Glides

Today is our last day to finish up our Glides project which is an extremely in depth analysis of propaganda used during a period in time. This project has taught my group and I a lot on just analyzing material and understanding it better. We can now see ways to make something look evil, good, stronger, or weaker then you just by changing colors on a poster or adding a few words into a sentence. This project has not only taught us much on the topic that we analyzed, but it has also given me fresh ideas on how to write or draw more creatively. To see what our group has compiled visit our wiki page by clicking on the following link. Red Scare Wiki

Literature of the Red Scare

Two literature sources that were used to show the propaganda throughout the Red Scare of the 1950's were the stroy, The Crucible and a poem, Winds Of Another Sphere . The Crucible was written by Arthur Miller and was in favor of the anti-communists, while Winds of Another Sphere was written by Edwin Rolfe and in favor of communism.

The Crucible used the rhetoric style of pathos to portray to society. The Crucible was about the Salem Witch Trials and how one person, with a lot of power in society, could control the fate of many others. This relates directly with the idea of communism and McCarthy's beliefs. Throughout the story, the author tells of great struggles for the characters who have been accused of witchcraft. The pathos appeal helped readers side with the accused because everyone can immagine living their lives with no distractions then all of a sudden being put in jail due to a false accusation. The Cruicible was one source of literature that was involved with the Red Scare of the 1950's.

Winds Of Another Sphere is a poem that was written to promote communism in America. The poem is written using a pathos appeal becuase it speaks of American's home country and connects the everyday actions of people to why America should allow the communist party to take over. In this poem Edwin Rolfe starts by telling the reader that "America" is a bad place yet communism is a good thing so by bringing the two together, America will become better. The authors pathos approach is the same as the author's approach in The Crucible, yet both are portraying opposite sides of the Red Scare.

Good night, and Good luck

Good night, and good luck is a movie focusing on the McCarthy trails. Throughtout the movie Edward Murrow trys to unviel the evil deeds of McCarthy and bring light to the situtation throught battles on the media. This movie has a great cast and gives alot of un-biased information on the Red Scare, which makes it extremely informative and entertaining.

The Smurfs Were Communists?

The Smurfs was a cartoon created in the 1980s which came off to most as nothing but a children's show. It consisted of a happy society full of little blue people who kept being attacked by a villan, Gargamel, who wished to use them to gain wealth. It's a simple plot to most but the deeper connection is, the happy smurfs shared everything and worked for the greater good, much like a communist society. All the while Gargamel tried to gain wealth from the poor little smurfs, representing a capatilist government. To further emphasize the Smurfs connection to communists, they all wore the same colors and sang the same song, had their specific jobs for the community, and when it was time to harvest there food they distributed it evenly. The writters even went so far as creating an episode were the smurfs tryed to change jobs and all failed. By creating a cartoon such as this, many peoples minds without knowing it would be more accepting of the communist way of life. Much of the rhetoric used in this show displayed the "smurf" life as something innocent and happy which made communism seem somthing to be accepting, while making casatlilists seem like the villian. This was a pathos appeal to all viewers making them feel for the smurfs and in some ways dislikeing the captilist Gargamel. The communist way of life seemed to work in the Smurfs but can you see communism working in America?

McCarthy's Famous Speech on the Red Scare

McCarthys famous speech on the Red Scare utilized alot of retorical techniques and was successful in grabing the public's attention. Throughout the speech he spread fear by saying communism has entered the state department and infusing religion into the speech. most of the speech used pathos appeals because it grabed and held on to the audiences fear. Small portions of the speech were also ethos when he gave qoutes from famous communists such as Stalin and Lenin. All together this speech was a success in grabing the publics support and was one of the first igniters the the Red Scare.

Both Sides of the Scare

As the Red Scare became more of a threat to the American society, more citizens began taking sides on the Red Scare rather than sitting on the fence about this issue. Both sides began to battle on what was correct. On one side of this battle was the group of individuals who decided that America was a country that should be accepting of all people and political views. The other side of the argument was people that began spreading the idea of McCarthyism. This group of people began naming influencial figures and connecting them to communism in order to scare the citizens of America. Many works were involved in McCarthyism but most famous was the Hollywood Blacklist. This was a list put together by McCarthyism followers that accused actors, writers, and producers of being communists. Both sides of the fight equally broadcasted their views and both sides created propagnda against the other. Pictures that both sides used to influnece the American's that were neutral on this matter follow.

Red Scare Pictures

Some ways in which the Red Scare was portrayed was through pictures. One calling was for a true sense of patriotism throughout the nation. The American citizens were fearing the communism power and due to the fact that this beautiful nation is a democracy, if the communists could get more people into America than there were democratic supporters, America could have been voted to be changed to a communist country. The first picture that follows is one example of the propaganda used to inform the American people that the Reds, the russian communists, were looking to take control over America. The second picture shows how patriotic many were and how many Americans became defensive when the subject of being a true American would come up. Both of these pictures portray some of the ways in which the picture propaganda was used to persuade the American peoples opinions. 

 

McCarthyism

McCarthyism was a cult connected to the senator Joseph McCarthy, which thrived off of the suspision of Communism in the United States and helped bring about the second Red Scare. During this time thousands of Americans were accused of being Communists or communist sympathizers and became the subject of aggressive investigations. The primary targets of such suspicions were government employees, those in the entertainment industry, and educators. Suspicions were often given credence despite inconclusive or questionable evidence which only incresced national suspicions. One of McCarthyism's most famous examples was the Hollywood Blacklist which accused many actors, writers, and producers of being communists and spreading communist ideas to the public through media.

Update on GLIDES Group

There are 2 weeks until the entire project must be done. The time is flying by and it seems like we have so much work to do with so little time. We have been trained on many new and useful forms of technology such as IMovie, voice threads, and a wiki page. Our group has lots of great information and it is time to put it all together, aka crunch time. This project is huge and therefor a lot of stress comes along with it, but I believe that this group will make it through and succeed on this project. Look for many posts on this blog and check out the links on the right side of this blog to go and check out our wiki page in upcoming weeks. Do not hesitate to respond to any of these posts, the Red Scare was a serious event and the broadcasting of the propaganda is astonishing. 

Background of the Red Scare

The Red Scare took place after World War 2. During the 1940's several news events caught the public's attention with the trial convicting, and the subsequent execution of, Ethel and Julius Rosenburg for espionage for the Soviet Union. These events influenced opinions on American's safety and connected the fear of a nuclear attack with the communist party in the United States of America, thus creating the second Red Scare in the United States in which many were in fear of communists taking over. This is the period where McCarthyism bent the minds of many and propaganda spread around America like wildfires, either trying to spread light on the mass scare or trying to widen it with fear.