Why is there so much paranoia in American society? Why is fake news so powerful?

[Higgins]

I have seen that especially among older people (Gen X and Boomers) there is a vast paranoiac line of thinking that our leaders are part of some "elite"; For example, I have a 40 year old friend who tells me that nothing about government or politics matters because "none of them have any power", that they answer all to a "cabal" of big business and banker types. I have seen other people post all sorts of utterly insane conspiracy theories ala Pizzagate or that "Michelle Obama was born a man and Obama is gay and that's why he supports gay rights". I'm not even talking just anecdotal stuff - look at this site:
http://www.neonnettle.com/news/2299-238-arrested-in-major-hollywood-pedophile-ring-bust

Some of the comments:
"so is john mccain,biden peloski, waters, harris,graham, blumenthal, kaine, kerry, lynch,rice, debbie wasserman,cumming, 30 in all in senate and congress when president trump empties the swamp of 30 pedophiles there will be no demoncrates left"

"If you are waiting to hear about the known Deep State player and former CIA Director H.W. Bush, you will be waiting for a long time. Other than the false image that is presented and promoted about him. I would suggest that you do some indepth research. Do not wait for the known liars in the globalist MSM to tell you. They are owned, funded and directed by the same Deep State players. These people do not advertise what they are doing. Everything they do is in the shadows and not for public consumption. H.W Bush, otherwise known by his high level Free Mason name as Magog, is not working on our behalf. He is a known "One World Order", adherent and proponent. He has been married to this agenda for decades. There is much to learn. Per Dr. Steve Piecznik, yes, people have reached out to H.W. Bush, people like Hillary Clinton on election eve to ask him to have his "connections", hack into the Georgia system and adjust the votes in her favor and behalf. Which he did but his people were denied by lower, level, "patriotic", FBI personnel. Who caught them in the act and prevented the "unlawful" attempt to tamper with the election. Nothing, I repeat Nothing is what it seems and has not been for a long time. I used to be one of those people that had George W. Bush's picture on my fridge for close to seven years before I wised up and learned they are all part of the "illuminati", Deep State, apparatus. I would suggest looking up Dr. Steve Piecznik and Roger Stone. Dr. Piecznik is a retired high level intelligence Officer. He is the gentlemen that the character "Jack Ryan" is patterned after in the Novel Patriot Games, etc. Roger Stone, who has worked for three Presidents, has written a book titled "The Bush Crime Family". Mr. Stone knows where the bodies are buried, so to speak.Good luck in your research. It will stun and amaze."

"As I sense you are, I have become a political junkie, especially the last several years. I had especially been digging in on obama research. When Ted Cruz came along, found out he was born in Canada, not a Natural Born citizen, I became more intrigued. What is it with ineligible people running for the highest office? Thanks to Pelosi, DNC, GOP, MSM, and others, we suffered through Barry what's his name. Several questions, who and why was so determined to have Barry in the WH? This goes waaay back, when 18 or so, he told a Marine on the beach in Hawaii that he was going to be de prez. Tom Fife, think is name, met a lady in Moscow @1982, described Barry, connections to Hawaii and Africa, mulatto, that was going to be our POTUS. The more one digs, the squirrelier this hole gets. How much cash has Pelosi gotten for h e lying make this come about? (Lots!) I gather you are old enough to remember JFK's death, if upper elementary or older, you recall where you were, every one I have ever posed this to knows exactly. Bush 41 claims he cannot recall! Yet, there is a grainy news picture of a man in the doorway of the Texas School Book Depository that looks very much like him and he was in a hotel, Holiday Inn, possibly, the night before, in the area. Very strange. There is also a photo of Bush 41, Bill Clinton, and, maybe Ollie North in Central America, Nicaragua, maybe, more??"

