How It All Begins...

Let's take a look here at how mass hysteria begins and what it can turn into. It usually starts out with a group of people obsessing about something, and many people thinking it is nothing; but before you know it, they gain more and more followers. What does this result in? An epidemic of hysteria that usually brings along hatred.

I want to look into the Westboro Baptist church. They remind me a lot of the Nazi party. The Nazi party started out small; seeming like a bunch of crazies that had extreme view points that really wouldn't amount to anything. All it took was one man to bring them to power, and ended up slaughtering millions of innocent people. Right now the Westboro Baptist church seems like a group of crazies, but isn't this how it all starts? People say there is no way these people can amount to anything, but where their is followers and people with extremist views, their is extreme motivation as well.

The Westboro Baptist church is known for their extreme hatred towards Jews and especially homosexuals; their website is www.godhatesfags.com If you ask me that says enough. This group has been known for the protests at military funerals, and even stomping on the American Flag. Now do I think this group is going to become the next Nazi party? Absolutely not. With how tolerable this nation is in this day and age there is no way they will be slaughtering in the masses; but I do believe if this organization birthed about 50 years ago, they might have had potential to do some serious devastation. Please feel free to respond on what you think about this group and if you think they have potential to rise to power in this day and age or if they could've in the past.

Todays Hysteria

Mass hysteria exists today even if we don't realize it. The people involved in the witch trials and the red scare probably didn't recognized what was going on in their society at the time would be seen as prime examples of mass hysteria in history. A good example to reference hysteria in todays society is the outlook of many westerners after 9/11. Let's be honest here, the majority of us began shaking in are boots when we saw someone with a hijab or a turban on. Why? Because A FEW people from that religion took their views to the extreme and slaughtered thousands of innocent people, thus creating trouble for those of the Islamic faith who also get slaughtered by the SAME group of people. These extremists Muslims kill their own people everyday. It is a very complicated religion full of extremists and those who are not extremists.

Back to the original topic at hand here; events by small groups of individuals have the capability to cause hysteria in the masses, as we've seen by the Islamic terrorism attacks on the Western World. This has all been done before people!  Innocent people get scrutinized and even murdered because of other people's fears from one event. Society never will learn. If we keep being intolerant of other peoples views and beliefs, events like these will repeat for all of time.

I would like to connect these events of mass hysteria to my world view; society and the world will continue to be a horrible place as long as people keep being intolerant of one another. And let's face it, human beings have been intolerable for all of time. Christians against Muslims, Muslims against the Jews... it is all one big pool of hatred. To comment on my country, nothing is going to change until we take a firm stance against this intolerance.

Terrorism is a great example of hysteria because it effects Americans so strongly these past 12 years and is the biggest threat we face today. In my opinion, this country needs to stand its ground, stop worrying about offending people and protect our citizens. We are a nation of tolerance, but we are far too tolerant when it comes to beliefs that completely go against any sort of moral. If someone's belief is to slaughter innocent people in the name of their God, we as a nation shouldn't tolerate it, and put an end to it.

Red Scare vs. Witch Trials

It is seen that mass hysteria erupts when communities are under stress. When this occurs these communities begin to point fingers at those who seem to be breaking the "norms" of society. After these events, many accusers began to feel surges of guilt at their ignorance and lack of better judgment.


In my last post I discussed the Salem Witch Trials. This event was later looked upon as foolish, ignorant and lack of better judgment by individuals involved. You would believe something society saw as a huge mistake would not be repeated again, but it was in the 1950's with the Red Scare.
The similarities between these events connect extremely on the fact that both hysterias gained their momentum by targeting individuals who did not fit the norms of society, or if their specific stories did not line up perfectly. Examples of this is seen through conviction of foreigners in the Witch Trials as well as the Red Scare. Both events fueled off of scape goating others.

Though the events are eerily similar, they have minor differences; though these differences do not change the identical theme of the events. The witch trials were fueled by adolescents and the Red Scare was fueled by adults in professional fields. The Red Scare made their accusations based off of reasons like someone registering as a communist decades previous while the witch trials accusations were mostly based off of religious doctrine.

These events perfectly illuminate the idea that history repeats itself. Though one event was based off of puritan religion and the other political unrest, they still evolve around hysteria sourcing from unreliable accusations. Both events display the xenophobia of Americans; more strongly in the Red Scare because at this point America was seen as the melting pot of diversity. The problem with society is the inability to learn from their mistake; thus causing similar events through out history and the future.

Witch Trials

Within 3 months, 19 men and women were tried and convicted of witchcraft in Salem, Ma. They were sentenced to death by hanging. Besides these 19 citizens, dozens were kept in prison without any trial. It seemed as soon as the hysteria began it was over. What could have possibly caused such hysteria that was so gruesome and violent but is now looked upon as a bunch of made up nonsense? The closed minded, strict religious environment of Salem at the time could be to blame. Those who were even slightly not fitted to the "norm" of that time were outcastes, making them prime candidates to be accused of witchcraft. The idea that witchcraft had taken place in Salem began with the strange illness of the Reverends daughter and niece. What seemed to be some sort of spell put on the girls was actually their sheer boredom; causing trouble to entertain themselves.

Those accused of casting spells on the girls were accused because of reasons like ongoing family feuds, one woman because she was homeless, and the other because she was from Barbados. Out of these 3 instances, these people are all out of the "norms" of the society at the time. It is easy to point fingers at those unlike what is considered normal. Everyone was afraid of being accused, so they accused one another, causing hysteria and uproar throughout.

Introduction

I'll start these blog posts off with introducing myself. I'm Carli Bellmer, I'm 18 years old and I am a journalism major. In my studies of American history and World history I have always found it interesting how certain events in time are eerily similar to other events. Because of this I have come to my own conclusion that history does indeed repeat itself. A certain situation that always seems to reoccur over what later turns out to be a bunch of nonsense is mass hysteria. Examples of such foolishness are seen in the exile and genocide of Native Americans, The Salem Witch trials, and both Red Scares. These events are only a few examples of how hysteria is contagious amongst society. In upcoming posts I will go into detail of these events and by doing so I believe they will show societies inability to learn from previous mistakes, thus causing history to repeat itself.