Misconceptions you hate!

[Of-the-Lion]

-Thinking that Muslim extremists are more of a threat than Christian extremists.

I want to shake your hand and never stop.

Also: 'Colombus discovered the U.S'. No. No he didn't. Columbus discovered the island of Hispaniola. You know who did discover America? (Natives excluded) Lief Ericson. A norse man of steel. Furthermore, Columbus didn't establish a settlement, or even have any intention of doing so. Nowhere near enough representation is given to the person who deserves it: ex-Pirate Christopher "hook-for-a-hand" Newport. Not only did he found the first lasting English settlement in North America, but that settlement is still around today.

 

[Dango]

That I watch anime and therefore must an ultra-weeaboo-japanophile who loves of everything that comes out of Japan.

 

[lacktheknack]

That somehow opinions can be "misconceptions".

I got one now: the misconception that calling something an "opinion" makes it one. Some things are facts you can just be wrong about.

True, but I wasn't referring to those. I'm referring to "I like electronica and pop" or "asparagus is delicious", which many people will tell you is an "invalid opinion". Whatever the hell that means.

Unless you just used my post as a springboard. In which case, carry on.

 

[teebeeohh]

that a scientific theory is something that is debatable, the only reason not to call it fact is because we can't know that at some point in time someone will drop a beer and it will move away from the center of gravity. While interesting this would have absolutely no consequences on the conclusions and applications the theory of gravity has.

You are not special.
intelligent life may just be a fluke and you have no predetermined goal in life, stop making other being(or cosmic entities) responsible for your shit.
the abyss does not gaze back

rule of thumb: everything is random, stop assigning it arbitrary meaning.

 

[easternflame]

VIDEOGAMES ARE THE CAUSE OF VIOLENCE! AAAAARRRRGGGGG
Also on my list, Nuclear power is too bad to be used because it's dangerous. Excuse me sire, do you realize how much Nuclear power is important to world economy and energy?

 

[MegaManOfNumbers]

An acquaintance of my brother thinks that Redundant means recursive.

I checked the dictionary lately, it means to be rendered pointless. stupid idiot insists that he`s right.

 

[renegade7]

That all americans have guns. The way one of my corp-mates in EVE Online said it you'd think every American was issued his or her own handgun at birth.

 

[lacktheknack]

You misunderstand me. I didn't say you were being illogical. I said you were being a jerk.

It's not your place to dictate to others what it's OK to believe and what it's not.

I'm not "dictating" anything. This is just basic logic.

Am I really a jerk for pointing out that believing something that exists despite having no real evidence to exist is generally a dumb thing to do?

It descends into OPINION whether or not logic is the only thing of value. For example, I think that attitude is pure crap, while you reciprocate the feeling. I believe highly in the value of imagination (which often breaks the limits of reality) and the spiritual. (...which many claim doesn't exist in the first place. Ok, whatever you say.) Now I'm not harming anyone, I'm not "wasting my life", and I'm not dragging society down in any way (if anything, I'm more philanthropic and have a better work ethic than the norm due to religious beliefs and general nature), so who the hell are you to tell me that my values are useless/wrong? It's not that I hate logic (I'm a science major, after all), I just think that there's a place for every type of perception.

Am I saying you're wrong? No, I'm saying that we have a difference of OPINION. And that there's no way to tell if one is correct or the other.

As I said earlier, once you've based something in some form of opinion (here: whether solid evidence/logic is the only line of thinking of value), then you no longer have the right to call the other side a "misconception".

 

[FernandoV]

My personal biggest beef is that everyone thinks it is okay to believe that something exists without any empirical evidence to support it.

Here's a tip: It's not.

Because people don't have a right to their own opinions/beliefs?

 

[Thelonesun]

I hate people who say PC gaming has too high of an entry price to be affordable. Newsflash, it's not. If you put some effort into it, you can find a 600$ prebuilt that can play games on reasonable settings, and if you put even more effort into it (hardly) you can build a quite strong entry level rig for 450 dollars. That extra 150$ is saved from not having to buy a computer to use seperate from your console, sales on Steam, (seriously, I've only spent 500$ on PC games as of far and have got 1000$ worth of games) the fact that you can use legal gray area as a real legal justification to pirate a game if your CD breaks instead of having to buy a 30-60$ CD again, or the fact that you don't even have to use that grey area if you use Steam.

 

[Thundero13]

I am a vegetarian, I hate PETA, now I know it's not very common that people think all vegetarians love PETA but GOD DAMMIT it makes me wanna rip my hair out
Also, a misconception that only one person has had before but i'm saying it anyway, gay people don't want to become the opposite gender, the one person who thought this? It pretty much ruined our friendship...