"Wow, you have been very busy and know a great deal. I too remember the story about Obama lurking outside Bill Ayers home. He was smiling ear to ear and filling the post man in on how he would be President one day. Per Dr. Steve Piecznik, a retired high level Intelligence Office and Master of "Psychological Warfare", has said that both Bill Clinton and Obama are CIA Assets ensconced into the Presidency by these "Deep State" Oligarchs. It was all predestined long before these things came to pass. Dr. Piecznik is the gentlemen that the character Jack Ryan is patterned after in the many Novels like "Patriot Games", etc. and was instrumental in many undercover, high level operations, all over the World. He is a true Patriot and extremely interesting. His facebook page connects to his personal page which is fascinating and chock full of information. He still has many connections within the Intelligence Agencies and was instrumental during the election when Hillary was attempting a soft coup that, thank God failed. As for H.W. Bush, he is a former Director of the CIA as well as President, obviously, and his tentacles are still far reaching even as old as he is. I definitely do not trust this man. There is a youtube video of him at some swanky dinner during the campaign and he is seen in his tux sitting next to Babs, making the "slit throat" motion with his hand at the mere mention of Donald Trump. He is a threat to H.W.'s coveted One World Order agenda, that has been in the works for well over sixty years. I need to read Roger Stones book "The Bush Crime Family" to see what other telling information I can ferret out about him. He is an extremely high level illuminati, Free Mason and I do not trust him at all or his progeny. I was one of those people that had W's picture on my fridge, like an idiot, for years. That delusion has been burst forever. I too am a political junkie, it reads like a novel to me and is so convoluted by design. It is a real challenge. Especially with all of the purposeful disinformation floating around. Glad to make your acquaintance Eva, I am sure we will run into one another as we are drawn to the same stories. God Bless!"

"What is happening is that President Trump and his AG Jeff Sessions, etc. are doing things in a methodical way and within the confines of the US Constitution, in order to build an "ironclad case". These types of cases are extremely tricky and have to be handled with the utmost care. Done so as to "not allow" the "high priced", attorneys of the upper tier pedos or otherwise known as the "elite pedophiles", to help them "slip the noose", ie. justice, etc. Presently, President Trump and his people, are busy rounding up the lower and middle tier pervs. It is their desire and endeavor to convince the lower and middle tier pedos, to begin "singing like canaries". So that they will proceed to pour forth such damnable, such unassailable, incontrovertible evidence of their and their "Master, elite, pedos", crimes and depravity. Thereby helping to foster prosecution. It will be extremely difficult to convince the "lesser pedos" to talk as they, in all likelihood, are "allegedly", being threatened with an unpleasant death for them or their family and loved ones, by the now infamous "Deep State". As for the "victims" of these evil, "monsters", they have been intentionally, "groomed". They have been the subjects of specific "psychological warfare" and usually do not make good witnesses, as a result. These unfortunate", horribly, abused, children, are naturally, terribly, damaged and thereby "incapable" of being "grilled" on the "stand" in court, in an effective manner. The method of mind control used in Hollywood is called "MK Ultra Monarch". It is a very effective and destructive methodology. "Allegedly" used on many of today's Music, Movie & Television "Stars". People like Lindsey Lohan, Brittany Spears, Amanda Bynes and Katy Perry, just to name a few of their "alleged" victims. It certainly explains a great deal about the behavior of these talent/assets. The entire town of Hollywood is allegedly run by high powered "elite pedophiles" and has been for "far too long". Patience on our part, will be necessary, so as not to force President Trumps hand before he and AG Sessions are ready to move forward and release what "can be revealed". Meanwhile, there will be limited information, even from the "Alternative Press". As great care is required for success. Remember, this evil "pedophile apparatus/architecture", was not built overnight and the so called MSM is run by the same "Deep State" that created this vile, protective, "blackmail operation". It took decades to build their protective wall around themselves and it won't be destroyed overnight either. God Willing, all will be revealed in the too distant future."

"It's funny how CNN said that Podesta's emails were a "political headache and embarrassment for Clinton in the heat of the campaign season." The media knows that Podesta is a pedophile but instead of saying that he needs to be investigated by the FBI CNN tells us how "embarrassing" it is for Hillary to be affiliated with that pedophile. Shows how the media likes to protect Hillary and her perverted friends."

Where did this lunacy come from? Why are older folks (Baby Boomers in particular) so willing to believe that our leaders, and those in entertainment, are monsters, pedophiles, murderers, etc? Why is the desire to believe fake news so strong the last few years?

