We all know that we shouldn’t believe everything we read online. I can still hear my 9th grade English teacher’s voice in the back of my head warning us about the unreliability of Wikipedia. While the internet has become an invaluable source for education and connection, it can also be a cesspool of misinformation. In the current age of “fake news”, it can be difficult to discern between reliable sources and unfounded claims. However, sometimes people are blatantly wrong, and their statements deserve addressing.
That’s where the subreddit r/ConfidentlyIncorrect comes in. With almost 800k members, this group is dedicated to gathering examples of misinformation that have been proudly proclaimed online. It houses countless examples of tweets, Facebook posts, Instagram stories and more with objectively incorrect takes that we only wish had been shared ironically. Enjoy this list we’ve compiled at Bored Panda of some of the best examples, and if you’re in the mood to laugh at even more confidently incorrect statements later, check out some of our previous compilations here and here.
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#1 Brb, Going To Dye My Hair Rainbow Colors So People Like This Will Be Repelled
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Ignorance may be bliss, but being ridiculed on Reddit certainly is not. Logically, we should back down when called out for spreading misinformation. Interestingly enough, however, a bruised ego can actually fuel belief in false ideas. Brendan Nyhan, a Dartmouth College political scientist, explored this so-called “backfire effect” in a 2021 article. Nyhan explained that a typical response to mistaken beliefs is to try to “set the record straight by providing accurate information—for instance, by providing evidence of the scientific consensus on climate change”. Unfortunately, this is not always the most effective route.
When the listener is already skeptical, they are not likely to have an open mind. Nyhan found that even “corrective information in news reports may fail to reduce misperceptions and can sometimes increase them for the ideological group most likely to hold those misperceptions”. For example, a Democrat is more likely to accept the correction of a false statement George W. Bush made about Iraq than a Republican is. It can be hard for people to recognize their fallibility without taking it personally.
#2 If It’s Not White, It’s Uncivilized
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Luckily, the backfire effect is not impenetrable. Despite being stubborn, but we are capable of changing our minds. One larger danger making misperceptions difficult to eradicate, Nyhan notes, is the media. He shares that media “frequently fails to aggressively fact-check false statements by political elites or resorts to neutral ‘he said’ ‘she said’ coverage of factual disputes”. Apparently, “survey evidence indicates that false beliefs about high-profile issues often persist for years or decades despite extensive efforts by journalists, scientists, and public officials to set the record straight”.
A notable example Nyhan provides of this is the belief that US troops found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in 2003. It was made clear at the time and in the years following that there had been none found, yet a poll in 2015 revealed that 42% of Americans, including 51% of Republicans, still believed the contrary.
A similar conclusion was found when a survey was taken in 2015 asking Americans what religion President Obama practiced. Despite Obama labeling himself as Christian and attending church for years, rumors swirled that he was secretly Muslim. The poll found that 29% of Americans, including 43% of Republicans, still considered him to be Muslim.
#3 I’m Counting Three Things Wrong With This
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#4 When You Can’t Tell Antennas And Solar Panels Apart
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In terms of fragile egos contributing to the flourishing of misinformation, fitting in is apparently a higher priority to us than facts. Explored in a New York Times article by Max Fisher, the need to feel like we belong is surprisingly powerful. “As much as we like to think of ourselves as rational beings who put truth-seeking above all else,” Fisher begins. “We are social animals wired for survival.” He notes that the hostility fueled by idea polarization makes us cling to the groups where we do feel we belong. “Once our brains switch into ‘identity-based conflict’ mode, we become desperately hungry for information that will affirm that sense of us versus them, and much less concerned about things like truth.”
#5 Hunting Vegies
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#6 Mistakes Were Made
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Many of us know how political differences can sever relationships and allow prejudices to blossom, but they can also make us prone to spreading false information. An example Fisher uses is how sensitive people are to social reward. “Research demonstrates that people who get positive feedback for posting inflammatory or false statements become much more likely to do so again in the future.” All press is good press, I suppose?
In fact, when retweeting information, “truthfulness of a post or accuracy of a claim was not an identified motivation”. Jon-Patrick Allem, a professor of research at the University of Southern California, investigated the role social media played in fueling misinformation about Covid-19. His research concluded that “Twitter users tend to retweet to show approval, argue, gain attention and entertain”. It is a social networking site, after all. But the lack of concern for truthfulness is worrying when 7 out of 10 Twitter users consider the site a news source.
