Fear. The American psyche is riddled with fear. This shows up not just as heightened everyday anxiety but also as normalized paranoia, a widespread affinity for conspiracy theories, an unquestioned pull to the “security” of fundamentalism, an excessive attachment to weaponry, and an exaggerated aversion to “outsiders” (not just foreigners but also non-Caucasian immigrants, blacks, socialists, non-Christians, and, ironically, Native Americans).
