It is frightening to me as well. And thanks for giving some background to The Crucible and including it in your assessment of the political climate today
Here'ss more more context. Arthur Miller was a communist who wrote for years for "New Masses" a communist paper. Not openly of course, he wanted to be to pretend he defended communists out of justice. He knew full well that almost all of McCarthy's accusations were true. He also knew that McCarthy never wanted public hearings or public naming of suspects. He knew thisv attacking McCarthy were the ones who expressed people publically by having public hearings. Seven of then iirc.
David, I’m wondering if you can follow the parallels to McCarthyism to their conclusion; i.e. can you remind us how that era gradually ebbed away, til it was in the rear view mirror. (I should probably know this, but I don’t.) It’s the specifics of “this too shall pass” that make me feel better and less frightened.
Senator Joe Welch said to him: "Have you no sense of decency, Sir?" when Mccarthy accused or implied that Welch's young lawyer was a communist. Mccarthy crumpled and other people became braver. There's a video on YT of Senator Welch saying it.
Yeah, I've been waiting and waiting for something to jar people to thier senses, but I've given up on that now and more or less resigned myself to just waiting it out.
Unfortunately there are no examples in history where once fascists gain power democratically they can be removed either democratically or peacefully. That is indeed frightening.
I am extremely apprehensive. I don’t know whether it is fear. I find myself staring into the eyes of ancient enemies and knowing what I am seeing. I am gearing up to deal. My father fought Nazis. I hope his courage is inherited.
I’m Australian and I’m frightened. To see a country change so rapidly is terrifying. I can see similar elements here in Australia. Sigh. Let’s hope that ‘this too shall pass’.
That so many Jews trust that Trump/GOP will not at some point violently turn against them...seems incredibly foolish. MAGA and the Right has always had deep currents of racism and antisemitism; whereas the recent waves of it from the Left seem predicated on outrage against the excesses of the Netanyahu government in Gaza.
I do not like the collective blame either. The young man who killed Charlie Kirk was deeply disturbed. More and more evidence is coming out about what caused him to snap. He himself is guilty of this heinous crime. My initial reaction to people celebrating his death was shock and disbelief. I still cannot wrap my head around why otherwise decent, intelligent (some), respected people would feel the need to post anything like that… yet, many people did and even lost their jobs as a result. To your question about fear of what is happening in our government, I am more saddened than fearful. There are smart, good, decent people who seem to be stunned into silence or are now acting like toddlers - screaming at each other in Congressional hearings. Am I surprised at how our president is acting? No. He’s being himself. Do I wish he would sometimes stop talking and take the high road. Absolutely. Am I seriously fearful? I don’t know how to feel to be honest. Things are happening so quickly. And in a way, this has been happening for a long time - it started before Trump. Some administrations were just glossier on the surface.
Brilliant, David. I appreciate your connecting these three eras. I thought as I read, What exactly are Americans in fear of now? It feels more diffuse, bespoke for specific demographics. But I’m tempted to generalize fear of a future of continued disintegration of systems, climate collapse, mass migration, ie Very Big Things that are already happening in isolated areas. A systems-wide fear presents a challenge. Who is “the enemy” for us to organize against and fight? There ie none. Humanity is being called to a higher purpose — to collaborate, work together to address these problems — which stem from a mistaken worldview of superiority and separation from nature (TL;DR). Problem is the very vocal powerful among us see this as an opportunity to make even more money and gather even more power. They are not the leaders we need. Fomenting hatred short-circuits the incredible challenge and opportunity before us. Thanks for this thought-provoking essay.
I am very frightened, David, and you rightly point out the problem of collective blame - “The Crucible” is an apt reference point, as is “1984.” The double-think now being promoted by the administration in power is extremely Orwellian when it comes to Jimmy Kimmel’s (or anyone else’s) supposed thought crimes against Charlie Kirk. I agree that Kirk’s murder was a terrible thing and nobody should be celebrating it. And yet, Kirk constantly invoked collective targets of blame (Jews, women, immigrants, Blacks). He was very adept at using social-media platforms and pushing right up against the line of hate speech to engage users.
I don’t think we should be ignoring that or keeping silent, although in my life as a professional editor, journalist, and writer I’ve never felt so constrained by what I can say in an American public venue. So, yes, I’m scared, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop thinking or resisting. It’s crucial to point the finger of blame not at “the internet” or “us” but at the people in power who cast blame falsely and cynically (I’m looking at you, JD Vance) in order to stay in power.
Martha, I agree. There are individuals taking actions and making decisions that are cruel and corrosive. That includes most of the senior people in the Trump Administration, They are responsible as individuals.
