"Why So Paranoid?": The Case of Conspiracy Theory (Not as Paranoia)
Abushal, Abdulrahman . 2019
For decades, conspiracy theory has always been perceived as an expression of paranoid experience. Because of the analogical connection between paranoia and conspiracy theory, the latter has been subject to dismissal because of the negative connotations of the former. Conspiracy theory in general is reduced to irrationality. However, it is much more complex than that. In this paper, I make the case that conspiracy theory is a historical phenomenon that has almost nothing to do with paranoid cognitions, even though some of it are in fact the result of paranoid experience of distrust. I make the distinction between paranoia and conspiracy theory as two separate phenomena.
Conspiracy theory is a challenging term. It often describes a form of the irrational belief that conspiracies with nefarious goals exist. However, conspiracy theory can be an epistemological…
For decades, conspiracy theory has always been perceived as an expression of paranoid experience. Because of the analogical connection between paranoia and conspiracy theory, the latter has been…
Thomas Pynchon’s The Crying of Lot 49, a classic postmodern text, features its central character, Oedipa Maas, as she goes through a journey through which she investigates the…