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Everyone has their own beliefs and here at TopTenz we respect them. That said, we know there will be one person who reads the title and immediately scrolls down to comments “Religion LOL”; to that person, congratulations, you’ve won at comedy. For everyone else, here are ten weird things people genuinely thought or still think are true.
10. Milk and eggs come from plants.
In a survey of British youths earlier this year, it was found that a startling number of children and young adults didn’t know where animal products like bacon, eggs and milk came from. Just soak that in for a second. 40% of children failed to link the image of a dairy cow with milk, and if you want to feel really bad, 11% of children thought eggs and milk came from wheat. That’s what happens when we only feed kids McDonald’s guys, they just assume that animal products grow from the ground. There’s no joke I can make that makes those kids seems any stupider and that’s really depressing.
9. Coca-Cola is one of your five-a-day.
Over in the UK (sigh) again, we have some facts that show that my countrymen really don’t understand food at all. Over here we’re advised to eat five pieces of fruit and vegetables a day; it’s a good scheme. Or it would be if it wasn’t for the fact 10% of parents thought an orange flavored cake, Coca-Cola or fruit flavoured candy counted as a portion of fruit or veg instead of as a step towards an early grave. But here’s the really, really stupid part: 1 in 20 people didn’t know oranges counted as a portion of fruit. Oranges! They sell those in the fruit section. How did people not know that?
8. The moon landing was fake.
Oh you knew this was coming. The moon landing has so many conspiracy theories around it they get their own wikipedia page. The counter evidence however gets a full page spread in the National Geographic, so yeah, your move conspiracy theorists. Although it’s reported that a fairly reserved 6% of Americans doubt the legitimacy of the claims, once again my country trumps itself with a whopping 25% of British people quizzed doubting the event happened. Let’s just get down to it, thousands of people have spent millions of dollars trying to find any shred of evidence to the contrary and so far, they’ve come up with zilch; scientists on the other hand pointed a telescope at the moon and said, “
see for yourself.“
7. You can see gravity.
Gravity is a universal constant, and it’s fairly common knowledge that although you can’t see it, you can see its effect, like in this totally
relevant gif. But common knowledge is vastly different from universal knowledge and 18% of, you guessed it, UK adults have the incorrect belief that they could see gravity. What would that even look like? Just for a second, imagine you could see gravity, that you could see a force that’s constantly pulling you and everything around you towards the centre of the Earth. If you saw that you’d tear out your own eyes out of sheer fear after 10 minutes.
6. Lightsabers exist.
I promise that I’ll start picking on Americans soon, but this was too good to pass up. Another 20% of UK adults also believe that Lightsabers, those things from Star wars, are real. Laser technology does exist to the point that you could own something similar, as
Cracked explains. But with what you’ve already read, do you think the people quizzed meant, the S3 Spyder Arctic, or that thing they saw on TV that one time?
5. America gained its independence from France.
I’m led to believe that once a year millions of Americans go outside to scream obscenities at the sky and eat meat. Apparently though, nearly a quarter of people partying and drinking don’t even know why, with 19% of people quizzed being unsure, but more hilariously, 2% of people being totally sure that independence was won from France. Just pop on Facebook and scroll down your friends list, chances are one in every 4 people doesn’t know jack about Independence Day save that it was a pretty dope film starring Will Smith. But then again, fireworks!
4. Obama wasn’t born in the US.
Depending on when you’re reading this, President or Ex-President Obama went through his entire term in office with thousands of people claiming he wasn’t a true US citizen, which had absolutely nothing to do with the fact he had an all year sun tan. What gets this example onto this list though is how much evidence was ignored by people who believed it. The actual long form birth certificate? Photoshop. The fact that the promise of millions of dollars couldn’t bring anyone forward? Easily explained. The fact that no official government source ever hinted that he was anything but kosher? They were in on it too. The actual number of people who believed the claim varies, but it’s surprisingly most prevalent in white people opposed to Obama’s chosen party. Who’d have thunk it, huh?
3. Witches exist.
Magic is usually confined to the realms of Skyrim, Harry Potter or in between the sheets of my bed. However, according to
this Gallup poll, 75% of Americans quizzed believe in some sort of paranormal activity. A figure that’s remained pretty constant for several years. We're not talking about persons who follow the pagan religion, but actual pointy hats, flying on broomsticks, turning people into frogs, witches!
Now although people have pretty thoroughly debunked the existence of ghosts, people still believe, which is awesome and cool for them. There’s just something about witches that’s a little harder to take seriously, because come on, there’s only one Emma Watson.
2. The Earth is flat.
This next one was so insane that I refused to admit it was genuine, until I saw it reported by the BBC. And yes, there are people out there who fully believe that the Earth is flat. And that every single image and piece of scientific evidence to the contrary is part of “an international conspiracy to dupe the public for vast profit.” Apparently there is a lot of money to be made from the sale of globes? So what does the world look like then? Well according to a flat Earther himself “it is around 24,900 miles in diameter” and around “9000Km deep” although he stresses that it’s not “perfectly flat” thanks to hills and valleys. Because that would be crazy.
1. The Titanic wasn’t real.
2012 marked the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, leading the event to get almost world wide media attention. However it seems that a number of younger people got really confused when they saw the news because they thought that Titanic was just a movie.
Seriously. But that single fact isn’t what gets this the number one spot, it’s what it suggests. This fact means that the Titanic sunk so many years ago that it actually faded from the collective memory of the younger generation. Just think about that, in a few years, that could just as easily be WW1 that a bunch of kids on Twitter didn’t think was real and that’s a terrifying thought.
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