Flimsy Sanity: Everybody's Paranoid About Something

Flimsy Sanity

In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule. - Friedrich Nietzsche

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Everybody's Paranoid About Something



There are plenty of conspiracy theories to choose from: 9-11, Kennedy Assassination, UFO's, the Masons, the Illuminati, Skull and Bones, New World Order, that Reagan's shooter was a Bush family friend, that AIDS was manufactured, that the levees in New Orleans were blown up, that the Waco fire was set by ATF, there are enough to go around. This conspiracy site is actually very interesting reading and according to Wikipedia:
A number of true or possibly true conspiracies are cited in making this case (for conspiracies); the Mafia, the Business Plot to overthrow Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1933, the MKULTRA mind control program, various CIA involvements in overseas coups d'état, Operation Northwoods, the 1991 US Congress Testimony of Nayirah (that babies were being thrown out of incubators in Kuwait), the Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male, the General Motors streetcar conspiracy, the plot by the British Secret Service to destabilize Prime Minister Harold Wilson and the Pearl Harbor advance-knowledge debate, among others.

According to a recent study, Paranoid Thoughts Almost As Common As Depression/Anxiety Reveal King's College Scientists
The frequency of paranoid and suspicious thoughts in the general population

% having thought at least weekly

-- I need to be on my guard against others - 52%
-- Strangers and friends look at me critically - 48%
-- There might be negative comments being circulated about me - 42%
-- People are laughing at me - 34%
-- Bad things are being said about me behind my back - 30%
-- People might be hostile towards me - 29%
-- People deliberately try to irritate me - 27%
-- I might be being observed or followed - 19%
-- People are trying to make me upset - 12%
-- Someone I know has bad intentions towards me - 12%
-- I am under threat from others - 10%
-- I have a suspicion that someone has it in for me - 8%
-- Someone I don't know has bad intentions towards me - 8%
-- People would harm me given the opportunity - 8%
-- There is a possibility of a conspiracy against me - 5%


The only paranoia that is seen as commendable is that you are under constant surveillance by a God. In some states, this belief is even required to run for office. Many people make millions of dollars out of promoting this delusional thinking unlike most conspiracies which might generate a book but not THE BOOK.

8 Comments:

  • At 5:10 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    With the sheer number of conspiracy theories that abound, I suppose it's odds-on a few must come up trumps. Let's face it, with the criminals that are vying to be top politicians these days - all over the world - many conspiracy theories are gaining far greater credence. Once, we may have thought, "No, they would never stoop to that." These days, we know only too well they will.

    I don't always agree with his politics, but Bill Maher must be the funniest man on American television, at least for me. I hadn't seen that clip.

     
  • At 10:03 PM, Blogger Not Your Mama said…

    Paranoia, at least as far as regards oneself personally, requires a certain degree of narcissism. You have to believe you are important enough to others that they would seek to harm you.

    Luckily for me I'm convinced of my own irrelevance so this doesn't trouble me much ;).

     
  • At 3:47 AM, Blogger Flimsy Sanity said…

    RJ: I agree, especially about 9-11. 9/11 Smoking Guns found in the Mainstream Media is pretty persuasive and the fact that Building 7 collapsed is just unexplainable, but like Maher says - we saw the planes.

    Not Mama: I do not think I am important, but some people are willing to do anything for money so one has to be careful. A totally trusting person is easy pickings.

     
  • At 7:59 AM, Blogger ryk said…

    I might be being observed or followed - 19%

    This is my first visit here, but I'll be watching you now...

     
  • At 9:24 AM, Blogger Not Your Mama said…

    A totally trusting person is easy pickings.

    Fer sure. The reason you state is not paranoia though, it's simply recognizing human nature for what it is and protecting oneself accordingly.

     
  • At 1:18 PM, Blogger liberated psych said…

    This comment has been removed by the author.

     
  • At 1:20 PM, Blogger Flimsy Sanity said…

    ryk: Damn.

     
  • At 4:18 AM, Blogger United We Lay said…

    I was disappointed in Bill Maher foer this. It's true that conspiracy theories abound, but that doesn't happen if there's no question of truth.

     

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