Santa Claus is real. Babies come from a stork dropping them off on your doorstep. You are definitely capable of becoming a professional tennis player when you grow up. Adults tell children little white lies all the time. They are mostly harmless, and eventually, we grow up to learn that they weren’t true but were nice to hear at the time. However, some lies that we are sold from older generations, the government and the media don’t go away as we age. Even if we realize they aren’t true, these ideas can be incredibly difficult to shake and continue to shape an entire generation’s expectations of their lives.
Last week, Reddit user VictorPumpenstein posed the question, “What is the biggest lie sold to your generation?” and many readers had grievances to air. We’ve gathered some of the most thought-provoking responses to this question down below, so you can feel seen by others in your generation or understand the older and younger groups a little better. Be sure to upvote the replies that you found most eye-opening, and then if you’re interested in reading another Bored Panda piece featuring millennials calling out the lies they were told, you can find that right here.
#1
That climate change was nothing to worry about.
Image source: 4rp4n3t, Guillaume Falco
#2
The war on drugs. It has decimated the lives of so many people. Minorities are disproportionately incarcerated for their possession.
My generation was taught that all drugs are bad and that there is no use for them in the medical community. Science is proving that many drugs that were classified as illegal are beneficial for treating a multitude of health issues.
It’s time that we end the war on drugs. People should be treated for addiction in a medical facility rather than being incarcerated.
Image source: BoatTailedGrackle, christopher lemercier
#3
Money can’t buy happiness. It’s b******t, most of my problems could be solved by money and I’d be so happy.
Image source: Slight-Ad-1744, Jp Valery
#4
I suspect “crime doesn’t pay” is a lie told to more generations than just mine.
First of all, crime is *extremely* profitable. We don’t hear about criminals that haven’t been caught, because they haven’t been caught.
Second of all, 90% of rich people are criminals and we all just kind of accept it. E.g. through breaking labour laws. They tend to break laws in ways that save them money, rather than earn them money, but it still ends up in crime absolutely paying.
Edit: people seem to think I’m on about drugs or theft or other ‘obvious’ crimes that come with prison sentences. I’m talking about crimes where the punishment is a fine, and the fine is of lower value than what the person made (or saved) committing the crime. E.g. getting a fine in the thousands after profiting in the hundreds of thousands. Low risk, high reward.
Take any rich person and Google their name with the word ‘fines’ e.g. ‘Bill Gates fines’. Then consider how many times they’ve done that without getting caught, and how many times they made more from the crime than the value of the fine.
Its not “how many criminals are super rich?”, its “how many super rich people are criminals?”
Image source: ttnl35, Alexander Mils
#5
“Do well in school and you’ll have a nice house, a good job, and a family before you’re twenty six”
NOPE.
Image source: Glittering_Sundae_53, todd kent
#6
Plastic recycling.
I remember when grocery stores went from paper bags to plastic because “they’re recyclable!” Literally everything else started coming wrapped in a ton of plastic (instead of cardboard) because it was recyclable. Single use plastics were great, because we’d just recycle the plastic, and use it forever!
Turns out, it was just cheaper, and recycling had nothing to do with it. Most of that plastic can’t be recycled anyway.
Image source: DifficultMinute, Brian Yurasits
#7
Meritocracy – that the system will select the best candidate based on ability.
Turns out they never tell you some people are born so far ahead they’re starting 3 full laps ahead of you. And also their connections are thicker than the trans-oceanic cables.
Image source: devilf91, Ruthson Zimmerman
#8
Gen X-er here… we were told that the boomers would eventually retire. Still waiting for that to happen while rapidly approaching retirement age myself.
Image source: drsfmd
#9
Reaganomics ‘Trickle-Down’ Theory. It was, and continues to be, a way for massive corporations and the wealthy to avoid paying taxes via loopholes, passing on the lions share of taxation to the middle class and small businesses in America. This has created the astronomical wealth gap in this country, creating more billionaires than ever and making it impossible for families to survive on a single income, let alone afford a home.
Image source: Straight-Audience-91, Giorgio Trovato
#10
“It’s a one in a lifetime event! These things don’t happen all the time” – In reference to things like wars, devastating floods, wildfires, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, mass shootings/gun violence, terrorist attacks, and now… pandemics, apparently.
How many more ‘once in a lifetime’ freak events am I going to be living through? When can we have some peace and quiet?
Image source: One-Two3214, Manuel
#11
I never imagined I’d say this, but the legitimacy of the American government. It’s a shame.
Image source: patricksaurus, Louis Velazquez
#12
All you have to do is go to college and you’ll be successful.
Though it was less of a lie and more just being wrong.
Image source: molten_dragon, Pixabay
#13
“You have a future.”
Nah. We might have done, but you stripmined the planet for profit, you stripmined our consciousnesses and experiences for profit, you stripmined our health and our wants and needs for profit. You lied, and lied again. You put your happiness above the futures. You decided the developing world was just shapes on a map and marginalised them.
