[redbaronat]

Hi,

What you are seeing here is a form of paranoid behaviour. paranoid behaviour is all around us, and is in fact (in small doses) healthy (the have I got spinach in my teeth scenario), but it can also be destructive too (See London last week for example).

A good example is watching football. When you cheer your team on and try to rile or ridicule the opposition, then that is a form of paranoid behaviour. From a psychological viwepoint you are, in essence, trying to externalise all your bad feelings into the outside world, or the opposition, and make you feel good about yourself.

Now, consider your normal 2+2 poster. From what I can see, they are mainly post-pubertal young men that aren't fully developed yet in an emotional sense. If they were they wouldn't feel the need to indulge in such behaviour. OK, it makes you feel great to put one on someone, but at the end of the day it is, I feel, destructive.

The danger for the individual is that he or she can become quite successful in life with this sort of viewpoint and they don't make the next step of growth and become more rounded people. We all know someone who takes delight in annoying other people. How many close friends has that person got, that aren't themselves paranoid? And of course you can see this form of behaviour in religions, governments and most importantly in families.

I tend to think here, though, most of the behaviour here is more or less outporings of post-pubescent angst.

I feel that the thing to do is to recognise it (in yourself and in others) for what it is; a form of destructive behaviour. You can then feel sorry for the person who is doing it and simply refuse to indulge in it yourself.

Or you can get paranoid about it yourself and wonder why they are getting at you. In fact, just how paranoid am I commenting upon this??

You see, it's all just ridiculous!

Best regards,

Red