Why do people attack McArthy?
Everyone he labeled communist turned out to be an actual communist ideologue who wanted centralized unaccountable government controlling everything.
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MovieChat Forums > Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005) Discussion > Why do people attack McArthy?
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shareActually no they did not.
I would hold nothing against the man, but clearly he was using this as a platform for re-election. It didn't matter to him that he was condemning people without a proper trial or the rule of law. It didn't matter to him that he lied shamelessly. It didn't matter to him that his slander and innuendo caused a number of suicides. All that mattered to him was getting re-elected. And he didn't care how many people he had to ruin to do it.
Had he done this a slightly different way, with, oh I don't know, honesty, history and I would see him differently. He and that rat bastard Cohn.
Then there's the history of the world politics from 1914 through 1935. Many people felt that free enterprise, democracy, and national socialism had failed. All that was left, with any following, was communism. Many who were disenchanted with the world turned to Marxism as the only untried recourse. Also, during the second world war Communist Russia was an ally.
That Stalin sullied the concept eventually dawned on people and the allure of communism faded. That was hardly reason for McCarthy to try to destroy people for having tried it during the thirties or forties.
Watta ya lookn here for?
Actually no they did not.
I would hold nothing against the man, but clearly he was using this as a platform for re-election. It didn't matter to him that he was condemning people without a proper trial or the rule of law. It didn't matter to him that he lied shamelessly. It didn't matter to him that his slander and innuendo caused a number of suicides. All that mattered to him was getting re-elected. And he didn't care how many people he had to ruin to do it.
Had he done this a slightly different way, with, oh I don't know, honesty, history and I would see him differently. He and that rat bastard Cohn.
Then there's the history of the world politics from 1914 through 1935. Many people felt that free enterprise, democracy, and national socialism had failed. All that was left, with any following, was communism. Many who were disenchanted with the world turned to Marxism as the only untried recourse. Also, during the second world war Communist Russia was an ally.
That Stalin sullied the concept eventually dawned on people and the allure of communism faded. That was hardly reason for McCarthy to try to destroy people for having tried it during the thirties or forties.
Well the most overlooked point is if they were communist, so what? That is what this country is supposed to be about. Where one can freely believe and practice any ideology without being persecuted. The irony in this is these political witch hunters turned our country into exactly what they were supposed to be defending against.
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So what? exactly! Stalin only killed 60 million of his own people, um... maybe communism WAS something to fear.
shareSo what? exactly! Stalin only killed 60 million of his own people, um... maybe communism WAS something to fear.
Oh geez, paranoid much? You actually think communism could get a foothold in this country? If so you are quite ignorant.
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60 million dead is not paranoia. Read your history... these mass murders occurred all over the world. its not paranoid to think they couldnt happen anywhere. Communists were actively trying to gain a foothold in the US, but McCarthy and his "evil minions" thwarted much of that movement.
shareI don't think there was any chance the communists could have taken over America. Communism only really prevailed in countries where the conditions faced by the people were so extreme and desperate that communism was their only viable choice. The West totally screwed up in regards to Russia during WW1 by alienating the Kerensky regime and paving the way for the Bolsheviks to take power.
But the fear of global revolution never really materialized. The US labor movement was never in any real danger of being subverted to communism. There might have been some peripheral threat during the Great Depression when a lot of people were out of work, but FDR was keeping a close eye on the communists while implementing programs which improved the lot of working people and reduced any potential for extremism.
After WW2, the Soviet Union (and later China) would become a geopolitical threat which was definitely seeking to fill the power vacuum caused by the decline of European colonialism and imperialism. However, as an ideological threat, they were hardly anything inside the United States. Unions (which were decidedly non-communist) were at the peak of their power, the level of affluence had grown, working class people were moving out of tenements and into houses. Life was improving by leaps and bounds that there was practically zero chance of a communist takeover in the United States - even if McCarthy and his fellow travelers had done absolutely nothing.
Even those who agreed with McCarthy in theory were seeing that he was going too far and that innocent people were being hurt by his antics. Truman was a staunch anti-communist, but still got a lot of criticism from the right. Ike wasn't too happy with McCarthy, and even Hoover had to distance himself since McCarthy was turning out to be a drunken loose cannon.
While i agree, i think its VERY easy to think so in hindsight. America just came out of a terrible war in ww2 where thousands and thousands of its finest were killed in the pacific, and europe. Russia's losses were in the MILLIONS while the US prospered. Desperate times and a nation who had the bomb... you never know.
War fatigue + desperate russian and chinese nations could have led to something bad. thats where that paranoia came from. like i said its very easy to point fingers NOW.
but do you remember the temperament after 9/11? lots and lots and lots of people wanted to invade iraq and today lots and lots and lots of people say they "--never said such a thing!"
