Super Power

   Whether it was the politicians of 1800 or the successful monopolies of 2000 there has always been a struggle for power. This struggle can lead to many different things, political scandals, corporate fraud, and in extreme cases accusation of others. A main reason for naming names is to gain power. This is seen in Arthur Miller's the Crucible, the great fear and McCarthyism, and in modern news the Patriot Act.

   In Arthur Millers the Crucible he uses the character such John Proctor to show the theme of gaining power. In Act II John Proctor is talking to his wife about the Salem Witch trials. His wife is trying to convince him to talk to the court and tell them that the whole ordeal is made up, that the girls are faking it. He is quoted replying, "You will not judge me more Elizabeth.I have good reason to think before I charge fraud on Abigail, and I will think on it. Let you look to your own improvements before you go to judge your husband any more." (Page 194) During this time Proctor is being accused of not turning Abigail in because he had an affair with her. Proctor is gaining power in this seen because he is reasserting that he can turn Abigail in at anytime, but he will do it when he chooses.

   In the Great Fear Senator McCarthy used everything he had to gain power. From creating lies, to accusing perfectly innocent people, he went to the edge of his being to gain power. In one specific case McCarthy was being given an interview on the communists in the United States when he accused over 200 government officials and private citizens of being communistic. He gains power by naming these people because it gives him the upper hand on the issue. Since he allegedly knew all of the terrorists in our country, one who feared terrorism greatly, people believed what he said, and in turn gave him power.

   In more recent news the United States government passed an act that gave them incredible abilities to allegedly monitor terrorists, and terrorism. The Patriot Act was passed in 2001 and gave the government supreme powers of monitoring citizens. It specifically allowed the NSA the right to tap and hack cell phones to listen to conversations. This supposedly was used to monitor and prevent terrorist attacks, according to the NSA it, "Thwarted 54 terrorist attacks." Whether on not it actually prevented attacks is up for debate, but,  the U.S. clearly used this act to gain power. It gave them power over a large group of people mainly due to their ability to monitor citizens They gained power by naming events where monitoring had worked, and due to citizens fear of terrorism.

False Accusations

      In no way is it legal to detain a human without evidence, but is it worth it to break the law to keep citizens safe? That is up for argument. Whether it was in Arthur Miller's play the Crucible, or the ideal of senator McCarthy in the red scare, both cases made a precedent of falsely accusing to achieve the original goal. McCarthy falsely accused hundreds of being communistic all for his original goal of achieving fame, and in the Crucible characters like Abigail and Betty and their actions of accusation on the towns women, are used to complete Miller's objective of showing falsified accusation. This action of "accusing" is often seen in today's world both in a small scale and large.  In recent news the sentencing of Jose Padilla, which ended up being 17 years in federal prison, was a much shorter than many had hoped for. But, in an article written by "The New York Times" Judge Cooke was quoted saying, "There is no evidence that the defendants personally maimed, kidnapped, or killed anyone in the United States or else where." This is directly related to what went on in the red scare, people were falsely accused, with very little evidence of being communists. It is also seen in the Crucible when the girls falsely accuse the townswomen of being with the devil with zero evidence of actually being with the devil.



     Another recent story that had citizens questioning the basis of argumentation was the spying done by the U.S. government and the NSA. The NSA claimed that the tapping of cell phones had led to them thwarting 54 terrorist attacks. In an article written by ProPublica it states, "During Keith Alexander's presentation in Las Vegas, two slides read simply "54 THWARTED ATTACKS." The NSA, President Obama, and members of congress have all said NSA spying programs have thwarted more than 50 terrorist plots. But there is no evidence this is true." Just like McCarthy the U.S government in this case claims, with or without evidence, that their invasion of personal privacy by tapping phone lines has helped save lives. This is exactly what happens in the Crucible when Reverend Hale shows up. He claims to have solved witchcraft issues and cleared the devil from several towns with very little evidence of that actually happening. The main reason that all of this works is that the citizens are afraid. Whether or not anyone is actually a terrorist, or townswomen were with the devil, or a person was a communist, the public are too afraid to risk it. It isn't worth the risk to not believe what the people in power tell you to believe, which is a main theme in both McCarthyism, the Crucible, and in more modern events the sentencing of Jose Padilla and the spying
performed by the NSA.