Peter Drucker once said, “the individual is the central, rarest, most precious capital resource of our society.” In society, the value of an individual during times of hysteria and fear, has often been changed. Times of hysteria and fear have come along with different generations.
Examples of these surges of fear was the late 1600’s had the Salem Witch Trials, and in the 1950’s the Red Scare of communism. Joseph McCarthy lead the idea of the spread of Communism within the American government. Arthur Miller, a well renowned author wrote The Crucible, one of his most popular books. The crucible was created to record the events that occurred during the Salem Witch Trials. Both occasions, used the tool of hysteria, and both had consequences to …show more content…
Both of these events occurred because of fear. After the first communist name was read, or the first person was accused of being a witch, the individuals within the society panicked and was afraid to try and stop it. Fear does affect the individual and society, each in a different way, but almost by the same amount. The difference is however, that society can come back from fear, it is not very common for an entire society to die of because of the hysteria given off by a single event. It is possible, for those within the society to be provoked, and not be able to their normal state. Whether it’s losing one’s job, or one’s life the affect is far greater upon the individual. In a quote given by William Ellery Channing he said, “The great hope of society is in individual character”. What he means is that the character of a society cannot and will not be changed without a change in individual character. When an individual is affected by hysteria, it can change society far greater than if society were to be affected. The entire chain of events always starts with an individual, like we’ve seen in McCarthyism and the Salem Witch Trials. Hysteria is something that surrounds us but it is our job to keep ourselves occupied from its trap, which leads us down to a life of fear and
Examples of these surges of fear was the late 1600’s had the Salem Witch Trials, and in the 1950’s the Red Scare of communism. Joseph McCarthy lead the idea of the spread of Communism within the American government. Arthur Miller, a well renowned author wrote The Crucible, one of his most popular books. The crucible was created to record the events that occurred during the Salem Witch Trials. Both occasions, used the tool of hysteria, and both had consequences to …show more content…
Both of these events occurred because of fear. After the first communist name was read, or the first person was accused of being a witch, the individuals within the society panicked and was afraid to try and stop it. Fear does affect the individual and society, each in a different way, but almost by the same amount. The difference is however, that society can come back from fear, it is not very common for an entire society to die of because of the hysteria given off by a single event. It is possible, for those within the society to be provoked, and not be able to their normal state. Whether it’s losing one’s job, or one’s life the affect is far greater upon the individual. In a quote given by William Ellery Channing he said, “The great hope of society is in individual character”. What he means is that the character of a society cannot and will not be changed without a change in individual character. When an individual is affected by hysteria, it can change society far greater than if society were to be affected. The entire chain of events always starts with an individual, like we’ve seen in McCarthyism and the Salem Witch Trials. Hysteria is something that surrounds us but it is our job to keep ourselves occupied from its trap, which leads us down to a life of fear and