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.