Source: CounterPunch
by Geiorgos Mitralias
“[W]e can’t compare the fatalistic passivity of the majority of Russia’s atomized, inward-looking citizens with the racist, war-mongering fanaticism of the overwhelming majority of Israel’s citizens. However, beyond their differences and the reasons why Russian and Israeli societies today seem blinded by chauvinism and welded behind their arch-authoritarian rulers … what currently characterizes both is their tilt towards irrationality. As a result, they are being swept away by a wave of what is the very definition of mass paranoia: ‘Psychosis characterized by inordinate pride and a tendency to delusions of persecution.’ In short, delusions of grandeur … mixed with the pathological suspicion that they are surrounded by enemies who only want their destruction … In fact, while mass paranoia remains the prerogative of Russian and Israeli societies for the time being, the shift towards mass irrationality concerns practically the whole world today, and is a phenomenon of our times!” (08/29/24)
https://www.counterpunch.org/2024/08/29/how-irrationality-and-mass-paranoia-invade-our-societies/