Everybody’s Lying To Me

Arizona’s state House of Representatives Rep. John Fillmore (R) said this. Like seriously, those were his exact words…

What is it called when you think everyone is lying to you? I mean, I’m not a doctor and you can totally hold that against me.

But I’ve heard those words before. Usually associated with symptoms of paranoia. You know, an offshoot of ‘Everybody’s out to get me’ type of thinking.

Usually, when we identify this, we look to get the person help. But let’s put aside the individual health concern for the moment. Behavior like this is not only outside the norm, but it also points to a greater cognitive issue that is disruptive to social coherence, and thus to society as a whole.

Here’s the full quote:

“I don’t care what the press says. I don’t trust ABC, CBS, NBC or Fox or anybody out there. Everybody’s lying to me and I feel like I have a couple hundred ex-wives hanging around me,” Fillmore said. “This is not a President Biden thing. This is not a the other red-headed guy thing.”

Okay, so it’s just an ex-wife thing. Is he likening mainstream media to “lying ex-wives”? I suppose “anybody out there” covers all other media and independent news sources, so that’s everyone. There, covered the entirety of humanity, yes?

Isn’t that what we call paranoia???