The point was to improve the conversation by presenting something instead of asking something so vague.

Your best bet is not to believe anything. If this leaves you wanting in the way of inspiration, a firm suspicion should suffice to fill that imaginary void.

I suspect much. I know nothing.

I returned to the US back in January after spending 10 months backpacking (and 4 total years out of the country).

The world is trucking along quite well. The ports of Singapore are filled with more ships and consumerism than any point in history. You can watch capitalism fill the world from the top of Marina Sands Bay; over a thousand ships fighting for port space and queuing in the ocean in the 3rd largest port in the world.

I've found that most Kiwis you ask generally believe 9/11 was a total false-flag US led initiative. Australians it varies (although most of the ones I knew did think the Osama Bin Ladien assassination was total BS). In more conservative countries like Singapore or Ireland, most people I've talked to totally believe the official story. In Ireland they'll fight you for it like Americans do ("You're a fucking idiot if you believe that,") but other countries not so much.

Eastern Europe is stable, but from the shores of Dubrovnik and up and down the Balkans, you can still see some of the ruble from the fighting in the 90s. Moldova is still poor as shit as an eight to a quarter of their nations wealth (5 billion Euros) was embezzled by their Prime Minister (now in jail..just him. The records office conveniently had a fire after his arrest).

I met an American/Pakistani who said the Tunisians believed their revolution was rigged; that the changes were already happening and the war was not good. Same with Libyans he encountered.

Overall, people in most of the world aren't trying to keep each other. Where they are, it's probably due to the US or the EU. But that's a very limited perspective based on my backpacking.

If you can save up $10~$15k, you can backpack for up to a year. Stay in hostels, cook your own meals, read up on how long you can stay in each place with your current citizenship. If you're under 30, get a holiday work visa for Ireland, Australia or NZ. You can work and live in those places for a year. Chain them together if you're young enough to get all three (start with Ireland. You can only get that one if you just graduated).

See the world for yourself. Don't take my word for it. It's an amazing place.

Believe whatever you want. The truth is a subjective concept. Personally, I tend to err on the side of caution, and plan for any possible outcome I can. As long as you continue questioning everything, you are contributing to a consensus on what truth means, if it exists at all.

I realize that's a pretty abstract answer. When it comes down to it, you'll never know something for sure unless you experience the thing yourself. Everything outside of personal experience should be treated as a working theory, no matter how certain a thing seems.

Don't believe any source without proof, and that means pretty much the entire MSM.

Everyone has an agenda (Yep, me too). You have to learn to spot the propaganda and extrapolate the grains of truth within.

It's tiring, but you'll soon get the knack.

EDIT: Always be prepared to modify your opinion, as a lot of the bullshit you've been filled with gives you a kind of cognitive filter. Hypothesize, test and iterate. That's the way to the truth.