[Dereich]

tldr

[Technocracy Timmy]

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Because they've always been a pretty rebellious and pessimistic generation.

[ProudModerate2]

Wow that is one big OP.
I will be honest I only read the first paragraph, but I think I get the picture.
But yes, it is strange.

The image that comes to my mind when I read your post, is the incident when McCain shut-down that older women at one of his rallies when he was running for president. The one where she was trying to tell McCain that Obama was a Muslim, etc.
I was shocked that people really believed sh*t like that, and I despise anyone that would start such a rumor and/or fuel it for others to foolishly believe in it.

[Mike Thick]

I was listening to a "Judge Jeanine" opening speech tonight for whatever reason. She insisted that:
 - Loretta and Bill met on the tarmac, illegally, to collude to exonerate Hillary
 - FBI officials are lying about what's contained in documents related to those meetings
 - FBI and DOJ officials also colluded to "decide how to answer press questions"
 - The Obama officials involved in this are conspiring to bring down Trump with fake news
 - Mueller is somehow connected to this, and picked the Washington venue to stack the jury because he knows any other relevant location  would exonerate the President
 - Hillary, Loretta, Eric Holder, and a bunch of other people should all be put before a grand jury -- there's still time to convict her, since she's violated the terms of some legal agreement

It's quite bizarre thinking -- reminds me of some of the Cold War conspiracy theories about civic and governmental infiltration. Hopefully it loses popularity soon.

[darklordoftech]

The one thing that united America's founders was distrust of the government.

[Person Man]

Where do you think fairy tales, zombies, bogeymen, vampires, and warewolves come from?

[dead0man]

Paranoia and fake news is not in any way a uniquely American problem.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

I have seen that especially among older people (Gen X and Boomers) there is a vast paranoiac line of thinking that our leaders are part of some "elite"; For example, I have a 40 year old friend who tells me that nothing about government or politics matters because "none of them have any power", that they answer all to a "cabal" of big business and banker types. I have seen other people post all sorts of utterly insane conspiracy theories ala Pizzagate or that "Michelle Obama was born a man and Obama is gay and that's why he supports gay rights".

Where did this lunacy come from? Why are older folks (Baby Boomers in particular) so willing to believe that our leaders, and those in entertainment, are monsters, pedophiles, murderers, etc? Why is the desire to believe fake news so strong the last few years?

People want the world to make sense. It's easier and more comforting for some people to believe in conspiracies by powerful figures (no matter how crazy) than to accept that the world is just changing in ways they don't understand, don't like, and can't control. (Americans are really bad at dealing with randomness and lack of control. I think it's a side effect of our long, peaceful prosperity. And the right's prosperity gospel nonsense doesn't help.)

And on the other side of the coin, when you have a relatively small number of influential people with relatively immense amounts of wealth it's human nature for them to want to maintain their position for themselves, their families and friends. They don't need to secretly conspire together in mountain lairs. Just by wielding their power in their own interests, they are moving all of society in directions that are beneficial to themselves and those like them, but not the advantage of the rest of us.

No conspiracy theories necessary. Just self-absorbed ignorance and unwillingness to face reality on the one hand, and inequality, technology, Dunbar's Number and desire to be Big Monkey Alpha Male on the other.


Which isn't to say there are *no* conspiracies. (9/11 was a conspiracy by the attackers and the terror organization they were members of. There was a recent conspiracy among major IT companies to keep salaries of in-demand workers down.) But you don't need conspiracies to explain the general shape of the world.

[pbrower2a]

People want the world to make sense. It's easier and more comforting for some people to believe in conspiracies by powerful figures (no matter how crazy) than to accept that the world is just changing in ways they don't understand, don't like, and can't control. (Americans are really bad at dealing with randomness and lack of control. I think it's a side effect of our long, peaceful prosperity. And the right's prosperity gospel nonsense doesn't help.)