And a spotlight needs to be directed at their individual actions. But it’s hard to do if you’re in mainstream media now, for reasons of cowardice or survival. Allowing people like Vance or Musk to make false claims about Joe Biden’s administration (for example) instigating hatred against Kirk and implying that the Dems were behind it is indefensible in a democracy. But I would say we’re not living in democracy. Plenty in power are not only casting collective blame but hiding what’s really going on behind the collective cloak of the “MAGA base.” Current news organizations are facing many threats if they point fingers at individuals, which is why (I think) we’re seeing such collective shorthand about “causes” - and, yes, I find prose like that quote from Thompson deeply annoying and troubling.
Celebration? I've seen posts saying Liberals/Lefties have been celebrating. But I've personally seen nothing of the sort. Which makes me suspect these so supposed celebrants are just Russian or Chinese bots.
Again, I'm skeptical. Kimmel, for example, didn't even say one single word about Charlie Kirk. The WaPo editor who was fired merely posted one of *Kirk's* (highly racist) tweets. Yet Brendan Carr pitched their speech as being filthier than XXX.
Wingnuts of all stripes do exist, however, and maybe this was a time for getting fifteen minutes of fame courtesy of the algorithm.
This climate of fear and the repression of freedom of speech is scary and happening so quickly. Hard to believe. But it clearly has happened before as you have pointed out David. Thank you.
I can’t imagine a world where “puzzled smiles” enter into the picture. This is horrifying-or at least it is to the people I choose to keep company with. Thank you for another excellent post.
Thank you for naming this so brilliantly, David. Just yesterday, I was thinking that the United States seems to be heading towards a Blue Scare. Neighbors reporting neighbors to authorities. Driven to do so by content farms and bot accounts abroad. You’re correct that the rage machine feeds on collective blame. It’s terrifying and sad to watch the US tear itself apart.
I’m glad I left when I did and know that American migration is beginning to be met with some resistance around the world. I’ve mindfully curtailed my media diet and taken up a very deliberate mindfulness practice. As safe as I feel in Canada (for now), other countries certainly aren’t immune from what’s happening down there.
I was a small child in the McCarthy era. My father had to take a loyalty oath. Adults muttered McCarthy’s name with terrified contempt. I didn’t know who he was, only that he had the power to unravel the world order. When I was about 12, my mother gave me a copy of Richard Rovere’s book about McCarthy, originally published in The New Yorker. She wanted me to understand the madness of the Red Scare, and to be vigilant. Bad as things were then, I think today’s madness is escalating at a speed unthinkable to my mother.
As Larry Goldstone points out below, a big difference is that the Red Scare was led by Congress while whatever we're experiencing is led by the Executive branch which has all the enforcement power.. The HUAC only had the power to subpoena and the power to issue contempt citations.
Because THEY the narrative writers,the zeitgeist framers were slowly and by infinitesimal degrees normalizing depravity. Each tiny step accepted by the mainstream led to a further push at tabu boundaries until " Do What Thou Wilt" led to the poor saps who bought into the 'freedom' getting banged up and dying in jail 40 years later and the females who had accepted abuse from them because it was supposed to be "fun" or " giving your love freely with no thought of return - thus spiritual ( expect nothing you'll get nothing) and it took plain speaking in the 21st century to allow those old girls to say "Me Too". I was abused but it wasn't called that then.
Frightened of what? Turns out McCarthy was on to something, though his methods may have been déclassé. The devils greatest trick is convincing you he doesn’t exist. Well I’ll tell you, communism is where he exists, and communists have been at war with us since 1917 and have been gaining ground since the mid-60’s here in the USA. The men who just want to be left alone are noticing once again. This should be cause for optimism. At least it is for me. And it makes me thankful for the 2A. Though I know you think guns are icky.
Oh jeeze you’re one of those people are ya? They knew that battle was to come after we got rid of King George. And we had it. You can read all about it.
It is frightening to me as well. And thanks for giving some background to The Crucible and including it in your assessment of the political climate today
Here'ss more more context. Arthur Miller was a communist who wrote for years for "New Masses" a communist paper. Not openly of course, he wanted to be to pretend he defended communists out of justice. He knew full well that almost all of McCarthy's accusations were true. He also knew that McCarthy never wanted public hearings or public naming of suspects. He knew thisv attacking McCarthy were the ones who expressed people publically by having public hearings. Seven of then iirc.
David, I’m wondering if you can follow the parallels to McCarthyism to their conclusion; i.e. can you remind us how that era gradually ebbed away, til it was in the rear view mirror. (I should probably know this, but I don’t.) It’s the specifics of “this too shall pass” that make me feel better and less frightened.
Senator Joe Welch said to him: "Have you no sense of decency, Sir?" when Mccarthy accused or implied that Welch's young lawyer was a communist. Mccarthy crumpled and other people became braver. There's a video on YT of Senator Welch saying it.
Yeah, I've been waiting and waiting for something to jar people to thier senses, but I've given up on that now and more or less resigned myself to just waiting it out.
