The Left has already commandeered the term, (it’s what they do) a bit like someone who gets your perfect domain name for ten dollars and is going to sit on it.
As recently as last month, there has been an effort to define it, to own it.
We are now being told what Neo-McCarthyism is. The writer in the link above tells us
We need a new term that defines the conservative demonization of leftism while also acknowledging the growing influence that leftism has in our society. Thus, neo-McCarthyism captures the desperate, reactionary alarmism found in the 21st century seeking to congressionally shut down leftist ideologies.
Well, gag me with a spoon. Who is it who is doing the shutting down?
When I started thinking about this post (I do, you know) I coined the term. Then I googled it to see if it was real. Blow me down with a wet feather, it is real! But it is the diametric opposite to what I had in mind. You see, in my mind, if we are discussing Witch Hunts and Blacklisting I humbly submit that this is coming from the Left, not the Right. Standing in the dock in the court of public opinion, being cancelled, losing your job, book burning, etc., all seem to emanate from the Angry, hating, Left.
Cy Endfield
The Brilliant Cy Endfield, screenwriter, director, magician and inventor was a refugee from the original HUAC hearings. He was Jewish and allegedly a communist; not something that would have escaped the notice of Joe McCarthy, who was quite a fan of Mein Kampf (and presumably, the author). Enfield moved to England, his US career and his livelihood taken away. Under a fake name he was a scriptwriter on one of the best horror movies of the 1950’s - Night of the Demon. Recently his movie Zulu is being targeted by the Wokies; it has been named as something that could encourage far-right sympathies. So the poor bastard got it up both channels, firstly for being a Lefty, then for being a Righty, with (in their opinion) a soppy and sentimental and very unwoke tale of Zulus versus Redcoats. Something of an achievement that perhaps goes to show how arbitrary the whole game is and ultimately how you can’t win.
Endfield was just one of many. A man who had allegiances and beliefs at odds with the contemporary mood. He found a home in the real authentic and original land of the free. For a while. Now the tables have turned.
I am hard pressed to see this kind of thing emanating from the Right anymore. It seems to me that the cancelling, the loss of tenure and the opprobrium all seems to come from the Left. When we see Universities denying a platform for the likes of Germaine Greer or Peter Tatchell something must be very wrong. Very few academics dare speak out anymore; they have to live.
Leslie Neal-Boylan
In 2020, during the summer of rioting, racial division, and the COVID pandemic, Leslie Neal-Boylan, Dean of the University of Massachusetts Lowell Nursing School, addressed the protests around the country against police brutality and racial
inequity following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in an email to the nursing school community. Boylan wrote: “Recent events recall a tragic history of racism and bias that continue to thrive in this country. I despair for our future as a nation if we do not stand up against violence against anyone. BLACK LIVES MATTER, but also, EVERYONE’S LIFE MATTERS.” (Boston Herald)
Boylan lost her job after a complaint from one student who tweeted, “upsetting
statement made by the Dean of Nursing at UMass Lowell, including the statement ‘all lives matter’ was uncalled for and shows the narrow minded people in lead positions.”
Who is Leslie Neal-Boylan? Well for a start, Researchgate lists 72 publications with her name on them. She seems to be a champion for nurses with disabilities and several of her contributions reflect this.
When you go down a rabbit hole of selecting communities and groups for special treatment you are are sowing the seeds of inequality. The next step is scapegoating - which to remind you, as if you needed it, is a term of Biblical origin (William Tyndale coined the phrase in the first accurate translation of the Bible into English) to denote any group or individual that innocently bears the blame of others.
Books are being burned - or re-written. There is a new edition of the Newspeak dictionary every day. People are losing their jobs. This is serious! And yet I have found it very difficult to locate any mention of cases like Boylan’s in the media. Neo-McCarthyism is with us again. Where do you think it is coming from?
A Message to you. (Not asking for money..read on)
Thank you for subscribing to Titus Arrius. Next week, I shall be publishing a piece about election predictions and how I managed to get them right; my so called methodology. It’s longish, but I really think it will help to make sense of how elections and indeed international events, are likely to go. That is if you have not already figured it out yourself, and if you have, do get in touch. In particular, I give a clear, unambiguous forecast of the result of the next UK General Election - and it may surprise you. Until then have a blessed Easter. TA
As a sort of teaser, here is a picture I am going to use to illustrate my methods. It is a visual representation of what you might call my ‘google earth’ approach to information and data gathering, and also why so many people get it wrong.