Word: paranoia
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Mark Blitz of the Hudson Institute, an Indianapolis-based think-tank, argues that the persistence of conspiracy theories reflects a collective sense of impotency -- people feeling powerless before blind forces they cannot control. In its most benign form, this near paranoia confines itself to Elvis spotting. At worst it leads to convictions that the Jews -- or reactionary capitalists, or unreconstructed communists -- secretly control the world...
...Koresh and his followers heightened the melodrama, their ties with the outside world became irretrievably broken. "The adulation of this confined group works on this charismatic leader so that he in turn spirals into greater and greater paranoia," says Murray Miron, a psychologist who advised the FBI during the standoff. "He's playing a role that his followers have cast him in." In the end, Koresh and his flock may have magnified one another's needs. He looked to them to confirm his belief that he was God's appointed one, destined for a martyr's death. They looked...
Comedy short subjects long ago vanished from movie houses; now they are made for TV. TWO MIKES DON'T MAKE A WRIGHT is a trio of such trifles packaged for theatrical release. The Appointments of Dennis Jennings showcases Steven Wright's affectless paranoia ("I remember when I was in the womb; I was over on the right"). Michael Moore of Roger & Me reruns his rollicking contempt for General Motors (and for humanity) in Pets or Meat. The gem is A Sense of History, directed by Mike Leigh. Jim Broadbent, who wrote this deft monologue, plays a squire of Churchillian mien...
...than 900 members of his People's Temple cult died in Guyana, and to some older religious Americana, like Elmer Gantry, darkened with touches of the Road Warrior. The tragedy in Texas was self-contained, and seemed a familiar story of what happens when a group sealed away in paranoia succumbs to the influence of a sort of preacherly hypnotist...
...People have paranoia when they see Black students together," he says. "It's almost as if we are planning or plotting something. Those who question or feel uncomfortable about a strong Black presence need to examine their fears and their apprehensions...