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Richard Hofstadter's The Paranoid Style In American Politics

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The Paranoid Style In the essay The Paranoid Style in American Politics, Richard Hofstadter refers to what he calls “paranoid style”. The paranoid style is essentially defined as, high-ranking officials working with or against another group as a way to see the world and express oneself. He relates this in particular in the essay to the extreme right-winged individuals, not labeling them as conservatives, but basically as conspiracy theorists. Hofstadter focuses on the conspiracy as a force in history. These people think that subjects with higher authority are using that to influence and alter the minds of groups to make them think a certain way. I believe that he is correct to a certain degree. In politics there are individuals that will spread rumors that are meant to change your mind, or give you a reason to hate their policies. Same applies with conspiracies; this happens in everyday life, there are people constantly trying to control people’s opinions to make them change their minds. A certain number of people will always go about this paranoid style, and these people will theoretically be annoyed about whatever the conflict may be. Therefore, with this repetitiveness of …show more content…

Just about any conspiracy theory that is out there today has some sort of political link to it. For example, the 9/11 terrorists attack was said to be plotted out by the Bush administration. Also, when Barrack Obama was competing in the presidential race there were theories thrown out about his birth certificate and how it went ‘missing’. Many people were in disbelief about him being born in the United States. The lists could go on as many people have their own theories. However, the long and short of it is that as long as there are politics, people will always be starting rumors (or conspiracies), and trying to uproot the issues. Americans are spinning the country around so people do not know what exactly to

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