The return of Joe McCarthy

As outlined in the news stories of today, the NSA compilation of the telephone calling patterns of hundreds of thousands of citizens of the United States appears to be so complicated that one is led to feel that it is "no big deal", as the Bush administration would have us believe. However, it is apparent to those of us with long memories that the threat is not in the act itself but in its implications. To the younger generation, the phrase "guilt by association" means little but there was a time when it was deadly serious and the ruin of many a life and career.

One would need to read and study the reign of terror which was presided over by Senator Joseph McCarthy during the beginning of the Cold War where everyone was as afraid of "the Communists" as they are today of Al Qaida and friends. The House Un-American Activities Committee, (HUAC), chaired by Senator McCarthy held hearings in order to "root out" Communists in all levels of American society. To even have one's name mentioned in these hearings was to suffer "black-balling" by movie studios, publishers, corporations, and any other endeavor by which people were able to make a living. The most involved, according to Joe McCarthy and Friends, were jailed or even deported for their "disloyalty" to the American Way. Some of America=s greatest writers and most accomplished thespians had careers and reputations ruined by having merely been associated on a social level by the taint of suspicion by this powerful and powerfully tyrannical committee.

The hearings themselves, which were carried on the radio as well as on the burgeoning television channels in order to serve as an example to discourage any budding "Communists" who were listening, were openly and arrogantly engaged in guilt by association. They were, in reality, a public morality play which inevitably led to an equally public "lynching". The questioning would go something like this:

"Mary Pitt, you have sworn to tell the truth and nothing but the truth. You are aware of that?"

"I have and I am."

"With those facts in mind, do you know a man named Rob Kall? Now, before you answer, you should know that we are aware that you have written articles and other comments which have been displayed on his web site, Op Ed News, to be read by any who care to read them?"

"I cannot profess to have known Mr. Kall, since I have never actually met him. I have, however, submitted written pieces to his site for publication."

"Then you admit to having openly associated with Mr Kall, knowing his attitude of animosity toward the duly-elected government of the United States? You are admitting that your political opinions are compatible with his? How about the rest of the flaming leftists whose writings appear on those pages?"

I will spare you the bloody end to this interrogation, which will surely put an end to my (unborn) writing career, and the collection of suspect telephone calls which may have been charted by the NSA and would prove that I have called, or been called by, all sorts of colorful but suspicious characters over the years, especially all those wrong numbers!

Its purpose is simply to provide a warning in order to stifle any urge to remove the government of the time and to restore democracy to our land, to let us know that they can "make the connections" between communicating citizens, to find out who talks to whom and, in the event that suspicion falls upon any one of us, to tie in the rest in a new orgy of "guilt by association". These violations of our right to privacy and our freedom from "unwarranted search and siezure" of our personal records has absolutely nothing to do with any potential danger from Al Qaida or any other foreign threats. They are merely meant to remind us that "Big Brother is watching" and we must "watch what we say and watch what we do" because if we're not with them, we're against them. They are not afraid of terrorists. They fear only that the American people will wake up and challenge their campaigns of disinformation and expose them for what they really are....liars, cheats, and cowards.

Joe McCarthy rides again!