Editing Conspiracy theory (section)

====Projection====
Some historians have argued that [[psychological projection]] is prevalent amongst conspiracy theorists. According to the argument, this projection is manifested in the form of attributing undesirable characteristics of the self to the conspirators. Historian Richard Hofstadter stated that:

{{blockquote|This enemy seems on many counts a projection of the self; both the ideal and the unacceptable aspects of the self are attributed to him. A fundamental paradox of the paranoid style is the imitation of the enemy. The enemy, for example, may be the cosmopolitan intellectual, but the paranoid will outdo him in the apparatus of scholarship, even of pedantry.&nbsp;...&nbsp;The Ku Klux Klan imitated Catholicism to the point of donning priestly vestments, developing an elaborate ritual and an equally elaborate hierarchy. The [[John Birch Society]] emulates Communist cells and quasi-secret operation through "front" groups, and preaches a ruthless prosecution of the ideological war along lines very similar to those it finds in the Communist enemy. Spokesmen of the various fundamentalist anti-Communist "crusades" openly express their admiration for the dedication, discipline, and strategic ingenuity the Communist cause calls forth.<ref name="harpers=1964"/>}}

Hofstadter also noted that "sexual freedom" is a vice frequently attributed to the conspiracist's target group, noting that "very often the fantasies of true believers reveal strong sadomasochistic outlets, vividly expressed, for example, in the delight of anti-Masons with the cruelty of Masonic punishments".<ref name="harpers=1964">{{cite book|author=Hofstadter, Richard|author-link=Richard Hofstadter|year=1965|title=The Paranoid Style in American Politics and Other Essays|location=New York|publisher=Alfred A. Knopf|isbn=978-0-674-65461-7|pages=32–33|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XcLSoljnmBcC&q=0674654617|access-date=27 October 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190418133817/https://books.google.com/books?id=XcLSoljnmBcC&printsec=frontcover&dq=0674654617#v=onepage&q=This%20enemy%20seems%20to%20be%20on%20many%20counts%20a%20projection|archive-date=18 April 2019|url-status=live}}</ref>