McCarthyism and the Media The Cold War ushered in a new era in the American society that would change the way in which everyday life was carried on by the public. Men, women and children were convinced to fit the “average” mold that was promoted through propaganda issued from the American government and media. Events, such as the McCarthy hearings and Hollywood Blacklisting, contributed to the overwhelming fear of nonconformity. The American public was bombarded with images of conformity such as the popular “family sitcoms” that were mass produced in the 1950’s. The insistence upon normality and conformity was also portrayed metaphorically in numerous Sci-Fi movies of the time which exemplified xenophobia, the hatred or fear of strangers or foreigners or of anything strange or foreign. The ideas promoted by McCarthyism and the anti-communistic sentiment of the times were meant to push people away from non-conventional ways of thinking. Anything that was the slightest bit left or radical or even new could be construed as communistic. After Russia’s rejection to the Marshall Plan, a strong wave of communist fear began to sweep the nation and was being promoted by the U.S. government and the media. The early development of the Russian nuclear weapon brought grounds for suspicions of leaked information and the discovery and conviction of espionage for the Rosenbergs only fanned the flames of fear. The 1940’s were plagued with endless magazine articles like “How Communists Get That Way” and “Communists Are After Your Child.” Even President Truman’s Attorney General stated “There are today many Communists in America. They are everywhere--in factories, offices, butcher shops, on street corners, in private businesses--and each carries in himself the germs of death for society.” The Cold War had created a fear that democracy was in danger and that the American people must take drastic measures to ensure the continuance of their way of life. The first step taken in searching out “Communists” in the U.S. was the development of the House on Un-American Activities Committee or the HUAC. The HUAC was formed in the 1930’s but didn’t really become active until the Cold War controversies began in the forties and fifties and would assist Senator Joseph McCarthy in rooting out the “Reds”. The HUAC distributed millions of pamphlets to the American public cautioning: “One... ... middle of paper ... ...ut these show subsequently influenced a generation into a new way of thinking and living. Families moved in rapid numbers to suburbia and wanted to be just like the Cleavers or the Andersons. The American public would never be the same, always reflecting on the perfection played out nightly on television and setting their goals to reaching that level of traditionalism. The Hollywood Blacklisting that followed the Red Scare of the 1950’s forced the media to change in order to survive the scrutinizing committees of the HUAC and various congressional committees that pushed for the social “purging” of America in hopes of searching out the “Reds” which they believed were hiding among them. This change in media came at a time when the public had become extremely receptive to such influences due to the spread of the television and the growth of the middle class who had extra money to spend on luxuries such as going to the movie theatres. The constant barrage of conformity and conservatism as well as xenophobia seen in everyday shows and movies shaped the perception of the average American to believe that liberal or radical ideas were not what normal people supported and believed in.
After the end of WW2, two major governmental institutions, the USA and the USSR, with conflicting political ideologies and agendas, set forth to dominate each other in international politics. This period of time, also known as the Cold War, initiated an era of crazed hysteria in the United States as these two governments frequently clashed and bitterly fought. As a result, the frightened public grew delirious as the world grew dangerously close to a calamitous nuclear war, which ultimately prompted the Eisenhower administration to hinder the spread of communism and encourage the U.S. population to rapidly pursue higher education for the future welfare of this nation. One of the biggest fears of the American people is that the concept of communism contrasts drastically from the concept of capitalism, which the United States was essentially founded upon. The United States, as the public believed, was not a land of perfect communal equality, but rather a land of equal opportunity.