You went to the ballot box and voted in the wreckers, the lairs, the confidence tricksters, the three-cup-trick fakes, the find-the-lady conartists, and you did it with a smile. You did it while you told us that you did it with your bootstraps and walked uphill each way and you came from nothing and you did this while you plugged up your ears and you covered your eyes and you told us the internet was bad and never learned about it.
You told us change wasn’t possible and that the system was working. You told us that we weren’t working hard enough, that our avocados were too luxurious. You told us to take the bus in the society you took public services away from. You told us to pay our taxes to politicians you elected who pocketed them.
You said we had a future.
You f*****g lied. We will burn in megafires or die in the water wars or drown as the sea floods our communities with water we cannot drink or be annihilated in the nuclear stars we bring down from the sky because you thought you could bomb for peace or in the nuclear winter that you’ll say disproves climate change.
You lied. You knew it and you lied again and you are still lying.
Image source: helveticannot_, Kouji Tsuru
#14
Be loyal to a company, give 100% and they will take care of you, after 20 years you’ll retire with a pension.
Image source: Imawindowlickr, Ono Kosuki
#15
“You can be anything you want”
Not everyone can become a millionaire astronaut and rockstar and professional gamer and parent. There is a reason why some us have the most boring jobs anyone can think of
Image source: raziel_LK, Tima Miroshnichenko
#16
Affordable homes.
Image source: ana_diy, Dillon Kydd
#17
The “American Dream”
Image source: FuryGalaxy_Dad, Joshua Hoehne
#18
“Cheaters never prosper” is only true on a small scale.
Yes, if you cheat on all of your homework then at some point your lack of knowledge in the subject will catch up to you and people will figure it out, but on a larger scale, some of the most successful people in the world are terrible people who broke the law and got away with it.
Image source: Inflatabledartboard4, energepic.com
#19
Electric cars.
Everyone claims they are good for the enviroment, but that statement could not be farther from the truth.
First of all, to gather lithium used in batteries, you have to mine for it, which is horrible because of how dirty it is.
Second of all, and the most important one, lithium battery packs don’t last forever. When they go bad, you have to replace them and there is no clean way of recycling lithium.
Third things third, if a battery pack is defective, it’s a danger to the driver, passangers and potentially others around. If let’s say the protective layer of the battery pack gets damaged and the lithium comes into contact with water it’s goodnight for you if you don’t react fast enough.
Lastly, the price of electric vehicles is ridiculous, what average person will ever be able to afford a car that costs more than a small house. And some of them (I won’t point fingers at any manufacturer here) have terrible quality for their pricepoint. Tl;dr, EVs are overpriced.
So over all, you are better off driving and maintaining your old car for a long period of time rather than buying a tesla or something. Every politician just likes to point to cars, yet they don’t seem to notice that planes pollute the enviroment so much more, yet nobody cares about that.
#20
Growing up everyone i ever met said to never get a credit card. The only way to buy a house is with credit and the only way to actually get credit is a credit card. In my life I paid off 3 vehicles early only to be told the second they were paid off my credit was dropped to a no rating because I wasnt actively in debt.
Image source: Squantoon, CardMapr.nl
#21
If you work hard anything is possible. It helps but doesn’t guarantee you anything.
Image source: ReelCharlieTheTuna69, Kevin Yudhistira Alloni
#22
“Doesn’t matter what subject your degree is in, just having one gets your foot in the door!”
Image source: VictorPumpenstein, RUT MIIT
#23
“You have it much easier”…
Image source: HotPlatypus4545, Sharon McCutcheon
#24
Medicare and social security will protect you. Based on how things are going, anyone with 30 years or more before retirement better have strong backup plans
Image source: iteraco, RODNAE Productions
#25
Tattoos and piercings are going to keep you from having a stable income in a good company.
Image source: SpiderFromNeptune, Collins Lesulie
#26
Bachelors Degree guarantees a good paying job.
Image source: LurkysGoCart, Ekrulila
#27
That cow’s milk is necessary for human development.
Image source: Khizar_KIZ, Kim Gorga
#28
(Millennial) That you can do literally anything you set your mind to. Like sorry no, most people are not capable of becoming pro athletes or astronauts. And that’s ok!
Edited to add: I’m referring to the Disney-style bootstrap mentality that implicitly frames high-visibility, low-frequency careers as successful. Like other responses have noted, achieving goals takes more than just hard work, and success is way more than just job title.
Image source: gingerwoozle, The New York Public Library
#29
You will always have to write in cursive.
Image source: hakuna_matit**es, Aaron Burden
#30
1) If you are super-focused a motivated you’ll get a great result.
No, you can’t replace years of study and experience with good motivation.
2) Find your dream and persue that, don’t do any other activities.
You can be happy without doing your dream job and you can change path during your life. You can be happy without evolving your passion to a career.
3) Choose your future right after high school or you won’t be able to study anymore.
Better get a gap year. Travel, do little jobs, meet people, take time to discover what the world can offer.
Image source: RunaCats, Compare Fibre
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