[raman325]

Do you have any evidence to back up the claim that “a significant portion of the DC population constantly thinks someone is out to get them”? Admittedly anecdotal but I live in DC and I wouldn’t characterize myself or anyone I know in the area that way

[boomboomsubban]

Being the center of political and military power means a lot of people have to constantly worry that their political and geopolitical enemies are trying to get one over on them. I'm not saying they're like Dale Gribble, but a certain part of them is professionally paranoid.

[raman325]

Sure. While there is a higher concentration of those type of people in DC than elsewhere, that is not the same thing as the DC population.

[boomboomsubban]

We disagree on what constitutes a "significant portion of the population" means then. Even at 1% of the population fitting that description would be ~50,000 people, meaning 3 of them with weird symptoms would not be surprising.

[meepmorp]

> Do you have any evidence to back up the claim that “a significant portion of the DC population constantly thinks someone is out to get them”?

Not OP, but I'd point to people working in Fort Meade and Langley who are paranoid by trade.