wrong later - perfect fuel for a conspiracy theory.

[–] EveryMuffinIsNowEncrypted@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

People in the European Middle Ages (5th–15th centuries CE, in case you're curious) thought the earth was flat.

[–] Naich@lemmings.world 1 points 21 hours ago

Bob Holness played Saxaphone on Jerry Rafferty's Baker Street.

[–] flamiera@kbin.melroy.org -3 points 20 hours ago (2 children)

Sugar is bad for you.

Drinking sodas and energy drinks is bad for you.

Ultra-processed foods is bad for you.

Smoking is bad for you.

Alcohol is bad for you.

so on and so on.

[–] ChexMax@lemmy.world 8 points 19 hours ago

I think i may be missing the point of your comment? People don't think smoking is bad for you because of rumors being spread. They think it's bad because of increased risk of cancer and disease.

[–] mech@feddit.org 7 points 19 hours ago

All of those are true, and well-researched using the scientific method.

[–] MakingWork@lemmy.ca -1 points 1 day ago

I think the name you're looking for is called the Mandela effect.