#7 2020 + 80
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#8 Virgin Mary Irl, Amirite?
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#9 What’s The Welsh Word For ‘Overconfident’?
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One unfortunate statistic about fake news is that age is the most accurate predictor of who will share misinformation. According to a study from Princeton University and New York University, “people 65 years of age and over are seven times more likely to share fake news than those aged 18-29”. Those of us who have grown up in the age of the internet are naturally more savvy online, and it can be hard to teach our elders this digital literacy. Especially on platforms such as Facebook, it is incredibly easy for misinformation to be rapidly shared into echo chambers.
#10 Imagine Assuming People Erase Their Own Culture By Themselves
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#11 I Think I’ve Proven My Point
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#12 From This Example I’d Say: Hard No To Homeschool, Lady
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Looking for ways to break out of your own social media echo chamber? Christopher Seneca wrote a piece for Wired sharing ideas on how to avoid perpetual confirmation bias online. As comforting as it is to associate ourselves with like-minded individuals, we must not forget that challenging our ideas can be important. “Social media companies therefore rely on adaptive algorithms to assess our interests and flood us with information that will keep us scrolling,” notes Seneca. But we can actively try to present ourselves with new information. The first step Seneca suggests is to “like everything”. Algorithms cannot pinpoint you if you don’t let them.
#13 The Closest Evolutionary Relative Of Humans Is The Penguin
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#14 In Response To Georgia Applying For The Eu
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#15 I Do Believe We Have
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The next step in branching out is to “swallow your pre-conceived opinions and follow prestige publications across the political spectrum”. This helps you avoid news that is too far on either end of the spectrum, which is often pushed to incite arguments. Seneca also says to be wary of who you follow and what role they play on social media. If a friend has many followers and posts frequently, but does not follow many others, particularly no one with differing opinions, their content may not be for you. Next, Seneca recommends changing your settings to make your feed chronological, rather than the default, which pushes content the algorithm expects you to engage with. Lastly, create space for new voices. If you know someone shares your beliefs, consider muting them to allow someone else in.
#16 Tetanus Shot Is Literally A Vaccine. The Dose You Get When Injured Is Literally A Booster
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#17 They’re So Close To Getting It
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#18 Why Won’t You Say Merry Christmas?!
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In terms of combatting the spread of misinformation, Nyhan does not want individuals to feel they are at fault. He says we “must first recognize the role that elites play in promoting false beliefs and linking them to people’s political identities”. He explained that the media must stop sensationalizing news and promoting belief polarization. News outlets should “seek to avoid amplifying false claims… when discussing matters of fact and science”. There is not a need for messages to be “balanced” when that means providing a platform for conspiracy theorists and deniers of science. “Instead, reporters and science communicators should emphasize the views of nonpartisan experts.”
#19 Hiv And Covid Are The Same…right ?
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#20 The Top Review For This Manga Volume On Amazon
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#21 Is There Anyone More Confidently Incorrect Than A Religious Zealot?
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Nyhan goes on to say that personal experiences can be powerful, and he encourages readers to be observant. It is harder to deny the effects of climate change while seeing extreme weather events more frequently with our own eyes. He notes that many Americans “attribute their changed views on gay marriage to personal experiences” with those in the LGBT community. Even the widespread consensus that smoking causes cancer was helped along by many people who know someone with a smoking-related illness.
#22 My Husband’s English Degree Is Screaming From The Drawer
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#23 How Do People Believe This Rubbish
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#24 Fat-Shaming A Normal Size Person
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Lastly, it is not lost on Nyhan how responsive elected officials are to negative press. He calls for “high-profile scrutiny to elite rhetoric” to deter the spread of misinformation. Essentially, Nyhan is asking for those with a platform to be held accountable. Though we can choose what media we consume, to a degree, preventing false claims from being uttered in the first place is the most efficient tactic in combatting fake news.
#25 Why Is There So Many Science Denying Morons In The Comments?
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#26 Fixed
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#27 If We Can’t Trust Cartoonists, Who Can We Trust?
