Misconceptions project

For my IFLS 012 (regular & Foundation levels) this semester, you will chose a popular misconception and write about it. In your paper, you don't need to spend too much time describing the misconception if it is fairly well known (and I am familiar with a number of these). Instead, you should focus on the following:

• Why is the topic important, or what is the social value or importance of this issue?
• Why do so many people believe in it? Why does it have popular appeal?
• How can it be debunked? (I.e., showㅜ why it is wrong)
• How can we educate the public to prevent people from falling for it?

There are many kinds of popular misconceptions, which may fall into the following general categories.

• general popular myths and misconceptions
• fake news
• Internet rumors
• popular hoaxes
• urban legends
• pseudoscience
• superstition
• conspiracy theories
• pop psychology
• alternative medicine
• misconceptions about health, medicine, and health science research

Below are some examples (some categories overlap, and some examples may fall into two or more categories).

1 Popular myths and misconceptions

• Fan death (leaving a fan on in one's room can be fatal)
• Anti-vaccine myths (anti-vaxers). Supposedly, vaccines contain harmful substances and may even cause autism
• Certain company logos consist of pagan or satanic symbols, most notably, Starbucks and Proctor & Gamble
• Flat earthers: the Earth is actually flat, not round
• UFO stories and sightings
• Alien abductions
• Cryptozoological ("hidden / secret / unkown" animals) creatures, such as the Loch Ness monster, Bigfoot / Sasquatch, the Yeti (abominable snowman), and others
• Stories popular in certain areas about a ghost, monster, or other strange creature
• Anti-gay or anti-LGBT beliefs, e.g, that gay people "choose" to be gay, that they deliberately spread HIV/AIDs, or that one's sexual orientation can be changed

1.1 Urban legends

• A New York advertiser successfully used subliminal advertising in movie theaters to boost sales of soda and popcorn
• Alien autopsy video (a famous fake video of an autopsy of an alien)
• Alligators living in sewers
• Certain popular stories about aliens, e.g., that a UFO crashed in New Mexico and was kept by the US military

See also the Wikipedia list of common urban legends

2 Medical and health misconceptions

• Coffee leads to heart problems or bone problems
• Popping / cracking knuckles cause arthritis
• Alcohol (in normal or slightly excessive amounts) kills brain cells (actually, it can hurt the liver, and excessive drinking can be particularly harmful for teenagers' brain development, but only extreme levels of alcohol and extreme alcoholism causes brain damage)
• Fad diets (popular diet / weight loss programs) can meaningfully help people lose weight
• Certain foods or drinks can help people lose weight just by eating / drinking them
• Certain foods or drinks are good for the brain (generally not true, though stimulants like caffeine in moderate amounts are helpful for boosting brain function)
• Eggs are bad for health and contribute to heart problems, so people should not eat eggs
• Copper bracelets can prevent arthritis
• Magnets can prevent or treat health problems (like blood, bone, or joint problems)
• Watching TV too close or in a dark room causes permanent eye problems
• Eating sugar makes children hyperactive

3 Pop psychology

• Mozart effect: Classical music can supposedly make children smarter
• Left brain / right brain beliefs that major cognitive functions divide neatly between two hemispheres of the brain; supposedly, the left is logical and handles language, logic and math, while the right is holistic and intuitive and handles music, art and creativity
• People only use ten percent of their brains
• Students learn better when classroom teaching is customized to their particular learning style
• IQ tests are meaningful and accepted measures of intelligence
• Men and women are fundamentally different, cognitively and psychologically (yes, there are differences, but these tend to be over-generalized and exaggerated; there seem to be more nuanced or complex differences, which are debated among research psychologists)
• Conversion therapy: an attempt to get gay / lesbian people to change their sexual orientation; research shows not only that it does not work, but it can be psychologically harmful for LGBT people
• Subliminal advertising works and can cause people to buy something they would not otherwise buy

4 Conspiracy theories

Sometimes these might be simple misconceptions, but often beliefs in a conspiracy behind the misconception are involved.

