A Paranoia Thread

[florduh]

Paranoia today is at a level equal or surpassing that of the McCarthy era and the Cold War. Conspiracy theories are at an all time high.

 

What's really bugging you or someone you know? Topics included might be, but not limited to:

 

1. I know the Bible is bullshit, but what if it was right about Hell?

 

2. Obama is going to take away my guns.

 

3. The government plans to shut down the Internet.

 

4. The swine flu hoax is an excuse to kill us with the vaccine.

 

5. Medical science doesn't want to cure cancer because there's too much money in it.

 

6. Socialized medicine puts an end to freedom and kills your grandma.

 

7. International bankers tell the president what to do.

 

8. The police aren't interested in keeping the peace. They just want to beat you up.

 

9. We never landed on the moon because the aliens who live there wouldn't let us.

 

10. The Masons worship Satan.

 

11. The Bush administration and thousands of co-conspirators planned the events of 9-11.

 

12. The liberal left runs the media.

 

13. Right wing corporations run the media.

 

 

Any more you can think of?

[Vigile]

7. International bankers tell the president what to do.

 

Seems rather apparent. At least where monetary policy is concerned.

[Kyle]

I tend not to be paranoid about much, but no internet sure would suck.

[CelticWhisper]

3 and 5 worry me the most. 3 is relatively easy, if inconvenient, to get around due to the amount of infrastructure in place and the fact that TCP/IP itself was designed to be resilient to all forms of interference, including the results of nuclear war (the exact quote, if I recall, is "intentionally designed to operate in a shambles"). 5 is more worrisome, and not just with respect to cancer. In fact, I don't see it applying to cancer nearly as much as it applies to other diseases. I suppose AIDS is the big one, but there are others as well. What concerns me is that there will be advances made that allow people to "live with" HIV or to "live with" MS or to "live with" Alzheimer's (okay, maybe not that last one as much as others), thus disincentivizing the development of a cure in favor of extended profits from lifelong reliance on treatment medicine.

[Shyone]

Paranoia today is at a level equal or surpassing that of the McCarthy era and the Cold War. Conspiracy theories are at an all time high.

 

5. Medical science doesn't want to cure cancer because there's too much money in it.

 

I worry that people will take this one seriously and refuse to donate for research or even submit to treatment for cancer. Skepticism is usually a good thing, but when skepticism leads one away from known curative treatments, it becomes self-defeating.

 

There are plenty of diseases that we will never cure, but for many, many patients we have "cured" their cancer. That's why they are called cancer survivors. They may get another cancer (because of heredity or other genetic predisposition, or exposure to cancer causing agents that act for many years), but we can indeed "cure" some cancers.

[RabbleRabble]

Usually my paranoia has less to do with larger conspiracy theories and more to do with my everyday interactions.

 

Lately however, I've been pretty freaked out by all the information about "The Family" It's like my worst nightmare. Has anyone read the book yet?

[Shyone]

Usually my paranoia has less to do with larger conspiracy theories and more to do with my everyday interactions.

 

Lately however, I've been pretty freaked out by all the information about "The Family" It's like my worst nightmare. Has anyone read the book yet?

I haven't, but I assume you are talking about the C-Street Band. The author has been a regular fixture on Rachel Maddow, so the main issues are familiar to me.

 

Scary stuff. Kind of like a "star chamber."

[RabbleRabble]

Usually my paranoia has less to do with larger conspiracy theories and more to do with my everyday interactions.

 

Lately however, I've been pretty freaked out by all the information about "The Family" It's like my worst nightmare. Has anyone read the book yet?

I haven't, but I assume you are talking about the C-Street Band. The author has been a regular fixture on Rachel Maddow, so the main issues are familiar to me.

 

Scary stuff. Kind of like a "star chamber."

 

Yes. That's what I'm talking about. Sorry, I was being pretty vague. For anyone who hasn't seen it yet- the book is called The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power by Jeff Sharlet.

[Loren]

14. I'm paranoid that the liberal left is actually running the far right's disinformation campaign to make it look like the far right is running the liberal left's disinformation campaign to make the far right appear to be running the liberal left's running of the far right.

 

15. I'm paranoid that there's an internal conspiracy among my various schizophrenically separated psychological parts to unify, forming the dreaded, "One Person Personality," foretold in prophecy. Look at the signs, people! Look at the signs!

 

16. I'm paranoid that there's a conspiracy of good-hearted and intelligent people working behind the scenes to improve life, and generally make things better for everybody, thereby removing the causes of my cherished conspiracy theories.

 

Those bastards!

[NonXNonExX]

One of my worst fears has already been realized. The gov't where i live has cut off access to YouTube and a number of other sites that i really like. I also really identify with the paranoia expressed in the song, "American Idiot" and "Losing My Religion," although i'm not really sure what the latter song really means! I guess i'm also paranoid that i'm too old to understand it.

[ShallowByThyGame]

I'm paranoid about wealthy corporations discouraging innovation because changing industrial processes is risky, or because they want to slowly release better products so we buy each 'level' of technology.

