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noname223

Archangel
Aug 18, 2020
5,197
I think conspiracy theories are less widespread in my country Germany. There are several reasons for that.

The US media system is pretty corrupted. Especially the centrist media companies that spread conventional wisdom that should distract the people while getting robbed by the economical elites. The broadcast channels are horrible. They are way too influenced by greedy companies and lobbies. It is a shame that free health care is not available for everyone in the US. So the trustlevel is not that high. The elites want their economical right wing agenda in order to get even more money. And because of that they use the culture war to distract the people.

I think the US has a pretty bad education system. The highschool teachers are not very educated themselves. College is very expensive. So higher education is not affordable for many many people. This furthers the division in a country. In school one should learn how to differentiate between trustworthy and fake news outlets. Though the polarization in the US is way too extreme. We are in a post-facutal epoch where the people barely have any common consensus anymore. It is more about to cheer on your own team and not to decide what is the best for the country.

The US have a very strong emphasis on freedom of speech. So there are more extreme opinions allowed without getting legally punished for it. Like Qanon. Some people try to profit from the business like Alex Jones or Breitbart. Where the law barely knows limits the people will do everything to profit of the system. I think many commentators don't really believe in what they are saying they just give the opinion which brings the most money and furthers their career.

But there are also other reasons many US related conspiracies were true. Like the tuskegee experiments, the PRISM and NASA surveillance system, the war against Iraq was started with fake evidence. So I can understand why the people are skeptical. The USA is a very powerful country and the intelligence services are the best in the whole world. The US acts hypocritical on the international worldorder they use human right as an argument only when it is in their favor. They act strategically and sacrificed the lives of many innocent people in order to maintain their influence. The elites are very powerful in the US, there are many dynasties and a huge gap between the average Joe and Jane and the financial elites. When it gets public that high political and financial elites were friends with Epstein the sex slave guy people lose their trust in them. It is very fishy.

One could also argument with the US culture. It is a very open society where many opinions are allowed.

So why is it in Germany less of a problem? The US often shows the future development in many instances. And for example Qanon becomes more popular in my country too. I think the education system is better, our government never starts a war on their own, German politics is often more boring. There are scandals but I could never imagine Epstein cases in my country. The media system is less corrupted and more trustworthy. We have a less of a polarized political system, freedom of speech has more limits, the gap between the poor and mega rich is less extreme. Our history is for many a warning that history must not repeat itself.

I am running out of arguments, There were probably way more but I am kind of exhausted and this thread is once again pretty long.

What do you think? Do you think conspiracies are widspread in the US? What could be the reason?
 
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soledad.virgen

soledad.virgen

call me sol
Dec 1, 2020
85
Widespread anti-intellectualism built into the culture + a real history of conspiracies
 
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gatzby128

gatzby128

Member
Jun 2, 2023
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I'm not that familiar with Qanon, I just know they're a bunch of nuts, as are the Rush and Alex Jones people - I do think most (if not all) of those are a result of poor education which breeds sheep. You mentioned the elite - I think they follow those conspiracies not because they believe them but because they fear losing their status - fear also breeds sheep.

Are there other conspiracies you're questioning? JFK? Area 51? I think those come from a lack of trust in the government - which is well deserved.

I like that you posed the question; I appreciate hearing how things like this are evolving in other parts of the world. I look forward to the answers :)
 
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istheretrulyalife?

Ser Alexander V
Jun 14, 2023
130
lot of conspiracies are mocked and ridiculed, but a surprising number of them are eventually proven right. One of the more recent being the COVID vaccine. There is the Biden Bribery whistleblower found dead thing floating around, but I haven't seen concrete evidence. Wouldn't be surprised tbh.
 
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noname223

Archangel
Aug 18, 2020
5,197
I'm not that familiar with Qanon, I just know they're a bunch of nuts, as are the Rush and Alex Jones people - I do think most (if not all) of those are a result of poor education which breeds sheep. You mentioned the elite - I think they follow those conspiracies not because they believe them but because they fear losing their status - fear also breeds sheep.

Are there other conspiracies you're questioning? JFK? Area 51? I think those come from a lack of trust in the government - which is well deserved.

I like that you posed the question; I appreciate hearing how things like this are evolving in other parts of the world. I look forward to the answers :)
I am not sure on JFK or area 51. I lack information. I could imagine that the US government knew that Ukrainian agents had the plan to destroy the Nordstream pipeline.
 
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