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Brains are interesting structures. As we develop, experience events, learn, etc., our brains physically change to include new "pathways." Every passing year, new pathways are layered over old. Old information becomes confused, half remembered, and, often, altered.
The things we did and thought as children stay with us as an influence, at least. You see this in old people who have a disease eating away at their brain. The spend more and more time with the memories of events and people from their 20s and less and less time in their current reality. The newest pathways break down the quickest.
The "pathways" metaphor is useful if not quite accurate to explain the observed condition of human beings.
I said all that because I spent a lot of time being paranoid when I was young. Often the first thought that comes to me when something "just isn't right" in my world is that the wrong doer (individual or group) is being intentionally annoying to me. It's there immediately and without consideration. It is just the thought that comes up. It is a strong pathway that will probably be the last to go, if it goes at all.
I can almost always, though, pass it off. I can say to my self, "Oh, that again." I usually don't even need to do that much. The thought comes then it goes.
It is harder to shake if the offending situation is familiar and from my own past. So if something going on right now is strongly correlated to something from my past, the paranoid-filtered motivations of others is very, very strong.
In moments like those, about the only thing that keeps me from going right down the tunnel of paranoid reactions is a great adage sometimes called Hanlon's Razor, "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity."
When I remember that adage, I can get back to "Oh, that again" about the paranoia.
These days, though, I'm less inclined to believe in the stupidity model. (unless I'm really irritable.) I lean more to the "This is the best humans can do" model. That is, collectively, our individual limitations add up to systemic mediocrity.
As individuals, it is nearly impossible to see much beyond the end of our own nose, so it is difficult to not attribute malice or stupidity to such entities as governments, big businesses, large social groups, etc.
We are really sure that the whole problem is resolved if the right person arrives or the wrong person leaves. Most of the troubles are caused by some thing that can be fixed or overcome. Usually, this has some truth for small groups. (Governments, like the current one in the US, can have the stupidity of one person cause a world of problems -- literally.)
Take my favorite punching bag of the moment, Serra High School. There is no conspiracy to to intentionally produce undereducated graduates. It is not a collection of the stupidest adults on the planet. Nope. It is systemic mediocrity in all it's shining glory. And every single member of the staff, administration and faculty are "doing the best they can" under the circumstances.
I like this model better than the stupidity model. And both are far superior to the conspiracy model.
Of the three models, only the mediocrity model has no remedy. In that model, it really is "the best we can do." Our individual limitations will always stand in the way of our collective greatness.
And that brings me back to my paranoia. When something stands in the way for me, my first thought is that its placement is intentional. If I were a theist, I'd surely believe in a sadistic god.
The things we did and thought as children stay with us as an influence, at least. You see this in old people who have a disease eating away at their brain. The spend more and more time with the memories of events and people from their 20s and less and less time in their current reality. The newest pathways break down the quickest.
The "pathways" metaphor is useful if not quite accurate to explain the observed condition of human beings.
I said all that because I spent a lot of time being paranoid when I was young. Often the first thought that comes to me when something "just isn't right" in my world is that the wrong doer (individual or group) is being intentionally annoying to me. It's there immediately and without consideration. It is just the thought that comes up. It is a strong pathway that will probably be the last to go, if it goes at all.
I can almost always, though, pass it off. I can say to my self, "Oh, that again." I usually don't even need to do that much. The thought comes then it goes.
It is harder to shake if the offending situation is familiar and from my own past. So if something going on right now is strongly correlated to something from my past, the paranoid-filtered motivations of others is very, very strong.
In moments like those, about the only thing that keeps me from going right down the tunnel of paranoid reactions is a great adage sometimes called Hanlon's Razor, "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity."
When I remember that adage, I can get back to "Oh, that again" about the paranoia.
These days, though, I'm less inclined to believe in the stupidity model. (unless I'm really irritable.) I lean more to the "This is the best humans can do" model. That is, collectively, our individual limitations add up to systemic mediocrity.
As individuals, it is nearly impossible to see much beyond the end of our own nose, so it is difficult to not attribute malice or stupidity to such entities as governments, big businesses, large social groups, etc.
We are really sure that the whole problem is resolved if the right person arrives or the wrong person leaves. Most of the troubles are caused by some thing that can be fixed or overcome. Usually, this has some truth for small groups. (Governments, like the current one in the US, can have the stupidity of one person cause a world of problems -- literally.)
Take my favorite punching bag of the moment, Serra High School. There is no conspiracy to to intentionally produce undereducated graduates. It is not a collection of the stupidest adults on the planet. Nope. It is systemic mediocrity in all it's shining glory. And every single member of the staff, administration and faculty are "doing the best they can" under the circumstances.
I like this model better than the stupidity model. And both are far superior to the conspiracy model.
Of the three models, only the mediocrity model has no remedy. In that model, it really is "the best we can do." Our individual limitations will always stand in the way of our collective greatness.
And that brings me back to my paranoia. When something stands in the way for me, my first thought is that its placement is intentional. If I were a theist, I'd surely believe in a sadistic god.