Things everybody knows that are actually wrong

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Here's a big one:

That emo is an insanely retarded fashion style that was created around 2003, rather than a form of hardcore punk music that has existed since the mid-80s.

You're part of a 0.1% minority that even thinks where emo came from. 

So? I'm sure that many scientists make up only about 0.1% percent of the population is aware of certain of biological process and that many astronomers are the 0.1% who are aware of various galaxies, stars and planet.

Also I really doubt anyone would ever argue there wasn't any witchcraft trials in Europe, they're probably just not aware that the Salem trials are essentially a relatively very minor incident which receives massive disproportionate attention.

[12th Doctor]

Even if you go by the high end estimate of 90% native fatalities from European diseases, the settlers still needed a massive technological advantage to maintain a foothold.

That Salem witch trials were burned instead of hanged [and there were a fair percentage of men too]

Or that it was an American phenomenon.  The Euros that stayed behind killed many MANY more innocents.   link

Witch trials had largely gone out of fashion in Europe by the time Salem rolled around, as had Inquisitions, and all the other like.  There was one last major flare up in Germany I think about 50 years before Salem, but that that time much of Germany was still a backwater of Europe.

[minionofmidas]

Witch trials had largely gone out of fashion in Europe by the time Salem rolled around, as had Inquisitions, and all the other like.  There was one last major flare up in Germany I think about 50 years before Salem, but that that time much of Germany was still a backwater of Europe.

The last witches were burnt in Germany and Spain within shouting distance of the French Revolution.
Witch persecution in Germany peaked right around the time of Salem.

(You're right about England and France though, I think.)

Of course, there's the theory of Salem being largely a failed attempt to weed out Huntington's Disease in the colony.

[minionofmidas]

Meh. I retract that - Salem was later than I remembered.
And Spain's apparently a total red herring.

[Verily]

That Salem witch trials were burned instead of hanged [and there were a fair percentage of men too]

Or that it was an American phenomenon.  The Euros that stayed behind killed many MANY more innocents.   link

I am proud to proclaim that the city of Frankfurt never executed a single witch since the beginning of complete records (late 14th century).

If they executed a witch before the late 14th century, it would be quite the discovery! The first witch executions recorded were not until the mid-to-late 15th century.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

So Monty Python were incorrect as that is set around the 11th century or so?

[minionofmidas]

If they executed a witch before the late 14th century, it would be quite the discovery! The first witch executions recorded were not until the mid-to-late 15th century.

That's because comprehensive records begin around then (the later structure of the witch trial was developping around that time, too).
The legal offense of witchcraft certainly existed throughout the middle ages in Germany.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

One thing that kind of irritates me is when Wiccans try to act like those executed for witchcraft were some sort of martyrs for their faith by those evil, evil Christians ("their" referring to the modern day Wiccans of course), as if the people were actual witches and not also Christians. And of course ignoring the fact that their spiritual predecessors killed way more people in human sacrifice and that early pagans killed way more Christians than actual pagans killed by Christians. That's not even considering that the Nazis were more pagan than Christian.

[platypeanArchcow]

Going back to why Europe gained a massive technological advantage: I have heard the hypothesis that it was because of the Black Death.  This created a labor shortage which meant that it was more important to create new technologies.  China, on the other hand, always had plentiful cheap labor and therefore had no economic incentive for technology past a certain point, and stagnated.

Competition helps in theory, but China certainly had competition every once in a while, and India, for example, was never fully unified and very rarely anywhere close.

[JSojourner]

One thing that kind of irritates me is when Wiccans try to act like those executed for witchcraft were some sort of martyrs for their faith by those evil, evil Christians ("their" referring to the modern day Wiccans of course), as if the people were actual witches and not also Christians. And of course ignoring the fact that their spiritual predecessors killed way more people in human sacrifice and that early pagans killed way more Christians than actual pagans killed by Christians. That's not even considering that the Nazis were more pagan than Christian.

I agree overall, BRTD.  But has human sacrifice as a Druid or earth religion ritual been historically verified?  I know it happened in certain cultures in Central America.  But were the practicioners of what they call "The Olde Religion" into human sacrifice?

I honestly don't know, but wonder if it might also be a canard of sorts.  Along with native Americans eating their babies.

[Verily]

If they executed a witch before the late 14th century, it would be quite the discovery! The first witch executions recorded were not until the mid-to-late 15th century.

That's because comprehensive records begin around then (the later structure of the witch trial was developping around that time, too).
The legal offense of witchcraft certainly existed throughout the middle ages in Germany.

Quite simply not true--but I don't have the source on hand to discuss this right now. The first witch executions almost certainly took place in southern France and French Switzerland around 1450, making their way into the Rhineland and northern Italy by 1500 and then across Germany and northern France during the 16th century, continuing until about the mid-17th century before rapidly declining around 1640. Scotland experienced some significant witch burnings in the early 17th century. Witch trials elsewhere in the Catholic or Protestant spheres (England, Ireland, Spain, Poland, central and southern Italy, Hungary, Scandinavia) were mild or nonexistent.

"Witchcraft," of course, is a loosely defined offense. There was a crime called sorcery for which a few men were earlier executed, but it was not witchcraft in the later sense. There was no demon-summoning or otherwise heretical aspect to it, for one. Records exist quite far back in the earliest areas, e.g. Toulouse, far enough back to say that witches were not being burned or otherwise executed before ~1450. (The northern Italian city-states are the best source for this sort of thing, of course, although they started executing witches a little later than southern France. Modena in particular has detailed records.)

