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31 Huge Lies You Believe Thanks to Movies and TV Shows

We refuse to believe chalk outlines aren’t standard police procedure

31 Huge Lies You Believe Thanks to Movies and TV Shows

August 29, 2023

Realism always takes a back seat to a good story. And so, if movies and TV were real, love would always conquer mental illness. Stealth planes would live up to their name. And cops would actually investigate crime scenes. Here are some of the lies that the entertainment industry has taught the general public, either indirectly due to plot convenience or just because it would hurt their stories if the truth was applied…

31

CRACKED.CO Most psychopaths aren't murderers. About one out of 100 people show psychopathic traits - we'd be in big trouble if they were all Patrick Bateman. They can be impulsive, manipulative, and callous, but swinging axes is not a common thing they do. — Insider

30

CRACKED.COM IT'S REALLY NOT A GOOD IDEA TO TAKE OFF YOUR MASK IN A FIGHTER JET. Fighter jets aren't pressurized like airliners are, and on top of that, high-G maneuvers can make it hard to breathe so pilots need their oxygen masks on to, you know, not pass out and die. — Sandboxx

29

MOST CRIMINAL TRIALS AREN'T ABOUT VIOLENT CRIMES. Very rarely does TV show a trial for anything less than a robbery or a murder, but less than 5% of arrests are for violent crimes. Most proceedings stem from undramatic, minor violations, like outstanding fines or disorderly conduct. -CRACKED.COM — 7 Things Hollywood Gets Wrong About The Legal System

28

The Rorschach test is not a reliable diagnostic tool. The test's validity has been severely questioned since the 1960s. Also, it requires that the patient knows nothing about the inkblots - good luck with that when anyone can look up anything on the internet. CRACKED.COM — 5 Psychology 'Facts' You Believe (That Are Myths)

27

CRACKED.COM chalk outlines were never a police tool. 3 outlining a body doesn't help with the investigation- when it was done at all, it was just to give the press something to photograph that wasn't the actual body. Today it's just not done anymore. — Technology Org

26

STARTING AN AIRCRAFT ISN'T AS SIMPLE AS FLIPPING A FEW SWITCHES. Before you can get airborne, you have to go through a list of checks and steps, which can be several pages long. If you need to make a quick getaway, maybe consider a car? CRACKED.COM — 5 Myths About Flying Everyone Believes (Thanks to Movies)

25

Personality Disorders

Your personality won't split just because your life sucks. Dissociative identity disorder is understood to be caused by repetitive childhood trauma (such as abuse). Tyler Durden won't come along to keep you company because you feel alienated by a consumerist society. — The Conversation

24

No, cops aren't required to tell you they're cops. It's entrapment if they don't reveal they're police officers when you ask! you hear but that's BS. It's only entrapment if they actively push you to commit a crime, not if they pinky swear that they're totally not cops and you'll get away with it. CRACKED.COM — Free Advice

23

PROSECUTORS AREN'T USUALLY UNDERDOGS. Scrappy prosecutors taking on rich sleazes with hotshot lawyers are the exception, not the rule. Up to 90% of defendants can't afford their own lawyers, and must rely on overworked, underfunded public defenders, who don't have the resources of prosecutors. CRACKED.COM — 7 Things Hollywood Gets Wrong About The Legal System

22

CRACKED.COM STEALTH AIRCRAFT AREN'T REALLY UNDETECTABLE. No aircraft can be invisible to radar - the point is fooling the enemy into thinking it's something else, blending in with the background noise. This is becoming more and more difficult, as radar tech evolves. — Military & Aerospace Electronics

21

Profiling isn't all that useful, actually. Are profilers super-psychologists who can get into the criminal's mind without even meeting them? Hardly- research shows that law enforcement profilers are only slightly better at it than untrained randos. CRACKED.COM — Vox

20

A PLANE CRASH DOES NOT MEAN CERTAIN DEATH. If a plane crashes in a movie, you know everyone is doomed. In real life, if you do everything the crew tells you, you have a 95% chance of survival. CRACKED.COM — 5 Myths About Flying Everyone Believes (Thanks to Movies)

19

Getting a perp to confess doesn't mean they did it. Police interrogators are trained in techniques based on outdated science, which often result in false confessions. Some people confess to things they didn't do as a way to get out of the interrogation, thinking they'll be proven innocent later on. CRACKED.COM — NPR

18

YOU CAN'T OPEN AN AIRLINER'S DOOR MID-FLIGHT. The pressure difference between the inside and the outside of the airplane keeps the door safely plugged into place. You'd have to overcome a pressure of thousands of pounds to open it. CRACKED.COM — Business Insider

17

Not just war veterans get PTSD. Post-traumatic stress disorder, as its name tells you, is caused by trauma - and war isn't the only traumatic thing you can live through. PTSD can also be caused by a natural disaster or a car accident, among other things. CRACKED.COM — University of Alabama at Birmingham

