{"id":45682,"date":"2014-10-07T15:44:22","date_gmt":"2014-10-07T21:44:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/07\/the-model-of-a-modern-political-paranoid.html"},"modified":"2014-10-13T13:42:52","modified_gmt":"2014-10-13T19:42:52","slug":"the-model-of-a-modern-political-paranoid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/10\/07\/the-model-of-a-modern-political-paranoid.html","title":{"rendered":"The Model of a Modern Political Paranoid"},"content":{"rendered":"

Quoth one modern representative: "How can we account for our present situation unless we believe that men high in this government are concerting to deliver us to disaster? This must be the product of a great conspiracy on a scale so immense as to dwarf any previous such venture in the history of man. A conspiracy of infamy so black that, which it is finally exposed, its principals shall be forever deserving of the maledictions of all honest men. . . . What can be made of this unbroken series of decisions and acts contributing to the strategy of defeat? They cannot be attributed to incompetence. . . . The laws of probability would dictate that part of . . . [the] decisions would serve the country’s interest."<\/i><\/p>\n

Which could be ripped from the op-ed pages or radio screeds or blog postings of a thousand different modern commentators … but in reality came from Sen. Joseph McCarthy in June 1951 ("modern" being a relative term).<\/p>\n

I ran across it in an article by historian Richard Hofstadter from 50 years ago, "The Paranoid Style in American Politics" (http:\/\/harpers.org\/archive\/1964\/11\/the-paranoid-style-in-american-politics\/?single=1<\/a>), and it's a fascinating read that resonates with a lot of American politics today (mostly, though not solely, and not always, from the Right). It's worth a read. As Hofstadter describes the political paranoid:<\/p>\n

'As a member of the avant-garde who is capable of perceiving the conspiracy before it is fully obvious to an as yet unaroused public, the paranoid is a militant leader. He does not see social conflict as something to be mediated and compromised, in the manner of the working politician. Since what is at stake is always a conflict between absolute good and absolute evil, what is necessary is not compromise but the will to fight things out to a finish. Since the enemy is thought of as being totally evil and totally unappeasable, he must be totally eliminated—if not from the world, at least from the theatre of operations to which the paranoid directs his attention. This demand for total triumph leads to the formulation of hopelessly unrealistic goals, and since these goals are not even remotely attainable, failure constantly heightens the paranoid’s sense of frustration. Even partial success leaves him with the same feeling of powerlessness with which he began, and this in turn only strengthens his awareness of the vast and terrifying quality of the enemy he opposes.'<\/i><\/p>\n

Yeah, that sounds pretty familiar. Though these days it seems like the paranoids are running the asylum. But maybe that's just me<\/i> being paranoid.<\/p>\n

Is it any surprise, though, that "Tail-Gunner Joe" is undergoing such a rehabilitative resurgence in popularity in some corners?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/a><\/div>\n
\n<\/a>\u00a0\n<\/div>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Quoth one modern representative: "How can we account for our present situation unless we believe that men high in this government are concerting to deliver us to disaster? This must be the product of a great conspiracy on a scale so immense as to dwarf any previous such venture in the history of man. A … Continue reading “The Model of a Modern Political Paranoid”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45683,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,108,17,9,358],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-45682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plusposts","category-history","category-homeland-security","category-politics-law","category-poor-citizenship"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/10\/paranoid-eye-is-watching-you5B15D.jpegimgmax=660.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":138545,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/04\/03\/the-decline-and-fall-of-worldnutdaily.html","url_meta":{"origin":45682,"position":0},"title":"The decline and fall of “WorldNutDaily”","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 3-Apr-19 6:20pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The zany birther WND \"news\" site is on the verge of shutting their doors.","rel":"","context":"In "Conspiracy Nuts"","block_context":{"text":"Conspiracy Nuts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/conspiracy-nuts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/wnd-page.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/wnd-page.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/wnd-page.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/wnd-page.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6801,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/12\/28\/ripped_from_tod.html","url_meta":{"origin":45682,"position":1},"title":"Ripped from today’s headlines …","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 28-Dec-04 7:12pm","format":false,"excerpt":"A marvelous article on \"The Paranoid Style in American Politics,\" including this marvelous quote from a US Senator: How can we account for our present situation unless we believe that...","rel":"","context":"In "Politics & Law"","block_context":{"text":"Politics & Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":128622,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/11\/06\/aliens-are-getting-rid-of-the-h2-channel.html","url_meta":{"origin":45682,"position":2},"title":"ALIENS ARE GETTING RID OF THE H2 CHANNEL!","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 6-Nov-15 3:43pm","format":false,"excerpt":"No, wait, it's not Aliens, it's A&E. The network will be replacing (in early 2016) H2 with a Vice channel.http:\/\/variety.com\/2015\/tv\/news\/vice-h2-a-and-e-1201483429\/I have to say, I'll be sorry to see it go. H2 is our default broadcast\/cable channel, since we rarely watch live TV. That means between DVR sessions, movies, etc., we'll\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Giorgio%2BTsoukalos%2Byes%2Bit%2Bis.gifimgmax%3D660.gif?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":130223,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/03\/18\/the-obama-muslim-conspiracy-is-really-a-jewish-conspiracy.html","url_meta":{"origin":45682,"position":3},"title":"The Obama Muslim Conspiracy Is Really a Jewish Conspiracy?","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 18-Mar-16 4:34am","format":false,"excerpt":"Silly White Supremacists. Don't they know that Obama is out to advance the World Muslim Hegemony, not the World Jewish Hegemony? Get your Semitic religious straight, White Supremacists!(Though I'll say this: some of the people who scoff at paranoids tallying up what percentage of SCOTUS is Jewish and would the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":136937,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/09\/05\/in-denver-we-own-our-conspiracy-theories.html","url_meta":{"origin":45682,"position":4},"title":"In Denver, we OWN our conspiracy theories","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 5-Sep-18 5:55pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Denver International Airport (DEN) has been the subject of endless conspiracy theories since its construction, from rumors of underground labor camps (or bunkers or dwelling places for lizard people), to swastika-shaped runways, to (for some) bizarre murals, to the clearly evil blue horse sculpture at the entrance (\"Blucifer\" as the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/den-conspiracy-posters-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":130497,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/04\/26\/on-the-profound-cruelty-of-conspiracy-addicts.html","url_meta":{"origin":45682,"position":5},"title":"On the profound cruelty of conspiracy addicts","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 26-Apr-16 11:39pm","format":false,"excerpt":"I am sincerely trying to understand how some people could be so cruel, so incomprehending, so blindly devoted to a cause that they would ignore the potential of what pain they are causing if they are wrong.I mean, is this gunnuttery? Is it anti-government whack-a-doodltry? Is it just sheer psychopathic\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45682"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45777,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45682\/revisions\/45777"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/45683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}