Lies

Secrets are kept by everyone. Lies are used to perpetrate them. Lies can keep one safe. Because of this lies must be protected. Throughout the ages, people have protected their lies. As is clearly demonstrated in the crucible. Paris must protect the lie that the church is just. After the Salem Witch trials and many had already hanged, Paris feels obligated to continue to hang people because it would be unfair to those already dead. H'es also afraid that people will see this as an act of weakness, and they will find the church to be the unjust system it is. "... for if he even bring one of those to god- that confession surely damns the others in the public eye, and non may doubt that they are linked to hell..."(Paris, Act 4, 232). He needs to protect the lie that the church is still strong and upstanding when its not. He doesn't want its justification to be questioned by the public.

This tradition of lies carried over into the 1950's with McCarthyism. McCarthy lied all about people being communists. He protected this lie to keep his power, his reputation and keep his career. “He denied requests to see the documents by claiming that they were secret documents given to him by his net work of informants” (Great fear 205). He's protecting the lie that there is no evidence of the so called "names" to be communists, and that there is no list of names. Just like Paris from the crucible, McCarthy protected the lie to keep his system strong and upstanding. If people found out his system would be teared down, but if the lie stays protected he keeps his power.

Even today lies are still being protected constantly. The US government protects lies about terrorists. The government lies about terrorists attacks keep the power of the government. It gives a reason to tap into phone calls giving the government lots of power. "The NSA's deputy director, wrote that the agency has 'contributed to keeping the U.S. and it's allies safe from 54 terrorist plots."... Asked for clarification of the surveillance programs' record, the NSA declined to comment." (1. Claim on Attacks thwarted.). The decline to give evidence is an abuse of power, used to benefit the government. They use this to create an enemy, to manipulate the American people. Protecting the lie keeps the government in the power it wants to be in. The lie perpetrates to prevent being taken down by the American people. And this perpetrates the lie that terrorists are an extreme threat to American lives. Lies are protected throughout history and they will continue to. Because keeping a secret can be the key to safety and power.

scapegoating through the ages

Throughout time, Politicians, and people in power have been scapegoating and lying about people. With the purpose to create an enemy and benefit themselves. This has happened from as far back as the Puritan times, as The Crucible represents. people in power, church members. These people in Power create an enemy, witches, to promote fear and keep citizens in line. "-and there was goody good...and goody Osburn... I saw Sarah good with the devil! I saw goody osburn with the devil! I saw Bridget Bishop with the devil!... I saw george Jacobs with the Devil! I saw goody Howe with the devil!... I saw Martha Bellows with the devil.. I saw Goody Sibber with the devil!..." (Crucible act 3, iii). Various people scapegoated these people as witches. Claiming that they were working with the devil because they were the lower of society. People were ok with having them be the witches and condemned. Condemning these people as witches keeps the people in power by creating the common enemy of these people. The creation of an enemy keeps citizens in line and keep a society in which the people in power stay in power. hundreds of years later this occurs again, as McCarthyism represents in the 1950's. McCarthy spreads a fear of communism and scapegoats people to benefit himself and keep his power.
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Scapegoating to keep power exists in many time periods, including modern day America. Its easy to point fingers at the past and other cultures but it exists just as much in the present day. America scapegoats the Muslim people. This scapegoat gave a excuse to listen into phone calls in prevention of terrorism. violating the privacy of people. "The NSA's deputy director, wrote that the agency has 'contributed to keeping the U.S. and it's allies safe from 54 terrorist plots."... Asked for clarification of the surveillance programs' record, the NSA declined to comment." (1. Claim on Attacks thwarted.). The decline to give evidence is an abuse of power, used to benefit the government. They use this to create an enemy, to manipulate the American people. scapegoating and lying about people, creating enemies is a tactic used through time. Used to benefit those in power, and possibly hider those without power.


