What is the single biggest lie ever to have been told in all of human history?

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I used to think religion after being exposed to some of dirty secrets on a local and regional level. Now I see it as arithmetic and how it governs the basic thought of most who work in science. Proving this however is not task I'm up to the job for nor want to walk the path of. Only other thing I might place at that level of a great lie would be culture and history itself.
 
LCGeek said:
I used to think religion after being exposed to some of dirty secrets on a local and regional level. Now I see it as arithmetic and how it governs the basic thought of most who work in science. Proving this however is not task I'm up to the job for nor want to walk the path of. Only other thing I might place at that level of a great lie would be culture and history itself.
...okay, I'd like at least a cursory explanation of the arithmetic thing.
 
I wonder if there's going to be any smug anti-religious comments in this thread. Eh, probably not. Gaf is usually pretty tolerant.
 
Kinyou said:
kennedy_BM_Berlin_B_131392b.jpg


"Ich bin ein Berliner"

No you aren't! You don't even live there!


LOL!!

She doesn't even go here!
 
If you can't accept religion as a lie, there's always Santa Claus.
 
Animal products, which have been a staple of mankind during it's evolution, are incompatible with human biology and cause heart disease and cancer. There is no evidence for this at all. It's like a religion held by health nuts.

There's a lot of tangents to this, like the original lipid hypothesis of "fat causes heart disease" has been systematically changed each time a type of fat is redeemed. Saturated has yet to be redeemed because people are too ignorant to look at the conflicting data which invalidates the hypothesis. There is no wiggle room in science.
 
just went through the thread... Apart from my own,(fiction) my favourites:

Santa.
Clinton/Monica
Yes, I did read the terms and conditions.
Jesus is White. (I do not mean for this to be anti-religious).
Richard Wakefield.


Another lie perpetrated through history would be the devaluation of woman, e.g. Not intelligent, not worthy of opinion, or having an education etc..
 
Amir0x said:
If I am believing in bullshit, I want people to go to my face - not just on the internet - and tell me "dude, that's bullshit." .
And that's exactly what happened when you were demodded. Still, I agree with you that religion and the existence of god is certainly a falsehood that has been perpetuated for a long time. I'm not certain that it was a big, single lie though. And I wouldn't have put it quite in the terms you used.
 
Limiting it to a specific statement made by an individual makes it pretty hard to do; few historical events can be traced back to a single lie. I'd probably go with Iraq has WMDs (Cheney or Tenet, take your pick) or Wakefield.
 
Zenith said:
"God made us and we have to worship him and obey all these rules to get into the afterlife. No homo."
.

This is what immediately came to my mind as soon as I read the title, and I'm glad people are posting it despite the OP's disclaimer. I truly cannot think of any other single lie that has damaged the world so severely.
 
teh_pwn said:
Animal products, which have been a staple of mankind during it's evolution, are incompatible with human biology and cause heart disease and cancer. There is no evidence for this at all. It's like a religion held by health nuts.

There's a lot of tangents to this, like the original lipid hypothesis of "fat causes heart disease" has been systematically changed each time a type of fat is redeemed. Saturated has yet to be redeemed because people are too ignorant to look at the conflicting data which invalidates the hypothesis. There is no wiggle room in science.
I was pretty pleased when a new study let salt off the hook for causing any increase in mortality just a month after the USDA cast it as Villain #1 in its new Food Plate campaign.
 
"I love you"

"I did this, because I love you"

"It's for your own good"

"We're doing this in the name of justice"
 
Trunchisholm said:
"Give me another chance, baby. Everything will be different this time. I'm a changed man."

Also, the H1N1 vaccine situation and the whole influenza scare. I don't know who's to blame for that, but it was either some elaborate lie to profit from producing a shitload of vaccines or some one of the biggest honest mistakes ever:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_flu_pandemic_vaccine#Surplus_vaccine
Considering that vaccines are generally pretty expensive produce and not very profitable compared to other products, I would think it's the latter.
 
As a former Leykis listener, I'm compelled to post these:

"I'm on birth control."

"It's your baby."

"I can't get pregnant--the doctor told me so."

"I'm allergic to latex."
 
Demon Ice said:
.

This is what immediately came to my mind as soon as I read the title, and I'm glad people are posting it despite the OP's disclaimer. I truly cannot think of any other single lie that has damaged the world so severely.

GAF would certainly become a better place if only all members here are doing this on every thread!

My answer: the whole WMD fiasco in Iraq. Affecting innumerable amount of lives and the after-effects are still reverberating strongly even today.
 
isny said:
Surprised the bible wasn't the first answer, lol

I'm not, the OP specifically outlined that he didn't want people bringing that shit into this thread. Don't worry, you aren't the first person to not read the OP or the thread and then make a snarky comment :)
 
shanshan310 said:
I'm not, the OP specifically outlined that he didn't want people bringing that shit into this thread. Don't worry, you aren't the first person to not read the OP or the thread and then make a snarky comment :)

I read it, but I fully expected someone to use that answer anyways. This is GAF =D
 
Wotan131 said:
"All men are born equal". Cause it's simply not true, just something French Revolutionaries liked to repeat.
A few people have said that now, I starting to think that's a pretty good contender.
 
Wotan131 said:
"All men are born equal". Cause it's simply not true, just something French Revolutionaries liked to repeat.

That sounds suspiciously like a bill of rights quote, the nearest french revolutionary quote i could find is “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be based only on common utility.”, wich seems to be a little bit closer to truth.
 
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