This Trimester in Humanities we have been learning how to incorporate three different eras into one essay. First, we learned about the Salem Witch Trials and read The Crucible. Then we read a packet on Joseph McCarthy and the Red Scare. And finally we read articles and found quotes from Donald Trump and our modern day society. All this research led up to our big essay on those three eras in history. Our instructions were to write a paragraph on The Crucible in the TEEAC format, a paragraph on McCarthyism in TEEAC format, and a paragraph about our modern day society, of course, in TEEAC format. These paragraphs were then chiseled, revised and peer-edited in about a two week period. Finally, we wrote our introductions and conclusions. We wrote these at the end because they are simply the icing on the cake. The introduction and conclusion open and then sum the entire essay up, and they are the extra touch that makes the essay readable. I picked to write about social reputation throughout the McCarthy Era, The Salem Witch Trials, and today. I defined social reputation as simply the positioning of one’s civil standing throughout one’s given community. I thought social reputation was extremely prevalent throughout all eras because the people in charge in all these three time periods always seemed to need a strong social reputation. I think being able to connect history to today really showed me that we haven’t changed that much, and the mistakes of our past are made again. This essay made me excited to learn more about history because it showed me that what happened in the past can easily happen again. After reading over my corrections and seen my grade I have learned so much more about my essay. I learned that my writing on this essay was strong and powerful, which surprised me, but also learned that I should always check over my grammar and extra time. I am extremely surprised with my feedback on the essay because personally I didn’t think I would do that well. Since reading the feedback on my essay I have already begun to implement the feedback in my life, and almost feel more confident when doing the smallest amounts of writing. I am ecstatic with the outcome of this essay because I have not only learned that I can support my arguments, but know that the amount I work on something defines the grade that I will get on it.
Liam Mackenzie Crucible/ McCarthy Era/ Modern Day Essay
7th Grade March 6th, 2016
Re-learned Mistakes
Today we live in a world flooded with narcissism and ignorance. Specifically in America, where Donald J. Trump is president, our world cares more than ever about a having a strong social reputation. With media websites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, people have begun to build false personas for themselves, concealing themselves in lies just to sustain a good social reputation. While our world today is packed with deceit, the past has shown us that the need for a cordial social reputation has pushed people to fire employees, convict, and even kill people just to strengthen their social reputation. A social reputation is simply the positivity of one’s civil standing throughout one’s given community. People tend to care more about their social reputation when that is all they have. There are many cases like this. For instance, Joseph McCarthy was a poor farmer who sprouted into a right wing senator and lead a hunt for communists called the Red Scare. He pushed himself to sustain an admirable social reputation because he was afraid of going back to his poverty stricken childhood. This rapid thirst for a strong social reputation occurred even in the Colonial Era when people seeking a better social reputation spread lies of witchcraft in Salem. The men that have felt the strongest need for a good social reputation have been granted with huge amounts of power even though they only cared about their social standing. These powerful men veered away from the considered “difference” of their times, and instead made themselves as “normal” as they thought possible.
In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, the fight for a strong social reputation is a constant burden on the citizens. In the 1700s, in Salem Massachusetts, difference equaled a torn social reputation so nobody wanted to be different. If anybody exhibited traits of diversity, they would automatically lose their social reputation and could even be killed.“Parris- No-no. There be no unnatural cause here…
Abigail- Speak nothing’ of it in the village…
Parris- And what shall I say to them? That my daughter and my niece I discovered dancing like heathens in the forest? I cannot go before the congregation when I know you have not opened with me…Now look you, child, your punishment will come in its time. But if you trafficked with spirits in the forest I must know it now, for surely will, and they will ruin me with it…There is a faction that is sworn to drive me from my pulpit. Do you understand? I cannot blink what I saw, Abigail, for my enemies will not blink it. I saw a dress lying on the grass,”(Miller, page 36). This quote shows the constant fight and burden when preserving a good social reputation in the Colonial Era. Parris states that if he lets Abigail get away with dancing in the woods and performing so called “witchcraft,” both of them will lose everything, including their social reputations. In the Colonial Era, power was a delicate possession. People’s religious status and place in the social hierarchy were everything to them, and a difference in beliefs or race would automatically lower your social reputation. The Puritan religion, which was the religion that was practiced in Salem, Massachusetts, was built off of the belief that people in religious power were just as powerful in the town’s government. Samuel Parris was a Puritan reverend high up in both the religious and congressional hierarchy. If Samuel’s niece, Abigail Williams, was to have been convicted of witchcraft, Parris would exhibit difference, and people might even believe he had something to do with witchcraft. This quote shows the true desperation Parris feels, and how he is willing to beat Abigail just to keep his social reputation strong. Again, Parris is afraid of being thought of as different or associated with a woman who rebels and exhibits hypocrisy. Parris is literally scared of being associated with a woman because he thinks it will hurt his social reputation. Many times, even in modern day society, certain men feel a ludicrous embarrassment when associated with women or femininity! Parris shows just that embarrassment. He is explaining to Abigail that he has many enemies because of his good social reputation. People strived for what they couldn’t have. Even Parris, a highly respected member of Salem, wanted more and was scared of losing what he already had. Dignity was nothing to the people of Salem. All they cared about was what others thought of them, something that still troubles our society in 2017. Parris later went on to side with Abigail, but still never gave up his social reputation. This was similar to a man named John Proctor who proved to care more about his social reputation than his life. “Danforth: Mr. Proctor, I must have–