And on the other side of the coin, when you have a relatively small number of influential people with relatively immense amounts of wealth it's human nature for them to want to maintain their position for themselves, their families and friends. They don't need to secretly conspire together in mountain lairs. Just by wielding their power in their own interests, they are moving all of society in directions that are beneficial to themselves and those like them, but not the advantage of the rest of us.

No conspiracy theories necessary. Just self-absorbed ignorance and unwillingness to face reality on the one hand, and inequality, technology, Dunbar's Number and desire to be Big Monkey Alpha Male on the other.


Which isn't to say there are *no* conspiracies. (9/11 was a conspiracy by the attackers and the terror organization they were members of. There was a recent conspiracy among major IT companies to keep salaries of in-demand workers down.) But you don't need conspiracies to explain the general shape of the world.

Bingo.

Add to this that we have profitable media and especially hucksters telling people what they want to believe instead of the objective truth. Can't accept that someone not white is President? Deny that Barack Obama is an American.  But not only are there TV shows, there are also icons (books that people are too lazy to read) -- let alone clothing with slogans, bumper stickers, video, and other means of expressing one's unfounded beliefs.

Truth be told, we are in a rough transition in economics, the end of the Industrial Era. There is no longer easy money to be had from exploiting scarcities in manufactured goods. Except for taxes, energy is cheaper than ever. But not only are there far fewer fortunes to be made in manufacturing and energy exploration, there are also fewer jobs in manufacturing and resource extraction. People can no longer expect above-average pay just for working in the 'right' business of making things (except perhaps medical devices).

Add to this, the people who knew how precarious economic life could be and adjusted their behaviors to ensure that there would be no Great Depression so long as they were alive (the generation of most World War II veterans) is practically extinct. They were not exponents of the ethos of 'every man for himself' that guarantees that most people get hurt.

If you want a trustworthy friend, go to an animal shelter and pick up a dog or a cat.

[darklordoftech]

The Clinton-Gingrich polarization, Columbine, 9/11, the PATRIOT Act, Iraq, the recession, Obamacare, the Obama-Tea Party polarization, Trump, etc.

[Beet]

The American people went insane sometime around 9/11.

: 2002-2003 was a pro-Iraq war firestorm, if you opposed it, you were unpatriotic, yada yada
: 2003-2006 people were way too optimistic about the housing market
: 2007-2008 people thought Obama was going to solve all our problems
: 2009-2010 people HATED the stimulus. this was before they realized it should've been bigger
: 2011 john boehner/paul ryan nearly had us default on the debt
: 2012-2013 brief interlude of sanity
: 2014 the start of the SJW insanity, gamergate, the rise of the alt-right suddenly in late '14
: 2015 caitlyn jenner is the biggest progressive hero, hoop earrings are cultural appropriation
: 2016 the dnc 'rigged' the primaries for sanders despite polls showing him losing, trump
: 2017 a nuclear war with north korea won't be that bad, yuk yuk

At this point the patient is armed and highly dangerous, a cell with padded walls might be in order.

[darklordoftech]

The American people went insane sometime around 9/11.

: 2002-2003 was a pro-Iraq war firestorm, if you opposed it, you were unpatriotic, yada yada

This is it. The polarization over Iraq lead to Republicans seeing Democrats as pro-terrorism and Democrats seeing Republicans as fascist.

[Associate Justice PiT]

The American people went insane sometime around 9/11.

: 2002-2003 was a pro-Iraq war firestorm, if you opposed it, you were unpatriotic, yada yada

This is it. The polarization over Iraq lead to Republicans seeing Democrats as pro-terrorism and Democrats seeing Republicans as fascist.

     It's become normal to deny your political opponents the moral franchise, so there is little to no point in discussion. This of course has led to the proliferation of echo chambers wherein people promote absurd falsehoods and dogmatically assert extremist views, because such views are not challenged, under pain of removal from the echo chamber.

     These echo chambers are tearing the country apart, and people are too stuck in the boxes of prevailing political paradigms and favored echo chambers to question what is going on. Those who are politically interested are dug too deeply in to have a realistic hope of breaking out too, so in the end there is little left to do but sit back and watch the federal government eat itself.

