One might guess that what attracted the playwright to the story of Salem, the archetypal witch-hunt in American history, was the desire to find an historical analogue with which to compare the current crisis. The University of Minnesota press published his volume, Red Scare: A Study in National Hysteria, 1919–1920, in 1955. Critical reactions. Mass hysteria has reared its ugly head for as long as humans have existed. McCarthyism On February 9, 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy grabbed the attention of the country during his infamous speech in Wheeling, West Virginia. However, once you actually stop and stare, you realize that we’re surrounded by countless weird cases. Adolf Hitler worked enough people into a frenzy to justify the murder of millions of Jews. The Crucible had shown a mirror to McCarthyism when the story was published. Bartholomew notes, for example, that in a stressful or even abusive work context, mass hysteria and its accompanying symptoms can provide a means of … Both McCarthyism and the accusations in The Crucible prevailed because of mass hysteria. For many Americans, the McCarthy era held that dubious distinction, but what is happening now is incomparably worse. Chase enumerated a list of the methods used by McCarthy that painted many as subversives through innuendo and unsubstantiated claims: “It must be remembered that McCarthy's methods produce obloquy by mass communication—headlines, syndicated commentators, radio, newsreels, television—a Niagara of words and symbols unparalleled in history. Jesus Christ, known by all as peaceful, if controversial, was brutally nailed to a cross because a few high-ranking officials felt threatened by him. During the Cold War, people were scared of communism spearing through the veins of the American government. The Red Scare was hysteria over the perceived threat posed by Communists in the U.S. during the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the United … You and I are living through the greatest mass hysteria in American history. When it comes to true examples of mass hysteria, the list is endless. Mass hysteria can be defined as “a condition affecting a group of persons, characterized by excitement or anxiety, irrational behavior or beliefs, or inexplicable symptoms of illness”. A more recent example of mass hysteria also involved schools. In mid-November of 2012, strange flu-like symptoms struck a school in the country of … The Salem Witch Trials and McCarthyism: Parallels in Public Hysteria Introductory Classroom Activity (30 minutes) Have students sit in small groups of about 4-5 people. Above all, you start to wonder … The tide eventually turned, and both McCarthy and McCarthyism would be discredited, with the Senator dying of acute hepatitis in May 1957. Senator McCarthy began his speech with the line: “Today we are engaged in a final, all-out battle between communistic atheism and Christianity. Over the years, the world became familiar with so many examples that just might blow your mind. An example of mass hysteria that does have a known cause occurred on October 30, 1938, during a radio broadcast adapted from H. G. Wells' novel The War of the Worlds. Each group should have someone to record its discussion and someone who will report out orally for the group. (Webster Dictionary) This extreme condition is most often associated with the occurrence of the Salem witch trials.

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