American politics has often been an arena for angry minds. In recent years we have seen angry minds at work mainly among extreme right-wingers, who have now demonstrated in the Goldwater movement how much political leverage can be got out of the animosities and passions of a small minority. But behind this I believe there is a style of mind that is far from new and that is not necessarily right-wing. I call it the paranoid style simply because no other word adequately evokes the sense of heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy that I have in mind. In using the expression “paranoid style” I am not speaking in a clinical sense, but borrowing a clinical term for other purposes. I have neither the competence nor the desire to classify any figures of the past or present as certifiable lunatics. In fact, the idea of the paranoid style as a force in politics would have little contemporary relevance or historical value if it were applied only to men with profoundly disturbed minds. It is the use of paranoid modes of expression by more or less normal people that makes the phenomenon significant.
It’s written at a higher than 6th grade target, so it might be a challenge for anyone who’s not used to that. Please give it a good faith effort to read.
Thinking about it, the low literacy rate in the US might be an aggravating factor. Something like half of US adults cannot read at a 6th grade level. That’s going to hurt their ability to deal with complex topics.
It’s written at a higher than 6th grade target, so it might be a challenge for anyone who’s not used to that. Please give it a good faith effort to read
You know, you lose a lot of people with comments like that, talking down to everyone. You’ve provided a source that makes a lot of good points, but that’s some alienating phrasing that’ll make people feel you’re elitist.
I wrote that bit because when I was reading the linked article, it felt harder to read and understand than what I’m used to. So it wasn’t really coming from malicious elitism.
On the other hand, I want to live in a world where people don’t feel insulted (even when it was by accident, like here!) and just completely stop listening. I know I do it too, but it sucks.
Especially with the “elitism” facet. Sometimes other people actually are better than us on whatever topic. That’s okay. Like if we were talking about math and you were like “This uses some complex algorithms so it might be hard to follow if you haven’t done more than algebra in a few years” I’m not going to be mad. What would I even be mad about?
I’m sorry for assuming your intentions were less than innocent and positive. I also want to live in that sort of world, and I hope it didn’t seem like I was jumping on your case or calling you a jerk. I just think it’s important to choose our words in a way that encourages people to read. Too often people think they’re bad at reading or math or something and so they avoid it, when it should be more like singing; it doesn’t matter if it sounds good, we sing as a manner of expression. Reading should be for everyone. But, I was misguided, and you weren’t disagreeing with that notion, and so I’m sorry.
It is very rare for anyone on the internet to apologize or admin fault. Well done. Thank you. I understand your intent and I’m not mad. Apology accepted.
There are different reading levels, but I don’t know a lot about them because I’m not in education.
You can probably recognize it even if you never thought about it before. “See spot run” or “Green eggs and ham” are very simple texts. Something like “the Great Gatsby” or “the Hobbit” are more complex, and a 2nd grader would struggle to read them even if they technically know how to read.
Technical manuals, works on a specialist topic, or … my knowledge fails me a little here, but like more complicated novels, may be more advanced. More advanced in vocabulary, sentence structure, and things like symbolism, metaphor, or whatever cool shit House of Leaves was doing.
I think this is a sample of a text written at the 6th grade level www.oxfordonlineenglish.com/…/reading . I looked it up when that article about how most adults can’t read and comprehend at that level was going around.
I don’t think we’re really on the same page. Literacy and intelligence aren’t the same thing. But if you take nothing else away from this, I think you got the “higher reading levels are more complex” thing. Maybe.
Also I think you have a typo and one of your can should be can’t
I would also add things we consider conspiracy like UFO’s have been seen all over the world just other countries usually have a religious or spiritual reason for the sightings and thus they don’t become a conspiracy just part of their everyday life. Look up Jacques Vallee he does great research into this.
IMO it should be in ai communities or at least labeled as such. It’s so disheartening that ai is doing art when it should be doing the menial tasks to free us to do art
Yes, though you have to remember, in most other places, the government cracks down on conspiracy theories. For example, if you live in China and believe that certain groups are secretly being mistreated, you’re going to have the authorities on your tail.
A lot of variables in the magic to consider, but if you retain your knowledge, than 35 back to 15. You’ve essentially matured as far as you will at that point, started a family or married if you will do so, found stabilization in your career or at least moved far down that path, you hit the major milestones.
So back to 15 and then you live out the bulk of your high school with knowledge to help you actually enjoy learning, slow pace of high school, form lasting lifelong friendships, properly pursue education beyond high school, then live your 20s with a full appreciation for what they are, start saving money the right way, date the right way and invest in all of the tech companies before they get big so that you’re obscenely wealthy through your late 20s and beyond.
Use the money to line a small island completely with underground dynamite charges. Invite trump, tell him you’re offering him an unlimited budget to make the island into the first trump island and resort, hand him a golden shovel and say, “I’m going to get in this helicopter to get higher up to take a nice cinematic shot of you breaking ground for the press release” when you’re out of the blast radius, press the button. You’ve done one of the greater services to humanity by any living human in history. Enjoy your earned retirement.
