General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Those who demand that everyone "just ACCEPT that Oswald did it"... [View all]The Midway Rebel
(2,191 posts)"The enemy is clearly delineated: he is a perfect model of malice, a kind of amoral supermansinister, ubiquitous, powerful, cruel, sensual, luxury-loving. Unlike the rest of us, the enemy is not caught in the toils of the vast mechanism of history, himself a victim of his past, his desires, his limitations. He wills, indeed he manufactures, the mechanism of history, or tries to deflect the normal course of history in an evil way. He makes crises, starts runs on banks, causes depressions, manufactures disasters, and then enjoys and profits from the misery he has produced. The paranoids interpretation of history is distinctly personal: decisive events are not taken as part of the stream of history, but as the consequences of someones will. Very often the enemy is held to possess some especially effective source of power: he controls the press; he has unlimited funds; he has a new secret for influencing the mind (brainwashing); he has a special technique for seduction (the Catholic confessional)."
From "The Paranoid Style in American Politics" by Richard Hofstadter