Joe Rogan downplays the need for a vaccination and gets covid

There's a lot of truth in that HB, but American culture had pretty much always boosted the rich and ignored even exploited the poor, the middle classes were tiny for much of its history and really only took off in that high watermark of the American Dream in the past war boom of the 40's, 50's and 60's, much of which was born out of the decidely "unamerican" New Deal of the 1930's, what with its socialist leanings. God forbid.

Another aspect of American culture and how it views itself is for all the God Bless America and flags on lawns the culture is far more individualistic than collectivist and that's embedded in the thinking and even the constitution. About the only collectivist angle is the whole Gaaawd thing and that's fractured all over the place and is the Christian god, mostly Protestant. It's all about the rights of the individual and that's a good thing and is what quite likely saved America from both facism and communisim, but it can have a bad side too. In times when a societal agreement is needed stark individualism can throw a spanner in the works. OK it can be overridden in times of war, because that is spun as a simple them versus us, good versus evil narrative, but something more complex like a pandemic is a much harder nut to crack in such a framework. This isn't their first rodeo either, similar, down with masks etc was seen there in the 1918 flu pandemic.

The problem with that HB, is that for a start there has always been misinformation to one degree or other. In the past it was mostly down to either propaganda or a lack of information itself among the general populace. That went for religions, governments and businesses, the latter a more recent thing, but all look for control of the narrative, for the good or ill. Even science can be hijacked into this. The principle of science is impartiality, but the reality of science can be remarkably partial and partial to the truth de jour.

The difference today is an over abundance of information, which needs a major filter. If one trusts in authority to be that filter that's one way, but one that can vary as far as "truth" is concerned as it depends on the authority concerned and that itself depends on viewpoint and culture. The other way is to look for the simplicity in the complex and people prefer simple answers, especially those that a) agree with their existing position and b) the ones that promise a return to normality and routine.

Like I said war is "simple" on the surface. It's them versus us at its most basic. That's easy to muster across a society that perceives threat. Even so you will have some kickback, EG in the 30's America was very much isolationist at the start of the war and certainly didn't want to get involved in the European war. For a start there were many who admired Hitler and who had no love for the English and it can be easy to forget but the largest European diaspora in the US at the time(and still is) were German Americans. Facism is unlikely to take off in the US, for many of the same reasons it didn't at a time when it was popular. Pockets of it certainly, but societally, unlikely.It just doesn't fit the American Mind, just like hardline socialism, though soft socialism/liberalism would sit better and has to some degree. Current progressive thought, especially on the interwebs, but beyond it too is almost entirely American in background. The tenets of the so called "Woke" is 99% American, as is the dialogue against it. Those who rally on one side or the other are aping secondhand American thoughts on the matters. One might argue the only true politic to be American (mostly)born and bred would be libertarianism and even that doesn't gain much traction.