• Illuminati theories (see below)
• 9/11 conspiracy. Since exploding airplanes allegedly could not have caused the World Trade Center to collapse, the buildings were actually blown up by the US government, or Jewish interests, e.g., in order to start a war.
• NASA moon hoax. The Apollo moon landings allegedly did not really happen; it was filmed in a studio and faked.
• Alien theories. Aliens are supposedly real, and UFOs are actually aliens. Maybe aliens are kidnapping people and performing experiments on them. Often, this goes along with beliefs that aliens have infiltrated governments and are influencing events and/or are trying to take over the world. These are similar to X-Files type of views of aliens.
• Reptilians or lizard people. This is a special alien conspiracy theory. Supposedly, major world leaders are actually shape-shifting lizard aliens.
• Anti-Semitic theories. Various anti-Jewish theories claim that Jews (e.g., Jewish bankers) are involved in some evil conspiracy to control the world or to influence the economy or politics. These are often combined with Illuminati theories.
• Anti-Catholic theories. Historically speaking, [1] the Catholic Church is the oldest major branch of Christianity (an historical fact). However, fundamentalist Protestants and others believe that the Catholic Church has been involved in a grand world-wide conspiracy to control governments. It is true that the Catholic Church and other churches have had great influence on governments in history, especially in medieval Europe, but this goes further to claim that it engages in a number of secret activities to control events and governments. This may also involve false claims that Catholic beliefs are not Christian, and are even grounded in ancient paganism (e.g., Babylonian religion).
• Weather control. Various versions of this theory state that major governments like the US or the former Soviet Union have and use technology to control weather patterns. A modern version of this implicates the HAARP program of the US Pentagon.
• Mind control. Various versions of this theory claim that some entity has and uses technology to control people's minds, including things like making the general public believe in ideas or vote for candidates (which conspiracy theorists think are evil). Believers in such theories think that those controlling peoples' minds are the US government, the former Soviet Union, or evil aliens. In the mid-20th century, some who believed this wore tin foil (aluminum foil, 은박지 / 포일) on their heads because they though the foil would block mind control waves coming from their TVs or from satellites in space. For this reason, tin foil hats are stereotypically associated with belief in conspiracy theories.
• Anti-vaxers. Anti-vaccine myths often go further to claim that the medical community, pharmaceutical companies (which manufacture vaccines), and/or governments are involved in a conspiracy to harm children somehow with vaccines.
• Flat earthers: Not only is the Earth flat, but NASA, governments, and scientists are engaged in a conspiracy to conceal the truth
• Climate change denial: Not only denying the reality of human-caused climate change, but claiming that climate change is something that scientists or leftists invented (e.g., for anti-capitalist motivations)
• Claims that an alien spaceship crashed in Roswell, New Mexico, USA, and that the US government is in possession of alien bodies or alien technology

Also, sites and channels like InfoWars promote even crazier conspiracy theories -- too many to mention here.

4.1 Illuminati theories

There was once a secret society in 18th century Bavaria (southern German) of intellectuals who were atheists, agnostics, rationalists, or humanists, who opposed the political power and influence of the Church (e.g., the Catholic Church) or other churches in politics and governments. Since at the time refusing to believe in God was harmful to one's career, they formed a secret society to meet together. Later, it was made illegal and was broken up. There is no evidence that they continued to exist afterwards, and there is no evidence that they had or continued to hold so much power and influence, especially through secret methods of controlling governments. Nonetheless, many conspiracy theorists claim that they continued to exist and have worked secretly to influence and control governments and events. Some claim that the Illuminati still exist today; others claim that they were superseded (taken over, pass on to) other organizations that continue today to do their evil work. Some often merge Illuminati theories with conspiracy theories involving other groups.

These theories claimed that these organizations are directing national and/or world politics to bring about a one-world "socialist" or communist government or some kind of dictatorship. Below are some common variations. Combinations of two or more of these are also common.

• Attempts to connect it with other secret societies from about the same time, such as the Freemasons
• Attempts to connect it with older medieval secret societies, e.g., the Rosicrucians, the Knights Templar, etc.
• Attempts to connect it with ancient paganism, e.g, Babylonian religion
• Attempts to connect it with anti-Catholic conspiracy theories
• Attempts to connect it with anti-Semitic conspiracy theories
• Claims that the Illuminati still exist and control political leaders, major business leaders, and even entertainment stars
• Claims that their work was overtaken by political organizations like the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) and the Trilateral Commission. In reality, the CFR and TC are merely think tanks (NGOs that work on ideas for public policy), and many political leaders join these for social / political networking purposes and/or to learn on and work on public policy ideas for promoting democracy or social causes. These conspiracy theories are promoted by extreme right-wing groups in the US like the John Birch Society.

5 Pseudoscience

• astrology and horoscopes
• fortune-telling
• tarot card reading
• palm reading (reading palm lines on the hand to predict one's future)
• graphology
• blood types (blood types determine or influence personality)
• phrenology (head shape and bumps indicate intelligence and personality)
• graphology (handwriting style directly reflects personality traits)
• neurolinguistic programming (NLP)

For more, see the Wikipedia list of pseudosciences.