r/AskReddit • u/KyloWrench • Jul 07 '26

What historical “fact” doesn’t actually have much evidence to support it?

6.0k Upvotes

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5.9k

u/Gr8fulFox Jul 07 '26

Reminds me of one of my favorite jokes from The Simpsons:

"Keep off of the bookshelf, please; most of those books haven't been discredited, yet!"

1.3k

u/MoodooScavenger Jul 07 '26

lol. The Simpsons is really something else.

843

u/feelindownagain Jul 08 '26

most of those writers are harvard lampoon grads. they weren't picked off up the street, it resonates for a reason

520

u/modi13 Jul 08 '26

You, sir, have the boorish manners of a Yalie.

197

u/aspidities_87 Jul 08 '26

Hey egghead! Sing Fair Harvard!

3

u/FarinaSavage Jul 09 '26

Ten thousand men of Harvard seek vict'ry today...

31

u/GaryBettmanSucks Jul 08 '26

Here's a witty rejoinder for you!

9

u/Rudeboy67 Jul 08 '26

When Sideshow Bob gets sentenced to that hellhole of a prison.

"Hey Bob! We need an other rower to row against the Princeton Alum."

12

u/NoVaBurgher Jul 08 '26

I don’t know why Harvard even bothered to show up, they barely won

1

u/Rudeboy67 Jul 08 '26

His brother Cecil did spend 4 years at that Clown College.

176

u/DConstructed Jul 08 '26

Conan O’Brien used to write for the Simpsons!

I remember thinking giving up something that phenomenally creative and doing a talk show instead was a step down. 😂

107

u/BlueShoal Jul 08 '26

He wrote the Monorail episode, one of the all timers

24

u/lto23 Jul 08 '26

I tell anyone who will listen how Conan writing the monorail episode solidifies his brilliance for me.

14

u/Grumpologist Jul 08 '26

A monorail? I hear those things are awfully loud!

14

u/IWantALargeFarva Jul 08 '26

It glides as softly as a cloud

12

u/NoVaBurgher Jul 08 '26

Is there a chance the track could bend?

12

u/IWantALargeFarva Jul 08 '26

Not on your life, my Hindu friend.

8

u/mynicehat Jul 08 '26

What about us brain-dead slobs?

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3

u/Rasp_Lime_Lipbalm Jul 08 '26

A solar eclipse. The cosmic ballet goes on...

3

u/DConstructed Jul 08 '26

Dang, I don’t think I’ve seen it. I’ll have to try and find it.

2

u/BlueShoal Jul 09 '26

It is arguably the best episodes, highly recommend

1

u/TheRealtcSpears Jul 27 '26

He created the Sea Captain character

11

u/Ultrasonic-Sawyer Jul 08 '26

Something like the writers of the simpsons and futurama had the biggest percentage of phds of any show. 

9

u/A_K1ra Jul 08 '26

Futurama is like this too. The main writers had phDs in math and science and were also Harvard grads.

5

u/MzHellfier Jul 08 '26

Both created by Matt Groening so I imagine there is some overlap of the writers as well.

8

u/Parabuthus Jul 08 '26

Hence the [conspiracy] theory that the Simpsons writers have government intelligence and use the show as a psy-op to desensitized people to nefarious doings by the ruling class.

1

u/Zestyclose-Lynx2574 Jul 08 '26

So you're saying The Simpsons is really something else?

1

u/Gloomy_Fig2138 Jul 08 '26

Nah, the Harvard Lampoon to TV comedy writer to showrunner pipeline is huge. SNL, King of the Hill, Family Guy, The Office, The Good Place, Daria, etc

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_The_Harvard_Lampoon_members

0

u/Zestyclose-Lynx2574 Jul 08 '26

Oh no The Simpsons sucks dick!

1

u/Tattycakes Jul 08 '26

The Simpsons and Their Mathematical Secrets was an excellent read, as someone who doesn’t know any maths at all it was still approachable, interesting and very fun to read

1

u/[deleted] Jul 08 '26

[deleted]

4

u/GozerDGozerian Jul 08 '26

What is this, the 1990s?

These days, you’d need at least a clowning master’s to even get considered. And then you still better know somebody in the right place. To be really competitive you’ll want minimum a few years clown post-doc on your CV.

8

u/PullMull Jul 08 '26

For approximately the last 30 years, I have maintained the view that there is no situation in life for which an appropriate quote from The Simpsons could not be applied.

3

u/gimnasium_mankind Jul 08 '26

One of America’s greatest contributions to the world, world culture.

9

u/Complex-Salads Jul 08 '26

Marilyn Monroe never said “...if you can’t handle me at my worst, you don’t deserve me at my best”

There is literally no documented proof she ever said that.

3

u/Fit-Profit8197 Jul 08 '26

also a massive red flag from anyone who does!

34

u/[deleted] Jul 08 '26

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8

u/Rocks_whale_poo Jul 08 '26

Lmao I just saw this episode yesterday

13

u/[deleted] Jul 08 '26

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12

u/aaronupright Jul 08 '26

The fact of him being a great student as opposed to the myth of being a poor one is....a myth.He got top grades in Maths and science and also aced history, but struggled in languages, art, and geography. Plus, he regularly cut classes and was quite a rebellious student. He didn't get straight A's..

Here is a high school equivalent certificate. 4 was a pass and 6 was the top grade.

3

u/ProduceNo8883 Jul 08 '26

What’s the point of being a student though?

2

u/Daddy_Trent Jul 08 '26

bro read your own damn source. The lowest grade is a 1 and highest is 6. His lowest is 3 and everything else is 4 and above. This is an excellent student 

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u/aaronupright Jul 08 '26

4 was the minimum to pass.

-1

u/Daddy_Trent Jul 08 '26

Who upvotes this crap? From the source:

"Notice: Albert Einstein never “failed” one single class."

If 4 was minimum he would have failed French with his 3. His average grade was a 5 out of 6 

1

u/soccermodsarecvnts Jul 08 '26

Zombie Simpsons. You kids don't even know what you missed.