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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask why Americans seem fixated on conspiracy theories?

82 replies

movingonok · 12/10/2024 13:13

I know other nations are too but not to the extent of Americans.

Is there a simple answer? Mistrust of authorities?

Not just today's guff but all the way back to alien abductions and assassination of JFK etc.

OP posts:
Cheesecakecookie · 12/10/2024 17:54

I can understand being distrustful of medicine and “big pharma” - the pharmaceutical companies have a lot of power and influence - politically and over individual doctors getting them to prescribe certain drug. And over insurance companies.

They also regularly withhold information on the medical trials they conduct from the scientific community.

The other stuff like weather control …totally bonkers - god knows. Maybe it’s all the shit they put in food and it makes people less intelligent or something.

mathanxiety · 12/10/2024 17:54

User14March · 12/10/2024 15:43

I’ve read that ADHD is more common in the USA as genetic, re: risk takers. Risking a perilous sea voyage, unless religious persecution or similar the driver, like signing up for a trip to colonise moon today.

Pffft.

You've read that, aye?

Must be true, so.

MrsCarson · 12/10/2024 18:05

My US friends and family are mostly descended from those adventurous Pioneers who took wagons across the country to find a place to live. It still shows in their attitude to life, they are fiercely independent not believing on relying on the government. Sickness is treated at home before deciding a doctor visit is needed.
Some who are financially doing well have even moved off grid as much as possible.
They do have a healthy scepticism of the government. Many do seem to believe in conspiracies.
But they also look after their friends and family in their community. They put their money where their mouth is and help fund all sorts, from jumpers for the baseball team, to helping fund cancer medications and home visits for end of life neighbours.
I didn't live in a city we were rural, in small towns, more on par with a UK village.

CulturalNomad · 12/10/2024 18:12

I’ve read that ADHD is more common in the USA as genetic

But in another recent thread someone was adamant that ADHD wasn't recognized as a "real" condition in the US....🤔

People on social media talk a whole lot of shite on both sides of the pond!

GrouachMacbeth · 12/10/2024 19:14

Is there any research into the intellectual or intelligence/socio economic background of people who follow several conspiracy theories?

Before we start slagging a nation off, don't forget the MMR "doubt" and vaccine reluctance. A now discredited physician and support from a high selling newspaper here. Of course imagine this king the sun is the centre of our solar system! The communion wine is not literally Chists body and blood, the earth round dammit Janet what next?

Four hundred years of settlement by people's who sailed hundreds of miles with high risks, whether travelling by choice or not - the nation has achieved a great deal.

mathanxiety · 12/10/2024 19:18

I live in a suburb of a major US city, like the vast majority of Americans, natives and immigrants alike. It's a city and suburban area that always votes Democratic and I don't see that changing. I'd have to drive at least 100 miles before seeing a Trump billboard.

A huge number of immigrants to America in the 19th century left their home countries because they felt they had no choice. Millions of Irish, Jews, southern Italians, and others, including a huge number of Scandinavians and Poles (counted as Prussians, Austrians, and Russians because Poland per se was divided among those states) left to avoid starvation, grinding poverty, oppression, or violence. It wasn't all wild-eyed adventurers in search of streets paved with gold. Many stayed in the cities, whose administrations they soon dominated. The exception was the Scandinavians. Most of these people belonged to structured, mainstream religions - Judaism, obv, Catholicism, Lutheranism.

Many of the people who arrived in the US earlier, from England, Scotland and Ulster, brought with them experiences of religious persecution and/ or the experience of being unwelcome planters in a foreign land (Ulster). They arrived in a land where they were often under attack, naturally, because they were occupying land that wasn't theirs. This reinforced their siege mentality.

Some stayed in the fertile land and developed a society and economy that had plantation elites at its apex, the society that eventually caused the Civil War. Some kept pushing west into the Appalachian mountains, where they lived in isolated, self-regulating communities where people depended on each other for survival. These are the people who kept their religious fundamentalism (and distrust of Catholics) alive. You can see echoes of the Calvinism/ fundamentalism in JD Vance's book and his "political philosophy".

The African Americans who arrived here did not come willingly, and their experience of America was (and still is) significantly different from that of all others.

More recent immigrants include Asian and Hispanic populations. These groups both have strong regional influences and a growing presence in major cities, especially in the case of Hispanics. The French and Dutch, who were very early settlers, also had regional impacts. They arrived with money making primarily in mind.

Those who ended up settling the plains and the west were mainly people whose ancestors had been American for a few generations, who went further west than upstate New York or Pennsylvania or Tennessee or Kentucky, mixed in with millions of immigrant Scandinavians and Germans fleeing poverty. The settlement of California was boosted in the early 20th century by the arrival of Mexicans and also the poor escaping the Dust Bowl and agricultural depression in the south east. The African American population of northern industrial cities exploded during the Great Migration. Currently, the south west, Florida, and the north west experience migration from people from the north who are sick of cold winters, or techies. Cities like Raleigh-Durham, Atlanta, and Houston are also growing rapidly as employment opportunities beckon. These cities are markedly different in culture from many of the rural areas of the states they're situated in.

There are several different Americas.

User14March · 12/10/2024 19:50

Excellent post @mathanxiety thank you.

DalRiata · 12/10/2024 20:01

LifeExperience · 12/10/2024 16:22

Oh, good, another America-bashing post. It's been at least a few days since we've had one.

