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Properly Paranoid: Difference between revisions
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== Anime & Manga ==
* ''[[Death Note]]''. L was spot on in his deductions and all of his seemingly paranoid schemes were completely justified.
** Light himself might qualify at times, but is more [[Crazy Prepared]].
* Amuro Ray, the protagonist of ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'', is ridiculously paranoid about everything. Bright's going to take the Gundam away, that new crewmember is a Zeon spy, the Neo Zeon fleet is a bunch of decoy balloons, etc. He's also ''never wrong'' since he's actually a Newtype, which means he has more or less psychic-level empathic abilities.
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* In the HBO movie ''Safe House'', Patrick Stewart plays an old man who is suffering from the early stages of Alzheimer's disease. He tells his caretaker that he used to be a <s>CIA</s> DIA agent and people are out to get him because [[He Knows Too Much]], so he insists on elaborate security precautions bordering on the ridiculous. Until the end, it's unclear whether his paranoia is justified or if he's just a crazy old man. As it turns out, they really are out to get him.
* The [[Mel Gibson]] movie ''[[Conspiracy Theory (film)|Conspiracy Theory]]'' features an obsessive-compulsive paranoid conspiracy theorist... who turns out to be mostly right, though {{spoiler|he's more ''remembering'' than ''speculating''}}.
* Bril in ''[[Enemy of the State]]''. Understanding since he used to be a spook himself.
* Pick a character from ''[[Burn After Reading]]''. Any character. Although they're frequently paranoid about the wrong things.
* ''[[The Thing (film)|The Thing]]'', by [[John Carpenter]], features a shape-shifting alien capable of infecting and duplicating pretty much every living thing. The characters are right about not trusting each other, and try to come up with a way of figuring out who is the thing and who isn't, but generally are unable to do so until [[Nightmare Fuel]] time sets in.
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* Sarah Connor from the ''[[Terminator]]'' films. She even gets institutionalized for this, but it turns out there really ''are'' killer robots from the future after her.
* In the third ''[[Transformers]]'' movie, Jerry Wang is convinced that everything is a Decepticon. {{spoiler|He is later killed by his computer, which then turns into the copy machine, and poses variously as a TV, stereo, and pink Bumblebee.}}
* ''[[Tremors]]'': Though not a straight example, having underground shelter with [[Wall of Weapons]] and ammo, supplies and power generator in case of a [[World War III]] served Burt Gummer well when his town got attacked by large subterranean carnivore reptiles.
{{quote|'''Earl:''' Guess we don't get to make fun of Burt's lifestyle anymore.}}
* ''[[I, Robot (film)|I Robot]]'': Del Spooner (played by Will Smith) doesn't trust robots, believing that they are not as safe as the [[Three Laws of Robotics]] are supposed to make them. He is therefore the only person in Chicago who doesn't get one of the new NS-5 model robots. When the NS-5s stage a [[Zeroth Law Rebellion]], Spooner is naturally the only human capable of effectively fighting back.
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** Susan Sto-Helit fixes "monster under my bed" fears in children not by assuring there are no monsters, but by giving them a big stick to clobber monsters in case they attack. "They didn't need to believe in monsters... but they could be made to believe in the poker."
* Kanayama no Hachirozaemon from the late 16th/early 17th century Japanese short story ''Akimichi''. {{spoiler|Letting down his guard with Kitamuki is what gets him killed in the end.}}
* [[Lawrence Watt
* In the first book of the ''[[Safehold]]'' series Zhaspar Clyntahn, Grand Inquisitor of the [[Corrupt Church|corrupt]] [[Path of Inspiration|Church of God Awaiting]] ([[Complete Monster|which should tell you all you need to know]]), convinces his fellow church leaders to launch an attack on the kingdom of Charis out of a paranoid delusion that the innovative nation is out to subvert the church's will. Though, as Charisian Archbishop Maikel Staynair [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]], Clyntahn is actually ''correct'' about this, as this is the goal of the Brotherhood of St. Zherneau's.
** The Brotherhood of St. Zhernaeu's themselves can also be considered this. Given that they're the only known holders of the true origins of Safehold's people in a world that's been raised to view high technology as either evil or the powers of the Archangels, the Brethren are frequently remarked to be "insanely" cautious about who they'll authorize to be let into the Inner Circle. But as much as the protagonists gripe about it, not ''once'' is their caution said to be unwarranted.
