A Conversation for Ask h2g2
That Great Lie.
Maria Posted May 19, 2012
<<Everything happens for a reason
I was told that. I was getting over my 7th op in relation to my achilles tendon.
- Think about it María, that is a message that you have to interpret. Things happens for a reason.
Another big lie that is making rich to the woman who wrote The Secret:
if you wish something it will happen just by the power of wishing.Energies from the universe will configurate to help you...
It´s amazing the amount of people who think that is true.
She says that those who are poor it is because they do not wish to change or because there´s a weak connection with the cosmic energies...
That Great Lie.
KB Posted May 19, 2012
I would call "everything happens for a reason" a platitude rather than a lie, because I'm not sure what in the blue blazes it's actually supposed to mean.
That Great Lie.
Otto Fisch ("Stop analysing Strava.... and cut your hedge") Posted May 19, 2012
The concept of the "middle class" which allows even the wealthy to think of themselves as merely average or middling.
That Great Lie.
Maria Posted May 19, 2012
KB,
Things happen for a reason.
Whenever I´ve heard that is to justify absurd or nasty situations.
It has to do with a belief in determinism, in fate.
And there´s nothing I detest more than determinism.
According to that woman who told me that, it means that I actually needed to have my tendon broken.
That Great Lie.
KB Posted May 19, 2012
Hmm, it's just one of those things people say when they can't think of anything else to say, though, isn't it? Like "Cheer up Brian, things could be an awful lot worse", or "you'll just have to grin and bear it".
These things are commiserating waffle more than lies - cos I'd need to ask what they mean by that before I know they're incorrect.
That Great Lie.
Clive the flying ostrich: Amateur Polymath | Chief Heretic. Posted May 20, 2012
""What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
I prefer the counter-point on Despair.com. *
"what doesn't kill you, postpones the inevitable."
http://www.despair.com/adversity.html
The perfect antidote IMO for the cod-philosophy soundbite aphorism.
That Great Lie.
quotes Posted May 20, 2012
"""What doesn't kill you makes you stronger"
Similarly, there's a lie (or at least, partial truth) that conditions are unhealthily soft for children these days, while in the old days they could eat dirt and juggle machetes, and it 'never done me no harm'. The truth is that child mortality has decreased to a tiny fraction of what it used to be. So the aphorism could be rewritten as "what doesn't make you stronger, kills you."
That Great Lie.
You can call me TC Posted May 20, 2012
"Time flies".
Oh no, wait a minute.
Whoops - minute's gone 
That Great Lie.
Mu Beta Posted May 20, 2012
Do you know what I hate? The ending to Simon & Garfunkel's 'The Boxer'.
Not just one lie, but whole damn calculated series of them. 
B
That Great Lie.
Deb Posted May 20, 2012
I can't belive I just DuckDuckGo'd* the lyrics!
Deb 
* If we can turn Google into a verb we can do it with the other search engines too!
That Great Lie.
paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant Posted May 21, 2012
You only hurt the one you love
That Great Lie.
paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant Posted May 21, 2012
When you wish upon a star,
makes no difference who you are,
Anything your heart desires
Will come to you.
That Great Lie.
~ jwf ~ scribblo ergo sum Posted May 21, 2012
paulh started it:
>> Will come to you. <<
"I promise I'll pull out before I...." 
~jwf~
That Great Lie.
paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant Posted May 21, 2012
One size fits all.
Come up and see me some time.
That Great Lie.
HonestIago Posted May 21, 2012
"Time heals all wounds"
No it doesn't.
As an aside, Dulce e Decorum Est is one of my favourite bits of poetry and an absolute masterpiece of satire.
Key: Complain about this post
That Great Lie.
- 21: swl (May 19, 2012)
- 22: Maria (May 19, 2012)
- 23: KB (May 19, 2012)
- 24: Otto Fisch ("Stop analysing Strava.... and cut your hedge") (May 19, 2012)
- 25: Maria (May 19, 2012)
- 26: KB (May 19, 2012)
- 27: KB (May 19, 2012)
- 28: Clive the flying ostrich: Amateur Polymath | Chief Heretic. (May 20, 2012)
- 29: quotes (May 20, 2012)
- 30: Xanatic (May 20, 2012)
- 31: You can call me TC (May 20, 2012)
- 32: You can call me TC (May 20, 2012)
- 33: Mu Beta (May 20, 2012)
- 34: Deb (May 20, 2012)
- 35: paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant (May 21, 2012)
- 36: paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant (May 21, 2012)
- 37: ~ jwf ~ scribblo ergo sum (May 21, 2012)
- 38: McKay The Disorganised (May 21, 2012)
- 39: paulh, vaccinated against the Omigod Variant (May 21, 2012)
- 40: HonestIago (May 21, 2012)
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