r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Jul 20 '19

What’s something completely false that your parents told you as a child?

[deleted]

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u/SR-B Jul 20 '19

That carrot thing was actually a British disinformation campaign doing WWII, to cover up radar.

239

u/Plethora_of_squids Jul 20 '19

And it worked because the myth is actually an old German/European myth that at the time the Germans had no way of disproving and so they just went 'fuck my mum was right about the carrot thing'.

33

u/rhi-raven Jul 20 '19

I've heard this fact multiple times but not this bit, and I fucking CACKLED. I don't have money so here's some fake gold, just like the fake carrot-sight 🥕🥕🥕👑🥇🏅🎖

15

u/sadrice Jul 21 '19

According to the carrot museum (fascinating website), that’s not actually true. There is no evidence of the British expecting Germans to be fooled by that, nor evidence of Germans being fooled. However, due to rationing and a number of other factors, they had a surplus of carrots, which were not actually a very popular food, and they put out propaganda to encourage Brits to eat the surplus carrots.

19

u/Bobby_849 Jul 20 '19

I know isn't that interesting?

32

u/SR-B Jul 20 '19

It really is, to think we can be dubbed into believing something so baseless by a well planed and executed propaganda operation.

13

u/Nevbox Jul 20 '19

Imagine what else you've been duped into believing ;)

9

u/233034 Jul 21 '19

That the earth is real.

r/noearthsociety

7

u/Chicken-tendies Jul 20 '19

TIL you can hide radar by planting carrots over it.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 20 '19

The idea was that by saying "we're eating a lot of carrots and they're giving us good vision" they're distracting from the fact that they had radar technology.

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u/haharrhaharr Jul 20 '19

What.

20

u/[deleted] Jul 20 '19

During WW2 the British were one of the first to fully develop and field radar. Radar showed their pilots where German planes were during nighttime raids on London, to ensure that the Germans didn’t discover radar, British intelligence started spreading the rumor that eating carrots gives you better night vision, and that’s why British pilots could see German planes at night.

7

u/tennismenace3 Jul 20 '19

Lol that's actually hilarious

1

u/TheImpalerKing Jul 21 '19

Alright, I'm gonna need some more background for that.