Throughout the centuries humans have experienced mass fear, and developed methods to eradicate it. From as early as the puritan times people had a mass fear of something. And took extreme methods to destroy it, with published works to help with this goal. As noted in the crucible "Paris: Mr. Hale! Oh! its good to see you again! (taking some books) my they're heavy!/ Hale: they must be; they are weighted with authority./ Paris: Well you do come prepared!" (1, iii. Crucible). Mr. Hale's books are the books written on how to spot a witch. Witched were the evil of the time, and there were books written on how to spot one and get rid of them. This is to calm the fear people had of witched at the time. Once again in the 1950's there was a great fear, this time of communism. They created methods to get rid of the Communists.
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This trend continues all the way through into Modern society. Modern day America has a huge fear of terrorists. To relieve this fear and create the feeling of safety, America takes drastic measures to prevent it. "Terrorism is not only a very real threat abroad, but also right here at home. Anyone can become a victim of terrorism." (Recognizing 8 signs of terrorism). This video is itself a source of how to protect oneself from the threats of terrorism. There is such a great fear of terrorism that there are whole organizations with the purpose to prevent it. Drastic measures exist in daily lives. With security in every government building and airplanes. Just to prevent the possibility of a terrorist. With mass fear humans have created many methods to eradicate to source of the fear. People have done this through time.

The fear generator

The whole body dissolves into shakes, sweat pours and the heart in a beat beat beat. Danger is near. Maybe a lion is chasing after you and is directly threatening you're life. However, this isn't very likely in modern society. Chances are there is no lion threatening to kill, but the threat is still present. The threat is the generator of the fear. There are an uncountable number of sources of fear in present day. Fear is still woven into the very fabric of humanity. because of this, however, when fear is controlled, humanity is controlled. The tactic of fear is widely used to control throughout our society. Politically it's everywhere. Politicians will and have manipulated fear to get things done that they want done. When George W. Bush was president he created a fear of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. In the desire to invade the country for various reasons, he instilled a fear in the American peoples hearts of the Iraqi people. Instilling this fear makes the issue personal. It gives it the illusion of being real. because "Maybe The Iraqi people will bomb us. what if they bomb me?". It is turned into a direct threat on a life, and that life will react as so he or she doesn't die. This fear is still very real in the American people's minds. The American people have a huge fear of Muslim people, in a fear of terrorism. This fear is then manipulated and brought to the extreme by the government to justify warring with Muslim countries, and keeping power and unity with a common enemy. Manipulating this fear can be argued to be for good or bad. but creating a threat created the fear necessary to get the job done.



It was felt before she even walked into the room. Something was up, and the class knew it. The tension could be felt in her voice when she spoke. Fear swept through the class. And t grew as the situation grew more intense. Fear is not incredibly difficult to create. and as it is such a powerful emotion its easy to be used to manipulate people and situations. In this situation Fear manipulation was used to scare the class enough to never plagiarize. it scared the class into giving away other names. it was used for the benefit of the teacher. However these were actually a social experiment. and it was used to manipulate fear, create fear to make a point. Schools create fear to keep students in order. Create consequences for students to be afraid of. The extremity is the only thing debated. Many would argue that this simulated experience is one of too much extremity. However extreme direct fear is constantly in play. Media manipulates fear in people to uphold social standards. The fear of not fitting in is played strongly. It plays in people's natural survival need. as natural social creatures the need to be accepted. Without it all means of survival are gone. The media plays into this fear all the time, creating social standards to make money off of them. They create standards of beauty and intelligence to manipulate people doing everything they can to fit those standards created to be accepted. The fear of not being accepted plays into other places through the daily life of our society. The fear of sharing work with people is constant with the fear of it being rejected. For example having a piece of writing critiqued in front of a class can manipulate a fear of being rejected and can possibly produce a better piece of writing. Fear is everywhere in the modern social structure, and its easy to grasp it and manipulate it for the benefit of a cause.

