IT'S NOT PARANOIA IF . . .

As I understand it, paranoia is when you think something is after you, but it isn’t. If it is, that’s not paranoia -- it’s justified suspicion. There are all sorts of forces and indviduals in the world who are not really after you, but would like you to think they are. What do you do with that? I mean, apart from driving carefully, installing watchware, using Snopes to check out rumors -- that sort of thing. And why do so many people -- notably the Teabaggers -- LOVE paranoia, absolutely roll in it, spread and exaggerate it, and work themselves into a frenzy?

POSSIBLE ANSWERS:

1. Political power: the squeaking wheel gets the grease, unless you live in the wrong place. In some countries paranoia, especially the kind that blames the establishment, may be fulfilled in a possibly terminal way. In a democracy the problem seems to be that there is so many issues demanding attention from legislators, governors, courts, and so on, that changes that may be quite crucial to a small or a stigmatized group can only be brought to the front by emotionalizing it, using the shadow of danger to move it forward. But this can also drive denial, so that others become invested in covering up, suppressing information, confusing the issue.

2. Righteousness hoping to pass as virtue. This seems to be the dynamic that trips up a lot of religious and political leaders. By projecting a shell or front that displays the characteristics of people thought to be virtuous (nice suits, reversed collars, good haircuts) those who cannot produce real virtue slip around under cover.

3. Attracting rescuers. Help, help! I’m dying -- well, suffering at least! Write me a check!

4. Enjoying the disquietude of others and the feeling of being part of a “pack.” This is junior high school stuff and the foundation of bullying. When some people discover that they can produce emotional distress in others by calling them fat, or stink, or ugly, or gay, or retards, they feel entitled to do so. Even stronger than that is some deep biological urge for a group to eliminate those who don’t conform. This is sometimes called the “white crow” syndrome, since black crows will try to eliminate one painted white by experimenters.

5. Justifying violence and other extreme measures like endless prison sentences or surveillance cameras on every corner. If the danger is exaggerated, then money can become available for hypervigilance. Demonization has become a cottage industry in the United States. Drugs, immigrants, gun control, taxes, the census and what-have-you are in turn misrepresented and inflated without evidence and with no inquiry into the deep causes of what is really at stake. Probably the mainspring of all this is simple fear of change, which might disenfranchise those benefitting from the status quo.

6. At the other extreme, justifying passivity and withdrawal. No voting. No church. A steady stream of sensationalized media piped into the TV set, leading one to think the world is packed with kidnappers, arsonists, home invaders, rogue cops, etc. Bring me another beer.

7. Self-dosing with fear chemicals, like adrenaline. No one has commented that Chicken Little might have been suffering from a brain syndrome that was once justified when he was a little chickie and the sky was full of hawks. His brain may have rewired itself for a world in which sky is as terrifying as hawks, even when the hawk is gone. Adrenaline is addictive.

Those are all causes of fears that are not justified. The trouble is that the opposite, failing to fear or at least exercise caution, is just as dangerous. Lack of awareness may be comfortable, but dangerous. When I was working as an animal control officer, it was remarkable how little people paid attention to their own animals, how willing they were to minimize the effects of neglect, how off-handedly callous they were about other people. They don’t save money, buckle their seat belts or call in the the smell of gas leaks. They don’t get exercise, eat properly, wear bells in bear country, check their cinch, brush their teeth or any of the many many many small things we’re all supposed to do. Much of this comes from their failure to think of long-term effects. Some of it comes from misunderstanding of statistics. And a lot of it comes from “warning fatigue.” A person begins to be impatient, even to WANT to take risks just for the helluvit. Oh, the thrill of eating trans fats!

“Paranoia” was originally a technical term invented as jargon in the psychiatric community that we gave so much cultural power after WWII. You can tell because the word was invented from Greek: “para” and “noos,” originally meaning "distracted or demented.” My New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary suggests as examples “delusions of persecution, unwarranted jealousy, exaggerated self-importance” or (second meaning) “a tendency to suspect or distrust others or to believe oneself unfairly used.” Remember, if it’s true it’s not paranoia and some of us ARE persecuted, unfairly used, jealous with good reasons, and SHOULD suspect and distrust others. Keep in mind this is social definition by usage and NOT the psychiatric community’s definition, which is usually narrower.

How does anyone figure out what is justifiable wariness? You could use a respected authority. (Oh, right. Like your parish priest.) You could use history as a measure of comparison. But nothing in the past has been like today. When have we ever had an Internet that can be silently invaded ? When have there ever been such masses of people shifting from one culture to another, facing entirely new rules?

When have we ever had such a split between haves and have-nots? When have we had such an unreliable media community? Well, um, forget the last two questions. We have ALWAYS had a huge split between the wealthy/powerful and the poor/helpless, it’s just that we managed to buffer it with a big middle class there for a while. So the question is, how are we losing that? (I think we are, partly because of technology. Consider the split between those who have and operate computers and those who don’t. )

And we have ALWAYS had a media that fed off fear and destruction. Here I sit in a prairie village worrying about mud slides and coal explosions. (I probably ought to worry a bit about earthquakes.) My saner ancestors always said: “Prepare for the worst, expect the best, and take what comes.” This is a three-pronged remedy for paranoia.