Paranoia, Will Destroy You
By Mitch Berg
Amid all the accusations and the elaborate flummery about “avalanches of violence and threats”, and as the left works itself into a self-righteous lather about the base benightedness of its opposition, it’s worth keeping things in some historical perspective.
With that in mind, I direct you to “The Paranoid Center” by Jesse Walker.
Here’s your fifteen seconds of exposition…:
We’ve heard ample warnings about extremist paranoia in the months since Barack Obama became president, and we’re sure to hear many more throughout his term. But we’ve heard almost nothing about the paranoia of the political center. When mainstream commentators treat a small group of unconnected crimes as a grand, malevolent movement, they unwittingly echo the very conspiracy theories they denounce. Both brands of connect-the-dots fantasy reflect the tellers’ anxieties much more than any order actually emerging in the world.
When such a story is directed at those who oppose the politicians in power, it has an additional effect. The list of dangerous forces that need to be marginalized inevitably expands to include peaceful, legitimate critics.
…but you really do need to read the whole thing.
March 30th, 2010 at 12:58 pm
I just had a good laugh. The lede on the Daily Beast today is the complete story on the Militia that couldn’t shoot straight, complete with mugshots. Ooooooh, watch out for those wingnuts.
Story number two was about the two female suicide bombers who joined their ancestors yesterday. No mug shots.
I think Tina Brown has her priorities upside down if the order was supposed to indicate some sort of threat level.
March 30th, 2010 at 1:34 pm
And now the Democrats are using this to fear-monger their useful idiots into coughing up money for the party and campaigns.
Mitch, do you think Dog Gone will write up a blog post on how horrible the Democrats are for such fear mongering scare tactics?
Which reminds me, I heard on the news that the tics are supposed to get really nasty this year.
March 30th, 2010 at 2:11 pm
AC’s head is gonna explode.
March 30th, 2010 at 10:01 pm
“Amid all the accusations and the elaborate flummery” – yeah, DARNED that Eric Cantor! What a flummeryerer. LOL
March 30th, 2010 at 10:33 pm
Yeah, but I already wrote about Cantor.
And since an actual charge has been filed (unlike every single charge the Democrats have brought this past week), it by definition not flummery.
LOL.
March 31st, 2010 at 1:56 pm
Geeze, Mitch, if you’re going to quote me (“avalanche of violence and threats”) you could at least give me credit for it.
But thanks for reading me.
March 31st, 2010 at 2:03 pm
Oh! An “avalanche”! Quick, suspend habeas corpus and call out the Homeland Security Army!!!
March 31st, 2010 at 7:53 pm
“call out the Homeland Security Army!!!”
Um, no.
The likes of Clown, Penigma and DG want a “Committee for the Defense of the Revolution”.
April 1st, 2010 at 8:40 pm
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