Are Conspiracy Nuts Actually Twisted Narcissists?

[hooplala]

I am listening to a radio interview right now with Australian writer Will Elliot, who was once diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic and wrote a book about that, but in the radio interview he says he has since realized that he was NOT schizophrenic, and his former "hallucinations" were genuine.  He believes that he is a higher evolved human with extra strands of DNA which allows him to see through the veil of the illusions of shape shifting reptilians who rule the world.

I mean, ok, for all I know I might be a deluded fool who is manipulated by shape shifting reptilians, but I have no proof of it so I'm not even going to entertain the notion in the meantime, so let's assume these shape shifting reptilians don't exist, for the sake of conversation...

His whole theory is based on the idea that he is special from other people because he can see through the bullshit, and I've seen this behavior presented by other conspiracy people and all I can come up with is that the conspiracy is a necessary bi-product of these massive delusions of grandeur.

Am I mistaken?

[Nephew Twiddleton]

I have a relative or two who are conspiracy nuts. And invariably the government or whatever is after them for some unknown reason. So yeah, delusions of grandeur. I've been warned not to talk to people because they might be working for THEM and this shit is INTERNATIONAL. My response is usually some subtle way of pointing out that they're really not important enough to warrant attention.

[Captain Utopia]

Do you mean - first accepting ones own greatness, and then inventing an after-the-fact justification for it?  Interesting thought.  

I think I see some things which other people don't, but my assumption is that I just haven't explained it well enough, yet  If anything, that makes me less than great  

[LMNO]

When my brother had his big schizoid break, he was convinced that he had met Ol Dirty Bastard (who was in jail at the time), Tupac was alive, and because he knew that, the Junior M.A.F.I.A. was trying to kill him.

So, yeah.  Makes sense.

[Cain]

It may also be delusions of exceptional intelligence, ie; I have seen through the fiendish conspiracies no-one else could pierce!

[Captain Utopia]

I have a relative or two who are conspiracy nuts. And invariably the government or whatever is after them for some unknown reason. So yeah, delusions of grandeur. I've been warned not to talk to people because they might be working for THEM and this shit is INTERNATIONAL. My response is usually some subtle way of pointing out that they're really not important enough to warrant attention.

Infiltration and Demoralization was a COINTEL tactic advanced by MKULTRA.  You must be of them.  Of course they must be important - they know things you don't.

[Nephew Twiddleton]

I have a relative or two who are conspiracy nuts. And invariably the government or whatever is after them for some unknown reason. So yeah, delusions of grandeur. I've been warned not to talk to people because they might be working for THEM and this shit is INTERNATIONAL. My response is usually some subtle way of pointing out that they're really not important enough to warrant attention.

Infiltration and Demoralization was a COINTEL tactic advanced by MKULTRA.  You must be of them.  Of course they must be important - they know things you don't.

Shit. You figured me out. Damn Canadians!

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I know more conspiracy freaks than I care to talk about, and they progress through several stages.

1.  Find out that something isn't what it seems to be (WMD in Iraq, for example).

2.  Begin to look at other things, with a bias toward a malign intent on some group's part.

3.  Begin to see conspiracies everywhere.  At this point, the CF will refuse to talk about anything else.

4.  Begin to fear that their knowledge of these "conspiracies" has resulted in being targetted by the conspirators.

5.  Hate on Jews.

[the last yatto]

http://uncyclopedia.wikia.com/wiki/Hunter_S._Thompson

[Cain]

Its always incredibly annoying to them to point out most actual conspiracies can be found with a few key words on Wikipedia, and don't involve shapeshifting aliens, the Illuminati, UFOs, chemtrails or Jews (except in the case of Israel) at all.

And even better, that the investigations were carried out often by sitting Parliaments and the Judiciary, so clearly the conspiracies they imagined are neither fully entrenched or all powerful.

[Requia ☣]

But those aren't the real conspiracy Cain.  Those are smokescreens so that they can hide the real conspiracy from people who go poking around.  They've fooled everyone. Except me, because I'm special! 

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Its always incredibly annoying to them to point out most actual conspiracies can be found with a few key words on Wikipedia, and don't involve shapeshifting aliens, the Illuminati, UFOs, chemtrails or Jews (except in the case of Israel) at all.

And even better, that the investigations were carried out often by sitting Parliaments and the Judiciary, so clearly the conspiracies they imagined are neither fully entrenched or all powerful.

Yep.  The best conspiracy EVER was PNAC, and they had a website that listed their agenda and their members.

[Suu]

What we need to do is somehow convince these people that the reason why they have these "powers" is because they are in fact, reptilians, who were brainwashed into thinking they were human as to blend in. They will be reawakened eventually and be used to take over the world.

...Seriously, worse thing that could happen is they all eat a bullet.

[Eater of Clowns]

For the paranoid types, there is a narcissistic side to believing that you are somehow dangerous or important enough to be spied upon.

It's like when 9/11 happened, the day of before anyone figured out what was actually going on.  A bunch of people in my school were scared that we might be in danger somehow.

Motherfuckers, nobody gives enough of a fuck about New Bedford to attack it in any way at all.  The only danger we're in is from our average, everyday violent crime rate and, well, your stupidity.

[Phox]

I mean, ok, for all I know I might be a deluded fool who is manipulated by shape shifting reptilians, but I have no proof of it so I'm not even going to entertain the notion in the meantime, so let's assume these shape shifting reptilians don't exist, for the sake of conversation...

I'm giving you a choice: either put on these glasses or start eating that trash can. (possible NSFW language)