RUSSIAN OBSESSIONAL PARANOID DISORDER — THERE MAY BE A CURE

Be on the look out for these Russian threats!

Ladies and Gentlemen, I come to you today with an appeal for your help in putting an end to a virulent mental disorder that currently is spreading unchecked across every segment of U.S. society. Each day it is afflicting an ever-growing number of individuals, and as it does so it corrupts civil discourse, stifles dissent, stokes unreasonable fears, and casts scathing aspersions on those who dare to call out its existence and toxic impact. The disorder I am referring to, ladies and gentlemen, is the Russian Obsessional Paranoid Disorder (ROPD). Let me assure you, ladies and gentlemen, that despite a common misconception this disorder is not recent in origin — as will explained in what follows. The form it takes is known to have evolved and adapt itself to prevailing social, economic and political factors which adds to its insidious and virulent nature. Despite these variations, the essential features of disorder have been identified. To ensure that you are able to recognize this disorder when confronted by it, permit me to outline its “symptoms” and “contributing factors”.

Symptoms

1. Obsessions: A recurrent, extreme and over-consuming preoccupation with the pernicious and nefarious involvement of the Russian government, operatives, spies, and/or most recently “bots” who are perceived as attacking, undermining and seeking ultimately to destroy the capitalist/neoliberal status quo in the United States. A distinguishing factor of these obsessions is that the prominent presumed target of the range of dangers posed is to the privileges and powers of the elite. However, this feature generally manifests itself in a manner calculated to disguise the self-serving nature of these exaggerated claims for the powerful. A common form of such deceit is presenting these manufactured fears and threats as deadly attacks by an evil ideology on the most sacred institutions of the United States: democracy, justice, fairness, etc.

2. Delusions: These obsessions eventually take the form of delusions permeated with Russo-phobic content. That is, false, irrational, highly implausible and sometimes bizarre beliefs that are rigidly clung to with frantic desperation even in the face of extensive evidence to the contrary. At times such delusions border on the ridiculous and become so frequently invoked as to become tiresome. However, what should appropriately be mature and rational response to the delusions is inhibited by the overpowering manipulation of emotions (principally fear, resentment and hatred) which then have a crippling impact on the capacity to exercise critical judgment and rational thought. As a result, in time the manufactured delusions become shared by increasing numbers of targets of propaganda who make the error of not merely believing them to be plausible but irrefutable.

3. Paranoia: As typically the case, the presence of delusions is accompanied by paranoia. The content of the delusions is filled with fear-evoking claims regarding Russian adversaries and conspirators. The attitude of suspicion, mistrust and hypervigilance is extreme and overgeneralized such that an ever-growing circle of individuals are identified as malevolent and threats not merely to one’s safety and security, but to their integrity and self-respect. Hypersensitivity to the slightest hint in disrespect, anxiety about one’s status and interests, and a pervasive sense that sinister enemies are out to get them can be found in these delusions. A rationale is thus built up to justify taking whatever means necessary to protect themselves. Based on the thinnest evidence, claims are made about conspiracies, giving rise to a sense that one is surrounded on all sides by evil forces plotting against them.

4. Projection: A common defense mechanism associated with paranoia is evidenced wherein the dark, cruel, unacceptable wishes and desires harbored by those with the disorder are projected outward on those claimed be their persecutors. Those suffering from this disorder as a rule engage in the very actions that ascribe to Russians, including victimizing the weak and the vulnerable, seeking to do harm to those deemed to be threats, exacting vindictive actions on those they believe have mistreated them, and persecuting members of groups considered inferior or harboring unacceptable political and economic beliefs and values.

5. Grandiosity: Another feature of this disorder shared with other delusional and paranoid conditions is that those who see themselves as targets of persecution and at risk of harm demonstrate a grandiosity and exaggerated self-importance. They regard themselves as incapable of imperfection and are quick to take offense at even the slightest criticism. Those who presume to expose their faults and moral failings become incorporated into their obsessions and delusional beliefs and thus part of the Russian conspiracy. Though they feign the stance of being victims, those with this disorder are in fact abusive, vicious and resentful and will take extreme measures in order to exact revenge on any who may pose a threat. Their aggressive responses range from leveling savage slurs and slanders on those they regard as enemies to marginalizing and exploiting them — and under certain conditions actually directing physical harm toward them. One other feature of the grandiosity is a façade of self-righteousness intended to disguise their lack of moral and ethical standards.

