…don’t over-estimate your own merits; don’t expect others to take as much interest in you as you do yourself; don’t imagine that most people give enough thought to you to have any special desire to persecute you. –Bertrand Russell
In May, 1798, Jedidiah Morse delivered a powerful sermon that grabbed the attention of our young country. At that time, you might remember, our nation was divided between Jeffersonians-Francophiles and Federalists-Anglophiles [the Federalists, mostly, prevailed – Gentle Reader, if you want to educate yourself a bit read and study the ‘Federalist’ and ‘Anti-Federalist’ Papers].
Morse had been smitten by Paranoia and was convinced that the United States, too, was a victim of a Jacobinical plot rooted in Illuminism. He called for the Nation to be rallied to defend herself against this great international conspiracy. Morse’s warnings did take root in New England, the hot-bed of Federalism. The Federalists not only felt threatened by Jeffersonian Democracy but were also threatened by what they perceived as the rising tide of religious infidelity [their ‘view’ of what religious fidelity looked like was being threatened].
Morse’s message was picked up by Timothy Dwight, the President of Yale. Timothy held forth against this ‘Anti-Christ’ during an address he gave in New Haven in 1798: ‘The sins of these enemies of Christ and Christians, are of numbers and degrees which mock account and description… Shall we, my brethren, become partakers of these sins? Shall we introduce them into our government, our schools, our families? Shall our sons become the disciples of Voltaire or our daughters the concubines of the Illuminati?’
Morse’s and Dwight’s messages were taken up by others and quickly the pulpits of New England were passionately denouncing the ‘big threat’ that was about to cover them like a great tsunami. [AN ASIDE: These denunciations become more intelligible if we remember that there were a number of Democratic-Republican societies which folks believed to be Jacobinical and were also the fomenters of the ‘Whiskey Rebellion.’] It was now generally believed, in New England at least, that the present day is unfolding a design the most extensive, flagitious, and diabolical, that human art and malice have ever invented. Its object is the total destruction of all religion and civil order…
These writers and ‘spreaders-of-the-message’ illustrate the major tap root of ‘Paranoia as a Style’ – the existence of a vast, insidious, effective conspiratorial network designed to perpetrate acts of the most diabolical character [Sound Familiar?].
Given this, let us briefly explore a few more historical manifestations of this Style. I continue our history exploration for I believe it is crucial for us to understand the staying power of this Style. It is also crucial for us to understand that this powerful tap root has endured for hundreds of years and that it should be no surprise that, given the right climate and attention, it surfaced again – a garden of wild-flowers, full of seeds and fruit distributed by the winds and hands of fear.
‘Who’s they?’ He wanted to know. ‘Who, specifically, do you think is trying to murder you?’ ‘Every one of them,’ Yossarian told him. ‘Every one of whom?’ …Yossarian had proof, because strangers he didn’t know shot at him with cannons every time he flew up into the air to drop bombs on them… –Joseph Heller, ‘Catch-22’ [I first read ‘Catch-22’ in 1964. Gentle Reader, if you have not read it I invite you to do so; like ‘Mash’ – the novel – a great anti-war novel.]
Searcher-Seeker 