Eating pizza, nothing can ever compete with a nice glass of Trocadero, it just feels right.
At cristmas? Coca Cola? Absolutely not! Give me Zeunerts Julmust every time!
Drinking soft drink with friends and watching a movie, give me an Indian Tonic with a lemon slice, lasts long and is very tasty.
Have some dark rum (I have plenty) and want a quick drink with a good mixer, Fanta used to be great, but they have added sweeteners in addition to sugar, so they taste like crap now, so I tend to look for som itallian orange soda, it is works well.
Eating a bruger, Coca Cola is still great!
Having a quiet evening by the computer? Just stick to mineral water.
I am expecting Sprite to get the sweetener treatment as well, but for now it makes a great drink to mix it with some local distilled raspberry liquor I have, tastes like Sprite, but with a really nice aftertaste of Raspberries
I wouldn’t say individuals are more susceptible to it, but the US’s history is intertwined with conspiracy theories from the start. The founding “father” Sam Adams had tracts printed claiming the British had a secret plan to enslave white colonists ahead of the American war of independence.
The Spanish American war was stoked by a conspiracy that Spain had sabotaged our warship “Maine”. If you’ve ever wondered why the US Navy has a base in Cuba.
The “corrupt bargain” of 1824 was a supposed deal between JQ Adams and Clay to exclude Jackson from the presidency despite his electoral victory. Jackson too, was the subject of a theory that he and congressmen disgruntled over tariffs would dissolve the union and install Jackson as a military dictator should he loose in 1828.
People believe there is a magic sky dad who loves you so much they send you to suffer for eternity with the original naughty child who apparently wants to punish you for doing what they want.
Religions generally make conspiracy theories seem rational.
There’s so many cliches, but despite them all, Mountain Dew. Not because it makes me feel Xtreme while I’m playing Call of Duty and eating Doritos on my skateboard, it’s just a much better flavor.
I miss Canadian mountain dew. It was just the pop, no caffeine. Turns out caffeine doesn’t taste very good. I mean you would assume that, but it really hit home when the pop I loved all of a sudden added it. Wish they continued to offer a caffeine free version. But I know in the states the caffeine is like their whole marketing thing.
“Hey, time traveler. Do you live in a sucky future?”
“No, not really sucky.” “Ok then, if you go back to your time and send the machine back to me, I will put my entire fortune into a single bank account with your name on it, in any country and bank in the entire world you think is best. I will then take a few brief trips of my own and send the machine back to you. Deal?”
“Yes, future is the most sucky.” “Would you prefer to stay here, then, and be a god among men, while I take a joyride?”
I would say people in countries with poor or non-existent public education are more prone. The USA’s public education system was eviscerated in the 70’s I think.
I would say people in countries with poor or non-existent public education are more prone. The USA’s public education system was eviscerated in the 70’s I think.
As early as the 60s, but really the 80s. Through the 70s US had some of the best public education on the planet. The move to privatize education started in earnest under Reagan (in California, as governor), and then further under Reagan (and every president and congress to now).
Specifically:
• calling for an end to free tuition for state college and university students
With Reagan, it was because Republicans at the time thought there would be too many educated poor people. One of his advisors (Roger Freeman) said:
“We are in danger of producing an educated proletariat…That’s dynamite! We have to be selective on who we allow [to go to college]…If not, we will have a large number of highly trained and unemployed people.”
He was basically worried about a revolution because of it.
They are talking at the dinner table about doing things that are against my self interest. I don’t want those damn kids learning that. Therefore cut education
Rather that you know the market place of ideas that I espouse; as long as they match what I believe.
That last one hits hard. The state must subsidize intellectual curiosity. Intellectual curiosity gave us everything from electricity to modern governmental theory to the mathematics that would later turn out to allow wireless communications. Curiosity without a point is extremely valuable.
And it should be noted that even in late medieval Europe the state funded intellectual curiosity. The nobility were the state and many either were curious themselves or would patronize intellectuals
I think that the distrust of governments and generally those in power is a world-wide phenomenon. But I personally don’t think that it is unwarranted. Corruption, abuses of power, and conspiracies are widespread.
What do you mean? Can you describe what you mean with ‘fascist rulership’? Then maybe I can try.
For example… people in Mexico many people suspect that politicians have associations with drug dealers, and many believe believe that particular bureaucratic systems (such as handing out public infrastructure projects) are exploited to distribute funds in ways that benefit those in power and their friends, these people I would classify as “conspiracy theorists”, and in many cases they have been correct. You think that these people will always side with fascist rulership?
Fascist as in the US actively supporting and financing terrorism in countries it wants control over, historically. Like the Contras, that type of fascism.
And I think that being suspicious has been co-opted by the right wing, yes.
Fascist as in the US actively supporting and financing terrorism in countries it wants control over, historically.