A common co-occurring mental disorder with ROPD is Trump Derangement Syndrome. High correlations have been found with the incidence of ROPD and those espousing a capitalist, neoliberal ideology, possessing extreme wealth, occupying positions of power in the government or corporate sector, and serving as a propagandist for the neoliberal status quo.

An examination of the various historical outbreaks of ROPD is instructive. It helps to elucidate the social, historical, political and economic conditions most likely to precipitate outbreaks of the condition. The one most defining precipitant is the existence of a heightened level of awareness of the catastrophic impacts of capitalism and neoliberalism on human welfare as evidenced in soaring levels of economic inequality, exploitation of the poor and working class, human rights abuses in the service of greed, and the beating of war drums in the interest of the expansion of corporate profits and empire. Accompanying these precipitants (and in response to them) there is also a growing awareness and discontent with these abuses of power, outcry and protests against these wrongs, and various forms of resistance and protest to restore justice and fairness.

The first notable occasion in which such conditions gave rise to ROPD was the so-called Gilded Age — a time of extreme economic inequality and increased interest in the expansion of American Empire. To oppose the abuses of the unchecked greed of corporations, there was a swelling of numbers of workers joining the labor movement, guided often by the thinking of Karl Marx and other socialist critics. The Russian Revolution also bolstered the hopes of those espousing socialist beliefs and values that the evils of capitalism could not just be stemmed, but ended. As the forces of resistance grew, the echoes of the “Red Scare” posing a threat to the “American way of life” unveiled the working of ROPD which in time led to the violent suppression of those who became victims of the obsessions, delusions and paranoia described above.

For a time the destructive consequences of ROPD were held in check and reversed when the dire circumstances of the Great Depression enabled Franklin Delano Roosevelt and his administration to enact progressive measures which actually targeted the factors contributing to it. Greater economic equality, a restoration of policies respecting human dignity, measures taken to decrease oppression and exploitation, and socialist programs began to decrease the incidence of ROPD. But with the end of the Second World War, the death of FDR, the initiation of efforts to reverse the strides made by the New Deal and the beginning of the Cold War, the conditions for fostering ROPD were once more fertile. Another period highlighting a Red Scare commenced again with a broad range of highly disastrous and harmful consequences.

Even a cursory glance at the many injustices, lives ruined, and death and destruction inflicted by the rampant explosion of ROPD during these earlier outbreaks should make clear just how lethal this condition can be, ladies and gentlemen. For just this reason, the alarm should indeed be raised seeing as how it is again returning with a vengeance. However, to combat it there is one more lesson that can be learned about this malady by examining these earlier historical outbreaks.

ROPD is an unusual mental disorder in terms of its mechanism of transmission. The most extreme form of ROPD is found among those whose wealth, power and status have been secured by means of cruelty, selfishness, and arrogance displayed in the excessive abuses and injustices wrought by capitalism and neoliberalism. However, so long as the irrational beliefs, preposterous claims, insane delusions and paranoid hostility are held only by the elite, the power of the disorder is weaker and in greater jeopardy of exposure. Thus, unlike other disorders ROPD is disseminated not biologically or through unhealthy family dynamics. Rather it is spread by means of widespread lies, deceptions and propaganda directed at the very people who are victimized by those afflicted with the most virulent cases. It is perhaps this which makes ROPD the most insidious mental disorder yet discovered.

And so, ladies and gentlemen, the plea I am making to you today is not to help put an end to ROPD through your financial help. That, in fact, is the last thing needed! No ladies and gentlemen, what you must do is open your eyes and recognize this condition when it is staring you in the face. You must not allow your emotions to be manipulated by those who place their interests and well-being far above your own. You must buffer yourselves against the mechanisms of transmission of the obsessions and delusions — the lies and slander spewed by political and economic elite and powerful, the propaganda daily disseminated by the mainstream media who cravenly carry out the orders of the elite to mislead you, and the fear-mongering of the war machine that thrives on death and destruction by placing profit above people. You must abandon letting your baser emotions of fear, anger, resentment and hatred guide your beliefs and your actions. And finally you must make use of the gift of reason granted to you, actively question what is posed to you as common sense and irrefutable fact, and critically examine circumstances by carefully weighing evidence before coming to any conclusion. Only then, ladies and gentlemen, might there be a cure for ROPD.