Americans are incredible saps when it comes to anything that lets us focus all our fascination on,,,ourselves. We've fallen for magnetism, phrenology, chiropractic, palm readers, you name it. The Smithsonian has a great exhibit of some of our best quackery. The flashiest examples start with some relatively new and little-understood technology (think electricity or the brain scan), and involve wires to the head. We Americans have always been willing to pay big money to hear people in lab coats tell us all about ourselves.

It's simpler and cheaper in China. They just believe in ghosts and magic.

Saps are found all over the planet. Americans are not the only ones that have fallen for magnetism, phrenology, chiropractors, palm readers, and other insane ideas. They’ve been around a lot longer than the United States.

The Smithsonian has exhibits of quackery from all over the planet, rather than just the United States

Much of the current quackery was invented in China, especially the New Age movements. They’re much weirder than we are. Didn’t you know that?

Some Americans do, but not most.

Cassandra

Most Americans admit to believing in angels and miracles. Is that really so different than believing in ghosts and magic? I fail to see how. :-)

In the end, I think it's just a different kind of weird. I've been to China a few times and I used to live in Japan. We're all freaks. We're just a wide spectrum of freaks, rather than one particular variety.

Quoth the Cat, "We're all mad here..." :-D