The Modern Day Witch Hunt Analysis

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It is important to understand the concept of mass hysteria before trying to understand these events, and even the present event of the fear of Islamic culture. Mass Hysteria can be categorized as a disorder that is started by fear and amplified through a community. What makes mass hysteria so detrimental to a society is its “contagiousness”. What makes mass hysteria unique is the fact that it can not only afflict one individual, but a group of people as well hence the name “mass” hysteria. According to Dr. Noel Hunter in her article “The Modern Day Witch-hunt”, she states that, “Fear can lead to irrational postulations of immense proportions; depending on one’s hierarchical position in the world, such postulations may be considered delusional …show more content…
Dr. Hunter also points this fact out as she brings up a quote made by Arthur Colman, “According to Arthur Colman, ‘The basis of the scapegoat myth is this: the group is not to blame for its problems, it's bad feelings, its pain, its defeats. These are the responsibility of a particular individual or subgroup – the scapegoat – who is perceived as being fundamentally different from the rest of the group and must be excluded or sacrificed in order for the group to survive and remain whole’ (Hunter). What Colman is pointing out is that a scapegoat can be used as a coping mechanism for the group to be rid of the problem. They find the scapegoat by finding the most similar to the problem, and use this to fuel the belief that their problems are caused by this one individual, group, idea, etc. When in reality all this does is punish a group of innocents for an event fueled on fear. Scapegoats are found in almost every situation where mass hysteria is involved. Japanese-Americans were scapegoats to justify the fear Americans had on an invasion, People involved in show business were used as scapegoats for the Communist scares in the 50s, as people were

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