re: Commonly held beliefs that you suspect are wrong

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only white people can be racist

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The words racism and racist definitely have been hijacked. Had the same dictionary definition forever. Then some professor came up with the theory of systemic racism, which later became an alternate definition in the dictionary, and now all of a sudden black people can't be racist.

Yeah I can specifically tell you that it absolutely does work. The other factors are consistency, talking about things, mixing in other forms of discipline (right tool for the job), positive reinforcement, and other factors. You have a very simple idea of how it works.

I don't spank my kids for mistakes. We talk about bad decisions vs mistakes. People will spank their kid because they forgot to do the dishes or change the clothes over. No. Not rememeber to handle their responsibilities? Take away privileges for a day is an example. Consistency. Sneak out of your room to riffle through the pantry for snacks in the middle of the night, hide the wrappers, then lie? Yeah, spanking.

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If you get married, you have a 50% chance of getting divorced.

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That's not a "commonly held belief" that is "wrong." It's a misunderstanding or misapplication of statistics.

That 50% of marriages end in divorce is true, or that was the rate at one point. I think it's trending down now. But with context, second and third marriages end in divorce at a significantly higher rate than first marriages, driving up the overall rate.

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Adding onions to a burger is good. Adding onion rings or onion straws turns it into trailer park food. It is not good, unique, innovative, or adding value to my burger.

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What an awful opinion. Eggs, Onions and bacon belong on burgers.

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You can judge most books by their cover. Important to realize there are exceptions and all that, but the way people generally conduct themselves says just so much about them

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Agreed. I've always felt that if you choose to present yourself in a certain manner, it's peak narcissism to expect others to not draw conclusions from that presentation you selected. Dress like a prostitute, don't be mad when people assume you may be a bit easy? Dress like a thug, don't be shocked when people double check that their vehicle is locked.

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We have free will.

Your choices are dictated by preferences, genetics, past experiences and environment.

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A decision-making tree has nothing to do with free will.

Even with free will, your decisions are based on something.

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We have free will. Your choices are dictated by preferences, genetics, past experiences and environment. A decision-making tree has nothing to do with free will. Even with free will, your decisions are based on something.

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In some ways, we don’t have free will. For instance, you can’t really choose the next sound that you will hear. You just hear it. Thoughts just appear and disappear on their own.

The flu vaccine is effective.

Rid X is needed for your septic tank

Dandelions should be eradicated.

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got lightheaded at times as well, getting erections and things like that, and you can’t get fully erect,” he continued. “I’ve taken some various medication over time to try and to try and shrink it

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Add that to the list of things I'll never have to worry about. Whew, thank God! It's such a relief to know that I'll never need to take pills to shrink my dick.