re: #102 Mich-again

A distinction I was riffing on is the one between paranoia that has an actual threat as its object and simply exaggerates, and paranoia that imagines threats where there can be none.

The Islamophobes aren’t imagining that Islamism is a threat. 9/11 happened. I remember (but will probably get his name wrong) an American Muslim who went to work for Lashkar-e-taiba, one of the most brutal terrorist organizations in the world (he was arrested when he got back to this country from Kashmir). So even the claim that our Muslims can become terrorists is not mere delusion.

I think that’s different from believing that the FBI blew up the Boston Marathon.

There’s a difference between cowardice and delusion. My suggestion the other day is that delusion is deliberate, that people who imagine enemies where there can be no enemies are pretending. They’re seeking safe excitement. And I think that dangerous radicals may have the same psychology and even the same beliefs.