Editor’s note: This commentary is by Bob Stannard, an author, musician and former lobbyist. This piece first appeared in the Bennington Banner.
[S]he slowly drifted to the back of the hysterical crowd. She could still see the smoke and hear the screams, but had no desire to watch. It seemed like everyone had lost their minds. The charges against the women seemed plausible, but she had doubt. Perhaps the scariest thing was listening and watching her friends and neighbors chanting “Burn her” and laughing. Oh the laughing.
Three hundred years ago in America some women were hung, crushed and burned alive, because of false allegations issued by a couple of very young girls that the women were witches. How could people do such horrible things to others? The two young girls accused the women of being affiliated with Satan. The results were mass hysteria and the senseless murder of innocent women.
Between 65 and 100 years ago some Americans were caught up in another mass hysteria. They killed over 4,000 blacks, mostly by lynching. Men would don white robes and hoods, apprehend a black man (or woman) and falsely accuse them. People would laugh and cheer as one after another was wrongfully executed. Those in costume were the most pious and felt the executions were necessary to purify the white race. They were religious zealots driven by fear and hate, the two emotions that have travel hand-in-hand through time.
Seventy-three years ago many people in Germany felt comfortable with their nation’s policy of eliminating over 6 million people whose only crime was to be Jewish. Their faith was perceived as a threat to those in power and had to be eliminated. Fear and hate had a front row seat. To the world’s horror mass hysteria was on the rise.
Like a lion that has just devoured its prey, well fed and content homo sapiens can be quite peaceful and lovely. A hungry lion is something to avoid. Over the past 40 years policies imposed upon Americans have had devastating results. In my lifetime a family could own their own home, have mom stay home and raise the kids, drive a decent car and put a few bucks in a savings account all on $110 per week.
Today, Americans struggle to survive. Getting ahead is nearly impossible. We’ve done everything imaginable to ensure the middle and lower class loses ground. We’ve allowed for tax policies that provide great benefits to the mega-rich at the expense of the rest of us. We’ve allowed America to become a military complex that needs to be fed hundreds of billions of dollars to be able to continue to fight needless wars.
One might think that at some point Americans would wake up and say “Enough is enough” and demand that their representatives represent the interests of the people, not their rich donors. But is that what’s happening today? It doesn’t feel like it. The sleight of hand of the rich to take your money has worked. Instead of fighting the rich we’re fighting each other.
America now has a president who says those who oppose him are “angry mobs” while addressing an angry mob. He openly lies. Telling lies is one thing. Believing lies is another. Much like the doubt-ridden woman who might have stood in the back of the crazed crowd while others chanted hateful slogans, many people today are equally concerned about those who exhibit like behavior at rallies held by this president. These people must be educated enough to know that they are being lied to, yet they don’t seem to care. “Lock her up” has replaced “Burn her,” but the hysteria levels are not all that different, are they?
We have two choices. We can allow fear and hate to advance with the disastrous results that have always followed this dangerous duo; or we can gain the courage to speak out against hate and fear. History shows what happens when hate and fear prevail. It’s not pretty. Let’s not repeat history.
