McCarthyism

On Tuesday, my histoy teacher did this thing where she tricked our class into thinking that our school was being sued for being unpatriotic (i.e teachers would not say the pledge and would "Challenge the government, elected leaders, ect.."), and so we were supposed to write if we had witnessed any of this happening. Anyways, she said that this related to WWI (which we are studying now) and also McCarthyism. I didn't know much about what it was besides it had to do with the cold war, so I looked it up and it sounds pretty crazy! Thousands of people were tried for being communist sympatsizers and communists; in return they were fired, had their careers destroyed, or were sent to jail. It also was prevelant in Hollywood, putting many actors (such as Charlie Chaplin) on the "black list". Even J. Oppenhimer, the creator of the Atomic bomb and Manhattan Project, was tried for coumunistic ideals.

I think that this just shows what happens when fear of anything gains a foothold in your mind. It twists you around until your more tied up than a contortionist in a taffy puller.

Hope this makes you think.

John

Welcome

Hi everybody. Welcome to the blog. I'm liking it already.