Every one in a while, America erupts into mass hysteria because of the ranting of some crazy people. In the 1600's, we had the Salem witch trials, and as described in the book, "The Crucible", a group of girls falsely accuse their neighbors of witchcraft, and regular, innocent people are hung. Then, in the 1950's, a man named Joseph McCarthy sparked a craze of accusing people, mainly government officials, of being communist, thus scarring their …showed first 75 words of 889 total…

…showed last 75 words of 889 total…accused crimes. This shows that our nation has learned from past experiences that people are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nevertheless, in the public eye, a person accused of a crime is perceived at fault until he clears his name. Just as in The Crucible and in the 1950s, during a time of national fear, it is still possible that people will believe anything that finds a solution to immediate dangers.