I think there always comes a point where the pendulum swings back and eventually goes back to equilibrium.
Except when there isn't, or more precisely when the pendulum takes hundreds of years. Hoping that's not the case for us
Well, yes. I was thinking as I made my comment, I just hope we're alive to see it.
I take that back — The Velvet Revolution — with Vaclav Havel — took at least 20 years and two stints in the Klink.
Unfortunately there are no examples in history where once fascists gain power democratically they can be removed either democratically or peacefully. That is indeed frightening.
It's a great moment.
PS I hope David doesn't mind my including an article I wrote about it, which has a link to the video I mentioned:
https://open.substack.com/pub/terryfreedman/p/the-investigator?r=18suih&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
Thanks Terry. And I'm glad for people to provide links to posts, theirs or other's, they think are relevant!
As Terry writes below McCarthy was discredited in 1954. But the HUAC lasted for a few more decades.
I didn't know that
I am extremely apprehensive. I don’t know whether it is fear. I find myself staring into the eyes of ancient enemies and knowing what I am seeing. I am gearing up to deal. My father fought Nazis. I hope his courage is inherited.
I’m Australian and I’m frightened. To see a country change so rapidly is terrifying. I can see similar elements here in Australia. Sigh. Let’s hope that ‘this too shall pass’.
I’m scared shitless. Thank you for writing.
I think many of us are, especially Jewish people. I have to hold on to my belief that the power of good is greater than any other power.
agree. But as Jews lets also agree that terrible evil can take place before the "good" reasserts itself. Stay very aware of thy surroundings.
That so many Jews trust that Trump/GOP will not at some point violently turn against them...seems incredibly foolish. MAGA and the Right has always had deep currents of racism and antisemitism; whereas the recent waves of it from the Left seem predicated on outrage against the excesses of the Netanyahu government in Gaza.
Eventually. But a lot can happen before eventually.
I do not like the collective blame either. The young man who killed Charlie Kirk was deeply disturbed. More and more evidence is coming out about what caused him to snap. He himself is guilty of this heinous crime. My initial reaction to people celebrating his death was shock and disbelief. I still cannot wrap my head around why otherwise decent, intelligent (some), respected people would feel the need to post anything like that… yet, many people did and even lost their jobs as a result. To your question about fear of what is happening in our government, I am more saddened than fearful. There are smart, good, decent people who seem to be stunned into silence or are now acting like toddlers - screaming at each other in Congressional hearings. Am I surprised at how our president is acting? No. He’s being himself. Do I wish he would sometimes stop talking and take the high road. Absolutely. Am I seriously fearful? I don’t know how to feel to be honest. Things are happening so quickly. And in a way, this has been happening for a long time - it started before Trump. Some administrations were just glossier on the surface.
Thanks Midlife for the well considered comment.
Thanks and you can call me Peggy…
Peggy it is!
Brilliant, David. I appreciate your connecting these three eras. I thought as I read, What exactly are Americans in fear of now? It feels more diffuse, bespoke for specific demographics. But I’m tempted to generalize fear of a future of continued disintegration of systems, climate collapse, mass migration, ie Very Big Things that are already happening in isolated areas. A systems-wide fear presents a challenge. Who is “the enemy” for us to organize against and fight? There ie none. Humanity is being called to a higher purpose — to collaborate, work together to address these problems — which stem from a mistaken worldview of superiority and separation from nature (TL;DR). Problem is the very vocal powerful among us see this as an opportunity to make even more money and gather even more power. They are not the leaders we need. Fomenting hatred short-circuits the incredible challenge and opportunity before us. Thanks for this thought-provoking essay.
Thanks Julie. Its you wrote, think we need better leaders.
Succinct. (Unlike mine!) 🫢
Yes, I'm absolutely terrified.
I am very frightened, David, and you rightly point out the problem of collective blame - “The Crucible” is an apt reference point, as is “1984.” The double-think now being promoted by the administration in power is extremely Orwellian when it comes to Jimmy Kimmel’s (or anyone else’s) supposed thought crimes against Charlie Kirk. I agree that Kirk’s murder was a terrible thing and nobody should be celebrating it. And yet, Kirk constantly invoked collective targets of blame (Jews, women, immigrants, Blacks). He was very adept at using social-media platforms and pushing right up against the line of hate speech to engage users.
I don’t think we should be ignoring that or keeping silent, although in my life as a professional editor, journalist, and writer I’ve never felt so constrained by what I can say in an American public venue. So, yes, I’m scared, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to stop thinking or resisting. It’s crucial to point the finger of blame not at “the internet” or “us” but at the people in power who cast blame falsely and cynically (I’m looking at you, JD Vance) in order to stay in power.
Martha, I agree. There are individuals taking actions and making decisions that are cruel and corrosive. That includes most of the senior people in the Trump Administration, They are responsible as individuals.
