Mass Hysteria In The Crucible By Arthur Miller

The Parting of Proctor Pokemon Go, Ebola, and the “end of the world” are all examples of mass hysteria. Mass hysteria is a term used to describe a time when various groups of people suffer from a common hysteria. Another example of mass hysteria is the Salem witch trials. During the late 1600’s the town of Salem would change forever. The Massachusetts town is going through witch trials from roughly four months.

In both cases, hysteria spread rapidly. In The Crucible, the hysteria spread because of word-of-mouth but as for the equality debate, the hysteria spread due to the influx of social media

“Hysteria is only possible with an audience” (Palahniuk). Without an audience, hysteria is not possible. A fear or rumor is struck into people through a phenomenon, making people feel threatened. With mass hysteria, people pour out information due to the threatening feelings going around. Mass hysteria is like pouring gasoline on a fire, it makes it burn hotter and get out of control.

Mass hysteria a condition affecting a group of persons, characterized by excitement or anxiety, Irrational behavior or beliefs, or inexplicable symptoms of illness (Dictionary.com). An Example of Mass Hysteria is The Salem Witch Trials. The Salem Witch Trials happened in 1692 when girls called witchery on the town of Salem, Massachusetts. These girls thought to have seen the devil, but they really hadn't as they were trying to protect each other. The Trials ended up taking 20 lives of innocent villagers who were being accused of witchery.

What the author pinker mean by “moral panic” is people who are becoming introduced to new technology and they begin to feel fearful of the new normal. The moral panic is fearful anxieties of media being evil and affecting society. The society has always had to adapt to new forms of medias and yet they will portray it as a bad evil. In the article ”Mind over mass media” by Steven Pinker.

The Crucible by Arthur Miller and Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne are two stories that are based on mass hysteria and public shaming. Both stories and their topics are what helped to shape America’s early identity. In The Crucible, the townsfolk accept and become active in the hysterical climate not only out of genuine religious piety but also because it gives them a chance to express repressed sentiments and to act on long-held grudges”. This shows that there is mass hysteria in the story based on the quotation and its explain why people have mass hysteria or why they do it. A group of teenage girls is discovered dancing naked in the woods by the town minister.

Media influences the climate of fear communities feel, and as Coren would say, it is ruining the way we understand and accept

A moral panic is something that appears once in a blue moon it happens mostly when you least expect it to hit you. A moral panic is a feeling of fear that increases between a large number of individuals. The media describes them as “folk devils” a threat to the societies rule of conduct. The media also presents them in a negative way and over exaggerate the situation. The media make it a bigger issue than it seems in order to gain audiences and viewers .In

The impact the news has on people’s emotions is very strong and can cause a lot of problems. “He asked the clerk to call a local television station. He wanted cameras there to film his rampage” (Whisenhunt). Michael Brandon Hill wanted people there that can get the information out faster because he knew the effect it would have on the people hearing about it. People commit these acts because it is “a desperate act committed by a deeply troubled individual who wants to die and feel validated in the process” (Whisenhunt).

The Braindead Megaphone written by George Saunders analyzes the many negative effects that nowaday news media has on society. He begins by illustrating a scene in which a man disrupts a party and drowns out all voices with a megaphone. Now this imagery is a metaphor in which the megaphone represents the news media such as newspaper, television, radio, and of course the internet. As Saunders narration continues the people at the party soon begin to respond to whatever the man with the megaphone says and even starts to mimic things he does and say. In fact it does not matter what he says as long as the megaphone is in his hand.

Arthur Miller's The Crucible presents the mass hysteria known as the Salem Witch Trials, which can be related to the events following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, a once faultless naval base in the United States. Just as in The Crucible Abigail caused the unjust imprisonment of nearly all of the members of the Salem community, Franklin D. Roosevelt also caused a mass hysteria when he used fear to encourage the United States to action following the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. This marked the beginning of Japanese internment where all Japanese people, including Japanese-Americans, were taken from their homes and relocated to isolated internment camps. Abigail's accusations on the people of Salem and Pres. Roosevelt's

Media is focused on people marginalized in society due to race, ethnicity and sexuality. It is based on well-known stereotypes and reinforces them. Moral panic sends society into mass hysteria over an issue or an event that occurs. Stanley Cohen believed that media created a moral panic. Stanley had published a book on folk devils and moral panics (1972) which says that moral panic occurs due to people or groups become threats to society and interests.

It is because of people failing to learn about what they don’t know that they in turn fear it and label it as bad. The craze for finding a short term quick fix needs to be replaced with research and tolerance in order to find a long term solution that is beneficial to everyone. While researching this topic I came across an interesting point that explains how both people from the Salem Witch Trials and people on social media today act out in order to gain attention. It is because of this attention given to them that they continue to act out. For Salem, this attention, whether it be good or bad, brought tourists and publicity which made them a profit.

The Crucible written by Arthur Miller. The Crucible is a story based off of a lot of main characters and scenes. The story itself is based off the salem witch trials hence the story is in the town of salem. The three categories of this story was mass hysteria where people believe things and all join in. Group think is how people together make decisions based on ideas in the group.

For example, the most recently alarming mass shooting occurred only a month ago in Parkland, Florida at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, where a former student waltzed into one of the school buildings with an AR-15, pulled a fire alarm, and aimed his weapon at fleeing students, faculty, and staff, killing 17, and wounding 17 other victims, and has been broadcast across every platform almost nonstop. While this heartbreaking tragedy deserves all of the media attention it’s been receiving, there have been approximately 14 additional mass shootings, where 14 people have been killed, and almost 50 have been injured, with very little to no coverage in the news. Mainstream media absolutely shapes our perceptions of people and events, and by influencing public opinion, the media also directly influences our political atmosphere gun laws. Almost three