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

The American people went insane sometime around 9/11.

: 2002-2003 was a pro-Iraq war firestorm, if you opposed it, you were unpatriotic, yada yada

This is it. The polarization over Iraq lead to Republicans seeing Democrats as pro-terrorism and Democrats seeing Republicans as fascist.

     It's become normal to deny your political opponents the moral franchise, so there is little to no point in discussion. This of course has led to the proliferation of echo chambers wherein people promote absurd falsehoods and dogmatically assert extremist views, because such views are not challenged, under pain of removal from the echo chamber.

     These echo chambers are tearing the country apart, and people are too stuck in the boxes of prevailing political paradigms and favored echo chambers to question what is going on. Those who are politically interested are dug too deeply in to have a realistic hope of breaking out too, so in the end there is little left to do but sit back and watch the federal government eat itself.

Sadly true. The internet and cultural changes that have come along with it have made the creation of such echo chambers very easy. But speaking from the bubble I am doubtless in myself (despite my efforts to avoid being in one),  the GOP seems not just possessed of an echo chamber, but a burning desire to destroy thought and the future of civilization.

Having Trump as your standard bearer doesn't help persuade anyone not already on board that you have any legitimate points of view. (Not that Clinton didn't have problems, but she is gone while the GOP keeps defending Trump.) The Republican Party needs to acknowledge it has a major problem with anti-intellectualism. Differing points of view can lead to very real disagreements on what is important, and how problems and conflicts should be addressed. But "knowing things is bad" "thinking is bad" or "my ignorance is as good as your knowledge" are ideas that cannot succeed in the 21st Century.

In caveman days, this would have been solved soon after the Republican Tribe killed their shaman and collectively binged on the yummy berries that don't make you immediately sick. One consequence of the historically incredible prosperity of the modern era is that collections of beliefs that would never previously have been able to succeed (because they don't work) have been able to flourish by surfing on our overall success as a species.

It is not only the Republicans, or the right, who do this. But it is Republicans who have embraced hate for critical thought as a core part of their identity. (The left is making some bad stumbles down the same path from a different direction, but so far they have not become mainstream, and are provoking an ongoing argument about tolerance and non-conformity within the left and with those outside of it.)

[Higgins]

The American people went insane sometime around 9/11.

: 2002-2003 was a pro-Iraq war firestorm, if you opposed it, you were unpatriotic, yada yada

This is it. The polarization over Iraq lead to Republicans seeing Democrats as pro-terrorism and Democrats seeing Republicans as fascist.

     It's become normal to deny your political opponents the moral franchise, so there is little to no point in discussion. This of course has led to the proliferation of echo chambers wherein people promote absurd falsehoods and dogmatically assert extremist views, because such views are not challenged, under pain of removal from the echo chamber.

     These echo chambers are tearing the country apart, and people are too stuck in the boxes of prevailing political paradigms and favored echo chambers to question what is going on. Those who are politically interested are dug too deeply in to have a realistic hope of breaking out too, so in the end there is little left to do but sit back and watch the federal government eat itself.

Sadly true. The internet and cultural changes that have come along with it have made the creation of such echo chambers very easy. But speaking from the bubble I am doubtless in myself (despite my efforts to avoid being in one),  the GOP seems not just possessed of an echo chamber, but a burning desire to destroy thought and the future of civilization.

Having Trump as your standard bearer doesn't help persuade anyone not already on board that you have any legitimate points of view. (Not that Clinton didn't have problems, but she is gone while the GOP keeps defending Trump.) The Republican Party needs to acknowledge it has a major problem with anti-intellectualism. Differing points of view can lead to very real disagreements on what is important, and how problems and conflicts should be addressed. But "knowing things is bad" "thinking is bad" or "my ignorance is as good as your knowledge" are ideas that cannot succeed in the 21st Century.

In caveman days, this would have been solved soon after the Republican Tribe killed their shaman and collectively binged on the yummy berries that don't make you immediately sick. One consequence of the historically incredible prosperity of the modern era is that collections of beliefs that would never previously have been able to succeed (because they don't work) have been able to flourish by surfing on our overall success as a species.

