BY JOHN FEEHERY
Reprinted from TheFeeheryTheory.com
The Blade Runner was paranoid.
South African Olympic track star Oscar Pistorius shot and killed his beautiful girl-friend and those gun-shots have been heard around the world.
We don’t know if the no-legged phenom was paranoid over a potential intruder (as he maintains) or was paranoid over the beauty’s faithfulness (which the police could charge), but we do know that paranoia played a role.
Paranoia plays a huge role in our national political discussion. Despite the fact that crime is at historic lows, everybody is paranoid that the bad guys are coming to rob them.
Everybody has a security system these days. And everybody wants a gun to shoot dead those intruders who are almost certain to come into their homes.
Joe Biden suggests that instead of using an AK-47 to fend off the mostly non-existent marauders, that we should all buy a shot-gun. Thanks Joe, for easing our fears.
In South Africa, of course, there are plenty of good reasons to be paranoid. White people live in constant fear of the black majority, and black on white crime is fairly common. And in many cases, a shotgun just won’t get the job done.
But that is not the case in America.
Black on white crime is far more common than white on black crime in the United States, but that is dwarfed by black on black crime. And much of that black on black crime is stoked by…wait for it…..paranoia. And that paranoia is fueled by gang violence and fed by the illegal drug trade.
Paranoia goes beyond just guns in America. There is a whole paranoia profiteering industry out there.
Gold prices have sky-rocketed because many Americans assume that the Federal Reserve Monetary system will collapse any day now. Of course, the higher gold prices go up the better off the Federal Reserve is because it owns more gold than just about any other entity in the world. But that fact is lost on most of the gold bugs.
Paranoia profiteers do exceptionally well in the media world. Glen Beck first plied the doomsday Mormonism cult on Fox but now has built an empire on the Internet. If you want to be scared out of your wits, please Google ‘Glen Beck’ and then click on the first link you see. Very exciting.
Nancy Grace has made a nice little business on the Headline News focusing exclusively on child kidnappers and other assorted creeps. I bet you the numbers on those types of crimes have stayed largely stable over the last 100 years, but by putting such a huge spotlight on the sporadic (and tragic) criminal occurrences, the Media moguls get big ratings and parents get freaked out. Thusly are bore a generation of helicopter parents.
Paranoia is defined:
“…as a thought process believed to be heavily influenced by anxiety or fear, often to the point of irrationality and delusion. Paranoid thinking typically includes persecutory beliefs, or beliefs of conspiracy concerning a perceived threat towards oneself. (e.g. “Everyone is out to get me.”) Making false accusations and the general distrust of others also frequently accompany paranoia. For example, an incident most people would view as an accident or coincidence, a paranoid person might believe was intentional.”
Pretty much sums up our politics and our society today.
Editor’s Note: John Feehery worked for former House Speaker Dennis Hastert and other Republicans in Congress. Feehery is president of Quinn Gillespie Communications. He is a contributor to The Hill’s Pundits Blog and blogs at thefeeherytheory.com.