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* In ''[[The Tripods|When the Tripods Came]]'' the party finds that Switzerland is becoming this because of the Tripods.
* Most of the ''[[Animorphs]]'' books mention this to some degree, but the first book from Marco's perspective addresses it the best.
* In ''[[The Mortal Instruments]]'' Alec, after finding out a bit of Magnus's romantic past, he is shocked by how many people and the kinds of people(namely the various species and genders) his boyfriend has been with. Needless to say, he becomes a bit paranoid about it. Later that day, they are at a party with a group of their friends and Magnus mentions to a werewolf boy they had just met that he once knew the werewolf that founded the organization the boy was part of. Alec, who had been quietly sulking until this point coldly asks, "Did you sleep with him, too?" <br />This comes off sounded like an overreaction and paranoia about someone casually mentioned as an icebreaker. That is, until you read the second prequel book, Clockwork Prince, where it is revealed that Magnus was indeed involved with him at some point. The author stated that she did this to show that Alec had a right to be paranoid about Magnus's romantic past.
* ''[[In Death]]'': Alice Lingstrom from ''Ceremony In Death'' turns out to be a combination of this and just paranoid. She had been gang-raped by a Satanic cult, as well as witnessing the leaders murder a young boy in a sacrifice. Even though she left, the cult continues to harass her. She thinks one of the leaders is a shapeshifter, which is certainly not true. The cult also sent her threatening phone messages, which would certainly be cause for concern. In the end, she panics when she sees one of their illusions and runs out onto the road...right in front of an incoming car. What a brutal [[Kill the Cutie]] moment!
* The professor who narrates the chapter "In a network of lines that enlace" in ''[[If on a winter's night a traveler]].'' Notably, even ''he'' thinks he's being way too paranoid, until the very end.
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* In season four of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'', Buffy goes to college and gets a really annoying roommate: Kathy. Kathy listens to Celine Dion, insists on keeping track of whose milk is whose, and worst of all, she ''irons her jeans''. Obviously, Buffy concludes that she's an evil demon from another dimension who's trying to eat Buffy's soul, and decides to slay her. Cue all her friends running around trying to stop an obviously possessed Buffy from killing an ordinary (if annoying) girl. Do I need to say it? Buffy is 100% right.
** But Kathy's evil spell WAS making Buffy act really wiggy and stressed, drastically undermining any attempts she made to rationally explain things. It wasn't until Giles noticed that Kathy's toenails did, in fact, keep growing after being cut (just as Buffy had been ranting about) that the gang believed her.
** An earlier example from the show would also be the episode where her mom dated Ted (played by John Ritter). Giles and her friends all like the charming, handsome, cookie baking suitor. But Buffy doesn't trust him and won't even try his delicious cookies. Eventually she even gets into a scuffle with him and knocks him down some steps when he grabs her, apparently killing him. Much guilt and blame are thrown about, until Ted shows up again. Turns out he's a psychotic robot who really does want to take her mom away (and who drugs those cookies to make everyone compliant and happy).
* One episode of ''[[NCIS]]'' brutally subverts this trope. It features an old war buddy of Special Agent Gibbs who seems paranoid that a secret [[Government Conspiracy]] group is out to kill him because he stumbled across their deep, dark secret. It starts to appear that he is telling the truth when Gibbs discovers that another war buddy is working with the first one. This war buddy died in Gibbs' arms, but now is supposedly alive and is confirming the first guy's suspicions. The brutal subversion comes at the end, when it is revealed that the dead-then-not-dead war buddy was a figure of the first one's imagination, who is facing schizophrenia due to PTSD, and there really is no government group out to kill him: he concocted the idea as a coping mechanism to take his mind off the death of his friend.
** He's not entirely wrong. He had uncovered some corruption, but the conspiracy was nowhere near as big as his paranoia made it seem.
** Fornell also mentions "Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean someone isn't out to get you.
** A better example would be Gibbs' Rule Forty:
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'''Abby''': "If you think someone is out to get you, they are." }}
* Tubbs and Edward from ''[[The League of Gentlemen]]'' are horrified and disgusted at the thought of "strangers" from outside the decent town and local shop. Their fears seem completely out of scale in the first series, but when you consider the likes of Pop, Herr Lipp and worst of all Papa Lazarou...