It is not only the Republicans, or the right, who do this. But it is Republicans who have embraced hate for critical thought as a core part of their identity. (The left is making some bad stumbles down the same path from a different direction, but so far they have not become mainstream, and are provoking an ongoing argument about tolerance and non-conformity within the left and with those outside of it.)

The GOP has had a problem with anti-intellectualism since Eisenhower man. Adlai Stevenson was derided as an Eastern "Egghead" in the 1950s. Only difference is Ike never entered the fray himself and instead used Nixon and other surrogates to do his dirty work during election years, while he made himself look like a respectable elder statesman above street politics. But this trend toward anti-intellectualism really began with Eisenhower or at least in response to the "Brains Trust" of the New Deal. Even Nixon, who was well-read and very articulate, had a great disdain for intellectuals, as did Reagan.

[Hydera]

I have seen that especially among older people (Gen X and Boomers) there is a vast paranoiac line of thinking that our leaders are part of some "elite"; For example, I have a 40 year old friend who tells me that nothing about government or politics matters because "none of them have any power", that they answer all to a "cabal" of big business and banker types. I have seen other people post all sorts of utterly insane conspiracy theories ala Pizzagate or that "Michelle Obama was born a man and Obama is gay and that's why he supports gay rights".

Where did this lunacy come from? Why are older folks (Baby Boomers in particular) so willing to believe that our leaders, and those in entertainment, are monsters, pedophiles, murderers, etc? Why is the desire to believe fake news so strong the last few years?

People want the world to make sense. It's easier and more comforting for some people to believe in conspiracies by powerful figures (no matter how crazy) than to accept that the world is just changing in ways they don't understand,don't like, and can't control. (Americans are really bad at dealing with randomness and lack of control. I think it's a side effect of our long, peaceful prosperity. And the right's prosperity gospel nonsense doesn't help.)

And on the other side of the coin, when you have a relatively small number of influential people with relatively immense amounts of wealth it's human nature for them to want to maintain their position for themselves, their families and friends. They don't need to secretly conspire together in mountain lairs. Just by wielding their power in their own interests, they are moving all of society in directions that are beneficial to themselves and those like them, but not the advantage of the rest of us.

No conspiracy theories necessary. Just self-absorbed ignorance and unwillingness to face reality on the one hand, and inequality, technology, Dunbar's Number and desire to be Big Monkey Alpha Male on the other.


Which isn't to say there are *no* conspiracies. (9/11 was a conspiracy by the attackers and the terror organization they were members of. There was a recent conspiracy among major IT companies to keep salaries of in-demand workers down.) But you don't need conspiracies to explain the general shape of the world.

Just to add to that the majority of political conspiracy theories comes from people who have a siege mentality about their identity. In the 1970s it wasnt uncommon to have black conspiracy theorists whose main focus was about whites attempting to destroy blacks as a race. For many white "christian" americans the idea of a changing world where racism, homophobia, transphobia? and etc becoming unacceptable creates a mentality that their identity is under attack just because its not kosher to attack these groups like "in the past". The same group were also the backbone of the more unhinged conspiracy theories(not that some werent true and communism was a threat) during the 50s and 60s the types you find being parodied in Dr. Strangelove.

[Associate Justice PiT]

Sadly true. The internet and cultural changes that have come along with it have made the creation of such echo chambers very easy. But speaking from the bubble I am doubtless in myself (despite my efforts to avoid being in one),  the GOP seems not just possessed of an echo chamber, but a burning desire to destroy thought and the future of civilization.

Having Trump as your standard bearer doesn't help persuade anyone not already on board that you have any legitimate points of view. (Not that Clinton didn't have problems, but she is gone while the GOP keeps defending Trump.) The Republican Party needs to acknowledge it has a major problem with anti-intellectualism. Differing points of view can lead to very real disagreements on what is important, and how problems and conflicts should be addressed. But "knowing things is bad" "thinking is bad" or "my ignorance is as good as your knowledge" are ideas that cannot succeed in the 21st Century.

