If You're Not Paranoid, You're Crazy

Re:If You're Not Paranoid, You're Crazy by thaumaturgy on Tuesday October 13, 2015 @06:56PM (#10384034)

Paranoia is a specific thing. It requires irrational, unjustifiable fears and a sense of blame or persecution. You're not "paranoid" if you've changed your behavior in the wake of the Snowden documents or if you're cautious regarding the amount of information you share with third party services and devices.

I'm not being pedantic, I've seen a lot of arguments recently from actual paranoid conspiracy theorists that feel smug in the wake of Snowden. I'd hate to see people start to confuse real paranoia with informed caution.

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Re:If You're Not Paranoid, You're Crazy by damosneeze on Tuesday October 13, 2015 @07:27PM (#10384149)

Good point. But the author probably didn't choose the title. I hear they rarely do at large publications.

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Re:If You're Not Paranoid, You're Crazy by dfc on Tuesday October 13, 2015 @09:45PM (#10384550)

Good point but...? I don't understand the point of your comment. If the editors at the large publication chose the title does that assuage some of GP's concern that people will "start to confuse real paranoia with informed caution"? If the editors did chose the title AND the author used the term paranoia five times in the article how does that change GP's concern that people will start to confuse real paranoia with informed caution?

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Re:If You're Not Paranoid, You're Crazy by Retric on Tuesday October 13, 2015 @08:31PM (#10384366)

Degree matters, if you make minor changes post Snowden then that's fine. If Snowden is the trigger that causes you to start using tinfoil to block the T-ray's then that's not ok.

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Re:If You're Not Paranoid, You're Crazy by derf_ on Tuesday October 13, 2015 @09:49PM (#10384563)

Don't be ridiculous. Tin-foil hats amplify exactly the frequencies used by the US government and large multinationals for GPS and mobile phone tracking: https://web.archive.org/web/20100708230258/http://people.csa...

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