Post by vemurph35 on Nov 16, 2011 23:35:16 GMT -5
America would like to think that they have learned from their mistakes and that they’re able to deflect the repetitive challenges of life. But twenty-first century Americans are no wiser than their early forefathers. American news reports are littered with stories of corruption of government and conformists too timid to take a stand against evil. Especially now that America is in its high “crunch time” for presidential elections, Arthur Miller’s intended message of his novel, The Crucible, is illuminated in modern society. Exclusion from society is still a prominent fear of Americans and as noted by Miller those who fear the power of the tyrannical consensus fail to deflect its beliefs and conform to what is necessary to remain within it, as seen in the Republican Presidential candidates.
Presidential candidate Herman Cain is a fantastic validation of how vulnerable people latch onto their opponent’s failure for personal gain within a tyrannical consensus because he took advantage of his opponent’s mistakes like Miller’s nasty character Abigail. Cain’s campaign was soiled after his allegations of sexual harassment broke out across the face of every newspaper, television and homepage in America, sending his name to plummet to the bottom of the polls. With his campaign soiled it seemed he would never redeem himself, until Rick Perry ruined his campaign by failing to articulate his plan at an earlier debate. Perry’s mistake presented the opportunity to allow Cain to “deflect attention from the sexual harassment allegations dogging his campaign” (Nelson) and persuade voters to elect him instead. Cain’s desperate actions to enhance his own support is exactly like Miller’s character Abigail because she snatches the first opportunity she receives to gain power by taking advantage of the mass hysteria of a naïve society. Once the hysteria over claims of witchcraft in Salem breaks out, Abigail controls the situation by accusing her peers as witches in order to cover up her allegations of practicing witchcraft. Cain’s similarity to Abigail shows that Americans are still controlled by corrupt systems that force them to act irrationally by feeding off their opponent’s mistakes in order to prevent being isolated from society.
Another leading conformist to the tyrannical political elections is candidate Mitt Romney because he surrendered its rhetoric has in order to stay afloat in the Presidential debates, similarly to how Miller’s character Mary Warren surrenders to the rhetoric in order to save her from isolation. Former governor of Massachusetts, Romney doesn’t have sufficient support in the South due to his highly northern opinions and conservative approaches. Though like Mary Warren, as soon as he displayed, “‘a toughness’ in the debates” (Nelson) Romney gained a vast amount of support in the South by conforming his opinions to a selected audience to stay ahead in the polls. Fear of isolation dominates American reactions even today, just as Miller points out because people are afraid to stand for what they believe if it means risking isolation from society. Once this fear controls them they will do whatever it takes to stay within a corrupt consensus.
Fear is a continuing factor for American failures throughout history and today as seen in the Republican presidential candidates who would conform to anything if it meant gaining voter support, proving that Miller’s novel is still relevant to modern day. Unless Americans learn to remain loyal to their beliefs no matter what, they will never be able to break away from the overpowering consensus that takes advantage of us all.
Presidential candidate Herman Cain is a fantastic validation of how vulnerable people latch onto their opponent’s failure for personal gain within a tyrannical consensus because he took advantage of his opponent’s mistakes like Miller’s nasty character Abigail. Cain’s campaign was soiled after his allegations of sexual harassment broke out across the face of every newspaper, television and homepage in America, sending his name to plummet to the bottom of the polls. With his campaign soiled it seemed he would never redeem himself, until Rick Perry ruined his campaign by failing to articulate his plan at an earlier debate. Perry’s mistake presented the opportunity to allow Cain to “deflect attention from the sexual harassment allegations dogging his campaign” (Nelson) and persuade voters to elect him instead. Cain’s desperate actions to enhance his own support is exactly like Miller’s character Abigail because she snatches the first opportunity she receives to gain power by taking advantage of the mass hysteria of a naïve society. Once the hysteria over claims of witchcraft in Salem breaks out, Abigail controls the situation by accusing her peers as witches in order to cover up her allegations of practicing witchcraft. Cain’s similarity to Abigail shows that Americans are still controlled by corrupt systems that force them to act irrationally by feeding off their opponent’s mistakes in order to prevent being isolated from society.
Another leading conformist to the tyrannical political elections is candidate Mitt Romney because he surrendered its rhetoric has in order to stay afloat in the Presidential debates, similarly to how Miller’s character Mary Warren surrenders to the rhetoric in order to save her from isolation. Former governor of Massachusetts, Romney doesn’t have sufficient support in the South due to his highly northern opinions and conservative approaches. Though like Mary Warren, as soon as he displayed, “‘a toughness’ in the debates” (Nelson) Romney gained a vast amount of support in the South by conforming his opinions to a selected audience to stay ahead in the polls. Fear of isolation dominates American reactions even today, just as Miller points out because people are afraid to stand for what they believe if it means risking isolation from society. Once this fear controls them they will do whatever it takes to stay within a corrupt consensus.
Fear is a continuing factor for American failures throughout history and today as seen in the Republican presidential candidates who would conform to anything if it meant gaining voter support, proving that Miller’s novel is still relevant to modern day. Unless Americans learn to remain loyal to their beliefs no matter what, they will never be able to break away from the overpowering consensus that takes advantage of us all.
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