The Red Scare: Mob Mentality Disaster There are many instances of mob mentality in history, from the Salem Witch Trials to the influence of cults. However, there is one that is incomparable to the many others, which is the mob mentality tragedy of the first Red Scare. There are many contributions to the causes of why the First Red Scare happened, the Second Red Scare, and the effects of what this disaster did to the lives of the American people. The Red Scare is one of the most famous and prominent examples of mob mentality due to the amount of fear-mongering and propaganda; it significantly impacted the lives of countless American civilians in 1917-1920 and 1947-1957. By examining …show more content…
Not only did Senator McCarthy drive government workers out of office, but the lives of many American citizens such as teachers, scholars, and famous media stars. An example of this is quoted from the source “Red Scare,” which was written by Martin, Roland, on the website, Encyclopedia Britannica, 28 Mar. 2024, and states, “Among those investigated were film director Elia Kazan, playwrights Arthur Miller and Bertolt Brecht, folk singer Pete Seeger, and the so-called Hollywood Ten, 10 motion-picture producers, directors, and screenwriters whose refusal to answer the committee’s questions regarding their possible communist affiliations resulted in their incarceration for contempt of Congress as well as blacklisting by the Hollywood studios for most of them.” (5) This demonstrates the phenomenon which was named after the Senator, “McCarthyis This phenomenon unfortunately affected the bright futures of Elia, Arthur, Bertolt, and Pete; leading to their loss of their jobs. Many nicknamed the second Red Scare as “McCarthyism” due to Senator McCarthy being the main cause of all of this unjust persecution. All in all, the second Red Scare is summed up to be the questionable leadership by McCarthy and the mob mentality of support for anti-communism which