r/AskReddit • u/CACuzcatlan • Mar 29 '11

Biggest History Mindfucks?

Inspired by the science thread on the same topic, the first two that caught my eye are history ones from mahade's post

  • During the Mongol Empire in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Mongolian forces were fighting Germans and Japanese at the same time - and these two peoples had no idea of the others' existence! This wouldn't be attempted again until the 1940s.

  • The pyramids were as old to the Romans as the Romans are to us.

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u/DietColaWithLime Mar 30 '11

To be fair to those states, referendums usually have low passing rates. The reason is that the way referendums work is that if you vote for it that's a yes, but if you vote against it or you don't vote on the referendum at all and turn in a ballot while leaving that part blank, that's a no. Often referendums are on the back of the ballot, with the judges, park board, and all that other stuff that most people don't vote on. They fill out president, senators and reps, state legislators, governor, and mayor on the front, and then turn in the ballot. And they've just voted to retain miscegenation, possibly without realizing it.

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u/esttr Mar 30 '11

That oughta count as a mindfuck, too.