Cases And Causes Of Mass Hysteria In American History

History has shown that it is human nature, when an emotional and inexplicable situation arises, for people to fall prey to suspicion and fear. During these times, unscrupulous individuals can play upon a wide-spread panic, using this fear to their advantage. History is filled with many examples of this, one of the most powerful being the vengeance behind the hysteria of the Salem witch trials in The Crucibles by Arthur Miller which caused the inevitable deaths of 19-20 innocent victims, who were killed as a result of jealousy, greed, lust, and self-preservation. Again, in Rod Serling's Monsters are due on Maple Street, the damaging power of hysteria shows its ugly face when the terrified neighborhood transitioned into a community capable of monstrous behavior just to save themselves from accusations when an unidentified object flies across the sky, and coincidently the power goes out on Maple Street. Similarly, McCarthy creates a culture of fear across the nation in the George Clooney’s movie Good Night and Good Luck by drum mingup fear of Communism to such a degree that individuals start to mistrust and judge any person thought to be a Communist without any clear evidence; even most reputed media man of the time like Edward R. Murrow is not spared. One of the famous McCarthyism cartoons “Fire!” by Herbert Block that came up in 1949, a time when Americans were still highly terrified of Communism clearly illustrates the message that is said in all of the above examples. The torch from the Statue of Liberty, which represents the Enlightenment and is meant to light our way to freedom, is being extinguished by a man labeled “Hysteria” with a bucket of water. Due to “Hysteria” making an effort to extinguish the fire, the cartoon demonstrates that universal panic concerning Communism that McCarthy played a role in creating is a huge threat to our freedom. It can endanger Americans’ right to say anything they desire to say without being discriminated for it. From all the texts and illustrations, it is indicative that public hysteria comes to evolve out of desires for self-preservation and makes people frenzy and they start to do awful things.

It becomes clear in The Crucibles, how the accusations of witchcraft creates an atmosphere of mass hysteria and forces the judges to whatever keeps them in the good graces of society. The power of mass hysteria is revealed when Mary can not pretend to faint outside of the emotionally charged courtroom environment and being caught up in the delusions of those around her, she believed she had seen spirits before. Abigail also disturbs the judges from any rational investigation in this act by playing into the mass hysteria. Danforth, who has the most authority, is also sold on her act, and it only takes a couple screams to convince him that he’s in the presence of witchcraft. This leads to Mary’s hysterical accusation of Proctor after she realizes she will be consumed by the hysteria monster if she is not a factor to it. To maintain control, judges seek to create an illusion of precision in the sentencing process. They want to feel secure in the knowledge that they are doing the right thing, and they can only do that by completely crushing all of their uncertainties. “In an ordinary crime, how does one defend the accused? One calls up witnesses to prove his innocence. But witchcraft is ipso facto, on its face and by its nature, an invisible crime, is it not? Therefore, who may possibly be witness to it? The witch and the victim. None other. Now we cannot hope the witch will accuse herself; granted? Therefore, we must rely upon her victims - and they do testify, the children certainly do testify. As for the witches, none will deny that we are most eager for all their confessions. Therefore, what is left for a lawyer to bring out?” (Danforth 100). This quote shows Danforth’s rationale for the way these trials have been conducted. It gives us insight into the twisted logic that court officials have adopted in the face of hysteria. Since the crime is invisible, there are no unbiased witnesses available; the only people who can testify to what really happened are the “witch” and her victim. This means every case is inevitably a he-said-she-said situation where the accused person is immediately mistrusted and coerced into confessing without any chance to defend herself. The hysteria surrounding witchcraft and the devil is so great that officials ignore the fact that the accusers might have reasons to lie about their experiences.

