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Lizard people run the government -

According to Public Policy Polling, there are roughly 12 million Americans who believe that public officials are really shape-shifting alien creatures.

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Confusion over American independence -

When asked what country the US gained independence from, 76% responded Great Britain, 2% said France, 3% mentioned countries such as Russia, China, and Mexico, and 19% were unsure.

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In future, humans will control the weather -

According to a study done by the Pew Research Center, one-fifth of Americans believe technology will allow us to change the weather within a few decades.

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The sun revolves around the Earth -

In a Gallup poll, one-fifth of Americans responded they believe the sun revolves around the Earth.

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Oil spills are caused by environmentalists -

When asked this question in a national poll, 9% of Americans responded "yes," while 22% responded, "not sure."

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We are watching you -

According to the New York Times, there is a community of roughly 10,000 individuals that believe they are constantly being watched by multiple people.

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They believe -

A Gallup poll revealed that 21% of Americans believe in witchcraft.

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Playing the lottery is a legitimate business plan -

A survey done by the Sun Sentinel newspaper showed that 20% of people in America believe that scratch cards are a viable path to wealth.

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US government hides information on UFOs -

According to ABC News, 36% of Americans believe that UFOs exist and four-fifths of respondents said they believe that the US government conceals information about UFOs from the public.

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Fake war -

In 2023, there has been a rise in US right-wing social media accounts promoting unfounded theories that the Ukraine war is a fabricated event, allegedly orchestrated by Western media and governments. Many of these accounts, once banned on Twitter, have been reinstated, partly due to Elon Musk's new regime. They argue that there is insufficient war-related footage and limited frontline updates, despite the substantial documented evidence provided by services like the BBC. Additionally, social media videos from within the conflict zones, verified by journalists, challenge these claims.

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Fake war -

It gets weirder. Conspiracists have claimed that a high-rise apartment building in Kyiv was not actually hit by a missile because photos of its repair and partial reconstruction have gone viral. There's also a video in which it looks like a corpse in a body bag is moving, used as "proof" that actors are being hired to play dead bodies, however, this same video was also used to discredit the COVID-19 pandemic. And then there's Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's alleged body double who is actually easily identifiable as Maksym Donets, Zelenskyy's personal bodyguard. It all just goes to show that sometimes it doesn't matter if the facts are all there, people will believe what they want to. 

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The Earth is the center of the universe (literally) -

A national survey revealed that roughly 18% of people in the US believe planet Earth lies at the center of the universe.

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HTML is an STI -

In a hilarious survey conducted by the Huffington Post, 11% of participants thought that HTML was a sexually transmitted infection.

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Devil possessions -

In a Gallup poll, 42% of Americans admitted they believe that "people on this Earth are sometimes possessed by the devil."

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Obama is the Antichrist -

According to The Guardian, one in four Americans think that former President Barack Obama might be the Antichrist, with 13% responding "yes" and another 13% responding "not sure."

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Saddam Hussein is responsible for 9-11 -

According to a national poll, 28% of Americans think Saddam Hussein was involved in the attack on September 11, 2001, and 22% were unsure.

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Humans and dinosaurs co-existed -

According to CNET, 41% of survey respondents believe that humans were not only alive when dinosaurs were still alive, but that they peacefully lived together.

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Global warming is a hoax -

In a survey conducted by Public Policy Polling, 37% responded that they believed global warming is not real and another 12% said they weren't sure.

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Aliens have visited Earth -

According to a survey, roughly 47% of Americans believe that aliens have walked among us.

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The earth is flat -

According to Forbes, nearly one-third of millennials are "flat-earthers."

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Ghosts are real -

According to a Gallup poll, 32% of Americans believe ghosts are real.

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Vaccines cause autism -

According to Public Policy Polling, 20% of Americans believe there is a link between modern vaccines and childhood autism, and 22% were unsure.

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TV ads have mind-controlling technology -

In a poll, 15% said they believe television commercials use mind control and another 15% were not sure.

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Big Pharma hides cancer cures from the public -

According to Business Insider, 37% of Americans believe pharmaceutical companies are preventing the public from creating alternative treatments and cures for cancer, while 31% were unsure.

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GMO's were made to kill people -

It's reported that 12% of Americans agreed to the statement, "The global dissemination of genetically modified foods by Monsanto is part of a secret program, called Agenda 21, launched by the Rockefeller and Ford foundations to shrink the world populations." A further 46% were undecided.

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Fluoride is added to our water for evil reasons -

In a survey, 12% agreed and 41% were undecided about whether fluoride is added to our water supply "for chemical companies to dump the dangerous byproducts of phosphate mines into the environment."

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JFK was killed by the US government -

In response to the question, "Do you believe that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in killing President Kennedy, or was there some larger conspiracy at work?" 51% say there was a larger conspiracy at work and 24% were unsure.

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The government gave African-Americans AIDS -

In response to the statement, "The CIA deliberately infected large numbers of African-Americans with HIV under the guise of a hepatitis inoculation program," 12% agreed and 37% were unsure.

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Chocolate milk comes from brown cows -

Roughly 10% of Americans think chocolate milk comes from brown cows, according to the Washington Post.

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Health officials lie about cancer-causing tech -

Apparently, 20% of Americans agreed and 40% were unsure about the statement, "Health officials know that cell phones cause cancer but are doing nothing to stop it because large corporations won't let them."

See also: American landmarks: how many do you know?

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