 

[Tselis]

The misconception that since I'm a woman I can't like violent games or movies. All I'm supposed to like are "Rom-Com"s and cheesy romance novels. Fuck that! Gears of War, and God of War and Ninja Gaiden are AWESOME! And the last "Rom-Com" I was was Pretty Woman, which I saw with my sister, as a teen. I guess it really just boils down to the misconception that since I'm a woman I can't have anything in common with any man at any time. Games are a wonderful 'common ground' that my husband and I have in common. I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[Lerasai]

That women aren't interested in comics, video games, certain movies, or anything else even remotely fun. Or that we aren't worth marketing anything towards except for cleaning supplies. Where the hell is our blatant fan-service and why the hell is every person in those mop commercials a woman?

 

[Gudrests]

That us people who live in Hawaii all live in grass shacks on the beach, don't wear clothes, and have no electricity. We're civilized like you people in the mainland, dumbasses...

And yes, I've actually had someone ask me that before.

But you all can surf right?....And you're women are all hot right....TELL ME YES SO I CAN HAVE FAITH!!!!

That because I went to a vocational HS I can fix your computer.....I can but that's not the point dammit.

 

[Schmittler]

This isn't a common one at all, but it is something I heard in person.

"Being conservative is the only way to accomplish anything."

Disregarding any political views, it disappoints me that people hold an ideal to that high of a regard. That their belief is completely correct and no lessons can be learned from the opposing views.

Otherwise, basically anything else that is ridiculously over-exaggerated.

Also this:

-Thinking that Muslim extremists are more of a threat than Christian extremists.

I want to shake your hand and never stop.

 

[Romblen]

The misconception that since I'm from the Western United States, our society looks exactly like a John Wayne movie. We have electricity, we have cars, we have pretty much the same stuff everyone else in this county has. More often than not, this is brought up as a joke. But I still occasionally meet somebody who is actually surprised to learn that we use cars.

Also, since I'm conservative, apparently all of my opinions come from Fox News. A week ago some one actually accused me of plagiarizing Fox News, I still have no idea as to what they were specifically referring to.

 

[badgersprite]

That the axiom of "the simplest solution is probably the correct one" means "the stupidest solution is probably the correct one". Occam's Razor is actually more accurately described as, "the theory that requires the least underlying presumptions is probably the correct one".

For example, alien abductions. People incorrectly cite Occam's Razor to back up their argument, saying that because people believe they have been abducted, the "simplest explanation" is that they were, and therefore that must be true. But, in fact, in order for that to be true, then you need to be presuming that aliens exist, that they are capable of traveling to Earth, that they are capable of abducting people, that they do abduct people, that they leave no trace or record of these abductions, that people who would rightfully have detected aliens are intentionally covering this up, and so on and so forth. In actual fact, the simplest explanation is that the alleged abductee had a dream because it requires the least underlying presumptions; namely that they are capable of dreaming.

 

[Scoffy89]

That all Irish people are happy-go-lucky drunks who are fun/nice to be around. Honestly most of the ones I know are assholes.

Also that everyone here lives in cottages and doesn't have electricity. Honestly a few freinds of mine went on exchange programmes and the people they were staying with started telling them how light switches work and what the internet is. Fucking hell.

 

[blankedboy]

That I'm a hipster.
That I'm male.
That I'm straight.
That I live in Australia.

.-.

 

[Aurgelmir]

What is the most common misconceptions that drive you crazy? Mine has to be the 'humans only use 10% of their brain.' It drives me crazy when I see it in TV shows, Movies, Books or Video Games to justify anything. That sort of laziness in writing just isn't acceptable for me, as a writer or story teller. I mean what's the point of coming up with something awesome for the 'plot' and then use something to lazy to justify it.


So what misconceptions drive you to insane frenzies of rage?

Well we only use about 10%... AT A TIME! Use more than that and you are likely going to die in a few seconds... That said your brain will use all parts of itself at one time or another.

right now I don't really have any misconceptions I can think of...

that a scientific theory is something that is debatable, the only reason not to call it fact is because we can't know that at some point in time someone will drop a beer and it will move away from the center of gravity. While interesting this would have absolutely no consequences on the conclusions and applications the theory of gravity has.

You are not special.
intelligent life may just be a fluke and you have no predetermined goal in life, stop making other being(or cosmic entities) responsible for your shit.
the abyss does not gaze back

rule of thumb: everything is random, stop assigning it arbitrary meaning.

Well the scientific theory meathod would not be any less valid even if the beer dropped upwards. It just means we need to re-think the theory a bit... happens all the time.