Islamophobia: McCarthyism V2.0?

Sixty years ago, Senator Joseph McCarthy launched a campaign of "Red Scare," better known as "McCarthyism," that was prevalent in the decade of the 1950s. The term McCarthyism is used generically to describe the making of accusations of disloyalty, subversion, or treason without proper regard for evidence.

The term is also now used more generally to describe reckless, unsubstantiated accusations, as well as demagogic attacks on the character or patriotism of political adversaries.

The current iteration of McCarthyism is called Islamophobia. It is the unprovoked demagogy and irrational fear mongering of politicians and some major media sources toward Islam. Such fear and hostility leads to discrimination against all Muslims, including Muslim Americans, by the exclusion of Muslims from mainstream political or social process, stereotyping, the presumption of guilt by association, and finally, hate crimes.

Recently, all of these evils are present, and in some quarters tolerated. Current examples of Islamophobia are the threatened mass burning of the Koran by Christian pastors, and the protest of the building of the Islamic cultural center near the site of the destruction of the World Trade Center (Ground Zero) by Muslim extremists in 2001.

Assign students to research "McCarthyism" to better understand how extremists can use fear to gain power and manipulate the public to support their agendas, regardless of the lack of real evidence.

Students should write a report of at least 150 words that cites at least four resources. Or students can create a PowerPoint presentation of at least seven slides. Students should use the pathfinder listed below for best results and to save time.

They should also address the following essential questions (you can substitute others):

• Why did Senator McCarthy start the "Red Scare" campaign?
  
  
• What strategies did McCarthy implement to evoke fear of Communists in the U.S.?
  
  
• Who were the targets of "McCarthyism" and what happened to them?
  
  
• What damage was done to American values?
  
  
• Why did McCarthyism fade as a movement?

Click the 1950s icon > Red Scare-Espionage and McCarthyism

Your students can use our custom ProQuest models for written and PowerPoint-style reports.

Teachers may be interested in a ProQuest flexible rubrics model for evaluating inquiry-based learning activities.

Educators may also wish to employ the Quizinator Web tool (free, but registration required) for creating a variety of printed resources, including short assessments.

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