Common Modern Day Scams - 22 Pseudosciences People Still Treat as Fact

Pseudoscience theories people annoyingly treat as fact.

By Toonacious

Published 1 year ago in Creepy

The world is full of crazy theories, assumptions, and methods that do not make sense whatsoever. Hence, here's a list of 25 things from AskReddit that people should try not to believe as they are nothing but misinformation.

1
“As an archeologist, nothing grinds my gears more than the idea that aliens built monumental architecture such as the Pyramids. This implies that ancient people were too stupid to achieve such a feat and that modern people are superior - far from the truth. Not saying that aliens can't be real, just that these theories discount the capabilities of our ancestors.”

2
“Breatharianism. It's basically photosynthesis but for humans.”

3
“At this point they are so many conflicting diets theory that I'm ready to call all nutrition pseudoscience.”
4
“"The Mozart Effect" - A UC Irvine study claims that diving deep into the world of Mozart can actually make you smarter. The study took 36 participants and found that those who listened to Mozart before a task did much better than those who only heard silence. The study concluded that Mozart could actually increase your IQ by eight or nine points. However, the results of that study have been widely criticized by the academic and scientific community as a whole. Many claim the results were misleading and that researchers didn't examine what role the participants' diets, posture or the time of day they took the tests played in the results.”

5
“A lie detector is a prop in a play. The play is being performed by the interrogators; the audience is the person being interrogated. The subject matter of the play is "We can read your mind; don't bother lying to us." The prop "works" by making different readings in response to the audience's physiological changes. This helps give the audience the impression that the performers can read their emotions.”
6
"Proofs" to the flat earth theory."
7
“I used to work at an "assembly line" type web design company. I made so many Herbalife sites. We would get bonuses for customer retention, and I hated doing Herbalife sites because I knew they'd go under soon and I'd never get the bonus.”

8
“Psychics and mediums who prey upon the gullible, the mentally-ill, the desperate and the vulnerable and claim they can speak to people who are dead. Stuff should be illegal. Also things like hypnosis, parapsychology, body-language 'experts', psychoanalysis, lie-detection, all grifts.”
9
“Astrology. I'm totally down to learn what my chart is and such, but the second you start to tell me that it influences my personality and that "we aren't compatible," I'm done.”
10
“Essential oils. Stop trying to put that smelling junk on me for my migraines, I just told you the smell is a trigger!”

11
“Crystals. They look pretty. Some look awesome but that's about it.”
12
“That bs dominance training for dogs. It's not real, you're only causing your dog harm. Shut up.”
13
“Psychics and mediums. Exploiting grieving people for money is about as scummy as exploiting poor people for money.”

14
“Clean" beauty. I am sorry, Brenda, but mixing raw lemon juice and coffee grounds and then putting it on your face as a scrub is going to do more damage than an AHA/BHA or other chemical exfoliant could ever do. It is also not nearly as effective and waaaay more irritating. Chemicals can be friends. Besides, the whole marketing is often incredibly greenwashed and "free of harsh chemicals" is such BS. What do you think that "lemon extract" is??? Citric acid, bro.”
15
“Chiropractors, there’s no scientific backing for chiropractors and ‘spinal adjustments’. It’s a massage that provides temporary relief, but unlike regular massages can result is severe spinal issues if done incorrectly. The risk is not worth it, if you like to go to the chiropractor switch to a massage parlor so you don’t accidentally get paralyzed.”
16
“Vaccines causing autism. The doctor who put that idea out got his degree and was made a laughingstock in the medical world. But yet face book moms still buy it.”

17
“Whenever some uses "Energy" to justify new age stuff I loose my cool. Same thing with quantum.”
18
“The makebelieve bullsh*t words they use for beauty product ads combined with bad stats - '90% of 12 women said their face looked brighter when we told them to say their face looked brighter try our new hyuroxynucleid wonder serum today.' Also have you ever ever in your entire life gone wow I wish my face looked brighter????????? Who even does that???????”
19
“The 'All natural. No chemicals. No preservatives.'"

20
“Health and wellness pseudoscience. You don’t need a detox, you don’t need to alkaline water to reset your pH. If you were that full of toxins or your pH was that far off, you’d need new organs, specifically the liver and kidneys. And also you’d probably be dead.”
21
“Literally anything that claims to "remove toxins" from your body.”
22
“Pseudoscience pop psychology tests like the Myers-Briggs (MBTI) and the Eneagram. Literally neither are supported by any science at all. The MBTI actually factors into 3 different dichotomous sets, not 4. The Eneagram is just as useless, but a lot of people really define themselves based on them.”