>CB: Yes, I know such comes up here now and again, but I usually think
>of it as a form of cussing, expression of exasperation, not a serious
>claim that someone is insane.
That's not the point. The idea is that a collective can share delusional beliefs and behavior.
>Hitler seems to have been insane, but we don't usually explain the
>rise of the Nazis due to Hitler's mental
>illness.
Shouldn't we use whatever applies to understand things? No one is claiming "paranoid style" as a monocausal explanation.