After WWII Americans wanted to boost the economy. One of the ways of doing this was by propaganda. Pinocchio is a prime example of such propaganda. The economy was ghastly, buildings were flattened in Europe, and the process of "rebuilding" was daunting because Europe was demolished. In 1946 Pinocchio was playing in Europe but “no revenue was coming in due to the damaged economy,”(). The ideal was to be white, heterosexual, masculine, Protestant, bourgeois, young, and American as listed in the "Text Book" on page 186. To drive society into this ideal mass media was utilized. In Classical Marxist terms, "The mass media are a 'means of production', which in capitalist society are in ownership of the ruling class. According to this stance, the mass media functioned to produce 'false consciousness' in the working-classes," (
McCarthy was a virtually unknown politician until February 1950, where in a speech at Wheeling, West Virginia, he proclaimed “have here in my hand a list of 205 . . . a list of names that were made known to the Secretary of State as being members of the Communist Party and who nevertheless are still working and shaping policy in the State Department” (History Matters). This speech coined the “Enemies from Within” propelled McCarthy to the political spotlight and gave him huge power along with the support of the American public. McCarthy, realizing he had a great political opportunity, and continued his “anti-communist” tirade accusing powerful people in hollywood and members of the armed forces as being communists or communist sympathizers. As his skeptics grew, so did his blacklist, with McCarthy accusing every single one of his critics as communists destroying their lives and careers in the process (Victims of McCarthyism). McCarthy used this tactic to discourage any opposition, with many potential critics seeing the potential implications of their skepticism, they simply redacted their statements or never spoke
In the 1930s and 1940s many Hollywood writers, actors, producers, and directors were suspected for communist affiliations. During this time, communism was a popular political movement in the United States, especially among young liberals. There was a growing fear of communism invading American society. By the end of World War Two an event known as the Red Scare resulted in communism become increasingly feared and hated by many in the United States. The Hollywood blacklist caused the Hollywood industry a lot of harm in its business and reputation.
Senator Joseph McCarthy went from a farm boy in Wisconsin to a famous politician during the Cold War era. His meteoric rise to fame was attributed to his patriotic views and fighting against communism in the name of democracy. McCarthy stated that many communists were attempting to infiltrate and sabotage the United States government, specifically the State Department. He slandered communists as god-hating terrorists of whom people should be cautious towards. McCarthy’s crusade against communism led to many hearings held by the House of Un-American Activities (HUAC) where alleged communists were interrogated and bullied into confessions. Many accused communists were American citizens whose rights had been stripped away in the name of national security. McCarthy’s claims of widespread communist infiltration into American society proved to be fictitious political smears and was later ridiculed out of politics. However, the lies and fear mongering accompanying McCarthyism stripped Americans of their civil liberties. This brings up the question, how did you United States allow for this gross civil injustice, surely this an anomaly as the United States is the “land of the free.” Unfortunately, this i...
“The objective of video games are to entertain people by surprising them with new experience” (Shigeru Miyamoto).Video games have been a leisure activity for many people around the world but for some people it has become a way of life. Video games help us escape everyday life and bring us to a land of imagination. That is why many people play video games because it is a great way to relieve stress. Video games have many benefits than just being fun. Not only are video games shown to have positive effects on the individual if used in the right manner, but it also helps to connect people with common interest; bring a sense of community. It is also a resourceful way to find a career path. The components
In support of the belief that video games benefit people intellectually, there is a claim that game play provides cognitive, motivational, emotional, and social benefits (Granic, Lobel, Engels). In partial response, video games cannot offer cognitive benefits because they do not offer real life lessons. Yes, game play may allow someone to gain knowledge that will later be applied to the video game, but there are no positive real world techniques to be obtained. Playing video games will not increase and individuals motivational skills. The defense is made that failure within video games is intended to serve as motivational tools, providing multiple chances to reach success (Granic, Lobel, and Engels). While the feeling of success may be prevalent when an objective is completed, this fe...
This essay will attempt to prove, that statements made regarding the inappropriateness of video games are untrue. The advantage of playing video games can be proven in their ability to enhance learning, hand-eye coordination, and this in turn can enable children and teenagers to do better in school. Violent video games can help overcome anxiety by providing entertainment without leaving the house, taking everyday stresses out on the characters in the game instead of real life, takes the adolescent’s minds off worries and stress of the outside world, and encourages children to stay out of trouble. Video games c...
