Is the difference between right and wrong clear? The answer to this question is yes, and no. Depending on the situation, the answer can be a blur and cannot be determined very easily. For example, look at the incident called “The Salem Witch Trials”, and “The Blacklisting of Americans during the 1950s”. During the time of early European settlers in America, people were very religious. These people would spend their whole Sunday in church. Since everyone had much faith, when they saw people who acted strangely or skipped church, it was a bad sign. The people who acted suspiciously were assumed to be possessed by the devil, which then leads us to “The Salem Witch Trials”. Those “possessed” by the devil were usually women, although not all, were called witches. These “witches” were put on trial by the townspeople and …show more content…
This event was later named “The Blacklisting of America”. After World War II, Americans were terrified because of high tensions with Russia. Russia, or the Soviet Union at the time, spread Communism to China, North Korea, and Vietnam. Because of this, Americans were cautious of communists in the United States. They started questioning many people during this time to see if they were communist or not. Most people who were accused of being communist were in reality innocent. Because of these blacklistings, the accused communists lost their jobs, credibility, social status, etc. This event probably sounds familiar or similar to another. The Blacklisting of America and The Salem Witch Trials are often compared because of the similarities of the two. History often repeats itself, and thus, it happened again. Did these people believe they were right to accuse others of being communists? Yes they did. Were they actually right? No, they were very far from it. This again proves how it is immensely difficult to tell the difference between right and wrong depending on the
The Salem Witch Hunt and the Internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II The Crucible is a play written by Arthur Miller, which is based on the events of the Salem Witch Trials. In the play, a girl accuses innocent people of witch craft, and many people died because of the misunderstanding that it was all a lie. There are many historical events that are similar to the Salem Witch Trials, such as the internment of Japanese-Americans during WWII. In this event, Japanese-Americans were put into internment camps, which were solitary camps made to separate these people from the rest of the U.S. The bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japan caused the distrust of Japanese-Americans similar to those accused of witch craft in the Salem Witch
Hundreds of Americans were being accused of being communists during this time. Plus, many of these people were government employees in the entertainment industry, educators, and labor union activists, who were suffering loss of employment or destruction of their careers some of them even suffered
His goal was to compare the Salem witch trials and American anticommunism during the 1950s. The Crucible takes place in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692. John Proctor, Elizabeth Proctor, Abigail Williams, Thomas Putnam, Ann Putnam, and Mary Warren are all characters that were involved in the sins of salem. Sentence 5. The main sins that happened in Salem were lust, jealousy, and revenge.
However, newly released archival materials such as the Venona intercepts show the extent of Communist subversion in pre- and post-war America. There were indeed hundreds of Communists working for Moscow, directly or indirectly, in the United States during the Roosevelt and Truman administrations. The problem that plagued Joe McCarthy was that by the time he surfaced with his accusations in the 1950’s, the key Soviet spy networks had all been closed down. For decades, many people believed that anyone who was accused of being a spy for the Soviets in the '50s was in fact just another innocent victim of the McCarthy’s witch hunt. Although it is true that McCarthy’s witch hunt did ruin the lives of innocent people, the fact is there were witches to be hunted and there had been a threat national security presented by communist spying and subversion in the 1940’s.
The only difference was whether that person admitted to being a Communist; if they did not admit, they were punished. This is identical to how the Salem Witch Trials occurred. Evidence was completely irrelevant, and one had to confess to witchcraft if one wanted to live. Both situations alleviated fear by confronting the supposed problems and spurred further fear by creating a hysterical situation where no one could be trusted. Source: history knowledge 3
There was agitation for what was to come for the colony; everything was strained in aspects of the government, and to add to that, witches were perceived, consequently heightening the hysteria. The colonists became to believe that the devil was accountable for all the hardships they faced. [] Tensions within the colony were so severe that in 1692, Salem was basically dry kindling waiting for a spark to ignite it. The spark was the first appearance of witchcraft in the colony, which began “in Salem… in January of 1692 with a group of young girls” (Brooks). The girls went through the typical states of hysteria, “starting with a preliminary phase of anxious self-reflection or worrying about their “sins”, which led to the onset phase, which is characterized by fainting, wailing, and broken speech.
