Friday, March 11, 2011
Week # 2: McCarthyism (Option)
Joseph McCarthy's "fear tactics" caused many innocent people to suffer, whether through loss of reputation or loss of a job. The MASH episode took the fear of communism concept and told a story to make the idea relatable. Use this blog to comment on fear as a way to gain political power. Why was McCarthy so successful (for awhile)? Are similar tactics used today? Do things like what happened to Margaret in the MASH episode still happen today?
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Senator McCarthy was successful because the United States already had an inherent distrust of foreigners since World War I. A man named George Creel was head of the Committee on Public Information (CPI) in 1917. He has to help Wilson gain support for the war effort. His team of people were able to include all aspects of the U.S. media, including film, posters, music, paintings and cartoons. So many of these posters made the German Army look like filthy beasts that should not deserve to live. Some of the less graphic posters:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/wilson/gallery/p_war_12.html
The CPI was abolished shortly after the war, but the hate in this country did not stop. Instead of the nasty Germans, we now had to worry about Bolshevism. Anything that was related to foreigners or labor unions was considered illegal. Because of Creel’s CPI, the United States was in a mood of hyper nationalism. Labor unions were striking because they wanted better working conditions and better pay; unfortunately this is an era when unions had little legal representation. The US government blamed foreigner for trying to destroy capitalism.
Over a two year period several hundred naturalized American citizens were rounded up and deported back to their country of origin. The Red Scare effectively ended in the middle of 1920, after Attorney General Palmer forecast a massive radical uprising on May Day and the day passed without incident.
Between the World Wars, the Ku Klux Klan added to their original anti-black ideology with a new anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic, prohibitionist and anti-Semitic agenda. The Klan resurgence came mainly from two factors. First was the massive immigration from the largely Catholic countries of eastern and southern Europe which led to friction with America's longer-established Protestant citizens. The second factor was the Great Migration of African Americans to the North stoked racism by whites in Northern industrial cities.
After WWII the threat of communism taking over Europe became very real. The eastern half of Europe was already occupied by Soviet troops and the countries were run by puppet states controlled by the Soviet Union. Americans were becoming increasingly paranoid. Americans started to question their friends and neighbors as possible communist spies. Later on this term would be known as McCarthyism. McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence.
During the Second Red Scare, Joseph McCarthy took full advantage of the United States paranoia. As I have mentioned earlier, we have been worrying about subversives among us for over a generation. The senator, in 1950, claimed he had a list of Communists and Soviet spies and sympathizers inside the United States federal/state governments, the military, and in Hollywood. He would destroy many lives by having them black listed so they could not gain substantial work again. Ultimately he would become censured by the US senate after he tried to take on the US Army. He was unable to substantiate his claims and die a failure.
We can see the same thing happening today with the hearings by Congressman Peter King. He is conducting a hearing on Islamic radicalization in America. I think this is just another bad example in a long line of mistakes of the US singling out a small segment of the population.
http://www.voanews.com/english/news/usa/Congressman-Vows-to-Continue-Controversial-
Islamic-Radicalization-Hearings-117859424.html
I don’t recall watching a hearing on the internal threats our country faced from domestic terrorist in the 1990s like Ruby Ridge, Waco, and the Oklahoma City bombing incidents. I do not know if things like what happened to Margaret in the MASH episode still happen today are still possible. When 41 percent of Republicans think Obama was not a natural-born citizen, you know there is a possibility for trouble.
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/09/birther-debate-alive-and-well-in-new-hampshire/
Espionage/McCarthyism/ Fear tactics
ReplyDeleteI would say that to an extent this is still happening today. I mean how can it not be happening and the only true way to know for sure is if it happens to you. I believe last year a woman in New York City was extradited for being a Russian spy. Her name was Anna Chapman. Nine other people and Chapman were arrest on charges of being a spy. She pleaded guilty to the charge of conspiracy and was extradited back to Russia.
As to McCarthyism, I am shocked that so many people went along with his shenanigans. I don’t believe that the government had the technology to prove any of the information McCarthy was insisting was happening. The misfortune these people had to face is despicable. McCarthyism reminds me of the Salem witch trials. People being accused of something with no proof at all and punished. Lives and families ruin for mere suspicion.
Fear tactics I think is still used. On a small scale I think that George W. Bush won his second election because of fear. I believe people across America were afraid that if the Presidency switched hands at this crucial time of terrorism that something terrible would happen. 9/11 put fear into Americans. Bush starting the War on Terror which was needed and I believe that people were afraid that if another person entered office that things would go hairy and another 9/11 could possibly happen or even worst. I believe that media often tends to sway our judgments in the form of fear as well. They elude the truth and over embellish a lot of information.
I think that McCarthy was so successful for awhile because the people really were afraid. They had been told for the longest time that the opponent was bad so it did not take a whole lot of convincing from McCarthy to instill this idea in each person. He did use some propaganda to enforce his ideas but I do not believe it was completely necessary because the people already had that idea in their head. I’m sure similar tactics are used today in war just to keep people under control and almost force them to do just what the government wants them to. Most people had no other options since there were not as many jobs back then so they relied on what they had and could not lose it. The army was the best job that most people could get at the time. I think things like what happened to Margaret in the M.A.S.H. episode do still happen today sometimes except possibly with the people who are in our army and not necessarily about being a communist but possibly about being a spy or traitor and truly be on the other side.
ReplyDeleteGood job.
ReplyDelete