There are 350 million of us, and pretty much all of us are online. OF COURSE there will be some crack pots.

It is true that most Americans are descended from some pretty adventurous folks. My own family history is absolutely wild, and I've had my adventures too. America is a self-selected group of people who rejected the status quo in the rest of the world.

As for the American dream, I was raised what you would call working class and am now a multi-millionaire. Dh and I worked, saved, invested wisely and here we are. Our son, who is 30, is close to millionaire status, and he's doing it the same way we did. Our daughter is a medical doctor who earns over $300K a year. Not everyone can achieve that, but I would put the lifestyle of the average American up against that of the average BRIT any day.

So, to the ignorant xenophobes on this thread, take it from a proud, born and bred woman of the American south, with ALL due sincerity, "Bless your hearts!"

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

DalRiata · 12/10/2024 20:06

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.

DalRiata · 12/10/2024 20:28

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.

cherrysonata · 12/10/2024 20:41

LifeExperience · 12/10/2024 16:22

Oh, good, another America-bashing post. It's been at least a few days since we've had one.

There are 350 million of us, and pretty much all of us are online. OF COURSE there will be some crack pots.

It is true that most Americans are descended from some pretty adventurous folks. My own family history is absolutely wild, and I've had my adventures too. America is a self-selected group of people who rejected the status quo in the rest of the world.

As for the American dream, I was raised what you would call working class and am now a multi-millionaire. Dh and I worked, saved, invested wisely and here we are. Our son, who is 30, is close to millionaire status, and he's doing it the same way we did. Our daughter is a medical doctor who earns over $300K a year. Not everyone can achieve that, but I would put the lifestyle of the average American up against that of the average BRIT any day.

So, to the ignorant xenophobes on this thread, take it from a proud, born and bred woman of the American south, with ALL due sincerity, "Bless your hearts!"

Oh dear.

CulturalNomad · 12/10/2024 20:57

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'"

Tallerandtall · 12/10/2024 20:59

@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

Ifailed · 12/10/2024 21:10

A magical Christian god.

GhostCicada · 12/10/2024 21:14

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

Whenwillitgetwarm · 12/10/2024 21:18

rayofsunshine86 · 12/10/2024 14:53

My American SIL and her DH keep talking about how they know the US Government is controlling the world's weather, and that now people are finally starting to talk about it.

It blows my mind.

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

Whenwillitgetwarm · 12/10/2024 21:24

Backwoods57 · 12/10/2024 16:43

As a Brit in the US, there is very little trust in the government here. People have no faith that the government can be trusted to protect them, or do the right thing. Neither Trump or Harris are going to better the lives of the middle class, they are just yet more lying politicians.

I personally believe in a few low level conspiracy theories, (Epstein and David Kelly were killed kinda thing) some people I guess are looking for additional reasons to hate the government, and take it to extremes.

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.

C152 · 12/10/2024 21:24

Backwoods57 · 12/10/2024 16:43

As a Brit in the US, there is very little trust in the government here. People have no faith that the government can be trusted to protect them, or do the right thing. Neither Trump or Harris are going to better the lives of the middle class, they are just yet more lying politicians.

I personally believe in a few low level conspiracy theories, (Epstein and David Kelly were killed kinda thing) some people I guess are looking for additional reasons to hate the government, and take it to extremes.

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.

XChrome · 12/10/2024 21:25

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

Who Is Likely to Believe in Conspiracy Theories?

Pre-pandemic, the question I would most often get was, “How do I know whom to trust when it comes to health and science information?” Over three years after a new virus began sweeping the globe, the question I hear again and again is, “Why is it that m...

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

ForGreyKoala · 12/10/2024 21:26

Marmaladelover · 12/10/2024 16:41

It’s all about the money with some US citizens isn’t . I think we are supposed to impressed by the sums earned when this thread is about the lack of critical thinking ….oh wait Hmm

Edited

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.

ForGreyKoala · 12/10/2024 21:28

DalRiata · 12/10/2024 20:01

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

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

Mommybunny · 12/10/2024 21:35

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.

R053 · 12/10/2024 21:41

LifeExperience · 12/10/2024 16:22

Oh, good, another America-bashing post. It's been at least a few days since we've had one.

There are 350 million of us, and pretty much all of us are online. OF COURSE there will be some crack pots.

It is true that most Americans are descended from some pretty adventurous folks. My own family history is absolutely wild, and I've had my adventures too. America is a self-selected group of people who rejected the status quo in the rest of the world.

As for the American dream, I was raised what you would call working class and am now a multi-millionaire. Dh and I worked, saved, invested wisely and here we are. Our son, who is 30, is close to millionaire status, and he's doing it the same way we did. Our daughter is a medical doctor who earns over $300K a year. Not everyone can achieve that, but I would put the lifestyle of the average American up against that of the average BRIT any day.

So, to the ignorant xenophobes on this thread, take it from a proud, born and bred woman of the American south, with ALL due sincerity, "Bless your hearts!"

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.

The American Dream is less of a reality today in the United States, compared to other peer nations

The rate of upward absolute income mobility in the United States has declined substantially over the past 50 years.

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.

suburberphobe · 12/10/2024 21:43

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.

Abhannmor · 12/10/2024 21:46

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 ?

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