Witch Hunts vs Red Hunts

    More so than classic witch hunting, I’m interested in the concept of a witch hunt where a society is so overtaken by mass hysteria, paranoia, and the need for a scapegoat, that it causes them to discriminate against a group of people. It was mentioned briefly in class, and it made me start thinking about McCarthy era “red-hunts” as following the same pattern of the witch hunts we’ve been learning about. 

            Witch trials of course are the best example of a witch hunt and reflect the destructive power of mass paranoia and unfounded accusations, but while hanging witches and burning them at the stake may have faded into the past, the underlying mechanisms of fear, paranoia, and social scapegoating are strongly echoed in the mid-20th century with the rise of McCarthyism, the second red scare. Senator McCarthy's crusade against alleged communist infiltration was, in essence, a modern-day witch hunt.

Looking at the fuel for each event, they are remarkably similar. Just as the Salem Witch Trials were fueled by religious fear, McCarthyism was fueled by the Cold War paranoia that had America in a death grip. There was the worry of soviet communist spies, enemies of the state, which caused people to doubt even their close neighbors and coworkers. There was so much fear, that mistrust and suspicion blossomed easily. In witch trials, there was the exact same fear of enemies, in this case devil worshiping witches, who threatened Christianity. Witch hunts become tribalistic. McCarthyism vilified anyone who was even potentially fond of another economic system. 

Now looking at the evidence needed to condemn someone in each event, it is likewise flimsy and unfounded. Witch hunts relied on spectral evidence or rumors to serve as proof. The same was true in the second red scare. Simple suggestions of association to communism or an accusation could be construed as evidence of Soviet sympathy. Just as confessing to witchcraft and naming other witches could save one's life in Salem as a sign of repentance, confessing to communist affiliations and naming the names of others became a way to escape being blacklisted and having your life destroyed in the 1950s. In both cases, there was a lack of due process. An accusation equated to a near truth that could result in being publicly called out as a witch/communist and facing the repercussions of that from the majority of the tribe.

However, while the two scenarios so far have proven incredibly similar, the punishments differed. In witch trials, accused witches were subjected to torture, hanging, or burning at the stake. Conversely, accused communists in the 1950s had their reputations destroyed, their careers ruined, and their lives irrevocably altered. It primarily came down to social and professional ostracization. The blacklist, a list of individuals suspected of communist sympathies, became a tool of exclusion, barring people from employment.

Both events stand as cautionary tales about the ease with which societies can succumb to paranoia. The most important lesson I take from this is to avoid tribalism. As soon as you see it as “us vs them” and consider “them” to be the enemy, you’ve created the perfect environment for another witch hunt to occur. Honestly, I worry about this in our current political dynamic. We have a political system that’s become more extreme and resorted to more extreme uses of fear in recent years. We need to continue to be inclusive and use critical thinking to avoid another witch hunt, whether it targets communists, immigrants, or any other group deemed a threat to the prevailing social order.