Alive in War

     The determination to stay alive is one shared by all. This need brings along an ocean of emotions to go along with it. Including the need to protect oneself. Throughout all life and human existence there has been the need to protect oneself. And this need is only heightened in a war situation. Death is all consuming in war situations, giving a new awareness to one's life and its quality. Hiding, running and fighting become a man's best friend when the need to stay alive are heightened. War zones bring out this heightened sense of awareness. "You don't walk anywhere, everywhere you go, you're moving to get behind cover" (Miller). War zones make it so everywhere you go you're looking to stay alive. Walking is no longer an option , the only option is anything you can do to stay alive. The need to stay alive is such a strong drive that it can induce a maddening fear in some cases. Fear of loosing ones life or being injured irreparably is a maddening fear. Jensen in The Things They Carried Jensen struggles with this, after hurting his friend the fear of being hurt back was all consuming "Jensen couldn't relax. like fighting two different wars, he said" (O'Brian 60). Being all consumed in the fear of being hurt drove Jensen mad. The need to stay Alive is all consuming, and heightened when one's life is on the line.

     War can bring out the worst in people. It heightens fear and will bring out an individuals drive for survival. It brings out all reactions based in fear and brings death to many. However, even though "war is hell" (O'Brian 76), it is not all awful. There are many terrible things brought out into light through war and it is devastating, but there is good in it. Lives may be lost, but lives are also saved, and granted freedom they never would have experienced otherwise. "people don't hear the good things from the news" (Muir). War brings safety to those living in corrupt governments, war gives freedom. It is awful, with many lives lost and cities destroyed, yet when fought for the right reasons, there are so many good things that come out of it. War is not this one thing, but instead an array of ideas an emotions felt as a human need and experience.  'because war is also mystery and terror and adventure and courage and discovery and holiness and pity and dispair and longing and love" (O'brian 76). Humanity is painted in bright colors through the means of war. Through war there are discoveries of who one is as an individual, discoveries of how humanity is felt. War openes eyes to the value of life. Though war brings out the worst in people, it can bring out the best too.

The Human Experience

Capturing the human experience through the use of words is the most beautiful and important thing any writer can do. To capture the experience and the emotions themselves lived through life are so much more important than the actual events of life themselves. As Tim O'Brien states in The Things They Carried "Almost everything else in invented" (O'Brien 171). He explains that though the basis for the story is true, the details are not. They, in the end do not matter, that is, except to convey the experience and emotions he went through. The experience is what matters, the details are only there for conveying the experience. "I want you to know what I felt." (O'Brian 171). To convey the emotions of an experience is really the whole point. There is no point in a story if there is no emotion in it. Emotion makes it real. It gives us connection and understanding and empathy for the characters. and its what makes or breaks a story. Knowing what actually happened in say, this case, the war is shadowed by the experience of the soldiers. The people living through it. Joan Didion says the same thing about stories and experience in the writing piece On Keeping a Notebook. The emotion and the experience is the truth, and its truer than the events that took place. "How it felt to me: that is getting closer to the truth about a notebook" (Didion 83). A notebook to her is a record of emotions. It is a record of experience and who a person really is. A notebook doesn't care about the events in ones life but rather how one perceives them, how someone feels about it. that is what matters. That is the ultimate truth. Facts can clutter a story but the emotions are the real, raw truth of the world. They are the human experience. 
Memories are what make people who they are. Memories are the pieces of information that make up the whole of the human experience. The act of remembering who who you once were is to understand who you are now. "Why did I write it down?" Didion asks the reader, "in order to remember of course.." (Didion 82). Didion's whole purpose of keeping a notebook is to remember it all. to remember who she was as a person. The drive t remember is the drive to understand. Its why we write it down. When writing is only meant for oneself it is a collection of oneself so the future self can remember. Its so the future self can understand why they do the things they do. To have the stories written down is to have them present, have them there. To have them there is to understand, to make things real, making them easier to deal with. O'Brian tells stories to make them present "I can look at things I never looked at. I can attach faces to grief and love and pity God. I can be brave. I can make myself feel again." (O'Brian 172). To remember a past self is to understand it. To understand is the ability to deal with and lighten. Without the stories and the ability to bring the past present, there is no capability to loose the grief and the pain. Memories are powerful. without Memories there would be no story to write, and there would be a loss of everything ever experienced. without memories there would be no human experience to share. And human experience is really whats most important.