16

Love will not cure your mental illness. Yes, having love in your life has a positive effect and helps you cope with your illness better - but it's still an illness, and needs to be treated. You can't just love it away any more than you can love away infectious mono. CRACKED.COM — Vulture

15

CRACKED.COM LIGHTNING WON'T BRING YOUR PLANE DOWN. Planes are struck by lightning constantly - but they're built to deal with that. The high- power currents will travel through the plane's metal skin and exit at a different point, barely causing the lights to flicker. — Scientific American

14

TRIALS AREN'T OVER IN A FEW DAYS. It makes sense for fictional trials to last no more than an episode. A real trial, however, is a painfully slow series of me-consuming, boring steps- and that's even before anyone sits down in a courtroom. You can count yourself lucky if it takes mere months instead of years. CRACKED.COM — 7 Things Hollywood Gets Wrong About The Legal System

13

Crime Myths

Cops don't investigate crime scenes. CENE DD NOT CROSS The people who collect and analyze the evidence do work for police departments, but they're not police officers rather, they're civilian technicians with no badge. CRACKED.COM — Deseret News

12

JURIES AREN'T JUST FOR CRIMINAL CASES. If you're summoned for jury duty, you might have to sit through a murder case- or it might be someone suing someone else. Most civil cases, however, have fewer jurors than criminal ones, and the verdict doesn't need to be unanimous. CRACKED.COM — Clark Law Firm

11

An injury won't make you forget who you are. A profound loss of identity has other causes, such a neurosurgery or infection. A brain injury is way more likely to cause anterograde amnesia the inability to form new memories. CRACKED.COM — National Center for Biotechnology Information

10

YOU AREN'T OFF THE HOOK IF YOU WEREN'T READ YOUR RIGHTS. Police arresting and interrogating you without a Miranda warning doesn't mean you will walk scot free, only that your statement can't be used as evidence in court. You can still be prosecuted, and all other evidence is still admissible. CRACKED.COM — Jetton & Meredith Law

9

The FBI won't just swoop in and take over. if AGENT DEPARTMENT SPECIAL JUSTICE 120F Smug feds won't walk all over the enraged cops, telling them it's their case now. They can't police forces are not subordinate to the FBI. What they do is pool their resources with local law enforcement to work together in the case. CRACKED.COM — FBI

8

GRAU Electroshock doesn't zap you while you're awake. Electroconvulsive therapy passes small electric currents through your brain after giving you general anesthesia and muscle relaxants. This has been the case since the 1950s-1960s — Mayo Clinic, National Center for Biotechnology Information

7

YOU DON'T GET TO KILL SOMEONE IF YOU WERE WRONGFULLY CONVICTED FOR THEIR DEATH. No, the double jeopardy clause doesn't apply. You (not) killing someone yesterday and you killing them tomorrow are separate events, and you can totally be tried for both. (Also, the state and federal governments can both prosecute you independently of each other.) CRACKED.COM — Criminal Law Consulting For Writers & Filmmakers

6

Most people with Tourette's syndrome don't curse. Well, maybe they do, but just like everyone else, not because of the Tourette's. The syndrome is characterized by tics, such as blinking, twitching, or clearing your throat. Only about 10% show coprolalia (saying inappropriate stuff without meaning to). CRACKED.COM — 6 BS Psychology ‘Facts’ (You Believe Because Of Movies)

5

Being a cop isn't all about police work. POLICE While not as exciting as chasing perps, a lot of a police officer's job is to fill papers with words. For many cops, paperwork can take up to three hours of their shift or more CRACKED.COM — Police Chief Magazine

4

DIPLOMATIC IMMUNITY ISN'T A LICENSE TO COMMIT CRIMES. The country where you're diplomatic-ing can't detain or prosecute you, but you can be expelled- and your home country can prosecute you (or choose to lift your immunity).. And if you're caught committing a serious crime, police are perfectly empowered to arrest your diplomatic butt. CRACKED.COM — Nolo

3

Car chases are actually more dangerous than the criminals. POLICE Congratulations, officer! You heroically caught your guy! Too bad you ran over more folks than he ever murdered (if he happens to be a murderer at all). Well over 300 people are killed every year in high-speed chases, at least one third of those innocent bystanders. CRACKED.COM — The 6 Most Popular Crime Fighting Tactics (That Don't Work)

2

ALARMS DON'T GO OFF IN A COCKPIT FOR EVERY EMERGENCY. grisen It's already hard enough to save the day without an air horn blaring in your ear. Most conditions that require the pilot's attention will simply trigger a voice warning. CRACKED.COM — 5 Myths About Flying Everyone Believes (Thanks to Movies)

1

Cops won't charge into rooms gun-first. Police won't shove the barrel of their gun into a ROOM or hallway- they'll stay out, with the gun close to their body, until they have a good idea of what's inside. Only then they'll move in, gradually closing in on the target. CRACKED.COM — 7 Movie Violence Tropes (That Are BS IRL)

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