Isn’t this a conspiracy theory? I think that the official position of the US is that they are not financing terrorists, and many of their military actions have been performed to defend citizens from their ruler’s human rights violations. Isn’t the Cuban embargo officially there to protect the Cubans against human rights violations? I think that arguing otherwise makes one a conspiracy theorist.
I am not saying this to argue, I am trying to explain what I understand with conspiracy theory - someone who is skeptical about the official narrative, and believes that those in power will not always be transparent and honest to the public.
And I think that being suspicious has been co-opted by the right wing, yes.
I am aware of the “drain the swamp” rhetoric, that there was a QAnon, anti-vax, and other more fringe theories. But I think that this is a sub-set of conspiracy theorizing that is amplified by the media. Many conspiracy theorists are investigative journalists and critics of governments. And many conspiracy theories have ended up being true. I don’t think that critical thought and skepticism is an exercise that only right-wingers should participate in.
Literally Sandinistas and Contras. Literally one of the world’s most egregious and “oh shit we got caught” moments in US history. Iran-Contras affair doesn’t ring a bell, does it? Why don’t you start there for both our sakes.
Home grown conspiracy theorists are basically all fascist, yes. That whole segment of knowledge, if you can call it that, was astropaved by the right wing decades ago. Let’s put it this way, Alex Jones isn’t voting left. There is always a big bad wolf that you can’t see, and the only cure is voting right.
It rings a bell but I am not familiar with the details, I will look into it but I can’t address it right away. I am well aware that the US is an imperialist nation that has committed and continues to commit horrible acts all over the world. But the point is that this is not the official narrative of the US government. They may give some concessions about what occurred in the past, but the official narrative about what is happening now is always that they and their friends are the good guys.
I am not from the US and the question is about conspiracy theories in other countries. If the question means whether Americans are more prone to believe US-conspiracy theories, then yes, simply because they are much more likely to be aware of them. Many people in other countries don’t consume as much media in English and might have no idea who Jeffrey Epstein was. So they probably have no opinion on whether there was foul play on his dead. But I think that if you talk to someone in Mexico and tell them the story of Epstein, most will agree that there was foul play involved. I am telling you this from my personal experience, at least within my circle but I think it expands more generally. We have a general distrust of the government and law enforcement, and so a story in which foul play is involved to silence someone else resonates. It happens all the time! Journalists are being killed all the time around here to silence them, and very often they are being critical of people in power… Is it really that unwarranted to be suspicious?
Those are fair points- I’m not native US either, just to make clear, and I understand what you’re saying. It’s kind of like, better safe than sorry? There is an evolutionary advantage in beings suspicious, in fact some say that the act of lying and lie detection in humans had a significant impact in forming our ability to communicate through language, so it’s a big deal, sure. We don’t want to get hustled, know what I mean?
The issues arise later, when all our needs are met and we’re fed and cozy, and still our minds try to evolve and suspect everything around us because- better safe than sorry, right?
IDK if it’s that or just the fact that there’s both a lot of us and a great sense of nationalism instilled in us from a very young age. I’ve been to Mt. Rushmore twice. Only recently did I learn about how it was a sacred site to the native people that we promised to leave alone, before stealing it and blowing it to hell.
What I’m getting at is that we’re taught that America is the greatest nation on the planet, and we’re encouraged to be loud about that statement. So when a certain group of people in the government who are also very loud about their beliefs start saying some things that might sound completely bonkers to a foreigner, a lot of people find themselves agreeing purely because they like the attitude of the people talking.
Visiting Rushmore as a non-American is even weirder than you imagine.
The levels of over the top blatantly performative “patriotism” is quite bizarre to be surrounded by.
And the suspicious looks we got for not participating enthusiastically was discomforting (no, I’m not going to recite a pledge of allegiance to your country. Why would you expect me to?)
Yeah sorry about that. They’re similarly awful to live near.
And the reality is Mt Rushmore is mostly going to be visited by people like that and foreigners. Mt Rushmore is one of the principal sacred sites of the American civil religion. Treat them like religious pilgrims because they kinda were, but they don’t even realize it. The pledge of allegiance is a prayer to adherents.
The words “lose” and “loose” have the same vowel sound (and for some reason the extra “o” changes /z/ to /s/).
There are no other words ending in -ose that have the /u/ sound
Many words ending in -oose exist that have an /u/ sound, including the very common word, “choose”, which has the same /uz/ sound that “lose” has at the end
I never get these spellings mixed up but I can absolutely understand why someone would.
Studies have found ( for example ) conspiracy thinking correlates with extremist political beliefs, especially right wing political beliefs, across countries. That linked study found the effect was strengthened by lack of political control.
So countries with more political extremists, especially far right wing in media platforms, leads to more popular conspiracy theories.
We conclude that conspiracy mentality is associated with extreme left- and especially extreme right-wing beliefs, and that this non-linear relation may be strengthened by, but is not reducible to, deprivation of political control.
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