And a spotlight needs to be directed at their individual actions. But it’s hard to do if you’re in mainstream media now, for reasons of cowardice or survival. Allowing people like Vance or Musk to make false claims about Joe Biden’s administration (for example) instigating hatred against Kirk and implying that the Dems were behind it is indefensible in a democracy. But I would say we’re not living in democracy. Plenty in power are not only casting collective blame but hiding what’s really going on behind the collective cloak of the “MAGA base.” Current news organizations are facing many threats if they point fingers at individuals, which is why (I think) we’re seeing such collective shorthand about “causes” - and, yes, I find prose like that quote from Thompson deeply annoying and troubling.
I was and am very saddened by the murder, and the celebration of it made me feel physically sick. Excellent article.
Celebration? I've seen posts saying Liberals/Lefties have been celebrating. But I've personally seen nothing of the sort. Which makes me suspect these so supposed celebrants are just Russian or Chinese bots.
There are loads of videos on YouTube, and people have been losing their jobs as a result of it.
Again, I'm skeptical. Kimmel, for example, didn't even say one single word about Charlie Kirk. The WaPo editor who was fired merely posted one of *Kirk's* (highly racist) tweets. Yet Brendan Carr pitched their speech as being filthier than XXX.
Wingnuts of all stripes do exist, however, and maybe this was a time for getting fifteen minutes of fame courtesy of the algorithm.
This climate of fear and the repression of freedom of speech is scary and happening so quickly. Hard to believe. But it clearly has happened before as you have pointed out David. Thank you.
I can’t imagine a world where “puzzled smiles” enter into the picture. This is horrifying-or at least it is to the people I choose to keep company with. Thank you for another excellent post.
Thank you for naming this so brilliantly, David. Just yesterday, I was thinking that the United States seems to be heading towards a Blue Scare. Neighbors reporting neighbors to authorities. Driven to do so by content farms and bot accounts abroad. You’re correct that the rage machine feeds on collective blame. It’s terrifying and sad to watch the US tear itself apart.
I’m glad I left when I did and know that American migration is beginning to be met with some resistance around the world. I’ve mindfully curtailed my media diet and taken up a very deliberate mindfulness practice. As safe as I feel in Canada (for now), other countries certainly aren’t immune from what’s happening down there.
Thanks Amber. That's interesting about American migration meeting resistance.
I was a small child in the McCarthy era. My father had to take a loyalty oath. Adults muttered McCarthy’s name with terrified contempt. I didn’t know who he was, only that he had the power to unravel the world order. When I was about 12, my mother gave me a copy of Richard Rovere’s book about McCarthy, originally published in The New Yorker. She wanted me to understand the madness of the Red Scare, and to be vigilant. Bad as things were then, I think today’s madness is escalating at a speed unthinkable to my mother.
As Larry Goldstone points out below, a big difference is that the Red Scare was led by Congress while whatever we're experiencing is led by the Executive branch which has all the enforcement power.. The HUAC only had the power to subpoena and the power to issue contempt citations.
Because THEY the narrative writers,the zeitgeist framers were slowly and by infinitesimal degrees normalizing depravity. Each tiny step accepted by the mainstream led to a further push at tabu boundaries until " Do What Thou Wilt" led to the poor saps who bought into the 'freedom' getting banged up and dying in jail 40 years later and the females who had accepted abuse from them because it was supposed to be "fun" or " giving your love freely with no thought of return - thus spiritual ( expect nothing you'll get nothing) and it took plain speaking in the 21st century to allow those old girls to say "Me Too". I was abused but it wasn't called that then.
Frightened of what? Turns out McCarthy was on to something, though his methods may have been déclassé. The devils greatest trick is convincing you he doesn’t exist. Well I’ll tell you, communism is where he exists, and communists have been at war with us since 1917 and have been gaining ground since the mid-60’s here in the USA. The men who just want to be left alone are noticing once again. This should be cause for optimism. At least it is for me. And it makes me thankful for the 2A. Though I know you think guns are icky.
Do you also fear witches?
I fear communist witches. Actually I don’t. I feel contempt for them, and communists in general, whatever garb they’re in.
I fear people like you.
Then.you must be a communist.
THEY are coming for our vital bodily secretions.
No, I just don’t like dangerous or stupid people.
Jrod, I think guns are a plague in America.
They are, when in the wrong hands.
The problem is calling it,whatever ,'it' is Communism. Because it's NOT communism. But I can't specify either.
Call it whatever you want, but it’s not what our founding fathers intended. And left unchecked, it will become communism. Believe it.
They all owned slaves,even Ben Franklin I believe.
Oh jeeze you’re one of those people are ya? They knew that battle was to come after we got rid of King George. And we had it. You can read all about it.
I'm Mexican American, and I'm terrified of where I see our country heading. No, of where I see our country.