There has been no real evidence of evil behavior by any neighbor in The Monsters are Due on Maple Street, yet an atmosphere of hysteria has broken out due to their irrational fears and even neighbors and friends are turning on each other with monsterous violence due to their readiness to save themselves. When a sudden and inexplicable force causes everything to stop working on Maple Street, the people there begin to wonder who or what is responsible. Accusations and suspicions begins about one person, then another and finally the momentum builds up until the entire town is annihilated, therefore leading to violence. As the mass hysteria arises, “The people shout, accuse, scream. The camera tilts back and forth. We see panic-stricken faces in close-up and tilting shots of houses as the lights go on and off.” (Serling). The episode depicts a vulnerable and paranoid situation among human beings at times when they are in tension, and when they find no way of escape. The community of Maple Street quickly start to find a scapegoat and cast blame on each other which finally shifts the blame to an entire community, and a small incident becomes catastrophic. In such cases, no one is there to look into an issue and make positive, rational, and visionary conclusions; instead, people turn against each other to an extent of hurting one another. The text symbolizes the loss of control pertinent to human beings, especially when paranoia and hysteria takes control and as such, human beings become no better than animals, living on their instincts rather than rationale.

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The movie Good Night and Good Luck highlights that mass hysteria has resulted from the political tactics used by powerful people like McCarthy to transform minor sense of fear into full-blown frenzies in order to gain power or control. During the 1950’s, the country’s citizens and politicians were afraid of the upcoming superpower Russia and the influences their ideals were having on the United States. Many people were afraid that the Russians were infiltrating our society in an attempt to take over. During this Red Scare, Senator Joseph McCarthy fuels a mass hysteria in which countless innocent people see their lives destroyed in the name of rooting out Communism. Senator Joseph McCarthy, took this opportunity to reveal and persecute those who he thought were communists. People did not oppose him, as they feared his power. At this time, Edward R. Murrow was a news personality in the newly founded television industry. As Murrow’s career in broadcasting soared, so did his ability to use the medium to his will. When no one questioned McCarthy and his doings, Murrow did. “The actions of the Junior Senator from Wisconsin have caused alarm and dismay amongst our allies abroad and given considerable comfort to our enemies. And whose fault is that? Not really his; he didn't create this situation of fear, he merely exploited it, and rather successfully. Cassius was right: the fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.” (Murrow). Murrow illustrates the power of McCarthyism by referring to Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar. He says that the corruption in government is actually 'in all of us,' Murrow reveals that he believes that McCarthy's corruption is an indication of a broader structural issue, and that people must remain independent and vigilant against becoming corruptible and uncritical themselves. It is also notable that in this statement, Murrow points out that the tide of fear is not the fault of McCarthy, but that he has exploited it to his own selfish ends. Using public fear to gain power, powerful people like McCarthy ruin people's lives for personal game. Accusations are missing proof, there is no evidence, yet mass hysteria is so strong in the air that no one can oppose McCarthy without being accused themselves.

One on McCarthyism Political Cartoons ‘Fire!’ depicts that Mass hysteria is irrational and, therefore, so dangerous that people do not consider all the consequences of what they might be doing and they are ready to eliminate personal freedom and liberty under a hysteric attack. 'Fire!' - This word is shouted in alarm when a blaze occurs that is unexpected and dangerous. The torch held by Lady Liberty is meant to be a beacon of freedom for immigrants entering the United States, as well as a reminder to American citizens of their freedoms; however, if this fire is put out, then the symbolism of the torch is altered. An empty torch promises nothing; one whose fire has been extinguished indicates control put upon it. The hysterical man with the bucket of water does not stop to consider that the fire in the torch may be burning for a reason; he sees a fire, shouting 'Fire!' and rushes to put out this fire. (Block). He does not consider all the consequences of what he may be doing; in assuming that something is only one thing and that this danger, personal freedom and liberty is eliminated. The destructive power of hysteria is so evident from the cartoon that a normal person under its attack does not hesitate to destroy the freedom and liberty of the entire nation.

Public hysteria begins from a simple thing and gradually takes a more complex form, ending up in an environment of chaos, where people become inhuman and are ready to go to any extent in order to defend themselves. In a sudden and inexplicable event, our society gets trapped in a monotone mindset, surrendering their ideals and discriminations being force-fed to them from higher powers. Mob mentality in such situations, religious or political, leads to thoughtless (and therefore unethical and illogical) actions leading to the persecution of innocent people. All the incidents remind us how fragile rules of civilized society are and how willing our human nature is to seek vengeance before truth. Don't get caught up in the hysteria because it can snowball into unimaginable horror. Fear causes people to do things completely out of character with who they are. Do not allow yourself to become a part of “mob mentality”.