Common Myths about Common Myths

A quick Google search for “common myths about” turns up ~315,000 hits. Apparently, there are a lot of myths about:

• Sex

• Atheists

• Copyright

• Science

• Gifted Students

• The Apple Mac

• Web Design

• Earthquakes

• West Nile Virus

The last one is the most surprising. I’m not even sure what the West Nile Virus is. Perhaps that’s why there are myths about it. But at least as regards the other subjects, it seems to be a slight cheat, and writing cliché, to ‘correct’ a set of myths without demonstrating that they exist. For example, here are some alleged myths concerning the subjects above:

• Married couples have less sex [if I might be slightly glib, this sounds a bit like the argument that crime rates go up when you jail more criminals].

• “If it doesn’t have a copyright notice, it’s not copyrighted.”

• Atheists have no sense of morality, since morality comes from God.

• Scientific knowledge can only be discovered by highly trained professional scientists.

• Gifted students do not need help. If they are really gifted, they can manage on their own.

• Quitting [smoking] is just a matter of willpower.

Does anyone really believe any of this stuff anyway, or are these myths mythical?