In the end, the real mystery, for one who reads the primary works of paranoid scholarship, is not how the United States has been brought to its present dangerous position but how it has managed to survive at all.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The real mystery of paranoid scholarship is how the US survived despite the dangers it perceived, rather than how it reached its current state.
- In plain terms
- It is surprising the US survived given the dangers paranoid scholars see.
- What can you take from it?
- Paranoia often exaggerates threats to the point of absurdity.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Why does paranoia persist?
- How do nations survive crises?
Another view
This view might dismiss legitimate concerns about national security.
More from Richard Hofstadter
Anti-Catholicism has always been the pornography of the Puritan.
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Permalink to quote #13 The idea of the paranoid style as a force in politics would have little contemporary relevance or historical value if it were applied only to men with profound…
Permalink to quote #10
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