[Coburn In 2012]

That Iraq never had WMDs

[bullmoose88]

That Iraq never had WMDs

I'm pretty sure that everyone knew that at some point in history, Iraq had WMDs...

[Smash255]

That Iraq never had WMDs

I'm pretty sure that everyone knew that at some point in history, Iraq had WMDs...

Especially considering Reagan gave it to them....

[paul718]

That the Iraq War was worth 4,200 dead American soldiers.

[Purple State]

That the Iraq War was worth 4,200 dead American soldiers.

Who thinks that? Are we deviating into politically...dangerous waters here? Lets get the thread back on track.

[Torie]

That the Iraq War was worth 4,200 dead American soldiers.

Who thinks that? Are we deviating into politically...dangerous waters here? Lets get the thread back on track.

[The Mikado]

One thing that kind of irritates me is when Wiccans try to act like those executed for witchcraft were some sort of martyrs for their faith by those evil, evil Christians ("their" referring to the modern day Wiccans of course), as if the people were actual witches and not also Christians. And of course ignoring the fact that their spiritual predecessors killed way more people in human sacrifice and that early pagans killed way more Christians than actual pagans killed by Christians. That's not even considering that the Nazis were more pagan than Christian.

I agree overall, BRTD.  But has human sacrifice as a Druid or earth religion ritual been historically verified?  I know it happened in certain cultures in Central America.  But were the practicioners of what they call "The Olde Religion" into human sacrifice?

I honestly don't know, but wonder if it might also be a canard of sorts.  Along with native Americans eating their babies.

Very few classical civilizations did human sacrifice (for obvious reasons).  The fact that the Carthaginians did was enough to freak out the Romans, and anyone with a basic memory of history (or even the New Testament) knows that it took a lot to unnerve the Romans.

[paul718]

That the Iraq War was worth 4,200 dead American soldiers.

Who thinks that? Are we deviating into politically...dangerous waters here? Lets get the thread back on track.

It was in response to this...

That Iraq never had WMDs

My apologies, officers. 

[Purple State]

That the Iraq War was worth 4,200 dead American soldiers.

Who thinks that? Are we deviating into politically...dangerous waters here? Lets get the thread back on track.

It was in response to this...

That Iraq never had WMDs

My apologies, officers. 

No, my apologies for not making a funnier joke.

[ilikeverin]

You have undoubtedly heard enough from me about things in psychology that everybody knows that are actually wrong, seeing as I babble about them every chance I get, but here's another: memories can be unconsciously repressed.  (most of those that are reported later are completely manufactured, though the therapist and "therapee" have no idea that that's what they're doing)

The Great Wall of China is visible from the Moon and was built more than 500 years ago.

Related to this, that The Great Wall of China is the only human-made artifact that can be seen from space.

EDIT: I can't resist, here's another: rape is related to issues of dominance and power and has nothing to do with sex.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Any psychological one spread by pop culture: That people can be hypnotized against their will.

[MaxQue]

Any psychological one spread by pop culture: That people can be hypnotized against their will.

Hopefully, my philosophy teacher is not on the forum, because it would take at least one hour to make him shout, if we were lucky. If not, a few days.

He disagrees with you vocally.

[minionofmidas]

EDIT: I can't resist, here's another: rape is related to issues of dominance and power and has nothing to do with sex.

Serial rapists usually are (mostly) about dominance and power, or just hatred of women, though.

And they're the ones who get thoroughly analyzed, hence where the mistake crept in (later, it got perpetuated for reasons of political expediency, of course.)

If they executed a witch before the late 14th century, it would be quite the discovery! The first witch executions recorded were not until the mid-to-late 15th century.

That's because comprehensive records begin around then (the later structure of the witch trial was developping around that time, too).
The legal offense of witchcraft certainly existed throughout the middle ages in Germany.

Quite simply not true--but I don't have the source on hand to discuss this right now. The first witch executions almost certainly took place in southern France and French Switzerland around 1450, making their way into the Rhineland and northern Italy by 1500 and then across Germany and northern France during the 16th century, continuing until about the mid-17th century before rapidly declining around 1640. Scotland experienced some significant witch burnings in the early 17th century. Witch trials elsewhere in the Catholic or Protestant spheres (England, Ireland, Spain, Poland, central and southern Italy, Hungary, Scandinavia) were mild or nonexistent.

"Witchcraft," of course, is a loosely defined offense. There was a crime called sorcery for which a few men were earlier executed, but it was not witchcraft in the later sense. There was no demon-summoning or otherwise heretical aspect to it, for one. Records exist quite far back in the earliest areas, e.g. Toulouse, far enough back to say that witches were not being burned or otherwise executed before ~1450. (The northern Italian city-states are the best source for this sort of thing, of course, although they started executing witches a little later than southern France. Modena in particular has detailed records.)

Records of individual criminal cases in Germany are rare before quite late in the middle ages, not because they have been lost but because none were kept at all. The lawbooks of the time, however, are well known. They agree that the penalty for sorcery is burning at the stake.

The mass witchhunt is, of course, an early modern phenomenon (though foreshadowed by witchhunts for heretics in the 13th century). Nobody's denying that.

[??????????]

That southerners were completely intolerant to non-Protestants and non-whites prior to the civil war.