Why are people so gullible?

Answer 1

Answer 1

There are different answers for this one. One reason is because so many people are such good liars that you don't know what to believe anymore. Another is that most people want instant gratification, and buy into the quick fixes for problems, and there too lazy to take the time anymore to do the right thing.

The rat race keeps running faster, and soon we won't be able to tell the real rats from the human ones. People also do not do their research when making a big decision anymore like they used to. They now rely more on word of mouth than looking into it themselve.

Answer 2

Why do you hang around with gullible Americans? Is that your way of feeling important?

Answer 3

I can't speak for the younger generations. For MOST, though I admit not all, of us in the really "older" generations, I believe that that WE TRULY ARE gullible. I mean actually gullible, NOT JUST appearing so.

As for the reasons why are we guillible, I'm not sure, but I think it has to do with VALUES, our deeply ingrained CORE values.

Most of us "older Americans" grew up with parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles who had been taught, and knew, what was right and wrong, and cared enough about us to TEACH US things like: Honor and honesty, personal integrity, responsibility, pride in good character, courage of conviction, true courage, on and on. The list of good character traits is very long.

As a result, which I know to be a fact in my own case, HONEST, DECENT PEOPLE, unfortunately EXPECT and ASSUME that EVERYONE with who they come into contact, will have and abide by the same values. As we all know, this just "ain't" true!

Unfortunately, most of us are therefore trusting people, and this is what actually makes Americans gullible. Also unfortunately, the trend in our country is away from the teaching and learning of these CORE VALUES, and toward just the OPPOSITE. Of course, once a large majority has "switched over," I suspect the allegations of American guillibility will go away.

In MOST of the other countries of the world, almost all of the people are not fortunate enough to had these VALUES TAUGHT to them over many generations, as we have.

As a result, they trust NO ONE, and are skeptical of everything. That is why the question was asked specifically using the word "seem," indicating distrust, even implying that Americans are "faking" guillibility.

Answer 4

I agree with answer 3. If skepticism and cynicism prevail in America the world will be in trouble. To quote the title of William Benetts book, "America is the last great hope"

Answer 5

Each of the above has a great deal of merit. I think it is not so much that people in the US are gullible, although it certainly appears to be the case. I believe we are still hanging on to (and losing bit by bit) a national sense of what is right, and what is good. It is not that our (US) sense of these things is perfect and beyond reproach, but that we have tended in general to put our concepts of the right and the good at the forefront of our motivations rather than what is expedient. At the same time, we have been champions of a free market (which is good), and there is the inevitable hubris and blindness to the needs of others that often accompany it. So part of or apparent "gullibility" is the strongly conflicting motives and outcomes for many of our endeavors, and our need to somehow justify the outcomes. It's what sometimes leads us into believing the utterly unsubstantiated and destructive opinions that the US has some kind of 'duty' to protect or save everyone [those who don't like their own countries, for example] or has the duty to spread US-style representative democracy around the world.

mainstream Americans relie on beliefs rather than on facts.They really lack "the critical thinking" that is more prevalent in Europe.that has probably something to do with the religious education.

Answer 6because after only three years after bush, they are already believing the right wing Fox News Propaganda about Obama while they don't even do their research on their claims like the Obama birth certificate..

everytime Obama tries to pass a good bill like the disclose act or when he tried to end corporate tax cuts.. it was the republicans who blocked them

and yet Americans take the right wing's word for it when they blame Obama for failing to pass a bill THEY blocked.

also because you believe your right wing bias media at all.

Americans need to do their research.

look up what happened with "sun tv" aka "fox news north" in Canada.

they tried to pass a law legally allowing them to mislead the public on a loophole.

they didn't even create the station when we stopped that law from passing.

obviously your media is corrupt, but every time I explain this to an American...

they are incredibly rude and don't even care enough to look it up themselves.

Americans are gullible by the most part.

I'm sorry if that offends all of the smart Americans

but the truth is the truth.

Answer 2

I don't know, I searched for it and found that people said that people in general is the same thing as Americans being gullible. I just want to say that people being gullible is NOT the same thing as just Americans being gullible. I also have another question. Why are people so ethnocentric?

Answer 3

Most people like to have similar opinions to those of their parents, and other relatives and friends and coworkers and neighbors. You can get along with people more easily if you have similar opinions - there is less to argue about. It's very convenient when everybody celebrates the same holidays. In addition, the world that we live in is complicated, and few people are intellectually prepared to figure it all out for themselves. We depend upon recognized authorities to tell us what we should believe. So, they tell us, and we believe.