American Consequences - October 2020

F rom claims that Elvis is still alive to theories that NASA faked the moon landing, Americans have always loved their conspiracy theories... But add in a global coronavirus pandemic and a tumultuous presidential election to an already angry and divided nation and you’ve got the perfect breeding ground for wild conspiracy theories and fanatics who adamantly believe in them.

• About half of Americans think the government is hiding information about the 9/11 attacks. In 2006, around one-third thought the administration of George W. Bush had planned, or knowingly allowed, the 9/11 attacks. • In 2009, about one-third of Americans subscribed to the “birther” conspiracy (the promotion of which helped propel Donald Trump to the White House) that Barack Obama is a foreign citizen – who became president in violation of the U.S. Constitution. • There have been 2,032 Bigfoot sightings in Washington state... and 109 sightings of a Loch Ness-like monster in a lake in Montana. Fourteen percent of Americans think that these types of creatures exist, and 31% of Americans believe in ghosts. • An international survey found 17% of respondents believed so-called “chemtrail” conspiracy theories that the white lines in the sky trailing behind jet planes aren’t cloud-like plumes of water vapor – but rather evidence of a devious plot to poison the environment or control the weather. Many conspiracy theories are just harmless good fun, life in Never-Never Land filtered through the National Enquirer . Speculating about who probed what foreign body in a desert in New Mexico is innocuous enough... (One in five Americans believe that beings from outer space have visited Earth anyway.) And stories are how humans communicate, after all. Long before basketball star Kyrie Irving talked about the Earth being flat a

A conspiracy theory, according to academic expert Joe Uscinki, tries to explain an event that “cites as a main causal factor, a small group of powerful persons (the conspirators) acting in secret for their own benefit, against the common good.” That’s a big tent, allowing almost everyone to subscribe to at least a few conspiracy theories. Some are so much a part of our cultural fiber that we might not even think of our assumed facts as conspiracy theories at all. For example... Many conspiracy theories are just harmless good fun, life in Never-Never Land filtered through the National Enquirer. • A mid-March poll found that 54% of people surveyed think that the 1% of wealthiest Americans secretly control the U.S. government... and 43% subscribe to the notion of a Deep State. • Around 90% of Americans – decades after the fact – think that the assassination of U.S. President John F. Kennedy was a conspiracy and then covered up by the government.

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October 2020

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