Posted on 09/29/2018 11:23:32 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
The centennial of the great American playwright Arthur Miller, born in New York on October 17, 1915, has been noted and recognized with commemorative events and editions of his works.
...One of his most famous works, “The Crucible” — a mostly fact-based dramatic account of the 17th century Salem witch trials — is startlingly relevant to today’s culture wars, in ways that Miller himself might have recognized.
Everyone knows that Miller’s 1952 play was his response to McCarthyism, with the witchcraft hysteria an allegory for the anti-Communist panic. (The latter, unlike the former, was grounded in a real danger; but, contrary to some recent claims, the McCarthyite paranoia that swept up many innocent people in its wide net was quite real as well.)
When I recently watched a webcast of the compelling 2014 production of the paly at London’s Old Vic theater, I was struck by the parallels to another panic we are witnessing now: the one over “rape culture” and, in particular, the “campus rape epidemic.”
“Believe the victim” — the mantra of today’s feminist anti-rape movement — is a remarkably prominent theme in Miller’s play...
When the Salem girls’ veracity is questioned and Danforth asks their ringleader, Abigail Williams, if her visions could be false, Abby responds with self-righteous outrage: “Why, this — this — is a base question, sir. I have been hurt, Mr. Danforth; I have seen my blood runnin’ out! I have been near to murdered every day because I done my duty pointing out the Devil’s people — and this is my reward? To be mistrusted, denied, questioned…”
The McCarthy era has no direct parallels to this fetishizing of victimhood or this demand for absolute trust in accusations. But there are uncanny echoes here of today’s crusading “survivors” who cry “victim-blaming” when questioned...
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...
I thought that was the “in your face” part of it.
Victim-Blaming = Fame & $$$$$$$$$$
Wonder what the count is for how many colleges had to pay for a woman’s full education?.
We know today that McCarthy was right. The government, particularly the State Department, is full of communists.
Dems setting things up for future Republicans ?
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If the media, entertainment, and establishment had not refused to acknowledge the danger, then fewer innocent persons would have been caught in the furor.
McCarthy and the furor were a result of the pervasive deceit about the very real danger. Only an extremist had the heart to attack the problem.
Started with Wilson, worsened with Roosevelt.
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