In caveman days, this would have been solved soon after the Republican Tribe killed their shaman and collectively binged on the yummy berries that don't make you immediately sick. One consequence of the historically incredible prosperity of the modern era is that collections of beliefs that would never previously have been able to succeed (because they don't work) have been able to flourish by surfing on our overall success as a species.

It is not only the Republicans, or the right, who do this. But it is Republicans who have embraced hate for critical thought as a core part of their identity. (The left is making some bad stumbles down the same path from a different direction, but so far they have not become mainstream, and are provoking an ongoing argument about tolerance and non-conformity within the left and with those outside of it.)

     It's worth noting that the bolded part perfectly describes certain streams in late 20th century intellectualism; that is, the left's problem is older than most people like to imagine. Anyone who thinks that postmodernism can be fully defeated is much too naive, for these thinkers have already succeeded in shifting the terms of discourse at the mainstream level, even if the whole program lacks the mainstream backing. It would give me pleasure to see the Democrats get hoisted on that petard, except that the Republicans don't get what's going on either and the Democrats are going to bring this into power at some unknown point in the future because the system is broken and people don't have an actual choice.

     This coincidentally is why there was never any possibility of the Republicans doing something other than defending Trump. He is a member of our group, which is opposed to the other group. That says all that needs to be said about political discourse in the two-party democratic system of the United States today. I identify with the Republicans because they are somewhat closer to my policy goals, but I do not hesitate to criticize either party.

[Mr. Reactionary]

In 1800, John Adams said Thomas Jefferson was in the illuminati and was going to import foreign revolutionaries to overthrow the Constitution. Paranoia is not new in US politics.

[Blue3]

tl;dr



But as for the topic sentence... other societies and cultures are MUCH more conspiracy-prone than American culture. I'm thinking of Middle Eastern culture in particular.

[Indy Texas]

But as for the topic sentence... other societies and cultures are MUCH more conspiracy-prone than American culture. I'm thinking of Middle Eastern culture in particular.

"Middle Eastern culture"

The Arab/Muslim World has a particularly weird tendency not merely to go whole hog on anti-Semitic canards, but to casually blame "The Jews" for things they could not possibly be responsible for.

A few years ago, when there were an unusually high number of shark attacks at an Egyptian coastal beach resort, the local government claimed that The Jews, via Israel, were deliberately releasing large numbers of sharks into the ocean in order to ruin the Egyptian tourism industry.

[TheSaint250]

But as for the topic sentence... other societies and cultures are MUCH more conspiracy-prone than American culture. I'm thinking of Middle Eastern culture in particular.

"Middle Eastern culture"

The Arab/Muslim World has a particularly weird tendency not merely to go whole hog on anti-Semitic canards, but to casually blame "The Jews" for things they could not possibly be responsible for.

A few years ago, when there were an unusually high number of shark attacks at an Egyptian coastal beach resort, the local government claimed that The Jews, via Israel, were deliberately releasing large numbers of sharks into the ocean in order to ruin the Egyptian tourism industry.

What the heck?

[AN63093]

Paranoia and fake news is not in any way a uniquely American problem.

This.

How many people here have actually lived abroad?  I used to live in Europe, and I'm not talking about a study abroad program either, I was there for almost half a decade, a good chunk of my 20s.

And I can tell you that this is absolutely not a US thing.  Paranoia, fake news, tabloid journalism, conspiracy theories, and so on is not uniquely American.  I remember there was a pretty grungy dive bar that I'd used to frequent about a block or two from my apartment; I became a regular over time and there were several others (this was a bit of an alcoholics' bar, but I digress).

Some of the people there believed in some kooky stuff, trust me.  I remember this one guy in particular, who I used to play darts a lot with and go out for smoke breaks, bought in to the whole shebang- JFK conspiracy, US didn't land on the moon, you name it- he believed it.  He also was utterly convinced the NSA was regularly spying on him after that whole thing made news.

Some of the more looney US-unique stuff that isn't as well known, say, sovereign citizen.. yeah, you probably won't find too many people that adhere to that outside the US.  But, that being said, it is disheartening to see some of the severely limited perspective in some of the posts in this thread.