3 ms·

Some of this current mindset want employment blacklists now. In some cases, they don't wait for a blacklist to take effect. They attack a person's employment di

• arprocter 11y ago
  'Are you now or have you ever been overheard joking about dongles?'
  • talmand 11y ago
    I remember that episode, but I was thinking of the more recent shenanigans done against Sir Tim Hunt and others.
    • arprocter 11y ago
      You can really take your pick - there have been so many incidences. Comet guy's 'offensive' shirt was a big one
• tptacek 11y ago
  Arguments about what people "want" aren't very interesting, since they mostly involve us trying to read other people's minds and then debating the meaningless results we get from doing that. Does some rando wants blacklists for everyone who likes Mulan? I'm sure. I don't care. To repeat: If you think even an incident like this Yale thing are reminiscent of McCarthyism, you should read more about the actual history of McCarthyism.
  • tedunangst 11y ago
    I think it's fair to say "McCarthyism" to refer to efforts to impose ideological homogeneity even if they don't precisely replicate some implementation details. Which is not to say every time somebody says "shut up" it counts, but visit to HUAC need not be a minimum qualifier. (Hell, since McCarthy wasn't on the HUAC, even Old McCarthyism might not pass that test.)
    • thaumasiotes 11y ago
      I highlighted the meaning Zikes provided for New McCarthyism, which applies as fully to Old McCarthyism and to many other related periods. I'll highlight it again: > The harassers will gladly sign their own name to the actions, with the implication that if anyone should question them then their detractors will be the next target. This characterizes a witch hunt. Old McCarthyism was a witch hunt. The satanic-abuse-slash-pedophilia day care scare was a witch hunt. What we have now is also a witch hunt. Cultural trappings may vary -- the House of Representatives was more heavily involved in hunting reds than usual; the day care scare saw more involvement from the judiciary. This isn't a resurgence of McCarthyism, it's the same thing in new clothes. But I wouldn't think of this as coming from people remembering what happened in the 50s and thinking "I bet I could make this work today". It developed organically then, and it's developing organically now. This kind of thing is the natural state of human society; it will emerge when the culture doesn't restrain it, rather than being initiated by some unusual problem element.
      • caskance 11y ago
        Witch hunts are bad because 1. The hunt is for something that doesn't really exist 2. Because the accusations have no base in reality, those targeted have no way to defend themselves 3. Those targeted are executed I don't see how any of those apply here.
        • talmand 11y ago
          You mean we haven't hit number three yet.
    • idlewords 11y ago
      I think it's extremely significant that the agent in McCarthyism was the Federal government, and that is what made it such a dangerous phenomenon. Not just for the people directly affected, but indirectly due to purges in the State Department, chilling effects on the civil service, and encouragement to demagogues for decades thereafter. I understand the analogies in principle, but they leave out this key distinction.