Proctor: No, no. I have signed it. You have seen me. It is done…
Danforth: Explain to me, Mr. Proctor, why you will not let–
Proctor: Because it is my name. Because I cannot have another in my life! Because I lie and sing myself to lies! Because I am not worth the dust on the feet of them that hang. How may I live without my name? I have given you my soul; leave me my name…
Danforth: Then I cannot keep you from the rope…Proctor tears the paper and crumples it, and in weeping fury, but erect,” (Miller, page 130-131). This quote emphasizes the true agony when preserving a good social reputation in the Colonial Era. Throughout The Crucible, John Proctor had an affair, went against the main reverend in Salem — Samuel Parris — and blamed his mistress of false accusations. All through this process, Proctor was able to protect his social reputation by scapegoating and showing his belief in God, something that was appealing to the people of Salem. When Proctor was accused of witchcraft, he had to accept that if he lied and said he was a witch, he would be hated throughout the community, and his social reputation would go down the drain. However, if he simply refused to confess and was hanged, he would at least die with a strong social reputation. Proctor showed that the last resort when protecting his social reputation was sacrifice. The same constant need for a strong social reputation sustained itself throughout certain power hungry men in society and ended up becoming prevalent in a man named Joseph McCarthy. McCarthy was willing to ruin the lives of hundreds of people, just to protect his own social reputation.
In the early 1950s, Joseph McCarthy, a junior Republican senator, was the first to publicly state that the Soviet Union had spies in America. He claimed to know of important religious leaders – people in the film industry and government authority figures – all associated with communism. The false accusations that Joseph McCarthy made ended up turning into a giant hunt for Communist spies that might not have even been there. McCarthy brought hundreds of people to jail with no real proof, and he never actually released his so called list of communists to the public. This was called the Red Scare, but a previous hunt for communists in the early 1920s was also called the Red Scare. When a group called the Bolsheviks took control of Russia, the American government feared that their communism was taking over the world and America. Fortunately the theory died out after about five years, and it wasn’t until the early 1950s that the second Red Scare happened. When Joseph McCarthy first made his speech about communism so called “secretly sneaking up on America, waiting to pounce,” America quickly went into mass hysteria. “McCarthy often exaggerated his war record to help his political career. For example, he was photographed in the rear seat, or tail gun position, of a dive bomber and called himself ‘Tailgunner Joe,’ which led voters to believe he had fought bravely in combat,”(Fitzgerald, Sept 1, 2006, page 41). McCarthy grew up in Grand Chute, Wisconsin. He was raised in a poor family and lived poverty stricken throughout The Great Depression. Even still, McCarthy made sure to keep his social reputation strong even when he was impoverished. In the early 1930s, McCarthy was excused from fighting in the Army because he was getting a degree, but eventually decided to fight in the Navy. This was the first sign that McCarthy wanted to establish himself as a “masculine” and in-control man. He was excused from the Army and then chose to go to the Navy. Once McCarthy was in the Navy, he worked behind the desk. But to appeal to the people of America in that time who thought masculinity and fighting were signs of a heroism, McCarthy played out his war time as courageous and dangerous. McCarthy even came up with a name for his so called “heroism.” He called himself “Tailgunner Joe,” implying that he fought with dangerous weapons and was a courageous and powerful man. All this was to boost McCarthy’s social reputation. His time in war and his “courageous” actions had nothing to do with his talent in being a governor, and yet it still helped his career. In many cases, in both the McCarthy Era and in our modern day society, the popularity or social reputation of a person greatly impacts his/her success in his/her work field. This affects women and people with different religious and racial backgrounds. Women are on camera only 32% of the time in evening broadcast news and they write 37% of print news stories. Because of the bias our world has, women, minorities, and people with disabilities are open to less opportunities because they have less of a social reputation throughout America. There are many theories that McCarthy was a gay, and that if he was, he would have never exposed himself because being gay in the 1950s was preposterous. In later years, McCarthy even provoked a less known scare, called the Lavender Scare. This involved over 91 suspected homosexuals accused of communism and fired from their jobs. This might be even further proof that McCarthy was communist. He wanted to completely disassociate himself from homosexuality, and who would suspect the man that led an anti-homosexual hunt was gay. In the 1950s, being different and especially communist, was awful. People called communism a disease and a sin. McCarthy wanted to convey himself as an ultra masculine and anti-communist man. He was trying to build his social reputation, but in the act, he only reinforced the idea that all successful men are masculine. Just like McCarthy, our current president, Donald J. Trump, focuses on sustaining his alter ego, rather than helping his country and the needs of women, people of color, and the LGBTQ community.