60 million dead is not paranoia. Read your history... these mass murders occurred all over the world. its not paranoid to think they couldnt happen anywhere. Communists were actively trying to gain a foothold in the US, but McCarthy and his "evil minions" thwarted much of that movement.
YOU Need to read your history. Do you even know how communism took over Russia? Did you know that the Czar monarchy abused its people for centuries pushing them to the brink of that ANYTHING was better than living the pathetic lives they were living in serfdom which made communism sound like a utopia. Only after did they realize what a mistake they had made. It's the same story with Iran. Most of the people there are not religious zealots but the U.S. installed Shah had abused the people to the point of revolution where they would take ANYTHING as long as the current regime was removed. Again they quickly have regretted it.
To think with the freedoms we currently have in the U.S. that communism would stand a snowball's chance in hell of getting hold here is ludicrous. Besides we pride ourselves in freedom to assemble. This is why you have the ACLU with Jewish attorneys defending Neo-Nazi's right to march. Those guys fkn get it. They get what this country is all about. You don't have to agree with a certain group but they do have the right to believe what they want to believe without being persecuted.
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The problem is, all the USSR/China would need is a solid network of spies to undermine the US if they wanted to attack. I do doubt that communism would take over as a movement, but a nuclear power spying on us in the 1950s... very scary
and the worst the Czars EVER did to their people was minor compared to the HORRORS visited upon them by Lenin/Stalin/Trotsky... et al
and its easy to look back in hindsight and slap the wrists of some very scared people.
seriously , you are delusional if you think that this and the crimes by the mao party are deeds of communists. Neither Stalin nor Mao were real communists, they used it to install their power base, but their actions had nothing to do with communism.
...but they hung him anyway.
Hanged, Ami. Your father was not a tapestry.
First of all that figure is inflated and second of all many of the smaller countries subjected to direct or indirect US purges suffered worse on a pro rata to population basis. Not to mention the mass genocide of American Indians upon which the US was built.
shareStalin was a communist dictator. There is the problem. Not that he was a communist, but rather that he was a dictator. There have been very few dictators that did not end up being murderous.
shareActually no they did not.
I would hold nothing against the man, but clearly he was using this as a platform for re-election. It didn't matter to him that he was condemning people without a proper trial or the rule of law. It didn't matter to him that he lied shamelessly. It didn't matter to him that his slander and innuendo caused a number of suicides. All that mattered to him was getting re-elected. And he didn't care how many people he had to ruin to do it.
Had he done this a slightly different way, with, oh I don't know, honesty, history and I would see him differently. He and that rat bastard Cohn.
Then there's the history of the world politics from 1914 through 1935. Many people felt that free enterprise, democracy, and national socialism had failed. All that was left, with any following, was communism. Many who were disenchanted with the world turned to Marxism as the only untried recourse. Also, during the second world war Communist Russia was an ally.
That Stalin sullied the concept eventually dawned on people and the allure of communism faded. That was hardly reason for McCarthy to try to destroy people for having tried it during the thirties or forties.
Well the most overlooked point is if they were communist, so what? That is what this country is supposed to be about. Where one can freely believe and practice any ideology without being persecuted. The irony in this is these political witch hunters turned our country into exactly what they were supposed to be defending against.
My Vote history: http://www.imdb.com/user/ur1914996/ratings share
At least spell his name right if you want anyone to take you seriously.
shareMcCarthy was doing the exact same thing he was ranting against. He was accusing people of being communists without one shred of evidence. He was also doing so without probable cause and due process which are guaranted in our Constitution. He was using some of the same tactics Hitler used in Germany in the 30s and 40s.
McCarthy was not mentally stable and it showed the longer his crusade went on. He was finally exposed for the buffoon he was. He died in disgrace as he should have.
Of the original 19 accused by McCarthy of being Communist sympathizers, only Larry Parks had any kind of affiliation with the Communist Party. He ruined alot of lives with his witch hunting mentality. He like J. Edgar Hoover grossly abused their positions of power. Edward R. Murrow was a true hero to stand up to a tyrant like Joseph McCarthy.
shareEven if one agrees with his goals one can fault him one can fault him on his tactics. Asking people if they have every been members of the communist party or subscribed to any communist periodicals? Really? No doubt the KGB sought to infiltrate the US government with spies and informants. We do as do many governments. But the point is for the spies to be undetectable. Once recruited they are not going to ask the spies to join the party, pay dues by check or subscribe to Pravda. Similarly if a communist sympathizer who has the targets listed above painted on his back the KGB most likely recruit them.
shareMoron much ?
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