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I can’t help but feel a tinge of sympathy for internet users who are drowned by the flood of misinformation that many of us know how to maneuver out of. But we must hold others responsible for clinging to false ideas and making them more widespread, especially beliefs that carry harmful prejudices. We are so lucky to live in an age where information is infinitely accessible, let’s all try our best to seek out reliable sources. Never forget to engage your critical thinking skills, and when in doubt, check those facts.
#28 Glenn Beck Is Bad At History
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#29 This Dude Gotta Be Living In An Alternate Timeline
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#30 That’s Not How Lactation Works
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#31 ????
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#32 Pay Up
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#33 “Atheism Is A Religion”
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#34 Damn, Better Get Back In Touch With God
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#35 One Of The Worst Literary Takes I Ever Seen
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#36 I Don’t Know Where To Start
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#37 It’s A Hoax
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#38 Drowning Anti-Vaxxer Screams
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#39 It’s Interesting To See The Dichotomy
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#40 Matt Walsh Wants A Better Solution
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#41 That’s A Two-Fer-One!
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#42 Numbers Are Hard
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#43 Not Knowing How Supply And Demand Work For Private Companies
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#44 Tell Me You Have No Idea What Socialism Is Without Telling Me You Have No Idea What Socialism Is
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#45 There Are No Lesbians In China
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#46 France Is Not Even A Real Country But A Province Of A European Super State
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#47 Joe Rogan. That’s All
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#48 Someone Has The Blues
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#49 Even Says How He’s Wrong In My Post
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#50 You Can Only Get Pregnant One Day A Month??
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#51 Please Don’t Breath Your Hiv On Me
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#52 ?
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#53 Man Accuses Malala Yousafzai Of Not Doing Anything To Oppose The Taliban
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#54 Words Have No Meaning
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#55 Metric Is Too Hard, We Are Smarter
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#56 Not Only Were They Wrong About The Time Limit, They Were Also Mathematically Incorrect ?
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#57 Scotus Justice Worried About “Catching A Baby”
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#58 User Tells Nfl Player To Take A Class In Economics. Well…
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#59 Unless Your Kink Is Disappearing I Do Not Suggest This
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#60 “Use Your Logic”
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#61 Speaking With No Accent
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#62 Pundit Has Apparently Never Heard Of Tornado Shelters, Levees, Dams, Fema, Or Civilization In General
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#63 ?
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#64 I Hate To Admit I Know This Person
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#65 Ah Yes, The Real Dictator Is Ukraine’s President
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#66 Someone Clearly Failed Middle School Science
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#67 Imagine Being This Confident In Your ‘Remedy’, But Being So Incredibly Wrong
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#68 Soup Of The Day
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#69 A Baker’s Dozen
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#70 No Peter, That Isn’t The Reason We Hated It
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#71 Ireland Is 100% Not In The UK, My Friend
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#72 What Quarantine Does To A Person
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#73 I Really Don’t Know How To Simplify It More For This Guy
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#74 On How To Be Cool, And Not A Fool
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#75 Dairy Farmer And Pears
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#76 This Is Wrong On Some Many Levels
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#77 As Of March 31 2021, The Va Had 399,127 Employees
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#78 I’ve Never Seen This Bot This Confident In All Of My Time Following It, I Feel Sad For It
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#79 People Arguing About Basic Math Are So Annoying
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#80 Skunk
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#81 This Comment Was On A Video Of A Jimi Hendrix Concert
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#82 How Long Are They Gonna Keep “With” Narrative Up
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#83 Someone Posting Covid Misinformation
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#84 From My Favorite Conspiracy Theory Website
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#85 Question Everything, A Soon Nothing
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#86 Surprisingly Enough, Op Doesn’t Know The United States Does Not Have An Official Language Or Religion
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#87 How About A Dose Of Reality? Or Is That Too ‘Liberal’ For You?
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#88 You Didn’t Get The Joke. At All
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#89 Man Doesn’t Understand How Medians Work
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#90 Uh… What!?
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#91 Yes, Absolutely Correct
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#92 Very Wrong
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#93 Boy Do I Have Some News For You
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#94 It’s Wolfenstein
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#95 Almost Like They Was Wrong
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Source: boredpanda.com