In our society, Donald J. Trump has proved to care more about his social reputation than his contribution to our country. Throughout Donald J. Trump’s time in office, he has shown America that his “masculinity” and picture of himself are much more important than his ability to actually fight and help our country. In truth, Donald J. Trump has started his own witch hunt, in which he not only puts down the women of his time, like in Salem, but also puts down different races, religions, and sexual orientations. When he says, “I want to make America great again,” Donald J. Trump is suggesting that he can somehow make America better than it is. But all he has done is repel the American people. “‘An extremely credible source’ has called my office and told me that Barack Obama’s birth certificate is a fraud,” (Donald J. Trump). This quote shows that Donald Trump thinks he can boost his social reputation by putting down his opposing party’s former leader, Barack Obama. It also shows that Donald J. Trump, just like Joseph McCarthy and the powerful men in Salem Massachusetts, thinks he can get away with falsely accusing others without showing any real proof. Just like many powerful male leaders in our past, Trump uses fear and broad accusations to get attention, boost his social reputation, and get away with falsely accusing others. Donald J. Trump is actually using the same faulty tactics of gaining a better social reputation that Joseph McCarthy used. Joseph McCarthy claimed to know about a list of 105 communists working in the American government that, at that time, was led by the Democrats. McCarthy never actually released his list, and ended up changing the number of people on it several times. A commonly known theory of why McCarthy made his false accusations was, yes, for attention, but also to put his opposing Democratic party down and set a better name for the Republicans. Americans were already on the edge about the government when the Great Depression happened, so when McCarthy said that communists were spying in on America, he tipped the scales and caused the American citizens to not trust their own government. Donald J. Trump is using the same tactics that have been used in our past. Trump is trying to boost his social reputation by hurting others, while McCarthy tried to boost himself and his party by firing hundreds of American government workers. If that is not proof of why he is not a fit leader, what is? If Trump cannot even learn from our past, then why do we think he can make new decisions for our future? In the Salem Witch Trials, the McCarthy Era, and today, we have men in power that only look out to help their social reputation and they think less about the country that they are representing. Throughout the 1700s, the 1950s, and 2017, our country has progressed and learned to accept and think of difference as a good thing. But with Donald J. Trump in power, our country has no chance of learning more about equal rights. And if anything, he will be set us back, making us re-learn the simple humane rights of people of color, women, and the LGBTQ community. History is there to be learned from, and men such as John Proctor, Samuel Parris, Joseph McCarthy, and Donald J. Trump have ignored the lessons of our past.
In all three time periods in America, the thirst for a good social reputation has capsized these men. They have all steered away from the considered “difference” of their times, and believed in the stereotypes that their eras faced. John Proctor had to die just to prove to his society that he was worthy of a good reputation. Samuel Parris was scared of being associated with a rebellious woman because he thought it would hurt his stature. Joseph McCarthy hid his possible homosexuality from America just to fit into the considered norm. And Donald Trump has decided to run America based off of what he thinks will please his supporters. All four men have, and do, use their position in power as a way to benefit their own social reputation rather than what they think will help their society. They all think that acting as “normal” as possible will help them, but the people who actually make a difference and who believe in new ideas are the ones that stand out. Women such as Anne Hutchinson and Mary Dyer only made a difference because they stood out. How can we live in a society run by men that refuse to cooperate with the notion that difference is good, when all they believe is that acting “normal” helps their social reputation? Men such as John Proctor, Samuel Parris, Joseph McCarthy, and Donald Trump ignore the simple fact that difference is good. They need to stand up and expose their abnormalities. These men fall back on their ability to act “normal” because they fear that they cannot take charge, and therefore lose their social reputation. We have to wonder whether the fear of losing a good social reputation is actually a set back, a barrier from achieving success, and a fear that only loosens one’s social reputation. The truth is that to solely have a good social reputation, you have to know how to be different, something these four men refused to be.
