I once actually thought that when movies and shows were developing, I thought that they were being made within the year of their release date. I didn’t know that these projects were sometimes done in advance or took years to make.
That when ‘Commercial Breaks’ happened during shows, I thought they meant that the actors needed a break before resuming. Not realizing that episodes are already made and commercials just interrupt things to just sell you shit.
When I learned food and drinks were energy for your body, I actually thought that when I got sleepy or tired, I just needed to drink or eat something. Not realizing that it wouldn’t have mattered.
I believed babies were conceived by kissing. When I first released genitals might be involved, I was in disbelief, thinking something like “No, it cannot be. This would be too stupid. Then it must be kissing that makes you pregnant”.
I lived in the greatest country in the world and everyone was so jealous of us.
Well that was true for some of us in the past…
That adults were intelligent
When I was a kid my parents would show me the NORAD Santa Tracker on Christmas eve, and of course had to explain to me that NORAD tracks everything larger than a baseball in the sky so of course they would track Santa’s movements. This easily added a couple of years onto how long I believed in Santa because why the heck would NORAD have a Santa tracker if it wasn’t real? The federal government doesn’t do whimsy like that!
I think it was the fact that the little animations never changed from year to year that finally allowed me to drop that line of reasoning…
I believed dogs were all boys and cats were all girls.
When I was a kid I’d get a new stuffed animal, and somewhere on the tag it would say, “Made from all new material”.
And for some reason I thought that meant the material had just been developed or discovered. Like they had a team of scientists in a lab working on a new type of polyester just so they could use it to make this shitty stuffed lemon that I won at a church carnival.
Thirty years later I realized it probably just meant the materials weren’t recycled.
Justice, mercy, duty, that sort of thing.
One of those things is not like the others.
Its a line that death says in the Discworld book The Hogfather
All right," said Susan. “I’m not stupid. You’re saying humans need… fantasies to make life bearable.”
REALLY? AS IF IT WAS SOME KIND OF PINK PILL? NO. HUMANS NEED FANTASY TO BE HUMAN. TO BE THE PLACE WHERE THE FALLING ANGEL MEETS THE RISING APE.
“Tooth fairies? Hogfathers? Little—”
YES. AS PRACTICE. YOU HAVE TO START OUT LEARNING TO BELIEVE THE LITTLE LIES.
“So we can believe the big ones?”
YES. JUSTICE. MERCY. DUTY. THAT SORT OF THING.
“They’re not the same at all!”
YOU THINK SO? THEN TAKE THE UNIVERSE AND GRIND IT DOWN TO THE FINEST POWDER AND SIEVE IT THROUGH THE FINEST SIEVE AND THEN SHOW ME ONE ATOM OF JUSTICE, ONE MOLECULE OF MERCY. AND YET—Death waved a hand. AND YET YOU ACT AS IF THERE IS SOME IDEAL ORDER IN THE WORLD, AS IF THERE IS SOME…SOME RIGHTNESS IN THE UNIVERSE BY WHICH IT MAY BE JUDGED.
“Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what’s the point—”
MY POINT EXACTLY
I miss Terry.
I believed that one day I would find myself in a situation where I would have to save myself or a friend from being buried in quicksand.
That the future would be better.
I believed that there were very tiny human workers in my body that made it run.
But what made theirs run?
I was a stupid kid, not a deep thinker. My universe ended with just them. :)
Tinier humans. It’s tiny humans all the way down
Until I was about 5, I believed all dogs were boys and all cats were girls.
I just posted the same!
That was a lie propagated by parrots.
When I was upset about what I saw all around me, I was told that animals don’t suffer like we do. They aren’t conscious like we are. I knew better, but when everyone is acting as if something is true, you can kind of get drawn up in it, and I guess I believed it for a while. It was a helpful belief to have.
Removed by mod
I saw a commercial in the 70’s for Starburst. All of them were the same pattern: Person pops candy into their mouth, next scene is them taking off hang-gliding.
I thought if I ate a Starburst I’d get sent flying off a mountain like the hang gliders. Not in a fun way… eat this candy and you’re getting flung to your death off the top of a mountain. (I didn’t understand what a hang glider was either)
I thought hard work would be enough to make a living.
In fairness to yourself, it used to be.
But they’re not being entrepreneurs! /s
Along those lines…my dad worked hanging drywall in new houses. I went to work with him many times. He busted his ass all day, sweating and covered in gypsum dust, blazing heat with hardly any ventilation, to bring home little pay.
On one of the rides in to work with him it occurred to me that if pay were decided by level of effort, he would be rich. Guys that wear ties to work and sit in air conditioned offices with their pencils and pens…they were living the easy life and making much more than their worth as I saw it.
Honestly that naivety hasn’t fully left me in adulthood. I have more appreciation for many office jobs, but the people who put their bodies on the line for work in shitty conditions are not paid nearly enough by and large. It’s a fucking criminal arrangement.
I do both sides of this at my work, both office and do real work. I keep telling the guys who don’t do the office part that they are the ones that should earn the most. Most of them are old and just think they are fine as is sadly. This mentality is sad imo.
I wonder where I would be if my work ethic didn’t get raped for all its worth.
At one point in time, it was. Now it’s the opposite.
Did depend on what race you were mind you.
Everybody forgets this. The time when “a single income could provide housing, transportation, and collage for a family of four” only existed for white men. Thinking this was universal is just lefty false nostalgia nauseatingly similar to MAGA.
It’d also depend heaviliy on the country too
Or it’s your American defaultism showing.
No, everyone forgets the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulsa_race_massacre
lefty false nostalgia
I don’t know anyone left leaning who thinks that
You can, just not at the same company. You just have to hop jobs as soon as you get experience.
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Cops are good
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Hard work pays off
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I might own a home someday
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The government isn’t out to get anyone
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People are inherently good
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Drugs are bad
Agree.
Also “crime doesn’t pay”, “you shouldn’t lie” and “we’re a monogamous society and you shouldn’t cheat in a committed long-term relationship.”
Tbh I still kinda believe in the latter, despite knowing it’s a childish fantasy.
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