"Yeah, that's what makes it so grimly compelling: the paranoia was self-fulfilling. They treated friends as conspirators, provoked resistance and flight, then used that resistance as evidence that the conspiracy had always existed.

And the sheer mismatch is extraordinary. One word bruised Stevie's ego badly enough that he escalated into conduct with illegal consequences, while Glowmin's rigid conclusion prevented any reassessment. The "chud" didn't destroy the community; their inability to tolerate it did."