[Midnight-mindwanderings]

I am not personally paranoid about anything. The big stuff mentioned is entirely out of my control anyway. I know a guy who seriously thinks hes like the next Nostradamus or something. He says he has seen the future and civil war and then WWIII is about to start - but he gets all kinds of specific. He seems to think he will be a leader of sorts in a Revolution. Because our civil war will be torn 3 ways not 2. He's fucking crazy but he's trying his best to convince everyone he knows that its going to happen. Maybe I'll witness first hand what a cult formation looks like. He's given me his predictions. That my husband will fight against the uprising and be killed and though he didn't say outright he highly implied that I would then get with him. Anyway he divulges in other paranoid delusions. It all sounds equally crazy to me.

 

The Family thing is really creepy but it doesn't make me paranoid so much as make me mad. I guess the main concern there is that it is real and these people are really in power.

 

I swear though, I'm going to go apeshit at this guy if I have to keep hearing/ reading stuff like this:

Why is it that whenever truth is shining it's brightest that man always chooses to look the other direction. For those who listened to me in the past and really listened... Watch the news. Notice the similarties. The foretold statements happening. Just think about it please. Use your minds.

 

And the commenters all assure him that they are listening and that they are ready... Kill me.

[Shyone]

 

I swear though, I'm going to go apeshit at this guy if I have to keep hearing/ reading stuff like this:

Why is it that whenever truth is shining it's brightest that man always chooses to look the other direction. For those who listened to me in the past and really listened... Watch the news. Notice the similarties. The foretold statements happening. Just think about it please. Use your minds.

 

And the commenters all assure him that they are listening and that they are ready... Kill me.

This sounds a little like the insane ramblings of Garrido who kidnapped the girl 18 years ago.

 

But then, all religious rambling sounds alike to me.

[florduh]

14. I'm paranoid that the liberal left is actually running the far right's disinformation campaign to make it look like the far right is running the liberal left's disinformation campaign to make the far right appear to be running the liberal left's running of the far right.

 

Loren, that one's true. Hard to believe something so simple could actually work.

[Guest Davka]

I'm afraid of paranoia threads.

 

Get it off me! Get it off me! Aaaaauuugh!

 

[OpheliaGinger]

I'm more concerned with my immediate surroundings. I have been called paranoid for keeping all my doors and windows locked at all times even though I live in a rural area. I watch too many real crime documentaries to just shrug security off.

 

Other than that, I don't care too much about what goes on in the government because I am a peon that can do absolutely nothing. Voting has shown to be of little importance.

[Midnight-mindwanderings]

 

Other than that, I don't care too much about what goes on in the government because I am a peon that can do absolutely nothing. Voting has shown to be of little importance.

 

That is exactly how I feel

 

 

The guy I mentioned isn't actually religious unless you count his own god complex. He comes from an abusive Catholic background but would profess to not believe in god (I think - sometimes he does sometimes he doesn't). My dad believes any and all right wing paranoia that is out there, this other guy has his own brand of insanity. It all looks the same to me - utterly ridiculous. And anyway, if their predictions and paranoia are true at least it will be extremely interesting. I mean, wouldn't it be interesting if Obama was Hitler incarnate/ the Anti-Christ? Or if this crazy guy I know is a prophet?

 

"Define 'interesting'"

"Oh god oh god we're all going to die?"

[PaulQ]

To be honest, the only thing I really get paranoid of is the huge corporations, including the corporation known as the Catholic Church. I fear the rich and powerful are at war with the middle class, bent on wiping it out completely. Sometimes I wonder if they actively organize such that we put ourselves deep into debt, we end up spending the rest of our lives working for them to pay off our house, furniture, and cars many times over (thanks to the "Magic" of compound interest). I don't think it's even about money, it's about power and control.

 

Think about it: With all the automation we have today, everything should cost less. We should be able to get by working 6 hours a day, 30 hours a week with a month's worth of holidays every year. Four six hour shifts would cover a 24 hour operation. Instead, things cost more, in spite of automation. People are working 60 hour work weeks and no holidays. How can this be? The answer is simple; those in power are the big corporations, and they're not interested in making things better for everyone; they thrive on fighting, competition, and people burning themselves out. They manipulate the markets and prices to keep us fighting one another over whatever crumbs they throw us.

[Franko47]

12. The liberal left runs the media.

 

 

This is a huge feature of even the "reasonable right". At least in America. Practically every "Sarah Palin" fan you will find will blame CNN et al (and SNL) for her being portrayed as anything less than the saviour of America from the Obama socialists. The fact that she's incompetent would just never occur to them.

 

In Canada, the liberal-left does run the media. We've just come to accept it. Yet we have a stable Conservative minority government with high approval ratings.

 

All of this might be viable, but if anyone watched Glenn Beck this week, then it's clear that at the moment US conservative thought has hit rock-bottom. I'm a little ashamed at this moment to admit that until Obama I supported mostly Republican presidents. But politics in Canada is a little different. Up here, Obama could easily sit with the Conservative party. Easily. Although we don't really have a party for Dick Cheney. We banned that sort of thing after the war.

 

ouch.