* In ''[[Malcolm in the Middle]]'' Reese once claimed that one of his teachers was out to get him and was deliberately failing his tests. Lois told him to stop making excuses and work harder. She has Malcolm tutor Reese and eventually Reese composes a passable paper that is at least 'C' level, only for that to get an 'F' as well. Ultimately, since it seems that there is no way Reese can get a passing grade on his own, they decide to simply cheat and have Malcolm take one of his tests for him. That test gets an 'F," and this clues everybody in to the fact Reese's teacher ''really is out to get him''.
** Malcolm eventually exposes the teacher right in front of Hal and Lois, by tricking the teacher into revealing he didn't even bother to read the answers. Of course, Malcolm does accidentally reveal that he took the test, but Lois becomes more livid that the teacher gave something Malcolm wrote "AN F?!!!"
* Agent Ballard in ''[[Dollhouse]]'', although it turns out that he isn't quite paranoid enough.
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*** Unfortunately, he turned out to not be paranoid enough.
** When your enemies are a race of shapeshifters, no amount of paranoia is too much.
* On ''[[Necessary Roughness (TV series)|Necessary Roughness]]'' a former mascot of the Hawks does not want to leave his house because he believes that people on the street will attack him due to the belief that he is the 'curse' that kept the Hawks from the playoffs for five years. When his therapist takes him out for a stroll downtown, he is quickly recognized and verbally assaulted by some fans.
* In the second episode of the fifth season of [[The Big Bang Theory]], Sheldon becomes freaked out by the fact that Penny picked up a lazyboy from the garbage, and is constantly trying to convince her to remove it, only for her to ignore his statements and even drive him away. {{spoiler|The ending of the episode has Penny and Amy fleeing from the apartment after discovering that there is something living in the chair, and presumably disposing of the chair... only for Howard and Raj to pick it back up to the apartment, meaning that Sheldon had a very good reason to be paranoid about it being a health hazard.}}
** Even before the reveal, he was properly paranoid to distrust a chair that was randomly lying on the street.
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* In ''[[Pandemic]]'', Madagascar is well-known for quarantining itself well before any other nation, thus foiling the player's efforts at getting their custom-designed disease past their borders. "A person is coughing in Brazil!" "[[This Is Sparta|Shut. Down. EVERYTHING!]]"
* In ''[[The Force Unleashed]]'', General Rahm Kota's backstory is that due to the fact that he never used the Clone Troopers during the Clone Wars, he was one of the few Jedi who managed to escape Order 66.
* And in [[Knights of the Old Republic]], Carth never passes up an opportunity to voice the opinion that something stinks in the setup; that it's a little odd your character survived, that it's also really odd that Bastila made the request to transfer you aboard, that the Jedi Council is up to some dirty trick...Turns out, he's dead right.
* In ''[[Mass Effect]]'', Wrex once worked for Saren as a hired gun for a job. However after making his own assumptions of Saren (mostly that he was [[Obviously Evil]]) he left without even waiting to get paid. He's the only merc who survived the mission.
** [[The Dragon|Saren]] himself is paranoid that {{spoiler|[[Sapient Ship|his ship]] [[Big Bad|Sovereign]]}} is [[More Than Mind Control|indoctrinating him.]] {{spoiler|It is}}.
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* [[Whateley Universe|Whateley Academy]] is actively trying to instill a form of this attitude in its students. As staff members have been heard to state outright, the point of the school isn't so much to produce superheroes or - villains - or even provide a formal education (though it does that, too) as to train young mutants to survive in a world in which many people ''are'' out to get them.
** Phase is paranoid, and rightly so. He grew up in an ultra-wealthy family, and so has spent his whole life watching for conmen, hucksters, golddiggers, false friends, you name it. He bought a high-end utility belt after only a couple weeks at Whateley Academy. The one time he wasn't wearing it (because the powers testing guys insisted on experimenting on it) he really, really needed it.
** Except for Gunny Sergeant Bardue, whose behaviour is less [[Properly Paranoid]] and more simply [[Jerkass]]. He beats up a young student for demonstrating how his illusions work because the illusion, which was quite clearly only an illusion, resembled an antique pistol. He later hurls a car at a student that has no mutant ability, with the intent of forcing her latent mutation to manifest. Not only is the manifestation of a mutant power actually none of his concern, it may have been a life-destroying change for the student, such as if her power manifested by turning her permanently into a monstrous form. And that's assuming that she had a latent mutation that would react to, and be able to defend against, a car hurtling towards her. [[What an Idiot!]]!
* In ''[[Marble Hornets]]'', Alex starts constantly filming himself midway through producing his student film. After J watches the tapes, he starts filming himself as well. What they find is disturbing, to say the least.
