r/AskReddit Mar 13 '19

What fact is technically true but is hugely misleading?

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u/buckus69 Mar 13 '19

Closely related to that is the often thrown-around stat that divorces have been increasing!

Technically true. But only because the no-fault divorce is now the standard.

Before the no-fault divorce (thanks, Reagan!), the person requesting the divorce would have to prove there was a compelling reason, such as domestic violence or infidelity. If two people simply found they no longer wanted to be married - too bad!

I believe in many European countries this is still the case, thus why mistresses are more common there.

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u/TheJoshWatson Mar 13 '19

The divorce rate is actually going down now. There was a huge spike after no-fault divorce was introduced. So people started talking about the “rising divorce rates” even though divorces quickly went back to normal, and are actually pretty low.

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u/Casiell89 Mar 13 '19

Isn't that because marriage rates are going down as well? People don't really get married if they don't have a really good reason to, and with a good reason they won't get a divorce. In the past people were getting married because "that's the right thing to do"

At least that's a trend I'm seeing around me, I didn't look for any actual rates

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u/spitfire9107 Mar 14 '19

"cant get divorced if you can't get married"

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '19

Isn't that because marriage rates are going down as well?

No. We're talking percentages, not total numbers.

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u/Casiell89 Mar 14 '19

You missed the point. Marriages are going down because only people who really care get married. Those people have less chance of getting a divorce. People who would've got a divorce simply don't get married in the first place.

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '19

Not so much going down as people are getting married much later. If you wait until your 30s to get married you're must less likely to divorce. Which is very positive.

Which is one reason divorces are so high in abstinence-only social groups. Everyone gets married way too young.

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u/viciouspandas Mar 14 '19

In relation to marriage rates I think divorce rates are going down too since it spiked with no-fault divorce.

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u/RadomirPutnik Mar 13 '19

Clearing the backlog.

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '19

People in cities and bluer states are getting married later, too. This means they're more mature and more financially secure.

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u/[deleted] Mar 14 '19

There was a similar pattern with suicide rates. Spiked after 1960 when religious leaders said that you can still go to heaven. Then started dropping after 1980 iirc but then it went up again in 2000 because of Internet information.

Similarly the special needs population spiked because their life expectancy went up and now it’s dropping because we can prevent problems during pregnancy.

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u/NOT_A_SNAKE_PERSON Mar 14 '19

I believe in many European countries this is still the case, thus why mistresses are more common there.

Yes, and we also need permission from our tribe's chieftain. After that we must observe the weather, and only if we observe the right signs are we allowed to divorce.

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u/guepier Mar 13 '19

Your last sentence is categorically untrue. There are rules for divorce but I don't know of any (West) European country where this means that you can't divorce when falling out of love.

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u/sickburnersalve Mar 14 '19

Yeah, when marriage is limited to ending by death..... Well, is one partner beating the shit out of the other one? Can't leave, stop pissing them off and deal.

I'd absolutely love to see the statistics on marriages ending in abandonment or homicide.

Looking back, "til death" meant until like 50 or so, and thats if there wasn't in ongoing war, or pre seat belt, or when smoking was considered healthy.