University of Portland Pilot Scholars History Undergraduate Publications and History Presentations 12-2017 American Flat Earth Theory: Anti-Intellectualism, Fundamentalism and Conspiracy Theory Alex York Follow this and additional works at: https://pilotscholars.up.edu/hst_studpubs Part of the Political History Commons, and the United States History Commons Citation: Pilot Scholars Version (Modified MLA Style) York, Alex, "American Flat Earth Theory: Anti-Intellectualism, Fundamentalism and Conspiracy Theory" (2017). History Undergraduate Publications and Presentations. 3. https://pilotscholars.up.edu/hst_studpubs/3 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the History at Pilot Scholars. It has been accepted for inclusion in History Undergraduate Publications and Presentations by an authorized administrator of Pilot Scholars. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. American Flat Earth Theory: Anti-Intellectualism, Fundamentalism and Conspiracy Theory By Alex York University of Portland December 2017 Alex York On the evening before the 2016 United States (U.S.) presidential election, the majority of pollsters and experts predicted Trump would lose. The news media along with most intellectuals seemed confident that no one with Trump’s record of wild conspiracy theorizing and disconnection from established facts could ever become president. Trump had repeatedly pushed conspiracy theories with little or no evidence and shown a disregard for expert opinion or evidence.1 Trumps victory was a sign that there was a large segment of the U.S. population that wholly agreed with Trump’s anti-intellectual stance. These American’s also believed in conspiracies by scientists, academics, and journalists to misrepresent the facts. Trump and his supporters shared the belief that the stories pitched from colleges and newsstands were lies.2 However new Trump may have appeared, his constant conspiracy rhetoric, disregard for experts and facts diverges from previous figures only in magnitude and success.