* [[Gaia Online]], true to form, has at least three known examples.
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* [[Lovable Coward|Wade]] from ''[[Garfield and Friends]]'' comes off as this once he points out that local [[Reality Warper]] Orson keeps dragging Wade into [[Portal Book|dangerous stories]] via [[Dream Sequence|Dream Sequences]]. This is emphasized in one episode where Orson's reading causes Wade to be placed in a series of dangers, including a polar bear, a train, and a Tyrannosaurus Rex. [[What the Hell, Hero?|Suddenly it makes sense for Wade to be scared of everything.]]
* Penny Proud in one episode of ''[[The Proud Family]]'' suspected that the reason why she was getting bad grades from her teacher despite having put much work into her paper was because her teacher hated her, to which her family members didn't believe her (Oscar initially thought that she gave her a bad grade because the teacher was republican [Penny wrote her paper on how Hillary Clinton inspired her]). Turns out, Penny was actually closer to the truth than even she realized: She did hate her in a way, although mostly because she was sore towards Suga Mama for winning a coin toss (well, cheating in the coin toss is a bit more accurate), and Penny is related to Suga Mama, being her granddaughter and all.
* A couple of ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' shorts had Sylvester as [[Porky Pig]]'s pet cat, who would be the only one who knew that, for instance, a sinister mob of mice were out to kill his master. Porky would catch Sylvester doing truly bizarre things to save both their skins and chalk his behavior up to cowardice, insanity or both.
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* [[Paranoia Fuel|Ever notice those phone calls that hang up on you as soon as you answer...?]]
* Swiss nuclear physicists built a reactor in a cave so that if there was a meltdown, the mountain would keep the accident from venting radiation, as had happened in Chernobyl. The reactor did indeed suffer a meltdown, so the scientists sealed up the cave.
* [[Adolf Hitler]] frequently altered his planned appearances and travel plans out of a sudden fear for possible attempts on his life. This allowed him to survive several dozens of carefully calculated assassination attempts, most of them perpetrated by ''his own officers.'' When you look at how meticulously these murders were planned, it's clear that only paranoia or dumb luck could have saved him so many times.
* [[Ernest Hemingway]] believed himself to be tailed by the FBI, a claim his friend dismissed as a delusion resulting from mental deterioration and depression. However, it was recently [http://vault.fbi.gov/Ernest%20Hemingway%20/Ernest%20Hemingway%20Part%201%20of%203/view revealed] that he really ''was'' ordered to be monitored for his activities in Cuba by J Edgar Hoover.
* Michael Drosnin using codes he claimed were hidden in the Bible predicted an assasination involving Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. Then Rabin was assasinated.
* During late July/early August of 2011, many members of the Bethesda forums expressed a suspicion that the Lonesome Road DLC for [[Fallout: New Vegas]] would be delayed, to the point that the senior producer, Jason Bergman, called people paranoid and said that Lonesome Road would come out in August. A week later, it was announced that Lonesome Road had been delayed and wouldn't come out in August.
* Joseph McCarthy tried several people who were supposedly Communist spies in what History would call the [[Red Scare]]. Although he ultimately tried the wrong people and destroyed many more lives and careers in the process thanks to his [[Witch Hunt]] tactics, his beliefs that the Soviets had actually infiltrated the country via various media personalities and government officials did actually prove to be quite sound, due to the release of various documents.
* Doubly happened on September 11, 2001:
** [[wikipedia:Rick Rescorla|Rick Rescorla]], a former colonel in the US Army, became the chief of security for Morgan Stanley after he retired. First he expressed his worry that the towers would be vulnerable to a truck bomb... which then happened in 1993. Later he said that terrorists would probably try again--- using airplanes. He was last seen [[Heroic Sacrifice|running up the stairs of the South Tower to aid in rescuing more people.]]
** Then, there was John O'Neill, who had become the head of WTC security 19 days before 9/11. His previous job: ''One of the main FBI counter-terrorism experts on Osama Bin Laden.'' When he took the job, he told his new boss he worried that they'd try to "finish the job".
* The CIA, KGB, Mossad, for that matter, ANY intelligence group that uses secrecy as its M.O, causes this trope by mere existing. And that's just the KNOWN ones. The ones that are completely unknown are even worse.
** Come to think about it, its the CIA, KGB, Mossad, etc. job to be Properly Paranoid.
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