To ask why Americans seem fixated on conspiracy theories?

@GettingStuffed

There's also a difference in educational, there is little to no critical thinking throughout the educational system even at university level.

That is egregiously untrue. Two of my DC, educated in the UK went back to the US for university and were completely humbled by their peers. The UK system of rote learning 3 subjects and regurgitating information on formulaic exams is hardly an exemplar when it comes to critical thinking.

@suburberphobe
I can't remember where I read it but apparently college students in USA think the whole world uses the American dollar! What?!.

Um, you read that 'somewhere' but you can't remember where. I mean, if you stop to think about the fact that the US has nearly 6000 colleges and universities, including 7 of the top 10 in the world, do you really believe that can possibly be true for more than a handful? Sounds almost like a conspiracy theory...

Exactly how many Americans do you know OP?
What percent of the population do they make up?

I'd like to ask why you make sweeping statements, but the answer is obvious. 🙄

No! I lived in that States for years.

Ya. Fukcers.

???
You do realise the excellence and brilliance of much of the research and writing and culture which comes out of the US?
How can you condemn an educational system which has produced 70% of Nobel laureates, for example?

And if there was anyone else notable involved in his 'parties' then obviously it will be on the news. It wouldn't be covered up.

Some people even believe the Diddy sex trafficking thing.
But the mainstream media has clarified that no such thing has ever happened, so it can't be true.

I can't remember where I read it but apparently college students in USA think the whole world uses the American dollar! What?!

Let me guess....you read it somewhere on social media🙄Must be true then!

Religious fanatics with a persecution complex left England because Charles I was too liberal. But when they arrived in the colonies they found other people already in situ 😭. They were the victims of some evil conspiracy for sure. Not that we are any better - look where most of them came from. European wars of religion and witch crazes have much to answer for ?

There's also a difference in educational, there is little to no critical thinking throughout the educational system even at university level.

I can't remember where I read it but apparently college students in USA think the whole world uses the American dollar! What?!.

You only need to google currency exchange to see that is nonsense.

In practice though, the rate social mobility of children born to low income parents in the US does not stand out in comparison with other similar countries including the UK. It is on the lower side, meaning that if you were born poor, you are more like to stay that way.

https://equitablegrowth.org/the-american-dream-is-less-of-a-reality-today-in-the-united-states-compared-to-other-peer-nations/#:~:text=Contrary%20to%20the%20self%2Dconception,compared%20to%20many%20European%20countries.

There is no rhyme or reason to why some Americans believe conspiracy theories. I’m an American myself with an advanced degree and a twin brother who also is educated to masters degree level - we attended the same school essentially joined at the hip until we were 18. We had the same middle class suburban upbringing with parents who were kind-of conservative but in a very “normal”, Catholic way, both quite a few generations removed from immigrant ancestors (Ireland, England, maybe Scotland).

Yet I’m firmly Democratic (centrist) and he is batshit MAGA. He is constantly sending all of our family X posts with the latest conspiracy theory. He is passionately anti vax and he works for a pharmaceutical company! He wears Second Amendment t-shirts to wind us up. He has been completely red pilled and there is nothing from his background that explains it, because I’m from the same background and I’m not like him. So hell if I know what makes people buy into all that nonsense.

And here we go, another poster who doesn't read many MN threads.

I always have a laugh at posts like this. Boasting about the critical thinking skills of the average Brit on MN 🤔Maybe sit down and read some random threads on this site, then come back and tell me how great the Brits are at critical thinking.

A meta-analysis of research on the personality traits of people who believe in conspiracy theories found the following.

Three tendencies were strongly correlated with conspiracy ideation, which is the inclination to endorse conspiracy theories. They were: perceiving threat and danger; relying on intuition and having odd beliefs and experiences; and being antagonistic and feeling superior.

https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/critical-thinking-pseudoscience/who-likely-believe-conspiracy-theories

I think there is something in this. An earlier poster commented about anti-vaxers and Covid conspiracy theorists in the UK and I wonder if such theories spread faster / amongst a wider portion of the community when trust in authority is eroded. The UK has been a real, public shitshow for the last few years (yes, lots of crap before that too, but the Government has appeared particularly unstable since Brexit), leaving a vacuum for others to fill the gap.

I do think Epstein was killed. He was brazen because he knew he could take even more powerful people down with him. I believe P Diddy will be ‘suicided’ for the same reasons.

When DH and I heard there were conspiracies about the weather re the hurricane, our minds were blown!

There is just more Americans isnt there so for every 1 crazy conspiracy theorist brit there will be 5 crazy conspiracy theorist Americans.

A magical Christian god.

@movingonok

because

ronald Reagan changed the laws so you can have partisan tv news channels. Thank god we have sky news bbc and itv ( of com needs to shut down GB news)

cos they read and listen to too much social media

because it’s a huge place with many rural areas, different time zones and state based rules

because in politics they are hardly any people how can cross the aisles like in the past

because the the funding rules for political parties and lobbyists

because of complete liars

Here in Britain it would be considered extremely vulgar, not to mention rather common, to talk of money in such a way

And yet Mumsnet is awash in threads with titles like "Are you a millionaire?", " If you're a high earner what do you spend your money on" and "How much does your average holiday cost?". Not to mention all the stealth bragging about private schools and inheritance.

So while I was raised to think that it was crass to talk about money/personal finances, I believe Dylan was on to something: The Times They Are A Changin'"

Oh dear.

Also I am just as bemused at people who mindlessly believe everything that BBC news tells them, as I am at people who believe the earth is flat.

I must say I do find it odd that anyone considers the questions surrounding the killing of JFK a conspiracy theory.
You'd have to be a complete fool to think we know the whole truth of what happened there.

Here in Britain it would be considered extremely vulgar, not to mention rather common, to talk of money in such a way.