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1/3 In 1964, and in what would become a seriously influential essay, the American historian Richard Hofstadter talked of politics being infected by what he called "the paranoid style"
it includes "heated exaggeration, suspiciousness & conspiratorial fantasy .. the enemy possesses a especially effective source of power: he controls the press; has unlimited funds; has a secret for influencing the mind (brainwashing); he has a special technique for seduction"
Hofstadter argued that the paranoid style was especially prominent among people who shared an intense sense of "powerlessness" - a feeling that "the country has been taken away from them" - all of which fuelled a tendeny to view the world in apocalyptic, conspiratorial terms
Hofstadter was trying to help the left make sense of the (far) right. But as I look around Twitter his thesis has as much to say about parts of the left & Remainia, if not more so, as the right. It's migrated. & unlike the 1960s it's being legitimised
harpers.org/archive/1964/1…
harpers.org/archive/1964/1…