Did you know playing video games helps children with their education? A good video game will teach problem solving, math, history, or anything else a parent wants their children to learn. Children that play video games are more educational than those that do not play video games. In this paper you will experience the positive and negative impact video games have on children and teens.
With the introduction of in home entertainment, there is little more we have to do then turn on a television or plug in a game console to have instant satisfaction. We spend less time being active and more time in front of a screen. While this can be true for some people, others are using these same pieces of technology to further education in classrooms where funding may be lacking. Using a DVD as a classroom aid brings learning to life. Titles like Blue Planet and Life bring wild animals into the classroom at little cost. Video games have become a great tool for PE classes that do not have funding to purchase new sports equipment. Titles like Just Dance and Wii Sports can be used to get the exercise kids need and have even been used as a tool to lose weight. Technology can be used as a creative way to stimulate minds and bodies.
Videogames are looked down upon by parents who see them as a waste of time and experts on education who believe that games corrupt the brain. Many say violent video games are to blame for young people being so violent. Psychologists and scientists believe that videogames have a lot of benefits. One benefit being that it make kids smart and cause them to use high-level thinking skills. Video games requires many skills that aren’t taught in school but, also enhance skills that the gamer already has. Skills that are enhanced by video games include following instructions, problem solving and logic with games like angry birds and cut the rope. Hand eye coordination, fine motor skills and spatial skills used in shooting games. Research has shown enhanced skills in surgeons and fighter pilots. Planning resources management and logistics encouraged by the game SimCity.
...tunity to change the way they learn. Video games allow children to have a new way of learning. Teachers have the opportunity to apply a different type of learning than the traditional way. A video game based education teaches young children to rethink how they approach the various subjects. Changing the way that students traditionally learn allows them to prepare for a new way of learning. One that allows them to work at their pace, challenges them, and empowers them. Adequately preparing our students for their future success is not a choice but our responsibility.
Since the industry of video games has been around, people have been skeptical about video games and their effects to our society. People are so used criticizing video games, claiming that they only corrupt our families, ruin our social lives, and make us and our children more violent. People that are against video games also claim that spending your time reading books is a better and more beneficial alternative. But to blindly claim these things while there are so many benefits for playing video games is really absurd. In the essay “Games” written by Steven Johnson he talks about multiple advantages that there are to playing video games over reading books. Shigeru Miyamoto, a renowned video game designer, once said in response to critics “Video games are bad for you? That’s what they said about rock-n-roll.” Video games are an important developmental tool for young people because they enhance hand-eye coordination, teach problem-solving skills and strategy, relieve stress, and build team work, things which you would usually not find in reading books. Video games can be proved just as useful as reading books by statistics and studies, as well personal experiences from people who read, or play video games, or both. One doesn’t simply restrict themselves to one or the other and receive the qualities of both.
There have been several studies conducted on learning and serious games, for example, a recent study by the Office of Naval Research found that video game players performed ten to twenty percent better in perceptual and cognitive ability than non-game players, and that video games helped adults process information faster(Steinberg,2012). Another study by the Federation of American Scientists found that students re...
There are several negative stereotypes associated with video games and those who play them; some of these may often hold true. However, there are plenty of learning opportunities in video games. While the direct purpose of some games is to educate or train, other games that do not directly have this purpose can still become a learning experience for the player. As Ntiedo Etuk, president of the educational video game company Tabula Digital said, “The traditional view of video games has been that they are distractions from the task of learning” (Electronic Education Report 1). Video games are an effective tool for learning and retaining skills both inside and outside the classroom environment. The basic cycle of game play--the introduction to the game, game play, collaboration, improvement of these between each round, and evaluation at the end of the game (Klievink and Janssen 159)--are nearly parallel to the traditional classroom learning cycle of reading a textbook or listening to a lecture, taking a quiz, studying, focusing on items missed on the quiz, and taking a test or exam. Within this cycle, there are many opportunities to develop and perfect both educational, life, and occupational skills.