this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2023
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Mildly Interesting

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[–] ElderWendigo@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 year ago (7 children)

It just listed a bunch of myths and old wive's tales that no one at the time thought were very credible anyway. Literally all of the "facts" they list were common chain letter/email memes that everyone trotted out at parties to sound smart and hip. Nobody ever believed what DARE told us, we always knew Christopher Columbus was an asshole, and every first aid class I've taken recommended against the whole tilt you head back thing.

[–] musicmind333@mastodon.social 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

@ElderWendigo @MiraLazine agree to disagree, a lot of those things I was definitely taught - if not in school then at least by adults who thought it common knowledge. Especially the nosebleeds (I had them all the time as a kid, and the amount of blood I ended up swallowing is..... A lot.) and knuckle cracking (my guess - started by teachers annoyed by kids making knuckle-noises during class)
Christopher columbus was definitely taught as an "American hero" up until he wasn't.

[–] ElderWendigo@sh.itjust.works -1 points 1 year ago

Pretty much all of these examples were pretty often and commonly debunked by all of my teachers, parents, and adult mentors. But that's exactly why lists like this are garbage, both of our experiences are anecdotal. You just can't make blanket claims about things like this about entire generations.

Columbus was more a lie of omission than outright falsehood. That item on the list was probably closest to a universal truth taught across the US, as long as you ignore any school with an indigenous student body. But, most of our teaching about any historical figures in grade school is a near obscene over-simplification of the actual people and events.

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