# What myths do we tell ourselves to keep our sanity **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 14, 2014, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520 "2014-08-14T16:12:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![OffByOne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/45deac/32.png) [@OffByOne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OffByOne)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2015, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520/141 "2015-05-01T13:48:11Z")
> [@buddha\_david](#): > > It’s Obama’s fault. It’s Bush’s fault. ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520/142 "2015-06-04T06:27:09Z")
Thanks Obama. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520/143 "2015-06-04T06:44:12Z")
> [@Mijin](#): > > It’s simpler to say we don’t know; therefore I’d argue it’s not _quite_ accurate to call it a myth. > > Having a nervous system, detecting and responding to stimuli, do not in themselves equate to pain. > > Even yelping, or writhing about, _might be_ instinctive responses. But just as I assume you feel pain similarly to me because your responses are similar, so I make the same assumption about animals. > > The exception is animals that behave almost entirely instinctively – they don’t _learn_ significantly in their lifespan _and_ (as a separate clause) have very predictable responses to nociception. > In this case there is no point in the organism having a subjective “bad feeling”; it wouldn’t aid its survival. > So it may be the case that while a spider freaks out if it loses a leg, say, it doesn’t actually feel anything. IANA arachnologist, just guessing they may meet these requirements. Causing an animal pain when it does something, even the most natural and instinctive something, is the surest way to convince it that it should never ever do that thing again. Even when the person/thing that caused the pain is gone, it can be extremely difficult to convince the animal to reinstate the natural response. Higher animals will even show signs of fear when they have actively repressed the urge to do the something, they know they almost did it. If that doesn’t prove that they felt the pain, much as we would have, then you must have a very different definition of it than I do. In fact, I would argue that it’s worse for them, because they don’t have any way of knowing that the pain will end soon, or even eventually. And they can’t process that the pain will not come back. We, at least can quickly understand the cause, effect and probable duration/recurrence. I’d say those things allow us to work through more pain than an animal could. ---
**Author:** ![Apollon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47774/32.png) [@Apollon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollon)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520/144 "2015-06-04T12:07:59Z")
1. That I’m going to die of old age. 2. That dying of old age is relatively painless, and not the weeks of agonising suffering that it actually almost always is. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520/145 "2015-06-04T14:01:06Z")
> [@Shakes](#): > > Humans are generally good people. > We’re only good because we can afford to be. Take away law and order, and take away an economic infrastructure and you’ll soon see just how “good” people really are. But there used to be no law and order or “Economic infrastructure” and people still tried to treat each other well. When that failed, people created law and order. LAw and order isn’t something that suddenly descended upon us like a tornado, it’s a human construct designed in large part so we DO treat each other nicely. The thread is seemingly more about cynicism than it is about myths we tell ourselves. ---
**Author:** ![watchwolf49](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e9c0ed/32.png) [@watchwolf49](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/watchwolf49)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520/146 "2015-06-04T14:05:03Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > .999… = 1 🙂 No, it doesn’t … ---
**Author:** ![Apollon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47774/32.png) [@Apollon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollon)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520/147 "2015-06-04T19:55:00Z")
That the ground beneath our feet is solid and that the sun is everlasting, and that they won’t wipe out all life on the planet when the time has come. That humanity will have found a way to colonise the stars before the above happens. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2015, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520/148 "2015-06-04T21:10:37Z")
A couple that seem to get me through the day, even though I’m not sure I really believe them, is the idea that everyone eventually gets what’s coming to them, and that everyone has their cross to bear. I hate to believe that some of these really wealthy guys I’ve seen with gorgeous girlfriends, fast cars, etc… don’t also have a mountain of stupid debt, a history of child-abuse, inabiity to find love, or some kind of horrible personal lives, or some other redeeming quality or issue to offset what seems like obnoxiously extraordinary luck. Or that some of these executive types who get fired for gross incompetence (that everyone saw coming), who end up landing on their feet as executives somewhere else will eventually get fucked by fate for their lack of competence and the effects that it has on people and their families. There are two guys in particular who used to work at my company who were just fuckheads- they ran IT ragged, they did dumb-ass stuff that lost money, and yet somehow after being unceremoniously shit-canned, they managed to get other jobs with similar companies and similar titles. I like to tell myself that justice will eventually prevail, and that those dickheads will have to eat dog food while living in a dumpster, but I doubt it. ---
**Author:** ![Apollon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47774/32.png) [@Apollon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollon)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2015, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520/149 "2015-06-05T11:24:29Z")
That my boss will some day pay me the 7 months of back wages she owes me. :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2015, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520/150 "2015-06-08T20:03:59Z")
> [@Apollon](#): > > That my boss will some day pay me the 7 months of back wages she owes me. :dubious: Why in the hell are you still working for someone who hasn’t paid you in 7 months? That’s beyond asinine. ---
**Author:** ![Cyros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a698b9/32.png) [@Cyros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyros)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2015, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520/151 "2015-06-08T20:39:20Z")
> [@bump](#): > > Why in the hell are you still working for someone who hasn’t paid you in 7 months? That’s beyond asinine. Well, if he leaves now then that 7 months is just flushed away with nothing to show for it. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520/152 "2016-06-05T17:12:51Z")
> [@Apollon](#): > > That my boss will some day pay me the 7 months of back wages she owes me. :dubious: So did you ever actually get paid, Apollon? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![12mgdaily](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/f08c70/32.png) [@12mgdaily](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/12mgdaily)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2016, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520/153 "2016-06-05T19:06:36Z")
> [@Biffster](#): > > One myth is that people will get what they deserve; cosmic karma will set things right. Fact is, some people will suffer beyond their fair share, and other people will just get lucky. It does not all balance out, not now, and probably not in any afterlife either. Yes! Karma is often used or too often you hear the phrase "what goes around, comes around’. Also (insert person’s name) will burn in hell. Actually, there are other religious myths to ease one’s mental struggle such as… ‘God needed him/her’… and pleas from individuals to everyone they know, when a loved one is facing serious issues ‘Please pray for (insert person’s name)’. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-myths-do-we-tell-ourselves-to-keep-our-sanity/695520.md?page=7)