Amanda Carpenter a commentator on CNN’s "Reliable Sources" pointed to “deep state,” “rigged elections” and “fake news” as the three obsessions of what another commentator Brendan Nyhan called “the conspiracy theorist in chief.” Apart from their pithiness these catchphrases comprise a profile in paranoia and what’s interesting is the power of the emotion. You don’t have to be paranoid to believe someone is following you goes the old saw, but you’re offered a whole palette of responses, one of which is to engage an otherwise innocent bystander in your fear, or not. If you’ve ever been the recipient of an angry glance or an uncalled for bit of physical or mental pushback, you realize how disconcerting it can be to be accused of something for which you’re innocent. Indeed paranoia is one of the great excuses for aggression. Tyrants frequently justify their excursions into countries they’d like to annex by claiming they’ve been attacked. On a individual level imperialistic personalities, give credence to their domineering behavior by blaming others, painting themselves as victims who are merely defending themselves. In the film Conspiracy Theory (1997) Jerry Fletcher (Mel Gibson) suffers from what seems like massive paranoia, but he turns out to be right. The world is against him. Interestingly one part of his brainwashing compels him to buy copies of The Catcher in the Rye. Would that whoever is pushing the president’s buttons had implanted such a kindly obsession!
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