The U.S. used to be a predominantly agrarian society. They were much more self sufficient. They were also very practical. This waned away as they were coaxed to sell their farms, move to the cities, and work for someone else in factories, to make the money, to buy the useless things, they didn't need, that they made in the factories.
Media helped to expedite this process. I caught the tail end of this media campaign as I was growing up. I'd watch sit-coms, where for example a door to door salesman would knock on a farmers door, attempting to make a sale. They would portray the farmer as some uneducated dumb hick. The salesman would make his pitch, and then the farmer would say, "well wut do ah need that fer?" Then the canned laughter would be injected. It's not funny. It's a serious question that a practical person should ask. They've done a mind job on us.