Wow, your mother sounds… quite intense.

There is a deep fear of being “controlled” by the media, the government, and the secular world

It’s mind-boggling to me how those people are so afraid of being controlled by some outside influences while their lives are, in fact, completely controlled by outside influences: their paranoia and delusions dictating their every actions and affecting all of their relationships. I can’t imagine living a life where I think everyone is constantly out to get me. Must be exhausting.

And it’s not like those beliefs are always their own, either. Some people are so afraid of the government (Big Pharma, those damn billionaires, the CIA) deceiving them that they walk right into the arms of every charlatan, con man and nut job that happens to be passing by.

I wish it was a modern phenomenon, but of course it is not: throughout all of history, every event humanity could not understand had generated its fair share of conspiracy theories.

Today, thanks to the Internet, quacks can just reach a larger audience with less of an effort.