13 People Share the Common Practices That They Think Are Actually Barbaric

Just because a lot of people do something doesn’t mean that it’s a good thing to do. That sounds like something we’d say to our kids to explain peer pressure, but it’s true in all phases of life. Just because a lot of people, for example, leave shopping carts littered all over a parking lot doesn’t mean that it’s a good thing to do.

There are many common practices that really shouldn’t be so common. Reddit user adventuresmith asked, “What common practice do you find barbaric?” Reddit users jumped right in with great examples like the shopping cart one we’ve already mentioned.

Scroll down to discover 13 common practices that are really barbaric when you stop and think about it.

  1. Common Practices When Someone Dies

    Reddit user captain_borg wrote:

    Embalming a body by pumping it full of incredibly toxic stuff, then dropping it into a few thousand dollars’ worth of casket, then dropping all that into another couple grand worth of concrete “burial vault”, then putting all of that in a big hole in the ground- and charging the emotionally distraught grieving family a fortune to do it.

  2. Exotic Pets

    MissMetalSix added:

    Keeping exotic pets (reptiles, amphibians, etc.) in horrible conditions because people don’t feel the need to do research beyond what they were told by the Petco employee at checkout.

  3. Dogs in the Car

    PeanutC58 answered:

    Idiots taking a dog shopping on a hot day and leaving the windows rolled up

  4. Child Abuse

    Aperture_T shared:

    Child abuse is way too common. I mean in general, abuse is too common, but especially child abuse.

  5. Arranged Marriages

    halleyscomet_ wrote:

    Forced arranged marriages*sobs in Indian*

  6. Not Recycling

    adventuresmith added:

    I lived my whole life in the North East U.S. and I can’t believe people don’t return their bottles and cans.

  7. Getting Married at 16

    FestesTestes explained:

    In several states, a woman can marry at 16 if her parents consent, then her spouse becomes her guardian, meaning, if she wants a divorce, she needs his approval

  8. Littering and Landfills

    SimplyNot0 shared:

    Littering.In nearly every major city around the world we have bins in the streets. Far far to often you walk down the street and less than 5 feet from a hanging bin there is a bottle, wrapper or worst of all Cigarette ends. It is simple common curiosity to walk over stub, crumble or crush you’re rubbish and toss it into the bin. Another problem is how we are dealing with our littler. Land fills! Let’s dig up a big whole and out it under the ground run land that could be used to grow life and nurture new habits for animals – instead our governments allow it to continue and do not take it serious enough. It really is a matter of Out of sight out of mind applied to far to many of us in this day and age.

  9. Declawing Cats

    ZeD00m answered:

    Declawing cats– even though I’m pleased to see that’s in decline nowadays. Most shelters won’t let someone adopt a cat if the person plans on declawing it– or will blacklist them if they find out. Some vets will even refuse to do the procedure.However, where I live it’s still a common practice. In order to declaw a cat the procedure removes the first finger where each claw grows out of. Imagine if someone chopped off your fingertips! Just to keep your furniture nice? Cats are living breathing creatures and are not meant to be used as decoration. If you wanted a decorative pet you should have gotten a fish.

  10. Abandoned Shopping Carts

    weatherloft wrote:

    Leaving shopping carts scattered all over the parking lot. In the United States we definitely live in a ‘someone else will take care of it’ kind of culture.

  11. Bullying

    sadie_faye explained:

    Have worked in a lot of cafes, restaurants and bars. Every single venue had chefs that acted in barbaric ways toward other staff members. Bullying by chefs has been normalised if not glorified by people like Gordon Ramsay. Bullying literally destroys peoples lives, why is it okay as long as somebody claims the title of chef?

  12. Ballet

    Dyingforsomelove shared:

    Ballet, as a former ballet dancer, I loved it, but I would never let any daughter of mine do it, the pressure, the eating disorders, the bloody, blistered, calloused feet from hours of practice, I still can’t feel parts of my foot & eventually, all that time in turn out & en point comes back to bite you with knee/ hip joint problems. Parents, please put your girls in a safer sport.

  13. Piercing Baby Girls’ Ears

    absentbusiness wrote:

    Piercing baby girls’ ears. Ear piercing hurts. Why would you do something that hurts your child, just for aesthetics? It’s different if it’s something for their own good, like a vaccine, but parents get their baby girls’ ears pierced, why? So everyone knows she’s a girl?I used to pierce ears at the mall and I refused to pierce any child who wasn’t old enough to ask for it.