I feel like Americans generally “know better”. The bottle says to take two, we know better than to follow the label, we take four. The button says to hold until three quarters full, we know better than to fall for that coffee stealing scheme, we crank that baby till it spills over and then try to add 10 creamers with a name we can’t pronounce. So when we hear that someone died under a bizarre circumstance, we know better.
I feel like Americans generally “know better”. The bottle says to take two, we know better than to follow the label, we take four. The button says to hold until three quarters full, we know better than to fall for that coffee stealing scheme, we crank that baby till it spills over and then try to add 10 creamers with a name we can’t pronounce. So when we hear that someone died under a bizarre circumstance, we know better.
I have taken to calling this “American Exceptionalism”. Its in some ways baked in to how Americans address their world. I think much of it comes from pride-in-struggle, that for many Americans, their pride is all they have. And so this needs to be bolstered, put up front.
Pretty much all food. I can work for 5 minutes and buy 700 Calories’ worth of trail mix. My work consists of walking around a climate controlled room answering questions about things people are buying.
This means that with 15 minutes per day of effort, I get a diet more consistent than my ancestors could get with six hours of work per day.
I think that the distrust of governments and generally those in power is a world-wide phenomenon. But I personally don’t think that it is unwarranted. Corruption, abuses of power, and conspiracies are widespread.
What do you mean? Can you describe what you mean with ‘fascist rulership’? Then maybe I can try.
For example… people in Mexico many people suspect that politicians have associations with drug dealers, and many believe believe that particular bureaucratic systems (such as handing out public infrastructure projects) are exploited to distribute funds in ways that benefit those in power and their friends, these people I would classify as “conspiracy theorists”, and in many cases they have been correct. You think that these people will always side with fascist rulership?
Fascist as in the US actively supporting and financing terrorism in countries it wants control over, historically. Like the Contras, that type of fascism.
And I think that being suspicious has been co-opted by the right wing, yes.
Fascist as in the US actively supporting and financing terrorism in countries it wants control over, historically.
Isn’t this a conspiracy theory? I think that the official position of the US is that they are not financing terrorists, and many of their military actions have been performed to defend citizens from their ruler’s human rights violations. Isn’t the Cuban embargo officially there to protect the Cubans against human rights violations? I think that arguing otherwise makes one a conspiracy theorist.
I am not saying this to argue, I am trying to explain what I understand with conspiracy theory - someone who is skeptical about the official narrative, and believes that those in power will not always be transparent and honest to the public.
And I think that being suspicious has been co-opted by the right wing, yes.
I am aware of the “drain the swamp” rhetoric, that there was a QAnon, anti-vax, and other more fringe theories. But I think that this is a sub-set of conspiracy theorizing that is amplified by the media. Many conspiracy theorists are investigative journalists and critics of governments. And many conspiracy theories have ended up being true. I don’t think that critical thought and skepticism is an exercise that only right-wingers should participate in.
Literally Sandinistas and Contras. Literally one of the world’s most egregious and “oh shit we got caught” moments in US history. Iran-Contras affair doesn’t ring a bell, does it? Why don’t you start there for both our sakes.
Home grown conspiracy theorists are basically all fascist, yes. That whole segment of knowledge, if you can call it that, was astropaved by the right wing decades ago. Let’s put it this way, Alex Jones isn’t voting left. There is always a big bad wolf that you can’t see, and the only cure is voting right.
It rings a bell but I am not familiar with the details, I will look into it but I can’t address it right away. I am well aware that the US is an imperialist nation that has committed and continues to commit horrible acts all over the world. But the point is that this is not the official narrative of the US government. They may give some concessions about what occurred in the past, but the official narrative about what is happening now is always that they and their friends are the good guys.
I am not from the US and the question is about conspiracy theories in other countries. If the question means whether Americans are more prone to believe US-conspiracy theories, then yes, simply because they are much more likely to be aware of them. Many people in other countries don’t consume as much media in English and might have no idea who Jeffrey Epstein was. So they probably have no opinion on whether there was foul play on his dead. But I think that if you talk to someone in Mexico and tell them the story of Epstein, most will agree that there was foul play involved. I am telling you this from my personal experience, at least within my circle but I think it expands more generally. We have a general distrust of the government and law enforcement, and so a story in which foul play is involved to silence someone else resonates. It happens all the time! Journalists are being killed all the time around here to silence them, and very often they are being critical of people in power… Is it really that unwarranted to be suspicious?
Those are fair points- I’m not native US either, just to make clear, and I understand what you’re saying. It’s kind of like, better safe than sorry? There is an evolutionary advantage in beings suspicious, in fact some say that the act of lying and lie detection in humans had a significant impact in forming our ability to communicate through language, so it’s a big deal, sure. We don’t want to get hustled, know what I mean?
The issues arise later, when all our needs are met and we’re fed and cozy, and still our minds try to evolve and suspect everything around us because- better safe than sorry, right?
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