Some of us got all paranoid about the Y2K bug, while the media enjoyed a late-year terrorist boomlet. Traditionalists are sticking with the Russians and still want to build Star Wars. I couldn't figure out why, at this late date, the Strategic Defense Initiative still has legs, unless it's because the Republicans haven't had a new idea since the Reagan administration, so they're stuck with it. In addition to the black helicopter crowd, which sees the U.S. government as the main menace to freedom, we have the ever-popular media conspiracy. Both left and right have media conspiracy theories, though I must say the left is gaining on points.
Economic globalization is good for some heavy-duty paranoia, too.
Meanwhile, our more advanced thinkers are into global warming, rising sea levels, greenhouse gases, coastlines under water and other great stuff. But global warming is for those who actually trust scientists, or at least think scientists tend to know what they're talking about. And distrust of science runs deep in our culture. That's why I'm interested in resistance to the idea of global warming as a source of paranoia. In a curious incident last year, Dubya Bush first announced he thought global warming was a serious problem and then backed down after protests from the oil industry.