[Astreja]

My #1 paranoiac fear is that some religious nutjob will acquire a nuclear weapon and use it in the name of whatever the heck they believe. And it doesn't matter what that belief actually is... Dead is dead.

[Shyone]

My #1 paranoiac fear is that some religious nutjob will acquire a nuclear weapon and use it in the name of whatever the heck they believe. And it doesn't matter what that belief actually is... Dead is dead.

Bush doesn't count?

[♦ Fuego ♦]

Not s much paranoid as just sad that so many folks seem to have set their minds aside and gobble up the drivel shoveled out as news. The talking heads said it, so it must be true. My oldest brother used to question things left and right, but after 30 years as a fundy, he just spouts the party line now. His latest rant is about how the new NIV bible is going to tamper with the word of God by being politically correct. So God could deliver it to bronze age tribesmen and have it kept intact for millenia, but can't protect it from translators... (*facepalm*). Wow, powerful deity you have there.

 

Conspiracy theories abound no matter what sector of culture to which one belongs.

 

Are there really people that want to take your stuff and rule over you?

Yes. Are they able to do so? Sometimes.

 

Are we all going to die?

Yes, eventually.

 

Are there uber-rich people that want even more money and power?

Yes.

 

Do they really have a place called the Bohemian Grove where they watch stupid plays about the Cremation of Care, and have the place patrolled by secretive security forces?

Yes, the play is worse than most grade-school plays I've seen. Yes, the uber-rich and powerful have good security forces.

 

Isn't it some kind of Satanic thing?

No, it is a bunch of rich white guys that are looking to blow off some steam by playing and carrying on silly traditions.

 

Is it really against the law to burn this plant and inhale the smoke?

Yes, but not this other plant. That one is ok.

 

Is it ok to show off my breasts in public?

Yes, but not the little bit at the end. That's illegal. Except for men. Nobody cares about man nipples. Except some religious people that nobody likes.

 

What does this have to do with paranoia?

There are rules in place enforced by guys with guns, and a culture with unwritten expectations often rooted deep in religion that we don't believe, but the rules don't always make sense and aren't always applied equally, and the cultural rules are trod out to shame you even if you aren't doing something expressly illegal. This can lead to paranoia, or at least exasperation.

[deathbyluxury]

The problem I have is with the term conspiracy theory. That term alone prevents a lot of reasonable dissent toward any government.

 

"Prudence and skepticism of our leaders and elite are the cornerstone of all free societies, where opposition is welcomed - not met with bad taste. Instead, today, all "conspiracy theories" are seen, bluntly, as attacks on the nation's State, where people would otherwise place faith in leaders - rather than individual initiative, and independent thought."

 

-Unknown

 

Skepticism is a great thing, but it seems that just about any one dissenter will be pigeonholed as a nutjob or a conspiracy kook. This isn't to say that there aren't some schizoid/kooky people/theories out there, but don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

 

If anyone has read or listened to John F. Kennedy's address to the American Newspaper Publishers Association (concerning the rise of the propaganda machine) in 1961, it's quite clear the corruption ran deep in the US government. To assume that it's declined or fizzled out since then can be chalked up to willful ignorance.

 

I guess I'm cursed, because I actually choose to read the full documents concerning things like the PATRIOT Act, Agenda 21/Codex Alimentarius, Operation Northwoods, and nearly obsolete documents such as the US Constitution and Declaration of Independence.

 

But I don't think it's an invasion by the Reptilian Annunaki Shape-shifting Aliens from Nibiru - I'm pretty sure it's wealthy, corrupt humans who want absolute power since they've got just about everything else.

 

And I wish David Icke would just shut the fuck up.

[Shyone]

 

I guess I'm cursed, because I actually choose to read the full documents concerning things like the PATRIOT Act, Agenda 21/Codex Alimentarius, Operation Northwoods, and nearly obsolete documents such as the US Constitution and Declaration of Independence.

 

But I don't think it's an invasion by the Reptilian Annunaki Shape-shifting Aliens from Nibiru - I'm pretty sure it's wealthy, corrupt humans who want absolute power since they've got just about everything else.

 

And I wish David Icke would just shut the fuck up.

You make many excellent points. I applaud you for taking the time to read the Patriot Act. I didn't, but got my information second hand. There wasn't much difference between the left and right on content, just consequences.

 

Determining which conspiracies are viable and which aren't is difficult. We have precedent and history to look at, and some statistical arguments for or against a particular theory, but it comes down to a judgment and that's like trying to tell the difference between a "cult" and a religion.

[Vigile]

I guess I'm cursed, because I actually choose to read the full documents concerning things like the PATRIOT Act, Agenda 21/Codex Alimentarius, Operation Northwoods, and nearly obsolete documents such as the US Constitution and Declaration of Independence.

 

But I don't think it's an invasion by the Reptilian Annunaki Shape-shifting Aliens from Nibiru - I'm pretty sure it's wealthy, corrupt humans who want absolute power since they've got just about everything else.

 

And I wish David Icke would just shut the fuck up.

 

Exactly. Lumping in obvious propaganda and recognition of special interest influence with conspiracy theory is a bit of a red herring for lack of a better analogy.