The Red Scare

In the terms of Cold War history, no occurrence quite captures the nature of the cultural climate as well as the notorious "Red Scare". It was a time largely fueled by rampant paranoia, the fear of an enemy lurking around every corner, and the terrifying concept that your own friends and family could actually be hiding a sinister secret. Many would say that the feelings of the time were largely fueled by the likes of Joe McCarthy and others like him, but I would argue that they were simply just cashing in on the general comotion of the time. Uncertainty was chic and they were just riding the wave of the trend. In general, suspicions were high at the time and it's not difficult to understand why. The world was thought to be in the midst of a philosophical grapple that was to be what would determine the very course of humanity. Would we go down the path of democracy, liberty and freedom? Or would we succumb to the nefarious evils of communism? These were questions that seemed all too prevalent at the time. I might not have the exact wording correct, but the general sentiment is fairly spot on, at least in regard to the most notorious hardliners. Obviously with myself not being a fan of broad brush strokes, I should mention that it most likely wasn't this way for everyone. While I've heard stories of "bombing drills" during school, and of the many campaigns to route out spies in many corners of society, I would have to guess that for many people, it was just business as usual. I say this based on what I've experienced in my own time. The world I currently live in is rife with political unrest. Here in America the perception of the presence of nefarious enemies is still around, it's just the figures themselves that have changed. The boogeyman codeword has for the most part shifted from communist to terrorist, and the new context of the war on terror has largely shaped the international landscape in place of the war on communism. But it's not just terrorists that fuel peoples concerns, there are many other perceived foes including but not limited to: North Korea, China, Mexican drug cartels, and even the Russians have made a come back as the de facto primary rival of the west. But what are things like for everyday people amidst this charged environment? The answer is business as usual for the vast majority of people. Sure most are aware of what is going on in the world, now more than ever with all of the sources of information we're exposed to, but still life carries on. We go to work, we go shopping, we make plans with family and friends, and the overall aspect of normalcy is upheld. Based on all this, I would have to guess that the situation back then was similar in many ways. Of course I'm strongly of the philosophy that there are no 100% perfect historical comparisons so we should look at what is different. For starters, the general outlook of society has shifted drastically since the red scare. The world is looked at more as a whole than as a series of warring tribes and consequences of actions are more widely considered. I would attribute this largely to the rise of technology and transportation that, while being inconsequential to the physical size of the world, has absolutely made the whole thing feel much smaller in terms of connectedness. Another change would definitely be the way in which information is spread, which has lead to a much wider variety of philosophical factions under which each person in the world might fall. Instead of seeing ourselves as a monolithic tribe opposed to a greater enemy, there are many different perceptions as to who or what is the greatest threat plaguing the world. Some would say it's terrorists, some would say Global Warming and seemingly everything in between can be fit into the mold that communism and the Soviet Union once filled. The perceived threats facing the world will always be shifting, but human nature has proven to be somewhat consistent when push comes to shove. When we think we are in danger, we will resort to suspicion, paranoia, and even hatred of whatever it happens to be that we think is out to do us harm. Ditching the western centered view of the cold war, it should be said that there are many soviet accounts of the cold war, and the mentality was quite similar to those in the west. Many believed the Americans were going to nuke them into oblivion, they thought that western spies were in their midst, and the same overall sense of uncertainty was rife in that corner of the world as well. When one takes that into account, the whole thing seems rather ridiculous doesn't it? The idea that for so long, so many human beings were terrified by the idea that other human beings were dead set on destroying them and everything they believed in, when in reality, for the most part it was just everyone trying to go about their lives and make the most of their circumstance on this little blue marble floating in the abyss. It really makes one question the necessity for all of this tribalism and paranoia that still plagues the world to this day. I should make it perfectly clear that I am in no way denying the fact that the world is rife with dangerous people that would love nothing more than to cause harm to those that they view as their enemies, but I'm trying to point out that those groups and individuals are far outweighed by the massive hoards of people all over the planet that are just trying to get through the day. Paranoia has proven itself warranted at times yes, but many times also has it been shown to be a hinderance of grandiose proportions. A rise in selectivity with suspicion and a widening of perspective would do the world a large amount of good in my mind.