New Wave of McCarthyism

So today I read about McCarthyism and found it super interesting and I was convinced to research upon it and here I am now writing on it.

The ideology of McCarthyism was proposed by Joseph McCarthy who was a Republican (US Senator) and was part of Henry Truman’s government. He was of the stance that any communist minded people could be a threat to the sovereignty of US and it was imperative to get rid of them. He believed that most large businesses had explained Roosevelt’s economic policies as being socialist. And that during the unprecedented four terms of President Roosevelt, communists within the US had infiltrated the American state and government.

Without giving any logical explanation or proof McCarthy was able to convince Henry Truman that the federal government was crawling with socialists and communists who were working against domestic and international US interests. Due to this mass hysteria dozens of state workers, artists, and others were investigated and demonized. And lobbies who were against public health services claimed that forced vaccination, mental care services and the fluoridation of water were plans of communist world government.

However, Dwight Eisenhower after coming into power realized that this hysteria was doing more damage than good to America’s image and interests. He took initiatives to subside this hysteria. Eventually, McCarthy looked more and more like a demented, egotistical demagogue (this reminds me of stranger things lol) who was discredited by many US journalists.

Now the new research tells that there is a wave of McCarthyism being observed in the American society. Controversial clinical psychologist Professor Jordan Peterson and Lee Jussim found out in their research that there has been a rising tide of leftist intolerance on American campuses. And it has resulted in harassment, violence, directed at speakers from non-left backgrounds. Speakers who present perspectives challenging ‘leftist sacred cows’ such as affirmative action, diversity programs and feminism have been subjected to aggressive proto-authoritarian tactics.

Professor Peterson blames post modernism for the intolerance exhibited by the liberals and the new leftists. He describes post modernists as ‘cultural Marxist conspiracy theorists’ who emerged in the 1970s after Marxism failed to win the class war. He adds that post modernists readjusted Marxism’s core axiom of class struggle to other frameworks of perceived group struggles: race, gender, ethnicity etc. So he is of the viewpoint that all subjects that fall under the umbrella of post modernism use unscientific methods to reach conclusions that have more to do with peddling ideologies than intelligence.

The response to the far right would require a more informed and less reactive retort which should involve making pragmatic alliances. But I think that such alliances cannot be made when the new liberal left too spirals into acts of demonization and reckless accusations.

Period.