McCarthyism is the practice of making accusations of subversion or treason without proper regard for evidence. This term was coined to criticize anti-communist pursuits of senator Mccarthy. During the Salem Witch trials, victims were often accused of being a witch based on someone's word no one had actual proof that these victims had actual powers from the spiritual world or so called satanist they were demeaned too. Coming back to the reality of accusing with no tangible evidence.many tactics were also brought upon this idea of fear many civilian and townspeople were burdened with the idea of guilt and fear of what would happen to them if they didn't partake in these so-called “witch hunts” of Mccarthy and the governing court of Salem.
You never knew whether individuals were coming clean or simply making up a lie since they didn't care for that individual, so they attempted to cause that individual harm, Amid the Salem Witch Trials many individuals were (accused of a wrongdoing) of conversing with the fiend. As indicated by Congressperson Joseph McCarthy began the frenzy/exceptionally compelling feeling that occurred after the second Red Startle and (accused of a wrongdoing) U.S. individuals (who legally live in a nation, state, and so on.) of being communists. These Announcements (that somebody has accomplished something awful) spoke to Midwestern Americans who found that hostile to socialism was to battle against liberals and internationalists. It assumed control over the
This meant that people could be indoctrinating others in this much-hated belief for U.S civilians. This concern was rational as they would not like by any chance a society shaped by communism being a nation founded on democracy and freedom. Senator McCarthy raised concerns in communities in his speech “why we find ourselves in a position of impotency is not because our only powerful potential enemy has sent men to invade our shores...but rather because of the traitorous actions of those who have been treated so well by this Nation.” (McCarthy). This could have scared the civilians as if people living in the U.S are supporters of communism and are betraying the nation they could not feel secure in their own country.
Imagine the wicked House of Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) arrest an innocent man. The HUAC does not arrest the man because he has committed a murder, but because he is a communist. Many communists became victims of HUAC in the Red Scare crisis of the 1950s. These communists made the right decision to speak out for their freedom and against injustice. These communists also spoke out for their freedom of different beliefs.
In 1947 The Washington Post wrote a comic where the Committee on Un-American Activities, an anti-communist organization, is running over people walking in the streets with the car. Above the picture the slogan, “It’s okay- we’re hunting communists” is written, inferring that the American government was accusing and attacking innocent citizens. (Doc. 11) The most important conflict the United States faced, between 1953 and 1962 in general, was war. According to the Gallup Poll the American public believed that if communism began to spread, the United States should go to war (Doc. 2).
The reason that the Puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony could condone the acts of genocide that occurred during the Salem Witch Trials is because, while they had set themselves up to be a utopian society, it had not yet happened. Various reasons could have led to their settlement towards not becoming a utopia. The main reason for this is the very origin or the greek word “utopia,” which originally meant “impossible.” Other factors included simpler human concepts such as greed, hatred, and lust. These emotions were all present in the town of Salem, but they were hidden from notice by the towns folks devoutness to their church.
The government passed the Smith Act, an act that allowed anyone who had “intentions to overthrow the government” (Thomas L. Telford, 2009), which gave the government authority to arrest Communists. The McCarran Act, also known as the Internal Security Act, was also passed. This act required organizations and their members to register as ‘communist-action’, ‘communist-front’, or ‘communist-infiltrated’. By 1952, the federal crusade against Communism had caused seven leaders of the Washington State party to be arrested and accused of plotting the overthrow of the government. Although they all presented ample proof that they had never openly advocated a coup, six of the seven were convicted and sent to jail.
With all of the accusations going around, people were forgetting that everyone can have their own opinion. Edward R Murrow, a television host of See It Now bashed McCarthy by saying “’We must not confuse dissent with disloyalty’” (Roberts, 2). Murrow was saying that just because a person disagrees with what the president or a government official says, does not mean they are a communist. The United States has freedom of speech, and citizens can say whatever they want about the government.
The main accuser during this time was Joseph McCarthy. The people who were accused were just everyday people. Joseph McCarthy said that he knew people who are members of the communist party working for the government, he may have done this because he didn’t like those people. This scared everyone, primarily because during the years that followed WWII everyone feared communist. So after McCarthy made these statements, it almost made like a ripple effect by having everyday people, being accused of people that “suspected” that they were communists as well.