Paranoia has a bad reputation, and deservedly so.

People are out to get me, why are they talking about me, I think they're planning to do something to me...

These were the hallmarks of a psychological issue, in some cases severe to the point of needing medication.  Of course, that didn't stop the Onion from having fun with it back when the Onion was good.

But what happens when paranoia is not necessarily a mental disorder, but a prelude to the truth?

The pandemic showed anyone who was paying attention that things that formerly were considered fever dreams or delusions are far closer to reality than what official officials are saying.

The "vaccine" was touted as the wonder shot that would return the world to normal.

But it didn't, because it didn't stop people from getting COVID; it didn't stop people from spreading COVID; and it has a much, much higher "adverse reaction" rate than other real actual vaccines.  The polio vaccine has a reaction rate of about 1 in 1.9 million; the COVID shot had a ratio as low as 1 in 100, though this number — due to the reporting "vagaries" (to put it nicely), could be in the 1 in 500 or even a higher range.

Whatever the final ratio is, it will show that the COVID shot is somewhere between 200 and 1,000 or so times more problematic than a regular real vaccine.

And if you said that two years ago — or even today, or probably even tomorrow — you are deemed paranoid.  Question whether or not the public health system truly has the public's best interest at heart, and you're someone who wants a million Typhoid Marys roaming the streets.

Now, an unquestionable proven reality due to the personal, societal, familial, and educational destruction caused by the pandemic mandates.

The Twitter Files clearly lay out the existence of a coordinated, taxpayer-funded effort to censor those very same taxpayers.  From denying access to the electronic public square to tarring people as, well, paranoid, to damaging livelihoods if you said the wrong thing, to directly snooping on what you are saying, the censorship-industrial complex is paranoia come to life.

Worried that the government is trying to turn your children against you?  A few years, a sign of paranoia, a delusional statement.

Now, an accurate description of the public school system.

Concerned the government may want to track your location at all times?  Then, the ravings of a maniac.

Now, a reason to check the settings on your phone and to avoid any model of car with the proposed transponder-based Vehicle Miles Traveled tax system.

With most of the fears of the paranoid having come true in the past few years, it could mean we need to re-appraise the nature of paranoia.

Is it a disorder or an ability to see the future?

With so many other rights being chipped away — speech, thought, movement, autonomy — it may be time to start relying on the one right the elites have yet to figure out how to eliminate: the right to be paranoid.

Thomas Buckley is the former mayor of Lake Elsinore, Cal. and a former newspaper reporter.  He is currently the operator of a small communications and planning consultancy and can be reached directly at planbuckley@gmail.com. You can read more of his work at his Substack page.

Image: Pixabay.