The return of McCarthyism

Often when I read about some of the more outrageous episodes in history, I find myself trying to figure out how the irrational and unthinkable became everyday reality.

I can tell you that the last few years have been eye-opening about how seemingly rational people can succumb to irrational behavior. The key seems to be fear and paranoia. It’s amazing and fascinating just how powerful a motivator fear and paranoia can be, allowing people to suspend rational reasoning, common sense and even their moral compass.

The McCarthy era is a great example of how fear-mongering can result in a suspension of reason and the very ideals that this fear is trying to protect. In an effort to root out “un-American” Americans, the crusaders against America’s enemies themselves engaged in actions and activities that violated the very principles they were purporting to protect and defend.

During this time many thousands of Americans were accused of being Communists or communist sympathizers and became the subject of aggressive investigations and questioning before government or private-industry panels, committees and agencies. The primary targets of such suspicions were government employees, those in the entertainment industry, educators and union activists. Suspicions were often given credence despite inconclusive or questionable evidence, and the level of threat posed by a person’s real or supposed leftist associations or beliefs was often greatly exaggerated. Many people suffered loss of employment, destruction of their careers, and even imprisonment. Most of these punishments came about through trial verdicts later overturned, laws that would be declared unconstitutional, dismissals for reasons later declared illegal or actionable, or extra-legal procedures that would come into general disrepute. [source: Wikiepedia; emphasis mine]

As I read about this era during high school and college history classes, I wondered how something so absurd and un-American could ever happen. After the last few years, I wonder no more.

After the tragic events of 9/11, we have become a culture of fear. The boogeymen in the 1950s were “the communist” and “communist sympathizers”; the boogeymen of today are “radical Islamists,” “jihadists,” and “Muslim sympathizers” (which can encompass anyone who doesn’t lump in all Muslims with radical Islamic terrorists). And the fear-mongering and paranoia surrounding anything perceived as Muslim is rivaling (if not surpassing) that of the “red scare” during the McCarthy era.

The latest and most absurd example is the mind-boggling flap over a Dunkin’ Donuts TV ad featuring Rachael Ray.

Dunkin’ Donuts pulled a television spot featuring talk show host and Food Network personality Rachael Ray this weekend after a Fox news commentator associated it with terrorists.

In the ad, Ray is wearing a scarf that Michelle Malkin said in her nationally syndicated column resembled a kiffiyeh, Middle Eastern garb that is “popularized by Yasser Arafat and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos.” [MSNBC]

Want to see this terrorist-sympathizing scarf?

Michelle Malkin is right. The first thing I thought of when I saw that scarf is, “Rachael Ray is a terrorist-sympathizer and must support beheading and hostage-taking.” Isn’t that what you thought of?

Dunkin Donuts offered this “questionable” response:

“Thank you for expressing your concern about the Dunkin’ Donuts advertisement with Rachael Ray. In the ad that you reference, Rachael is wearing a black-and-white silk scarf with a paisley design that was purchased at a U.S. retail store. It was selected by the stylist for the advertising shoot. Absolutely no symbolism was intended. However, given the possibility of misperception, we will no longer use the commercial.”

They expect us to buy that explanation? It’s obvious that there were nefarious intentions by this evil corporate giant to insidiously instill terrorist sympathy among donut lovers and American consumers.

Thank “goodness” that we have Michelle Malkin to save us from the terrorists and terrorist sympathizers, and people wearing scarves that (kinda) look (vaguely) similar to something seen adorning the necks of Middle Easterners. Thank “goodness” that Michelle Malkin is out there looking for all the hidden meanings and veiled symbols “insidiously” creeping into American culture. Here’s Malkin educating her readers on this symbol of terrorism:

The keffiyeh, for the clueless, is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad. Popularized by Yasser Arafat and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos, the apparel has been mainstreamed by both ignorant (and not-so-ignorant) fashion designers, celebrities, and left-wing icons.

In addition to her anti-immigrant crusades, her anti-liberal crusades, her anti-anything-she-doesn’t-agree-with crusades, she has now become the standard bearer for the new McCarthyism: anti-anything-that-could-be-perceived-to-be-Muslim crusade.

Don’t you feel safer now?

Michelle Malkin wrote a book recently entitled “Unhinged.” It was a book-length diatribe against “liberals,” which can be defined as anyone left of the very extreme far-right. But I can’t think of a more appropriately named, pot-calling-the-kettle-black title.