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Here's my hot take: conspiracy theories and outlandish myths are America's version of Old World superstition and folklore. Study any European culture and how i

Here's my hot take: conspiracy theories and outlandish myths are America's version of Old World superstition and folklore. Study any European culture and how it was Christianized, and how the local culture, folklore, and mythology melded with religion to become a unique tapestry. Look at Ireland for a really pronounced example. Look at the folktales and revered fables that came out of those cultures for a synthesis of what rural folk really believed and talked about over dinner, and by the hearth in the evening times after work was done. But the United States has none of that. The New World came of age during the Enlightenment era of reason and rationality. Now we're in a post-Christian society, one rooted in science and empiricism, but we're still yearning for the supernatural, and it's manifesting in unique ways for us. Americans don't have faeries or unicorns or goblins, we've got chemtrails and little green men. Furthermore, as the U.S. and other New World cultures progress, we're making our own mythology and legends. Look at how much of the American Revolution and Civil War is already steeped in pious fairy tales, such as young Washington's cherry tree, Betsy Ross, Paul Revere, or that utterly fictional, feminist chick who supposedly rode horseback like Revere. Personally, I believe that this fake stuff that people believe is one of two things: either there are kernels of truth and allegory to them, that they're masking a deeper truth that's too dangerous to discuss openly or brazenly reveal; or that they're utter distractions and designed to keep people busy and concerned about utterly irrelevant things. Panem et circenses.

candiddevmike 2y ago
There is tons of American folklore, and even more if you include native Americans. Hell "witchcraft" was more of prominent in early America than Europe, and fairies/fae like things are littered in native american histories. Conspiracy theories are a 20th century coping mechanism for an oversized, seemingly-omnipotent federal government.
- vladms 2y ago
  People were indeed afraid of stuff they did not understand and they imagined them to be quite different than what they really were. Like Greeks inventing Zeus as a coping mechanism for the malevolent, all powerful and vengeful nature. Hope it will not be another 2000 years until some of today's inexact beliefs get forgotten.
  - AStonesThrow 2y ago
    No, that is a profoundly ignorant perspective on the truths and pragmatism of ancient wisdom. The pagan religions were not merely created to explain the unexplainable. Pagan myths and legends imparted greater truths and wisdom, they encoded history and science, and they explained psychological human behavior and interactions with nature. These truths were conveyed very precisely, intricately, exactly as they were, from the cultural perspective, but they are nonsensical to you who will always be outsiders to that tribe, space, and time. The ancients, even illiterate peasants and slaves, had a marvelous grasp of metaphor, allegory, and allusions even to the "pop-culture" of their day! Some of us still do! Pagan religion was a unifying force for any tribe or nation. The reason it was supplanted with monotheism was because those tribes were unable to unite, or even interact, trade, and communicate efficiently, while still worshiping multiple pagan gods. Therefore, Abrahamic religions became an even grander unifying force on global scales, while still serving the purposes of those ancient myths and legends. As popular piety and local legend was permitted and absorbed, those monotheistic religions were able to flourish and intertwine with those cultures. To repeat the tired old canard that religion was perpetuated by ignorant benighted dullards, in order to cope or merely survive, is scurrilious, anthropologically ignorant, and shockingly arrogant. The hierarchies and rulers of the ancient world knew exactly what they were doing in every respect. YOU are afraid of spiritualities and the supernatural which you do not understand, and so you denigrate them. Likewise do President Trump and the wisdom of Qanon know what works. Just because they don't think or act the way you expect, doesn't make them stupid or inferior to your atheism/scientim.
    - vladms 2y ago
      So the part where if you don't make an offer to the (priest) of some god it will strike you with thunder was correct, and I am not understanding the hidden meaning? Maybe I was too optimistic with the 2000 years. I never claimed religion did not fulfill sometimes good purposes. But it perpetuated many bad, incorrect beliefs based on fear that slowed progress. For example not doing to your peer something that you don't like yourself seems something positive for society. Going to hell if you try to understand astronomy seems quite negative for society.

candiddevmike 2y ago

There is tons of American folklore, and even more if you include native Americans. Hell "witchcraft" was more of prominent in early America than Europe, and fairies/fae like things are littered in native american histories. Conspiracy theories are a 20th century coping mechanism for an oversized, seemingly-omnipotent federal government.

vladms 2y ago
People were indeed afraid of stuff they did not understand and they imagined them to be quite different than what they really were. Like Greeks inventing Zeus as a coping mechanism for the malevolent, all powerful and vengeful nature. Hope it will not be another 2000 years until some of today's inexact beliefs get forgotten.
- AStonesThrow 2y ago
  No, that is a profoundly ignorant perspective on the truths and pragmatism of ancient wisdom. The pagan religions were not merely created to explain the unexplainable. Pagan myths and legends imparted greater truths and wisdom, they encoded history and science, and they explained psychological human behavior and interactions with nature. These truths were conveyed very precisely, intricately, exactly as they were, from the cultural perspective, but they are nonsensical to you who will always be outsiders to that tribe, space, and time. The ancients, even illiterate peasants and slaves, had a marvelous grasp of metaphor, allegory, and allusions even to the "pop-culture" of their day! Some of us still do! Pagan religion was a unifying force for any tribe or nation. The reason it was supplanted with monotheism was because those tribes were unable to unite, or even interact, trade, and communicate efficiently, while still worshiping multiple pagan gods. Therefore, Abrahamic religions became an even grander unifying force on global scales, while still serving the purposes of those ancient myths and legends. As popular piety and local legend was permitted and absorbed, those monotheistic religions were able to flourish and intertwine with those cultures. To repeat the tired old canard that religion was perpetuated by ignorant benighted dullards, in order to cope or merely survive, is scurrilious, anthropologically ignorant, and shockingly arrogant. The hierarchies and rulers of the ancient world knew exactly what they were doing in every respect. YOU are afraid of spiritualities and the supernatural which you do not understand, and so you denigrate them. Likewise do President Trump and the wisdom of Qanon know what works. Just because they don't think or act the way you expect, doesn't make them stupid or inferior to your atheism/scientim.
  - vladms 2y ago
    So the part where if you don't make an offer to the (priest) of some god it will strike you with thunder was correct, and I am not understanding the hidden meaning? Maybe I was too optimistic with the 2000 years. I never claimed religion did not fulfill sometimes good purposes. But it perpetuated many bad, incorrect beliefs based on fear that slowed progress. For example not doing to your peer something that you don't like yourself seems something positive for society. Going to hell if you try to understand astronomy seems quite negative for society.